by Laura Ann
“It’s fine. Thank you, sir,” the man responded quickly.
“What’s your name?”
“Trent, sir.”
“You can stop with all the sir stuff. I’m not your boss.” Brody mumbled.
“Yes, sir,” was the reply.
Brody snorted and slumped back in his seat. His house wasn’t far from his brother’s places. Watching out the window, he guess they were headed to Quentin’s. His oldest brother liked to live in style and had more than enough square footage to house the entire neighborhood, rather than just the family for Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving. Brody snorted. Sure doesn’t feel like a holiday now.
A couple minutes more found them pulling into a circular driveway. The large fountain in the center was new and was still flowing, even though the weather was turning cold. Quent probably keeps it heated, so he can show off all winter long.
Waiting for the driver this time, Brody stood and murmured a ‘thank you’. Gritting his teeth, he glanced toward the front door, only to find a large body standing in the doorway.
Quentin Gruffman was the oldest and biggest of the three brothers. Brody’s six-foot-four stature and wide shoulders made him larger than almost everyone, but Quentin had him by two inches and a few pounds. The man was built like an NFL linebacker and he enjoyed the way his size demanded attention and, sometimes, fearful obedience.
“The prodigal son has come home,” Quentin’s voice was just as deep and gravelly as Brody’s; a gift all three boys inherited from their father.
“Well, I tried to go home, but was only there ten minutes before I was summoned,” Brody raised his chin and folded his arms.
Quentin snorted and his lips twitched. “Haven’t lost your sarcastic attitude, I see.”
“Never tried to,” Brody shot back.
For the first time that Brody could ever recall, he saw Quentin’s features soften. “Welcome home, little brother.” The words were soft and full of an emotion that Brody had never heard from his older brother. “Finley will be here soon, come inside.” Quentin stepped aside and allowed Brody to pass by him.
“To the office, please,” Quentin said as he closed the door.
Brody walked across the grand foyer to the room he and his brothers had held hundreds of meetings in. Nothing had changed in the last two years; the walls were still lined with books, a large, oak desk still sat close to the oversized window and two more chairs sat facing the desk. Unlike his own home, Quentin’s was completely dust free.
Brody heard Quentin shut the door and turned at the sound. Before Brody could say anything, he was engulfed in a hug that nearly cut off his breathing. Maybe I’m not the only one who changed in the last two years. When Quentin didn’t seem inclined to let go, Brody wrapped his arms around his big brother and squeezed back.
With a couple of firm slaps on the back, Quentin finally stepped back. “We’ve missed you, little brother.”
Brody couldn’t speak. He was so shocked at the emotional display from his usually icy brother that his words had left him.
“Have a seat,” Quentin pushed Brody toward one of the chairs and Brody stumbled into it. “We’ll wait for Finley, so you don’t have to tell everything twice.”
Brody felt his heart speed pick up. “Didn’t Finley come to Thanksgiving with you?”
Quentin shook his head. “He’s dating Victoria. You remember her? She and her father are on the board? He’s at her house this year.”
Brody froze. Now! Do it now! Forcing his body to respond he said, “I think we should talk before Fin gets—”
The door slammed open. “WHERE IS HE?” A deep voice roared.
Brody closed his eyes and felt his body deflate. Quentin might have softened, but it was obvious that his second brother, Finley, hadn’t had the same change of heart. Brody stood and faced the man at the door.
Finley’s dark eyes were stormy and a vein pulsed on the side of his forehead; a sure sign of his anger. Stalking towards Brody, Finley brought back his arm. “You blo—” Before Brody could react, Finley punched him in the eye, knocking him to the ground.
Brody felt his eye and his anger immediately flare up and he hopped up to his feet, fists swinging as he ignored Quentin’s shouts in the background. He knocked Finley in the mouth, forcing his head to snap back.
Finley jerked his chin back down and rushed Brody. Air whooshed out of him as Finley’s shoulder drove into Brody’s gut and he groaned when his back connected with the bookcase. Several large tombs fell to the floor and Brody had a quick moment of gratitude that none of them hit him in the head.
“KNOCK IT OF!” Quentin finally got around the desk and ripped Flynn from Brody. Both men were panting heavily and Finley wiped a drop of blood from his lip on the back of his hand.
Brody could feel his eye swelling shut but that didn’t stop him from glaring at Finley with his good one.
“You two are acting like CHILDREN!” Quentin shouted.
“He started it!” Brody yelled back, throwing a hand towards Finley.
Quentin rolled his eyes and looked pointedly at Brody, “My point exactly.”
“You started it when you ran away,” Finley’s voice was low and menacing. “For TWO YEARS!” His voice rose in pitch and volume as he finished the words. Finley’s shoulders rose and fell with his harsh breathing.
Already as his wit’s end, Brody couldn’t help the response that came out of him. “Because of YOU! I left because of you!”
Finley’s eyes widened in shock as Brody’s words registered. Then his head hung as his shoulders deflated. Stepping away from Quentin’s reach, he sunk into one of the chairs, not bothering to pay attention to his navy suit. Ripping off his tie as if it offended him, he flung it to the ground. “Better start from the beginning, little bro.” Finley’s voice was as defeated as his posture.
Once again, Brody felt his body ache with regret. Shaking his head, he sat gingerly in the other chair; his back still protesting its previous treatment. “I shouldn’t have said that. I chose to leave and I take responsibility for that.” Brody paused and looked up, noting that both of his brothers were staring at him. Suddenly embarrassed, Brody cleared his throat and looked away from their penetrating stares.
“Well, it looks like more than your hair has changed while you were gone.” Quentin finally broke the awkward silence.
Finley snorted then shrugged when Quentin glared at him.
“I think it’s time you told us what happened.” Quentin’s voice was soft, but the hint of steel in the tone let Brody know he wasn’t going to be able to put this off any longer.
Rubbing his face with his hands, he winced when he rubbed his swollen eye, but the pain helped bring his thoughts into focus. “Two and a half years ago, I met a woman.”
“All this was over a girl?” Finley’s tone of unbelief hit Brody in the gut.
“Shut it!” Quentin barked, then nodded for Brody to continue.
“So, I started dating this woman in secret. She said she wasn’t ready to publicize a relationship with someone as high profile as myself and I believed her. So we met after hours or snuck out to restaurants we knew we wouldn’t be caught at.”
Quentin’s face became more and more pinched, the further Brody got into his story.
Brody cleared his throat and continued. “We kept this up for six months. Back then, I enjoyed the intrigue of it all. It was exciting—”
“Back then?” Finley broke in with a raised brow.
“Yes!” Brody sneered back. “Back then.”
Finley rolled his eyes but didn’t speak again.
Brody went on. “Everything was fine until one night after work. I had forgotten a file and drove back to the office to grab it, wanting to look it over at home, since I wasn’t meeting with her that night. However, as I got to our floor, I noticed a light on in one of the offices and went to investigate.” Brody felt sweat form at his temples as he prepared to finish the tale. “Putting my ear to the door
I couldn’t hear anything, so I slowly eased the door open. Inside I found my girlfriend in, shall we say, an embarrassing position with another man.” Brody paused, letting everything he had told sink in.
“So like a scolded puppy, you put your tail between your legs and ran away? Really? What the heck does all this have to do with me?” Finley was now leaning forward, his body tense and angry again.
Brody glared at his brother, but inside he quivered at what he had to tell him. “Because it was Victoria.”
“Excuse me?” The timbre of Finley’s voice had dropped dangerously low again.
“I was dating Victoria and caught her with you, Finley. I caught her with you.”
Finley stood, his shoulders broad and threatening. “You jealous litt—”
“He’s telling the truth.” Quentin’s strong voice stopped his brothers in their tracks.
“How would you know? Our little playboy brother here,” Finley swept his arm toward Brody, “probably just couldn’t handle it when Victoria shot him down and he ran away like a little child.”
“ENOUGH!” Quentin’s bellow was enough to get Finley to stop talking. But it took Quentin’s forceful glare to get Finley to sit back down. “I know because she tried the same thing with me a few months back.”
Brody’s eyebrows shot up to his brow and his eyes shot towards Finley, whose face had gone deathly pale. “What do you mean?”
“I mean the conniving woman is trying to climb the corporate ladder, but not by being promoted.”
Finley slumped in his seat. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
Quentin shrugged “You were happy, so I kept an eye on her as best as I could but hadn’t felt the need to interfere yet.”
“You didn’t feel the need to interfere? You left me in the hands of a ... “ Finley threw up his hands. “So ... let’s get this all straight. She secretly dated you,” he looked at Brody. “Only to the proposition me. Once Brody was gone, she solidified our relationship in public.” He shook his head. “How did I not see this?” Finley cleared his throat. “Then, she propositions you?” He looked at Quentin, who nodded. “I can only assume you shot her down.”
Quentin shrugged and nodded his head.
“Does anyone know what her end game is? Or are we just going with the obvious? Power and money?” Finley scoffed.
Brody slowly raised his hand.
Quentin looked at him and raised a single eyebrow. “Yes?”
“I didn’t run away the night I found you and her,” Brody addressed Finley. “Truth be told, my pride was hurt more than my heart and that made me stick around for a bit.” Brody’s eyes had slid to the dark, rich carpet under his chair, but he wasn’t really seeing it. His gaze was unfocused as he recalled the events.
“The next day at work, I confronted her in her office at lunch. Pinned her up against her desk and ... “ Brody’s cheeks heated as he thought of their conversation. “Let’s just say I said some things no gentleman would say, only to have her laugh in my face. The mask came off for a few minutes and she showed her true colors. Said I was only a means to an end. That I was the first step in the chain of events and had no idea what was coming, then told me to run home like the little boy I was.”
Quentin studied him. “Is that when you ran?”
Brody nodded, still not meeting anyone’s eyes. “Yeah. I was so angry that I had been taken in by her that I just felt ... I don’t know ... sick of it all. So I grabbed all the cash I could find and took off.” Brody ran a hand through his long, scraggly hair. “I didn’t really plan to be gone so long. I actually started to come back once, but never quite made it.”
“Where have you been? From the looks of you, you’ve been living on the streets.” Finley scrunched his nose in disgust.
“That’s not too far off.” Brody grinned. “I got a job.”
“How? Who would have hired you, knowing who you were?” Quentin demanded.
A smirk crossed Brody’s lips. “I got away with it because I volunteered. I’ve been a janitor at Middleton Prep for the last two school years.”
“They still would have taken your name and done a background check.”
Brody nodded. “They did, but I went directly to the principal. He agreed to keep my identity a secret and I agreed to go without pay. Other than eating in the cafeteria, of course. Can’t let all that jello go to waste, now can we?”
Finley snorted a laugh. “So all this time, you’ve been right across town, scrubbing toilets and mopping floors? Unbelievable.”
Brody shrugged. “At first I just drove, but after a couple of months that got old, so I turned around and started working my way home. Before I made it, I saw the job opening and the rest, as they say, is history.”
“Where have you been living, though? Surely you don’t sleep at the school.” Quentin tilted his head to the side, his black eyes were set in the cold gaze that he was known for in his business dealings.
“Slept in my car some, other times I crashed at Hank’s house.”
“Hank? As in your buddy since childhood Hank?” Finley turned his head toward Quentin. “Why didn’t we have his house watched.”
Quentin watched Brody with narrowed eyes. “We did.”
Brody smirked. “I figured you did. Which is why I didn’t go to him at first.” Brody leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “You guys gotta understand I needed to get away. My whole life had been handed to me on a silver platter and something about the thing with Victoria made me realize how superficial and shallow it all was.” He shook his head. “I was tired of being Brody Gruffman, part of the Gruffman Brothers Inc. I wanted to just ... be.”
“And did you manage to do that?”
Brody looked up at Quentin. “Yes. At least for a while. While I was on the road, I had let my hair go, so it was already too long when I got to Middleton Prep. But I knew someone would eventually recognize me if I wasn’t careful, so I didn’t cut it once and it worked perfectly. No one thought to guess that Janitor Gruff was really millionaire Brody Gruffman. I loved it. No one bothered me, no one wanted anything from me. I was just another person at the school. But the longer I played that part, the harder it was to leave.”
“So what made you come back now?” Finley folded his large arms, leaning back into the corner of the seat. “At least, I’m assuming there was a reason.”
Brody nodded slowly, his eyes turning from one brother to the other. “I met a woman.”
Finley threw up his hands. “Isn’t that how this whole thing started to begin with?”
Brody pointed a finger at Finley, anger seeping into his tone. “Don’t you say a word about her. She’s different; unlike any woman you and I have ever known.”
Silence reigned for a few moments while the weight of Brody’s words floated through the air.
“Is she aware you love her?” Quentin finally asked softly.
Brody scoffed. “No.”
“Why not?”
Brody eyed his brother. When did he become so soft? Or was he always this way I was too caught up in myself to notice? He straightened in his chair, his gaze going to the books at his left. “Because right now she hates me.”
Finley snorted again. “Sounds about right.”
“Would you shut up?” Brody growled.
“Leave him alone, Fin. We’ll talk about your problems in a minute.” Quentin’s tone brooked no argument. His role as big brother was something he took very seriously and Finley and Brody knew better than to challenge him. Looking back at Brody, Quentin commanded, “Tell us about her.”
Brody groaned and rubbed the back of his neck. “She’s a home economics teacher at the school I worked for. She’s feisty, smart and independent and can cook well enough to make a grown man weep.”
“And she hates you because ... ?”
“I didn’t tell her who I really was,” Brody grumbled.
“So you lied to her.”
“Brody scrunched his face up. “Not really lied, bu
t ... withheld the truth.”
Quentin stared; his icy gaze never wavering. Brody could feel his nerves grow tighter and tighter the longer their eyes held, eventually, he couldn’t take it anymore.
“Fine!” He threw up his hands. “I lied, all right? I let her believe I was just a scraggly janitor and even after things got more serious I never told her the truth.” He glared at Quentin. “Happy?”
Quentin nodded. “Besides hating you right now, do you believe she returns any of your feelings?”
Brody’s face fell. “As she was screaming at me for lying to her, she also mentioned that she had fallen in love with me; thought I was playing some kind of sick game with her. It made the lies that much worse.”
“Is she worth the effort to fix it?”
This time it was Brody’s turned to be intense. “Yes.”
“Fine. We will address her as soon as we figure out what Victoria is up to.” Quentin stood up, indicating the meeting was over.
“Wait a second,” Finley stood and put up his hand. “Where are you going?”
“In case you two idiots forgot, it’s Thanksgiving. I intend to indulge in an extra piece of pie and turn on a football game.”
Brody followed suit and stood along with his brothers. “I thought we were going to figure out what to do with Victoria.” He pulled on his beard.
“We will, but I have no doubt it can wait until morning. However, there is one thing that absolutely cannot wait.” Quentin walked past his brothers and opened the office door.
“What’s that?” Finley asked.
“Mrs. Peabody!” Quentin yelled into the house.
Brody groaned when he realized that Quentin was calling for his housekeeper. She had been with his family since the boys were little and had taken them under her wing when their parents had died. She kept Quentin’s house ship-shape but also felt it her duty to keep the boys the same way.
“You called, sir?” An elderly, feminine voice could be heard.
“Yes, Mrs. Peabody, please come in.” Quentin stepped back and used his arm to draw attention to Brody.
Mrs. Peabody gasped and choked on air for a minute when she spotted the youngest brother standing in the office.