by Carrie Elks
Her breath caught in her throat and her legs began to tremble as if she’d run a marathon.
What the hell was Jamie Black doing in Angel Sands?
25
She’d never seen Aiden hold himself so still. He had a lethal edge to him that sent a shiver down her spine. Brooke swallowed in spite of her dry mouth and looked at Ally and Ember, who stared back at her with wide eyes.
“Is that who I think it is?” Ally whispered.
“Shit.” Ember was only echoing what all three of them were thinking.
“Is everything okay?” Lucas frowned. “Is Aiden in trouble?”
Brooke shook her head and looked over at the bar once again. “No, he’s not in trouble. He’s talking to his brother.” She could see the auctioneer climbing up onto the stage. She should be standing with Clara, helping spot the bidders and take down the names of the winners. Instead she was staring at her biggest mistake and it made her want to scream. “I’m going to talk to them.”
“Is that a good idea?” Ember reached for her. “Brooke?”
Maybe it wasn’t a good idea, but she had no idea what else to do. From the way Aiden was standing, his hands fisted by his side, she was afraid if she didn’t intervene there was going to be carnage. With her breath caught in her throat, she covered the distance between the table and the bar, the calls of the auctioneer ringing in her ears.
She stopped about four feet away from where the two of them were standing. Aiden’s voice was low and dark, but she couldn’t hear what he was saying. Slowly, she brought her gaze to the man he was addressing. He had shaved dark hair, a scar running through his eyebrow, and a neck covered in tattoos.
As if he could feel the heat of her scrutiny, Jamie looked up at her. He blinked as though there was sand in his eyes, his scarred eyebrow rising up.
“Brooke?” he asked, his eyes squinting. “Brooke Newton?”
Aiden immediately turned around and caught her eye. “Go, Brooke,” he said, his voice imploring.
“I’m not going anywhere.”
“Brooke Newton,” Jamie said again. A half smile curled his upper lip. “Jesus Christ you’re prettier than I remember.” He pushed his tongue against the inside of his cheek. “Did you know I’ve had her?” he asked Aiden.
“Shut. Up.”
“Not a great lay. She’d been out of her mind on alcohol. But sex with a Newton is always sweet, isn’t it, bro?”
Brooke stiffened. “What are you doing here? I thought you were in prison.”
“There’s this thing called parole. I served my time.” He tipped his head to the side and licked his lips. “How’s my kid doing? Is it here tonight?”
The way he was grinning at her made her want to scream. She’d spent the last nine years protecting her precious boy from pain. And now his birth father was here and she couldn’t handle it.
“He’s not here.”
“We had a boy?” He raised his eyebrows. “Congratulations to us. I guess I’ll see him another time.” Jamie shrugged as though he was a friend inviting himself around for coffee.
“No you won’t.” Aiden moved so he was in between Brooke and Jamie, shielding her from him. “You’ll leave and not come back. You’re not wanted here.”
“What’s the matter, bro?” Jamie’s voice was low. “You seem real jittery right now.”
“You were supposed to stay in Sacramento.” There was something off about Aiden’s words, but Brooke couldn’t place it. She was too caught up in the disaster waiting to happen. Behind her the auction was continuing, but she couldn’t hear a word of what they were saying.
“But I came down here instead. I’ve got a kid here. I have rights, you know.”
It was as if a veil had descended over her. No, not a veil, a suit of armor. One that riled her up and made every muscle in her body tense. She was in fight mode, a lioness protecting her cub, and Jamie Black had no idea what was about to hit him.
Aiden reached for her arm, but she shrugged him off and walked around him. She stopped right in front of Jamie, her eyes at the same level as his thanks to her stupidly high heels. Slowly, she raised her arm and pressed the pad of her finger against his chest, feeling the heat of him through his thin t-shirt. Jamie blinked but didn’t move.
“Don’t you dare claim any rights over my son. Don’t you dare come here and tell me anything about my boy. You’ve never met him, you’ve never cared for him, you’ve never spent a dime on him. You’re a sperm donor, that’s all, and neither of us want you here.”
Jamie lifted his hands up as if to ward her off. “Hey, cool it.”
“Don’t you tell me to cool it.”
“Babe, I’m not interested in our son. I’m more interested in my brother’s cash. I want a few more dollars from him and I won’t bother you again.”
“What?” She turned to look at Aiden, confusion making her head feel woolly. “What’s he talking about? Why would he want a few dollars more?”
“You didn’t tell her?” Jamie asked, laughing loudly.
“Tell me what?”
“Brooke, go back to the table. I’ll explain it all later.” Aiden’s voice was urgent. “Go, please.”
“What’s he talking about?” she asked him again. “What cash?”
“He paid me off. Offered me thirty thousand dollars to keep away from you and your son. I’ve come down to reopen the negotiations.”
“You knew he was out of prison?” she asked Aiden. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Yeah, bro, why didn’t you tell her?”
“Shut the hell up,” she said to Jamie. Her world famous patience was wearing thin.
“You didn’t need to know.” Aiden reached for her again, folding his hands around her elbow. “He’s my problem and I’m sorting it out.”
“Talking about me like that could hurt my feelings,” Jamie pointed out, looking like he was enjoying himself a little too much.
Ignoring him, Brooke asked, “Aiden, what have you done?”
“He’s sent me a bribe. That’s what he’s done. Thirty thousand dollars to keep away from you and your kid.” Jamie pushed his lip out in a mock-pout. “What’s up, Brookey, don’t you think you’re worth more? Because I do.”
The champagne she’d drunk earlier swirled around in her stomach, making her throat contract with a need to throw up. Why would Aiden have done that without speaking to her first? What gave him the right to make decisions about her life without her input?
“Were you ever going to tell me he was out?” she asked Aiden. “If Jamie had taken your bribe would you have kept silent forever?”
The look on Aiden’s face told her all she needed to know.
He’d planned to keep this a secret forever.
“What about telling the truth always?” she asked him. “What about no more secrets, no more lies? What about letting me take control of my own life?”
“Brooke…”
“No.” She put her hand up. “I need to think this through.”
“What’s going on here?”
Brooke turned to see her father standing a couple of feet away from Aiden, and next to him was her mom, staring at the three of them with wide eyes.
Dear God, could this get any worse?
“Mom, Dad, can I talk to you about this later?” Brooke asked, though she knew it was futile. Her father wasn’t going anywhere, she could tell by his expression.
“Hey, it’s Grandpa and Grammy. How you doing?” Jamie swaggered toward her dad, holding his hand out. Her father looked at him with distaste.
“I see you brought the rest of the scum with you,” Martin said, staring right at Aiden. “What is this, the Black family outing?”
“Well, not all the family. One of us is missing.” Jamie winked at them. God, how had she ever let herself get near him? He was odious.
“I heard about your mother. My condolences.”
“I wasn’t talking about my mother. I’m talking about my son.”
Time fr
oze. Brooke’s breath caught in her throat as everybody went silent around them. Even the auctioneer had stopped calling out, as though realizing there was a far better show happening stage left. Slowly she turned to look at Aiden, whose mouth had dropped open. She began to count down in her head – five, four, three, two, one second to disaster.
“You have a son? I didn’t know.” It was the first thing her mother had said. Brooke turned to look at her. She was surrounded by her usual air of grandeur, her body held straight in a way only years of yoga could maintain.
“Oh, I’m pretty sure you know him very well.”
“Jamie, shut the hell up.” Aiden closed the gap between himself and his brother, squaring his body up.
“Hey, I’m talking to Marty and Lil. We’re practically family, after all.”
“What’s he talking about?” Lillian said, frowning at his shortening of her name. “Brooke?”
Brooke opened her mouth to say something, but no words would come out. They were all frozen on her tongue. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move. It was like seeing a train heading straight for you and being caught on the rail.
“Come on, as if you didn’t know.” Jamie’s eyes sparked as he moved his gaze from her father to her mother. “You must have known, right? We’re related, after all. Your grandson is my child.”
26
Aiden couldn’t stand the look of betrayal on Brooke’s face, her eyes full of tears. This woman, the one who dominated everything in his life, he’d hurt her and it was killing him. He reached for her, wanting to pull her into his arms and protect her from the world unraveling in front of her.
But she stepped back and lifted a hand up to wipe away the tears from her cheek. “No lies,” she whispered, her words cutting through him like a knife. “That’s what you promised. You should have warned me. I could have been prepared. I could have done something…”
“Brooke, is this true?” Martin’s voice was low. Menacing. “Did you sleep with this scum?”
“Takes one to know one, Marty.”
“Dad, I…”
“Brooke,” he roared, silencing the room. “Tell me what the hell is going on.”
Her face crumpled. Aiden couldn’t stand the way she looked at him with helplessness in her eyes. He’d betrayed her the way her parents had. Made decisions without believing she had a right to make choices too.
“I need to go,” she whispered.
“You’re not going anywhere,” Martin commanded. But she was already backing away, her hand fluttering at her throat. A moment later, she turned on her heel and ran toward the door, holding her skirt with one hand as she tried to keep herself stable with the other. Aiden turned to follow her when a soft hand touched his shoulder. Ember. Worry was etched on her face.
“Let her calm down,” she said. “Don’t follow her. Sort this out first.”
He followed her gaze to Brooke’s parents and his brother. They were glaring at him, every one of them looking at him as if he had all the answers.
But he didn’t. Not a single one.
Ember was right. He couldn’t leave his brother here with the Newtons. Jamie was too much of a liability for that. Aiden could do nothing but watch as Brooke disappeared through the open doors onto the ocean front, her hair flying in the breeze.
She was gone and he felt empty. So empty. He took a breath and felt the emptiness fill with a whole new emotion.
Cold, white anger.
At Jamie, at Martin and Lillian, but most of all at himself. Because his crappy decisions had led to this confrontation, and the very person he’d been trying to protect had borne the brunt of it.
“Was it something I said?” Jamie was still grinning. For the first time Aiden wondered if his brother was on something. Surely he wouldn’t be so stupid…
Of course he would.
“You,” Aiden said, glaring at the man who shared his blood but nothing else. “Keep quiet.”
He turned to Brooke’s parents. For once Lillian was silent, and Martin was too. But his eyes were full of accusations waiting to come out.
“You should know Brooke was going to tell you everything,” he told them, his voice low. “None of this is her fault.”
Martin’s nostrils flared. “Of course it is. You lay with scum you end up becoming scum.”
There was a gentle hand on his arm again. “That’s not true,” Ember said, her voice sounding stronger than he felt. “She’s your daughter. She’s made mistakes. But Nick isn’t one of those. He’s a joy to everybody.” She looked straight at Brooke’s parents, her eyes wide and true. “I know how much you love him.”
Lillian lifted her hand to her throat, in a gesture that reminded him of Brooke. “I don’t know what to think.”
“No wonder she never told us who the father was,” Martin spat. “She would have been thrown out before she even finished her sentence.”
“Why? Because of his family?” Ember gave Aiden a side glance, as though to tell him to remain silent. She was probably right. If he opened his mouth his fist would almost certainly follow, and the last thing Brooke needed was her father floored by her boyfriend.
If that’s what he still was.
“But don’t you see,” Ember continued, leaning closer to Brooke’s parents, “Nick is part of their family, too. If you hate the Black family, you hate your grandson. And I know you could never do that.”
There was silence as Lillian took those words in. Martin’s face was still mutinous, as though he wanted somebody – anybody – to blame for this.
“I need to think.” Lillian looked up at her husband. “Martin…”
“What?”
“Let’s get a drink and talk about this sensibly.”
“I want answers.”
She ran her hand down his tuxedo-clad arm, and slid her fingers into his. For the first time, Aiden could see a hint of Brooke in her mother. In the soft way she was dealing with her husband, defusing him like a bomb about to implode.
“Come on, darling,” she said, looking up at him. “Let’s go and talk this through.”
Martin swallowed, his adam’s apple bobbing above his crisp, white collar. He might have had twice the strength of his wife, but he still allowed her to pull him along and away from the fracas.
Ember had discreetly left, too. Only Aiden and Jamie were left standing there, staring at each other. Without an audience, the smirk had dissolved from his brother’s face.
Aiden opened his mouth to speak, but had no idea what to say. A memory washed over him, of when he was maybe four or five-years-old and the two of them were cowering at the top of the stairs while their father beat their mother for not keeping his dinner warm. Jamie had slid his hand into Aiden’s and squeezed it as the tears rolled down his cheeks. “It’s okay,” Aiden had whispered. “He’ll fall down and go to sleep in a minute.”
Where had it all gone wrong? Had Jamie tired of being Aiden’s brother, and inhaled whatever it took to forget about his life? Or was Martin Newton right, did the bad run through each of them like a fault in the earth – waiting for the fissure to happen?
“Go outside,” Aiden said to Jamie. He was fidgeting, moving from one foot to the other like he was dancing a jig. “I’ll meet you out there in a moment.”
Jamie blinked, as though he wasn’t sure what to do next. “Will you bring money?”
“No.” Aiden shook his head. “But I won’t bring the cops either if you leave quietly. Wait for me in the parking lot.”
When he returned to the table only Ember and Ally were there, the two of them staring at him with worry as he reached for Brooke’s wrap and his own wallet and keys. Beneath her wrap was her small silver evening purse. He hadn’t realized she’d left without it.
“I tried calling Brooke, but her phone is still here,” Ember said, inclining her head at the purse in his hand. “Lucas and Nate have gone out to look for her.”
“And Griff and Jackson are by the door, keeping an eye on your brother,” Ally add
ed, giving him a sympathetic smile.
His stomach dropped. The thought of Brooke out there all alone without any money or her phone alarmed him. She couldn’t have gone far. Nate and Lucas would probably be walking back in with her by their side any minute. He could talk to her then.
If she’d listen.
“Christ, I’ve messed up.”
Ember gave him the smallest of smiles. “Yeah, you have,” she said kindly.
“What do I do?” he asked them. “Tell me. How do I make this better.”
Ember and Ally exchanged a glance, and turned their heads to look at him. “You know what to do. You’ve been doing it for most of the time you’ve been back,” Ember told him. “Except for this one thing.”
“I was trying to protect her. Jamie’s my problem. She shouldn’t have to worry about him.”
“But she didn’t want your protection. She wanted your partnership.” Ember glanced over at the table on the far side of the room where Lillian and Martin were leaning in toward each other, both of them talking rapidly. “She’s had people making decisions for her all her life. Her father thought he was protecting her by sending you away. Her mother thought she was protecting her by lying to her. She trusted you, Aiden. She thought you believed in her enough for her to make her own decisions. But you didn’t.”
“That’s not what I wanted.”
“But it’s what you gave her. You took her choices away from her and made them yourself.”
“I’m no better than her father,” he said slowly, as realization washed over him. “No wonder she hates me.” He needed a drink. Because every damn word Ember was telling him was true.
“You’re better in one respect,” Ally said, her eyes soft. “You’re listening to the truth, and taking it all in.”
“Give her time,” Ember urged. “And space. And if she comes back to you, grovel like hell.”
“And in the meantime, you should probably go and talk to your brother.” Ally nodded toward the door. “I’m not sure how long Griff and Jackson can stand to watch him.”