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“He thought you would stay there, huh?” Brooks asks, flicking his hand open on the table.
I shrug. “I guess I understand. Not that I would have ever stayed, though.”
“So, Aiden got you out of there?”
Aiden barks out one laugh, shaking his head. “No. Addison had other plans.” Brooks cocks his head and looks at me.
I run my hand through my hair. I always hate this part. I feel bad every time it passes my lips. “I shot Aiden in the arm and ran.” Brooks’s brows shoot up before he starts laughing, slapping himself in the chest.
“Damn, I have a bad-ass sister.”
I smirk at his reaction. This is the first time he’s referred to me as his sister. It feels weird and exciting at the same time.
“You should have known that the first time you met Addison,” Aiden says.
“No.” Brooks shakes his head. “You don’t want to know what I thought of her. It’s illegal in most states.”
I slap my hand to my head. “Maybe you should keep that to yourself,” I say.
Aiden stands up and walks to the counter, grabbing the wine bottle. He refills our glasses and sits back down. We continue talking about our lives, where we grew up. It’s weird how alike we are. Traits that I thought were learned from my environment make me think they were more innate and the environment just brought them out. He’s only eight months younger than me. Melanie joins us, taking a seat at the table. Brooks gets up and gets her a glass, filling it with wine and placing it in front of her.
“Thanks,” she takes a quick swallow. “Lexi fell asleep on the couch watching Tarzan.”
I slap Aiden on the chest. “It’s your favorite movie.” He smirks.
“What can I say, you bring out the animal in me.” He wags his brows. I giggle, rolling my eyes. He’s on a roll tonight with cheesy lines.
“She’s a doll,” Melanie says. I turn my gaze to Melanie and my lips curl into a smile. “Travis told me what happened. She was a blessing given to you. I know you may not want to hear this, but Travis is so proud of you.” Her words are soft but hit me hard. I take in a deep breath and blow it out my nose.
I’ve always wondered what it’d be like having a father who looked at me with unconditional love. Ted took on that role, but I was almost an adult already, so it’s not the same. He loves me, but if something were to happen with Amy, I don’t know if he’d keep in touch. I hope so. I don’t know how to respond to that, so I just smile and nod.
“What’s up with Travis having two kids within a year?” Brooks states, clearly trying to move on from that topic. He glances at me with a slight nod of his head.
Melanie grunts. “That man…” she groans, taking a quick drink of her wine, “…he was heartbroken when your mom left. I told you he went wild.” She looks at me. She did tell me that, what she didn’t tell me was that I had a brother out there in the world. “Unfortunately, Brooks was a byproduct of that wildness.”
“Hey,” Brooks interrupts, holding out his arms. “I’m sitting right here.”
She looks at him warmly, like a grandparent would. “You know he’s extremely proud of you and has never regretted having you. That’s why he handpicked your adoptive parents. It was because of you that he pulled his shit together.”
I jerk my head to Brooks, wondering if this is news to him. He nods. “I knew. Like I said, when I turned eighteen, my parents told me everything.”
“Travis is a good guy. He’s just caught up in a bad business. He was born into it, and he wanted to make sure his son wouldn’t have the same upbringing he did, being burdened into taking on the family business.” When she talks about Travis, it’s obvious that she loves him. Her eyes shine bright, the lines around her eyes wrinkle from her smile.
She tells us stories from when Travis was a child and teenager. I can’t help but grin, listening to the things he did. She talks more about his and my mom’s relationship. That she never saw him act that way toward a woman before or after my mom.
By the time we leave, I feel so much closer to Brooks. We agree that we want to be part of each other’s life. Especially since he has Presley.
He wraps his arms around me when we get to the door. “Travis and I have lunch every three or four months…if you’d like to join us,” he says. That must be why Travis was in the city when he dropped by to see me a few months ago.
I look over at Lexi sleeping in Aiden’s arms and then back to Brooks. I think about the scars on my wrists caused by being Travis’s daughter and even though they are almost completely gone on the surface, the emotional scar will never fade. And I can’t bring that world into Lexi’s.
“I can’t,” I murmur. “I have too much to risk.”
He nods. “I get it. I just wanted to put it out there so you didn’t think he was picking favorites.” He laughs to lighten the mood. My competitive side wants to say he’d pick me, but I keep my mouth shut. That’s one race I don’t want to enter.
Chapter fourteen
“Wake up, birthday girl.”
