Equilibrium (Marauders #4.5) (17 page)

“And just generally awesome.” He leaned down and gave me a kiss. “You need to get going. I’ll call you tomorrow after… whatever happens at the clubhouse.”

“Promise me,” I said. “Promise you won’t just leave without talking to me. And promise me that even if you have to leave, I’ll see you again.”

“You’ll see me again. I swear.”

I stood still because I couldn’t make my feet move. It felt like I physically couldn’t leave him, and I tried my best to not cry.

“I need to tell you something,” I started. “I love you. I know this is probably the weirdest time to tell you, and that you just said that… I don’t know, that you weren’t sure about this, but I need you to know that I do love you.”

He stared at me, and then he gave me one of his best and nicest smiles. “You need to start listening to me. I know how
I
feel, that was never the issue, I’m just not sure you’re feeling the things you feel for the right reasons, yet, but I love you, Eliza. Whatever other shit happens, don’t doubt that, even for a second. And if you do, let me know so I can tell you again.”

“You love me?”

“Definitely.”

“I don’t think I love you for the wrong reasons,” I mumbled.

“Yeah, wait till you see the boyfriend version of me. It’s not as nice as the counselor version of me.”

“You’re not a very nice counselor.”

“That’s my point,” he smiled.

“That’s okay. I kind of like the assholey parts of you.” I hugged him. “Just to get all girly, there’s this song that always makes me think of you. You’re gonna hate it, but I thought I’d tell you anyway.”

“Is it Taylor Swift or Rihanna?”

“Rihanna. It’s called Stay, just listen to it and then tell me how much you hate it.”

“You know it’s totally girly to play songs for your boyfriend?”

“Yup,” I said and took a step back. “But I’m a princess, after all. Get used to the girlyness. It could’ve been a rose. Or, I could’ve given you the song on a CD with a bow around it. And, like, written my name with a little heart over the ‘i’ and everything.”

“Please don’t ever do that.” He sighed. “You’re gonna do that now, aren’t you?”

“I promise to make an impressive loogie just afterwards to compensate.”

With a laugh he pulled me closer again for a kiss, and he didn’t let go. Soon I was against the wall.

“Maybe I can stay for just half an hour more?” I panted.

“That sounds great,” he groaned.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Even-Steven

~oOo~

“EVEN-STEVEN?” ELIZA ASKED BRICK with her big eyes on him. He had no idea who’d taught her the expression, but she’d used it every chance she got the last few weeks.

“That’s not how it works, Baby Girl. You can’t just do things, then hug me and think we’re Even-Steven.”

“But you said my hugs are the best thing in the world.”

“Yeah. I did say that, didn’t I?”

“So they’re better than the cupcake I ate.”

“Okay, honey, I think we need to have another talk about fairness and other people’s property.”

~oOo~

Mel

Mel had seen the cab pull up outside the house, but Brick was downstairs in the TV room. She hoped he wouldn’t notice, but there was a big chance he was basically just using the TV as something to stare at while he listened for the front door to open.

Luckily, Eliza was smart enough to know that that was what Brick was doing, and she snuck in almost soundlessly. When she noticed Mel, she stared at her with big eyes.

“Are you okay?” Mel asked in as low a voice as possible. Eliza shrugged. “Hungry?”

“Where’s Dad?”

“Downstairs. I can bring something to your room.”

“You… You’re not gonna tell him I’m home?”

“Not if you don’t want me to.”

Eliza stood still and thought about it, and then she sighed. “Probably best to just get it out of the way. Besides, I’m guessing it’ll be worse for Roach if he thinks I spent the night there.”

Mel had seen more and more of it, and she’d suspected it, but in that moment, it really felt like Eliza in front of her. The girl who’d never dodge a bullet, and most definitely not her father’s. Because Eliza was probably the only person on the planet who’d never been scared of Brick. Even Mel had been at times, and she didn’t provoke him, but Eliza could; she had no qualms about pissing him off if she thought it was for a good reason.

“I think you know how to get his attention,” Mel said with a smile.

Eliza laughed a little, and then she went back to the front door, opened it and slammed it shut again. Then they waited.

But he didn’t come.

After a few minutes, Eliza shrugged. “It’s probably best I leave him be for a while. Let me know when he leaves in the morning.”

“You’re going to be there?”

Eliza nodded.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

She shook her head.

There were so many things Mel wanted to ask her, but she decided there was time for it later. Instead she settled for just one more.

“Does he make you happy?”

“Yes,” Eliza answered without any hesitation.

Mel walked over and kissed her daughter’s forehead. “We’ll talk more tomorrow.”

She watched Eliza disappear to her room upstairs, and then she waited a few minutes before going down to the TV room where Brick was. He was in his recliner, a black leather monstrosity she hated with a passion, but he refused to throw out. The previous one had broken down ten years earlier, and she’d been so happy about it, until he came home with one that looked almost exactly the same. He’d told her she could do whatever the fuck she wanted with the rest of the house, but he was keeping his armchair. Usually, his taste was great, and he had an eye for interior decorating, but this was the one thing he refused to let go of.

“Babe,” she said and crouched down next to him with a hand on his. “She’s back.”

“I know,” he mumbled, and turned his hand around to hold hers.

Mel understood why Brick was angry, but she was fairly certain he’d misunderstood what was going on between Eliza and Roach. She just wasn’t sure how to convince him about it.

“I fucked up,” he muttered before she had the chance to try. But then she realized that he wasn’t talking about what she thought he was. “I… She was hurt, and it was my fault, and now… I fucked up again. She’s so pissed at me. It’s like all the pent-up anger was released at the same time, and I deserved that—that’s not it. It just pisses me off that it’s because of
him.
”

Mel tried really hard to not laugh about the fact that it was the male rivalry that was getting to Brick more than anything. It had bothered her in the beginning, how she was ‘Brick’s woman’ and crap like that. So Eliza was his baby girl, and her revolt and anger was because she wanted to be someone else’s girl. That, and how they’d lied or at least hidden things from Brick, something he truly loathed.

No matter what he was angry about, he mostly seemed ashamed at the moment. Mel reached up and stroked his cheek.

“Try to see it as something good, a sign that she’s moved on from something really painful, rather than seeing it as her moving on from you.”

Brick chuckled. “I made an ass of myself, didn’t I?”

“Yup,” Mel answered and got up to sit on his lap. “You tend to do that when it’s about her.”

“She was so fucking pissed. She’s yelled at me before, but… fuck! That was…
fury
.” He kissed Mel’s shoulder. “And you were pissed, too. I hate it when you’re both angry at me at the same time.”

“This is a big thing for her.”

“You think it’s the real deal?”

“I think the fact that she’s even trying makes it the real deal, but if that means Roach is forever? I don’t know. But I don’t think Roach is playing her, he wouldn’t, I know that much. I think what he’s feeling is very real.”

Brick sighed and buried his face against the side of her neck, inhaling deeply.

“I’m not just gonna roll over,” he muttered.

“I know.”

“Not gonna say sorry.”

“Never thought you would.” She turned around and gave him a kiss. “Remember what Bear did when
your
son had a secret thing going with
his
baby girl? And do you remember
why
they kept it a secret?”

Brick refused to answer. When Mac and Vi had started seeing each other, pretty much everyone knew they were, but they left them alone to figure things out before they made it public. They gave them a chance to see if it was real or just curiosity.

“I hate it when you’re right and I’m wrong,” he muttered. “What do you think it is? Am I gonna have to get used to the thought of my daughter married to a former street kid with a fucking spider tattooed on his head?”

“It’s not like you to be so shallow,” Mel observed. “Is that really what’s bothering you about him? My sister married a guy who’s covered in ink and who was mostly famous for needing a minimum of two women in his bed? And talking about hoes, your son… I mean, really, that guy—”

“Yeah, we all know Mitch was a slut,” Brick interrupted her. “He’s a good kid, isn’t he? Roach.”

“He’s a kid who thought Eliza was a spoiled brat, but he still took the time to help her, and he did it in a great way. He’s an amazing kid.”

“He thought that about her?” Brick asked and leaned back to look at Mel. “Why do you think he did that?”

“It was pretty obvious.”

She’d seen a lot of people around her dinner table, and no one had been as uncomfortable as Roach. No one had looked at Eliza the way he did in the beginning, either. While the others felt sorry for her, he looked like he wanted to bitch slap her into reality. She’d never mentioned it to Brick, since he’d been a bit too against the entire idea of Roach helping Eliza anyway, but the question had come up around the same time as Eliza was at her worst, so Mel had been prepared to try pretty much anything. Since she wasn’t up for bitch slapping Eliza into reality herself, she’d figured Roach could do it for her.

“I’m not asking you to lose face, but give him a shot. For her sake.” When Brick smiled, she gave him a kiss. “You can mess with him a little. Does that make you feel better?”

“Yup.”

“You’re an ass.”

“You love me,” he laughed. “We kind of owe him, don’t we? Whatever he did, he did a lot to get her back.”

“Yeah,” Mel agreed. “He did, and we do.”

Brick seemed to think about it for a while, stroking his mustache. “I’m still gonna mess with him.”

~oOo~

Roach

“You fucking idiot,” Ahab muttered when he saw him coming through the door. “I gave you one fucking rule when we came here. What was it?”

“Stay the fuck away from the little princess.”

Ahab stopped in front of him and laughed. “That’s quite the fucking shiner you got. And it’s a matching set. Guessin’ you’ll look worse by the end of this day.”

“Probably.”

“And the girl?”

“What about her?”

“You sticking to her, or are you giving her up?”

Roach couldn’t give Ahab a straight answer. He’d thought about it a lot, all of the day before and most of the night. He loved her, and he didn’t want to give her up. Truth was, it might not be up to him, and he had no idea what had been going on in the Baxter house. He’d called Eliza, and they’d talked, but very briefly, and when they talked she hadn’t even seen Brick yet.

“I want to stick to her, but… think I’ll be sent back to New York, but…” He shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess it depends on what happens next and what Eliza says.”

Ahab shook his head. “One fucking rule.”

“I know.”

“And you just had to play the hero and fix her.” Then Ahab chuckled. “Looks like you did, though. Fixed her up real fine.”

“Too soon, dude.”

“Yeah, I know. But you did fix her.”

He assumed he kind of had, or more that he’d helped her fix herself. Roach was more worried how much whatever happened next would fuck Eliza right back up. It was his fault. If he’d just come clean with Brick the second things changed, it wouldn’t have been as much of a problem. Not that he was sure what second things really changed. It had happened so gradually he hadn’t even known until he was in the middle of it.

No one in the clubhouse but Ahab was talking to him, and Mac and Mitch were looking really fucking pissed. Honestly, he thought it was a bit unfair, it wasn’t like he’d raped her. And Mac had done the same fucking thing he’d done. Sort of. At least that was what had happened, if he’d understood Eliza correctly when she’d talked about Mac and Vi.

When Brick finally arrived, it was relief to get away from the rest of them.

“Come on,” Brick said as he walked past him and towards the chapel.

Roach followed him and closed the door behind him. It was just Brick and him, and he preferred that. He assumed he’d end up in the ring outside sooner or later anyway, but he wanted a shot at… explaining? Apologizing? Telling Brick it wasn’t what he thought it was? Roach wasn’t sure he knew himself what it was. He just knew he loved her.

“Sit down,” Brick said with a nod to the chair that was usually Bull’s, the one directly to the left of his own at the end of the table.

He was trying to read Brick’s face, but he couldn’t figure it out. The man didn’t look as pissed as Roach would’ve expected. He didn’t look pleased, but he didn’t look ready to kill, either.

“Here’s the thing,” Brick started, “if I send you the fuck off, I’m pretty sure my daughter will follow.”

That surprised Roach, mainly since Eliza hadn’t said anything like that. She hadn’t even suggested it, and he didn’t think it was very likely, either. This was home to her, and she didn’t want to leave; he knew that much. At least not yet. She’d talked about college, but—

“If I beat the shit outta you,” Brick continued, “she’ll hate my fucking guts. Or… beat you more than I already have. In plain text, this isn’t about you choosing between my daughter and your cut. This is about me choosing between her or sending you out of my fucking sight.”

“Sir—”

“Shut up. I’m not done.” Brick lit a smoke and motioned for Roach to do the same. “I’m gonna ask questions, and you’re gonna answer me honestly. You don’t open your fucking mouth other than to answer my questions. Are we clear?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Skip the fucking ‘sir.’ It’ll just piss me off more. When did this change from you helping her to you… doing other things?”

“After her date,” Roach answered, because he figured that was the most honest answer he could give. “When you… When I went to get her, since she wouldn’t leave her room. She came to see me later that night, and I think that would be when it changed. Or when we admitted that it had changed.”

He left out the part about Eliza being at a strip club; there was no need to tell Brick that. Besides, he hadn’t asked
where
it had happened. Then he realized that Brick probably would find out.

“She came to see me at the strip club.”

Brick sighed. “To The Booty Bank? How the fuck did she even get in?”

“Um, I actually never asked her that. I sent her to my place to wait there… instead.” That might’ve been a stupid thing to say, too. But when he thought about it, he was pretty sure they’d passed the possibility to comment on what was going on in a smart way a few weeks earlier. “I thought that was better than the strip club.”