Surrounded (Unsettled Series Book 2) (3 page)

Brooklyn didn’t know it yet, but I had a surprise planned for her. I had my secretary book us flights to Atlanta for a day trip to the Georgia Aquarium. Since she couldn’t disconnect her camera from her face, I figured she’d love it since it seemed like she carried the thing everywhere.

I stopped by the kitchen to grab some water before I left.

“Morning” Alex greeted from behind me. I hadn’t even heard her sneak up on me. “I didn’t know you spent the night,” she commented.

“Mornin’.” I looked up to face her, “Yeah, it got late and we fell asleep.”

“You don’t need to explain. I was just surprised to see you…you know, because,” she stopped mid-sentence.

“Because what?” I asked, curious.

“Nothing. Brooklyn never has guys over, that’s all.” I could tell she felt weird slipping up and telling me one of her best friend’s secrets. I did my best to hold back a smile at the news. It was nice to know Brooklyn hadn’t been running around with an entourage of other guys, like most girls her age. Not that that would have been a deal-breaker.

“Is the Ginger Ale for Jay?” I asked, eyeing the green bottle in her hand.

“Yeah. He had more than he should of last night. I’m sure I’ll be hearing about it all day” she said, wincing. I laughed at her comment. “Serves him right for being a sore loser” she said, smiling. The four of us had spent most of the evening having drinks and playing Gin…until Damon showed up.

“Ouch,” I laughed. Alex and Jay seemed to have a playful relationship.

“Are you leaving?” She leaned against the wall. “I hope you aren’t sneaking out without telling her bye.”

“Well I tried to wake her, but she was pretty out of it.”

“Yeah, B’s like a freakin’ bear. She doesn’t sleep, she hibernates. Surprised she doesn’t drool, too.”

“Nope, no sign of drool” I said, playing along with her joke. “Well, I’m going to run to my pad to change and shower, but you might be able to help me with something.”

Alex’s eyebrows ran up her forehead, “Fare for the bus ride home?” she joked.

I smirked in response. I liked Alex. In some ways she reminded me of Brooklyn with her spitfire personality. Maybe that’s why they were best friends.

“Funny, but no. It’s actually two things. Where is the nearest florist?” I asked.

“There’s one a block from here. I think they open at nine. I only know because I forgot Jay’s birthday and had to run out and get a card.” 

“Okay, thanks.”

“What’s the other favor?”

“My foundation is hosting a charity benefit next Saturday and I want to take Brooklyn. Would you be able to get me her dress size so I can have
my assistant pick something up for her?” The last thing I wanted to do was get caught rummaging through her closet. That just seemed weird. I cared about Brooklyn, but I was not going to pick out clothes for her. Hell, I hated shopping for myself. My sister, Laura, kept trying to convince me to hire a personal shopper, but I was skeptical. I didn’t need someone to tell me how I should appear in public. I wasn’t
that
bad of a dresser.

“I’m her best friend. I can find her something. Plus, I know her style. I’ll send you the info, then you can just purchase. Deal?”

“Good call.” She was right, if anyone knew what Brooklyn liked, it was her.

“So, are we allies now?” she asked, pursing her lips, “Because friend or foe, if you hurt her Logan, I’ll want to rip your legs off. I probably won’t be able to because, you know, you’re bigger than I am. But that won’t stop me from hiring one of my shady clients to do the job.” Alex’s hazel eyes flickered with mischief.

I laughed, “Um, I don’t know if I want to be your ally if you’re already threatening bodily harm. You’re like a female version of a big brother.”

“Well, you have nothing to worry about unless you screw up. Contrary to popular belief death stares can really kill you.” She abandoned the serious look on her face and let a smile fall across her mouth, “But what the hell? I’m willing to give you a shot. You may actually be the only person she’s met in a long time that might be right for her.”

“Glad to know you have so much faith in me. But don’t worry, I have no intention of hurting her. She’s kind of growing on me,” I grinned. Truth be told, I liked that Alex watched out for her best friend. It was more than obvious she didn’t want Brooklyn to get hurt any more than I did.

“And don’t worry about the dress. I’m on it. Clearly B hasn’t told you my weakness is shopping. I will shop you out of house and home, so be careful what you ask for.”

“The budget is five grand. Can you work with that?”

She nodded enthusiastically, “I think I can manage. Good luck,” she called, backing out of the kitchen.

“Cool, well I’m going to get out of here. I have something nice planned for her today.” I’d made arrangements to fly to Atlanta so we could spend the day at the Georgia Aquarium.

I grabbed my jacket off the coat rack and opened the front door. “I’ll be back soon. I’m going to grab some flowers for Brooklyn and drop them
by for when she wakes up. But if I don’t see you, please know you and Jay are invited to the charity benefit also. I hope to see you there.”

“Oh,” she paused. “I still need your cell number to text you the info for the dress.”

“What’s your number?” I pulled my phone from my jeans.

Alex rattled off her number as I typed it into my phone. I hit send and waited for it to ring.

“Now you have it,” I said, ending the call. “I’ll drop the flowers off on the porch and knock on the door. Can you just put them on the counter so she sees them when she wakes up? You know, whenever that is?” I said, chuckling.

“Sure thing.”

I stepped out of the house, and headed down the stairs. I turned left and started walking. 

“Hey!” Alex hissed. I turned to see her pointing in the opposite direction.

“Right” I said, turning and walking past the house for the second time.

Alex disappeared inside with a small wave and I walked to  the flower shop.

The store—Valentine’s Florist—had just opened when I walked up. After a bit of back and forth with the florist, we decided on a dozen roses in a distinct orange color. Vibrant and unique, just like Brooklyn. I thought about red, but this whole thing with her was new and I didn’t want to misrepresent anything. Did I love her? I didn’t know. I certainly cared about her, but I didn’t know how much I could commit to at the moment. The florist told me orange roses signified passion and desire, and those were two things we definitely had. So orange roses it was. For some reason at that moment the memorium that was written on my Grandfather’s gravestone popped into my head;
When life gives you a hundred reasons to cry, show life you have a thousand reasons to smile.
That was Pépé’s favorite line. Maybe it was everything Brooklyn had told me last night. Maybe it was just because I liked seeing her happy. But either way, I wanted these flowers to be her thousand reasons to smile, even if it was just for today.

I texted Alex while I was still in the store to let her know that the flowers would be on the porch in the next fifteen minutes. The clerk rang me up and gave me a card and stick to attach to the roses. Because I
doubted Brooklyn wanted to hear some love mush crap, I stuck with something simple that I knew would make her laugh:

Do I hear trumpets? I see someone’s awake and out of bed—good job. If you’re still reading this note that means you’re wasting time. Get dressed!

--L
ogan

My goal these days was to do things that would make Brooklyn smile more than she frowned.

Logan

“Oh good, you’re back
.” Jen said from behind me Monday afternoon. I’d just made it back in from lunch.

“Yep, I’m back. What’s going on?” I asked, turning away from the window. My office was one of the very few in our suite that had a clear view of the Gannett building in Tysons Corner.

“Shatwell wants to know if there is any way to reschedule the meeting and walk through to Wednesday afternoon, rather than Thursday. He just got word that he has to travel internationally, but doesn’t want to leave before the two of you can discuss the Fremont Bridge in detail.” Wendall Shatwell was the VP I was consulting with on a project in Seattle. 

“He just realized this today?” I settled into my chair and looked at Jen. I didn’t mind flying as much as I annoyed the sluggish feeling of being jet lagged for days on end, but the consulting job in Seattle was a good opportunity. I hated the idea of leaving Brooklyn though. I was enjoying the time we spent together and hated that we were going to be apart already.  I’d be glad when I was back in D.C. and Brooklyn was back within my reach.

“That’s what he said. But, because I’m the best assistant you could ever ask for, I already called to find out what charter flights are available. It’s too late to book a commercial flight. Jon is on standby. Just let me know what you want to do.”

“What time would I need to leave?”

“Jon said he can have you in the air at 10AM tomorrow morning.” Great. A complete turn and burn. At least I’d be back earlier and that would give me more time with Brooklyn over the weekend.

“Okay, schedule everything please.” I shook the mouse on my desk to wake up my computer.

“Already on it”, she said, exiting my office and closing the door behind her. I opened a new e-mail screen and began to type.

I let Brooklyn know that at the last minute I was going to have to travel to Seattle, but she was welcome to stay at the penthouse apartment while I was gone. I hadn’t made a suggestion like that since Ashely. Honestly, I surprised myself, but I would much rather Brooklyn stayed at the apartment versus seeing Damon again.

I didn’t know how Brooklyn would take my e-mail. She hadn’t been the biggest fan of my idea when I brought it up Sunday morning, but I didn’t want to chance Damon showing up at her place again since he was still in town and I didn’t know when he was leaving.
Unfortunately.
Brooklyn needed to be protected from him. He’d broken her heart years ago and now he was back, stirring up trouble. Whether she agreed with me or not on that topic was another story. 

That I was willing
to have someone stay in my private space while I was gone was a step in the right direction for me. I was by no means ready to get burned again, but Brooklyn didn’t seem to have some secret agenda. Hell, she was too busy trying to make sure she didn’t get burned herself.

I hit send on my email and then called my housekeeper Amelia to ask her to pack some clothes for me before I left tomorrow. When my last conference call ended at six, I finally left the office and headed home.

My phone began to ring around
9:15 that night and I knew exactly who it was. The only person who waited to call me this late on a regular basis was Trev.

“What’s up man? Haven’t heard from you.” I hadn’t spoken to Trev in a few days, so it was good to hear from him.

“You know how things get. Not really much down time when you’re trying to run your own company.”

“Yeah, I know the feeling. I’m glad Mel is on board with moving back to the area though. I’m looking forward to being able to hang out again.”

I laughed. “Dude, it’s only a 40 minute drive at most. It’s not like you live on the other side of the country.”

“So what? Sometimes I don’t feel like taking that hike, so moving up to Tyson’s will be a good thing. Plus, with the second gym opening we’ll get some more hits in.”

“Yeah. That’ll be cool.” Trev knew how much I was into baseball. I didn’t watch TV much, but when it came to baseball season, I tried not to miss many SF Giants games—even if I was watching it on DVR. It was the one thing that all the “Colton men” had in common…the love of the game.  And thankfully Trev and I bonded over it too.

“Well, I think it’s safe to say that the best thing we could’ve ever done for your batting average was
to build another gym.” Trev and his girlfriend Melissa owned a sporting complex that took off and now was crazy popular. Now they were opening a second location in Tyson’s corner and he was itching to get me in there. Trev was always heavy into working out and weight lifting.

Trev scoffed. “Correction: I think it’s good for your batting average—being that you can’t hit for shit.”

“Now you’re hallucinating. I guess the air up there on the millionaire level really
is
some good stuff.” Trev liked to give me a hard time, but in reality he wasn’t doing badly for himself by any stretch of the imagination. I’d had my accountant look over their books, and if they stayed on their current course, they’d be able to open a third location within the next three years.

“Well I for one will be looking forward to it.”

“Well whenever you get it setup, let me know. What else is going on? How’s the family?”

Trev sighed. “Everything is the same as it always is. Dad still hasn’t admitted that he has a drinking problem. Mom still thinks he’s going to get help and get better. Meanwhile the rest of us are just over the whole situation. I’m still pissed at her for going back after the last time. It’s like she can’t see things for what they really are.”

I hated that his mom was caught in the middle of such a bad deal. When Trev’s dad was sober he was actually tolerable, but once he fell off the wagon it took a helluva long time for him to get back on.

I tried to think of something soothing to say. “Well, you know you can’t make people do things they don’t want to do.”

“Yeah, I know. That’s the other reason I’m glad Mel finally agreed to move. As much as I want to be here for my mom, I can’t continue to be her escape route. Maybe if I’m not here she’ll be forced to open her eyes more.”

Every time something happened with Trev’s dad, his mom would stay a couple days in their guest room until things settled back down. Trev hated that things were like that between his parents. When we were college roommates, I could tell that the silent abuse his father put his mother through angered him. I would never forget the day him and his brother went to the hospital to check on his sister. She’d gotten caught in the crossfire during one of the parents’ fights. When he got back to our place
afterwards, I had my stash of Scotch waiting for him.

A lot of the time, Trev was much more optimistic about the situation with his parents than I was. If there was one thing that I knew, it was people in toxic situations often didn’t know how to get out of them. Not unless things had hit rock bottom. Trev’s mom wasn’t at that stage—hadn’t been for the last nine years. Trev and Mel talked about starting a family at some point, and Trev was adamant that he would not let his kids grow up around an abusive grandfather. So unless his dad got his act together, he could pretty much kiss any relationship wit
h his future grandkids goodbye. For a grandfather to miss that would be a huge mistake because kids don’t forget. It was a sad situation. I remembered so many things Scott and I got to do with our grandparents before the accident.  “Well, what day do you move up?” I asked.

“On the twenty seventh. Mel got all the movers scheduled so I’m hoping everything goes smoothly. You know how anal she gets.”

I shook my head even though Trev couldn’t see me. He’d certainly nailed his girlfriend’s temperament. “Yes, Trev. We know how anal Mel gets about schedules and organization. But that’s what she has you for—to screw everything up” I said, laughing. Trevor was a professional procrastinator. 

“Thanks. You’re a real pal.”

“Always have been” I retorted. “Well, I actually got to go. I have to finish looking over a job and then make sure I have everything I need for a trip I have tomorrow. ”

“Where are you headed now?”

“Seattle”

“Make sure you bring your trench coat for all that rain.”

“Ha. Ha. Yeah, we’ll see.”

“Alright man, have a safe trip. I expect to see you in a couple weeks when we move up there. And don’t give me any of that ‘I’m busy shit’
cause I have no problem showing up to that unnecessarily big ass house in McLean and dragging you out for a beer.”

‘Not necessary. You know where to find me. Maybe we can all go out and have drinks when you get settled in.” Just then the line beeped. I checked the screen and smiled. Brooklyn was trying to call me. I’d call her back after I finished up my notes for my business trip.

“You going to bring Brooklyn?” he asked. “Mel has been harassing me about when she’s going to get to meet your new girlfriend.”

“I actually think they’d hit it off.”

“Glad that ‘Logan I-don’t-want-to-commit anymore, Colton’ changed his mind about being an island.”

“Yeah, well you have no room to talk when you still haven’t put a ring on Mel’s finger. You know she deserves it, man. “

Trev groaned loudly, “I know. I know.” An odd silence fell between us. Trev proposing to Mel was a sore subject between the two of them. Mel wasn’t feeling the idea of having a common law marriage with no ring.

“Well, you and Mel set something up and I’ll bring her.”

“Alright. Well, now I gotta go. Mel just came and found me and is giving me the evil eye because I haven’t continued the boring ass task of tagging boxes with post it notes. Tell me this shit ends soon” he pleaded into the phone.

“I’m staying out of that” I said laughing. “I’ll hit you up later.”

“Cool. Talk soon.”

As I placed the phone on the table, my email pinged. Brooklyn had responded to my note from earlier. Relief washed over me as I read her message. She agreed to stay at the apartment while I was gone, so that was good news. I started to respond to her message, but I really needed to get the last of my notes done. Although I was the CEO of Colton, I still liked to be hands-on.

When I looked at the clock again it was already eleven forty five. My eyes were glossing over and I needed a break from reading. I picked up my cell and dialed Brooklyn’s number. I wanted to call her before it got any later. Time had slipped by too quickly already.

“Hello?” As soon as she spoke I felt bad for calling so late. There was no hiding the sleepiness in her voice.

“Hey babe, sorry I’m calling so late.” 

“Everything okay?”

“It’s better now that I get to hear your voice. I didn’t want to leave tomorrow without saying bye. And I got your email.”

“Oh, yeah. Is it still okay with you if I stay?”

“Of course. I’m just jealous that my sheets will get to feel you when I won’t.”

“Hmmm…that is unfortunate, for both of us really,” she drawled in her sexy sleepy voice and desire for her streaked through my body. God it was going to be a long day away from her. “Guess I just have to get reacquainted with Jack Hammer,” she added with a teasing note in her voice.

“Reacquainted with who?” I asked, confused.

“Don’t make me say,” she moaned.

“Tell me.”

“My vibrator.” I held back a laugh because I knew that was the only thing that she owned that probably had such a funny name. At that moment my desire for her intensified.

“Jack Hammer, huh? Well, is Jacky there with you now?”

“No, he’s sleeping.”

“Good, I don’t want him to get jealous.”

“Why would he get jealous?”

“Because we’re going to play a little game—”

“Mmm, sounds interesting,” she murmured into the phone. “And what’s the name of this game, anyway?”

“I believe it’s called Logan Says.”

“No game is fun when you play alone,” she said into the phone.

“You’re never alone.” I said. “Now take your shirt off. Show me your sexy body,” I ordered. The thought of her lying in bed half naked made me immediately stand at attention.

“You look so sexy baby,” I said, taking her on a tantalizing game that she wouldn’t forget anytime soon. At some point during our game I couldn’t hold back anymore and began to stroke myself as she moaned into the phone and eventually found her climax.