Page 47 of The Billionaire and His Driver
Zack and Brina laughed. Sully and Ronny gave them a hard look as Ronny’s phone began ringing. He looked at the Caller ID. It was Reynolds McNabb. “Hey.”
“Am I on Speaker?”
Ronny found that an odd thing to ask. “No.”
“Is Miss Hawkins with you?”
An even odder question. “Why?”
“We have Drez Wilburn in custody. I think you may want to hear what he has to say.”
Ronny hesitated. For some reason that sounded ominous to him. “What will he have to say?”
“It’s about Miss Hawkins. If he is to be believed, and he sounds very believable, she may not be who you think she is.”
Ronny’s heart grew faint. It was as if the proverbial shoe he had been waiting to fall just dropped. He looked at Brina. Brina looked those gorgeous, brownish-green eyes at him that always melted his heart. And was still melting it. Because, in that moment, he knew there was no turning back for him. Rise or fall, ride or die, he was not turning his back on her ever again. “We’re on our way,” he said to Reynolds, and then ended the call. “Let’s go, Sabrina,” he said as he stood up and grabbed his suit coat off the back of his chair.
“I’m still eating.”
Ronny was putting on his suit coat. He almost stopped all movement. “What did you say?”
Brina looked up at him. “I’m still eating.”
Ronny’s temper flared. He never liked anybody giving him what he consideredback talk. “I said let’s go!” he said between clenched teeth.
Brina was surprised by his tone. But she knew, by the fire she saw in his eyes, that this was a critical moment in their relationship. She knew she had to stand her ground or forever cede it to Ronny. “And I said I’m still eating,” she replied to him.
The brothers were accustomed to the way Ronny spoke to anybody that disobeyed him. Yet they were shocked that anybody other than them would speak that way to Ronny. But what shocked them more was when Ronny, though pissed, didn’t tell her to take a hike or get home however way she could or otherwise dress her down. He just walked on out.
But Sully was looking at Brina. To him, she was proving her mettle. To him, she just might be that one woman that had what it took to stand up to his brother.
Brina did finish eating her dinner, and she didn’t rush it down either, the brothers noticed. Then she stood up and grabbed her jacket and purse. “Have a great rest of your evening, guys,” she said to the brothers, they returned the nicety, and she walked on out of the restaurant.
Perry, with a grin on his face, looked at Sully. “What was that about?”
But Sully was concerned about Brina. He ignored his brother as he got up and walked out too.
“Just like I said,” Perry said to Zack, shaking his head, “we are always out of the loop.”
“And just likeIsaid,” said Zack, still eating his food. “I don’t give a fuck.”
But he did wonder why Sully, of all people, would get involved.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
When Brina made it outside, she saw Ronny leaned against his Mercedes with Tex standing beside him. Tex was talking, but Ronny, as usual, seemed to be buried in his own thoughts. She wasn’t sure if he would wait on her, given how angry he seemed, but she was pleased that he did.
Ronny watched her as she made her way out of the restaurant and walked over to his car.
“Hey,” Brina said cordially, although she could tell he was still pissed. “I thought you’d be gone.”
“When I tell you to do something,” Ronny said, “it is my expectation that you will do it.”
“If I want to do it, I will. If I don’t wanna do it, I won’t.”
Ronny frowned. “Who do you think you’re talking to? You don’t talk to me with that tone!”
Brina scrunched up her face. “Whattone?” Then she realized Ronny was sounding just like all those other men she’d been with in all those other dead-end relationships. Was this one headed that way too before it barely got off the ground? “You know what,” she said, pulling out her phone, “you don’t have to wait any longer. I’ll find my own way home.” And she began walking away.
