Page 46 of Kid
“That’s what you’re going with, right?” I closed the door and pulled on my seatbelt.
“I’m working on being more respectful.” Sean chuckled. “After all, once I graduate, I’ll be a part of the workforce, right? Apparently, being politically correct goes a long way. Where to now?”
“2322 Mozart Plaza.”
Sean nodded and I looked out the window as we began moving. When I pulled myself together again, we were at the address and Sean was staring at me with a worried expression. Instead of questioning it, I slipped my sunglasses on and Sean and I hurried up the front steps and in through the glass doors. The elevator ride was the longest few seconds of my life, but I lived through it then stepped into the brightly lit foyer of the firm and removed my sunglasses.
Sean took a seat while I approached the front desk.
“Welcome to Pharm, Lieberman and Dean.” The too petite woman at the front smiled brightly at me. “How may I help you?”
“My name is Nella Ortiz.” I informed her. “I’m here to see Thien Pharm.”
“Do you have an appointment?”
“No—please tell him it’s Calie Ortiz’s sister.”
She nodded. “Have a seat please.”
Offering her a smile, I walked back to take a seat beside Sean. We talked for a little bit—I knew it was more to keep my mind active than anything else. He told me about his sister, the movie star. I knew about her for I’d asked Chelsea what his story was.
His sister had become a Hollywood star and had left Sean behind. He struggled after the military and didn’t really have anyone else to turn to. Within that time, he’d fallen in with some bad people.
Thankfully, the brothers got him out and Sean had been determined to do better.
“The funny thing, I never asked her for anything.” Sean stretched his long legs out in front of him and dragged his palms up his thighs. “Never once—not even when I was hurt and they asked if they should call my relatives. I declined and I suffered on my own. But when my therapist said I needed family around me. People who loved me.”
“Then why not reach out to the brothers?”
“It’d been a while since Mamba and my sister dated.” He admitted. “I didn’t think they’d want me.”
“Sean, Mamba broke up with your sister, not with you.” I told him, softly. “I’m sure if you’d reached out to him, told him you were in trouble, he would have helped.”
“Hindsight being what it is.”
“Yeah.”
“Anyway, I came home, and I was broken.” He continued. “I needed my big sister, to lean on her. Every time I called her, the first thing out of her mouth wasI’m not sending you money.”
“Wow.”
“I didn’t need her money. I may not have had a lot, but I was working at this nightclub as a bouncer and I was making enough to survive.” Sean scoffed. “I was hurting. She was the only family I had and she didn’t even want me.”
“Well, it’s okay.” I rubbed his arm. “You have a family now, if you want it.”
He chuckled. “That’s what Chelsea said.” Sean looked around the room then back at me. “The strange thing—this family is more stability for me than I’ve ever had. And I need that. We know what happens when I don’t have people to keep me on track.”
“Yeah. You wind up in my best friend’s condo, tied up with her thong.”
Sean blushed heavily.
“I don’t like talking about that.”
I laughed.
“But seriously.” He rubbed his cheeks. “I keep having this nightmare that I’ll fuck it up.”
“You won’t fuck it up.” I told him. “I won’t let you.”
