Page 23 of Lucky Boys
I glared. “Okay, that level of sarcasm wasnotnecessary. Especially because it’s offensive as fuck that you thought I’d ask. I would just take it.” It wouldn’t be the first time.
“D, the feds are all over this fucking thing. I know you’re fucking good, but I’m not sure even you can get around that without them noticing.”
I sighed, frustrated but trying not to let it get to me. “I wouldn’t do it right away or all in one lump sum. It’s a process that I am not explaining to you right now, but either way, if that’s one of the things you’re stressed about, try not to be, okay? We’ll figure it out.”
I slid my hand across the bed, palm up. Brooks grinned, his whole face lighting up, and he brought his hand to mine, just touching my fingertips. My whole arm tingled from the contact and I had to fight the urge to pull away, but Brooks’s expression forced me in place. He didn’t ask for much. I could let him touch my hand, for fuck’s sake.
“You got any easy solutions for the rest of it?” Brooks asked with a hopeful expression, and I laughed drily. “No, sorry.” I had . . . opinions about Luca, and not all of them were complimentary. But I tried very hard not to be too judgmental. I was biased, I knew that, and I only had one side of the story. It was best to keep my thoughts to myself. As easy as it was to forget sometimes, Brooks was a grown-ass man and capable of making his own decisions.
Brooks brushed my fingers along his. “It’s okay, D. Just being here is enough.”
It wasn’t, not really, and I was hit with a big rush offailure. I wished I could just bemore.My best friend, my brother, my everything needed more from me and I couldn’t give it to him.
So instead, we sat in silence until my body’s needs became too much to ignore and I had to get up. Luckily, the room we were given had an en suite bathroom so I didn’t have to ventureout in the hallway. I would have to eventually, but I planned to stall for as long as possible. The room might have been way nicer, and honestly way fucking bigger, than our house, but with the door closed and locked and just Brooks in here, it was easy to forget I wasn’t in my own space. Not only that, but other people, ones I didn’t know super well, lived here. It was . . . unnerving.
The bathroom was as nice as the bedroom, and I eyed the huge walk-in shower with two showerheads. Fuck knew I could use a shower. I probably stunk. But . . . we should probably figure out what was going on. The drugs had knocked me out, so I hadn’t done any work into who those assholes were and who they worked for. I had no idea what had happened while I’d been out, besides Brooks’s interlude, so it was probably best to hold off on the shower for now. There was no way I’d be able to take a quick one, not in there. So, I just washed my face and brushed my teeth and ran a brush through my hair before putting it back into a ponytail. My clothes were all sweaty and gross, so I kicked them off and walked back out into the bedroom in just my underwear. I was pretty sure Brooks would’ve brought my bag in here so I could get changed.
Brooks was frowning at his phone that was ringing.
I stilled. “What’s wrong?”
He jumped, startled. “It’s Mom.”
I relaxed. The way he’d been staring at it, I’d thought . . . Well, I didn’t know what I’d thought, but not our parents.
“So answer it.”
Brooks scowled at me. “Yeah? You wanna explain all this?” He waved his hand around. “To her?”
Okay, he had a point. But also, we both knew Mom wouldn’t give up that easily. The phone stopped ringing.
“You know she’s going to call back. And if you keep ignoring it, she’ll start digging around. They may be retired, but Mom still listens to all the gossip in the community.”
Brooks blew air out of his mouth. “I’m pretty sure that’s her only entertainment these days.” He wasn’t wrong.
A phone started ringing, this time from the nightstand where I guessed Brooks had plugged mine in. We stared at each other before cracking up.
“Ugggh. Answer it, I guess.”
I strolled over, and sure enough Mom’s number was on the screen.
“Be glad it’s not FaceTime,” I told him honestly before hitting accept.
“Hi Mom.”
“Hi, Diego, honey. How are you?”
“I’m…okay.” I couldn’t bring myself to lie to her completely, even if we agreed not to give them all the nitty gritty details, “I’ve had a rough night, but I’m doing better now.”
She was silent as she processed and tried to think of the best way to respond. Mom was always careful not to be my therapist or push me in a direction I may not be ready to go.
Finally she asked, “Do you want to talk about it?”
I sighed, “Not really. I’m sorry.”
“Diego, you don’t ever have to apologize about that. But know I’m always here if you need me.”
I smiled. “I know, Ma. I never doubted that. Brooks was here, we worked through it. I’m doing okay now, I swear. Just tired.”
