Page 31 of Bad Boys After Dark - Brett
Carson’s features softened at the sound of her saying Daddy. Adeline had lost her parents and had lived in an orphanage in Paris, where Tawny had lived for two years. The two of them had developed a strong relationship, and there was never any question that Adeline would forever be a part of their family. Before Carson and Tawny had married, Adeline had called him My Carson, and once they’d tied the knot and formally adopted her, she’d begun calling them Mommy and Daddy. He glanced at Brett, who was glad she was asking Carson, because just like he couldn’t refuse Sophie a damn thing, Carson’s little monkey owned a big piece of him. He’d give her anything she wanted, which was why he shifted his eyes away from his brother rather than letting him see his struggle.
“You know what, Addy girl?” Carson touched the tip of her nose. “You have school tomorrow and Daddy has to work, but how about if I ask Uncle Micky and Aunt Amanda to have dinner with us tomorrow night?”
She nodded with wide, happy eyes. “Okay! I can play ‘Twinkle, Twinkle’ for them!” Adeline had no interest in books, computers, science, or anything else academic. She loved socializing, music, and arts. She and Carson had been taking piano lessons for months, and she was getting pretty good at it. She loved playing “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.” Mick and the rest of their family had heard her play it about a thousand times, and not one of them would complain about hearing it a thousand more.
She grabbed Carson’s hand and tugged him toward his office. “Let’s get our work done, Daddy, so we can surprise Mommy and get home early.”
“Go ahead, sweetheart. You know where your toys are. I’ll be right there.” Carson kept a stash of toys in a basket in his office. Adeline loved coming to work with him, and everyone in the office fawned over her. She’d gone from being an orphan to having the biggest extended family a girl could ever want.
As she skipped toward his office, Carson turned a serious expression on Brett. “Are you sure you’re okay? You have that look in your eyes.”
“What look?” Brett crossed his arms, feeling exposed.
“Like you want to kill someone.”
He scoffed. “I’m fine. Just got a lot of shit to get through this week.”
“You can delegate the oversight. I’ve told you a hundred times, you don’t have to micromanage the team like you do.”
Carson was great at delegating and trusting people to get things done. Brett hated leaving things in other people’s hands, and if that made him a control freak, then so be it. But that wasn’t what was eating at him now.
“I’ve got it under control, bro. No worries.”
“I know it’s a tough time of year for all of us. You want to talk about it?” Carson knew his daughter had touched Brett so deeply from the very first time he’d met her. She’d stirred his toughest memories of their sister.
Brett ground his teeth together. It was no secret that he had a hard time around Lorelei’s birthday. He had been the closest in age to her, and she used to pretend he was her bodyguard. Some fucking bodyguard I turned out to be. He struggled to push those thoughts aside. He had enough turmoil trying to figure out what was going on with him and Sophie. He didn’t need to be buried under grief, too.
“No, man. I’m good, really. I just wanted to get some stuff done.” He put a hand on Carson’s shoulder and said, “Go watch your little monkey before she colors on your walls or something.”
A wide smile spread across Carson’s face. “I’d welcome it.”
“Yeah, I get it,” Brett said. “I’ll see you later.”
He headed home on foot, thinking he’d stop at NightCaps, but when he reached the bar, his gut roiled. That wasn’t where he wanted to be, chasing skirts for a meaningless fuck he didn’t want to have. He ate up the pavement as he passed the entrance. His phone vibrated with a text, and he whipped it out of his pocket hoping it was Sophie. As quickly as he’d filled with hope, he deflated. It was a text from a comedy club, a client of theirs, about their show later that evening. The theater was founded by four well-known comics who often showed up out of the blue to perform. The place was a total dive, but the shows were funny as hell. Brett had been to the theater a few times with his brothers. The comedy had been raw and dirty, and though most of the women he knew would probably find the show revolting, he had a feeling Sophie would love it as much as he did.
