Chasing His Brother's Bride
Chasing His Brother’s Bride – Chapter 20

The tinkle of giggling and the feel of something tickling the end of her nose made Jolie grumble and rub her nose frustratedly.

“Mommy, you’re in daddy’s bed,” Pia’s chortling made her open one eye.

“Well would you look at that, Pia,” Brix’s rumbly voice caught her ear. “Mommy snuck into my bed.”

“Naughty mommy,” Malik’s voice carried from behind her warm and sultry.

“I did not sneak,” she whispered slamming her eyes shut as she realized Malik was cuddled up behind her and Pia was snuggled right in between her and Brix. Brix’s bare feet were twisted with hers. She also realized they were sharing a pillow. How damn close had she gravitated to him in the night? She’d been dreaming of both men who were in the bed with her. God, she prayed she hadn’t sleep talked.

“Why are you in here?” Pia found this situation hilarious as Malik behind her was lifting the blanket to check out her attire.

“What are you doing?” she grunted and slapped at his hands.

“I’m making sure you’re wearing the same flannel you were in when I tucked you into the sofa,” his breath was warm on her ear as he teased her.

“Of course, I’m wearing the same pjs.” She hid her face in the pillow in embarrassment.

“Mommy had a nightmare,” Brix tugged Pia into his arms and nuzzled her.

Her daughter squealed about his face being scratchy and Jolie opened her eyes again to see the dark eyes of Brix laughing at her discomfort, his beard coming in thick, his face relaxed and rested. He appeared happy and content laying there with Pia tucked under his chin. She had a very strange compulsion to touch his beard with the palm of her hand and so she tucked it tightly under her pillow.

“Good morning,” he laughed at her obvious discomfort.

“Can I ask what happened after I left last night?” Malik’s teasing voice as he flung a leg over her h*p and cuddled her from behind made her freeze.

“Malik,” she felt panicky and she stared at Brix who reached out a hand to touch her cheek.

“Breathe, Jolie. You’re safe.”

She nodded at his words and tried to relax. Malik’s grip on her had her very on edge but she noted it was not the same panicky feeling she had when any other man apart from these two got too close. She was feeling something decidedly different which was making her nervous. Very nervous. She had a flash of a dream she’d had in which the two men were not nearly as separate as they were right now. She prayed again she hadn’t talked in her sleep.

He looked over her head to Malik, “she woke up with a nightmare. We had a chat. She helped me with the report I was bitching about last night and she fell asleep. I didn’t want her to crawl back in with Pia in case she woke her with another nightmare. I left the doors open so I could hear Pia if she woke up.”

“What did you dream about, sweetheart?” Malik turned her in the bed so she was facing him. His eyes were serious and sad as he pushed her hair off her forehead. “Are you okay? You’re safe you know.”

“I think she simply had a long and overwhelming day full of bad memories. Today is a new day and a new beginning.” Brix’s tone reminded them they were in the presence of a curious child.

“Mommy, did you have bad dreams about the monsters again?”

“Yes, baby but Brix woke me up.”

“Did he give you cuddles and k****s like you do for me when I have nightmares?”

“Yeah, mommy, did he?” Malik’s voice taunted her as his eyes danced merrily.

“No, he did not.” She glared at him. “Quit it.” He had her pulled even closer. “What are you doing?”

“Hugging my new BFF,” he grinned at her. “We’re going to be together forever so we may as well be best friends. Do you know what I do with my other best friend?” he made wiggling movements with his eyebrows and when she blushed a deep shade of red, he smirked. “We go for brunch on Sundays. What were you thinking, dirty girl?”

“I know what she was thinking. It was on her mind right before she fell asleep at three am. I think my fiancée is getting more comfortable with us.”

“What’s a fiancée? Pia asked excitedly.

“It’s when someone is going to get married.”

“Mommy is getting married?”

“Yup.” Brix said rolling onto his back and lifting Pia to sit on his chest. “Wanna be the flower girl?”

“I can be a flower girl? Yes, yes, yes!” she screamed excitedly. “Who is mommy going to marry?”

“Me,” Brix told her and Pia’s eyes got huge and she clapped her hands. “And,” he touched her nose, “would it be okay with you if I adopted you and was your daddy forever?”

Her bottom l*p trembled and she nodded.

Jolie watched as a thousand emotions crossed her little girls’ features and felt her own heart vibrating in her chest. The child flung herself at Brix, landing in a sob onto his chest, mumbling about him being her daddy for real.

Brix let out a grunt as the kid’s head slammed his collarbone. “Yes sweetheart, for real,” he hugged her close. “We are going to live together in the same house and be a family.”

“I get a daddy forever,” she cried. “Is Daddy Malik staying with us forever too?”

“Of course, he is,” Brix rubbed her back as she gave nervous giggles and sniffles simultaneously. “Maybe I should have fed her before giving her all the news.”

“Nonno messaged about eight times already this morning to see if we’re up yet,” Malik ruffled Pia’s hair. “Why don’t you and I get your medicine since you’re about an hour late with it,” he gave chastising glances at Brix and Jolie who opened their mouths in protest at him, “and then we’ll let you pick out whatever pretty dress you want to wear. Mommy can come get you dressed and cleaned up when she gets out of the comfy bed.” He ruffled Jolie’s hair and smirked, “I like this sleepy, wakey-up look you have going on.”

“Leave my wife alone,” Brix said with amusement and when Jolie’s head rotated fast in his direction he laughed outright. “Oh, I knew I’d get the look. It’s too funny how predictable you are.”

“Not funny,” her lips were set in a straight line as she shifted her glare back and forth between the two men who were now roaring uproariously at her discomfort. When Brix swung his legs out of the bed and stood up, Jolie shrieked in horror noting he was in only his boxers. “Brix!”

“I wear far more revealing swim trunks,” he scoffed, “and when we go on a family vacation Pia will see me in those too.”

“I was sleeping next to you while you were,” she flapped her hands around excitedly and then paused. “Hey, why are you in the bed? You said you would take the couch?”

“You said I didn’t have to take the couch.”

“Because I would go out there!”

“Well, how silly,” he mocked her and made his way to the bathroom dragging his feet and stretching his arms over his head.

Jolie noted the t-shirt which he’d had on the night before had covered up an entire torso of ink and his back was thick and muscular and sported a multitude of tattoos all conjoined. She was riveted. Then she was distracted by Pia jumping off the bed and Malik leaning to whisper in her ear, “he’s muscly like that all over. Almost makes you want to check for yourself, doesn’t it?” She gasped and pulled the pillow over her bright red face, ignoring Malik’s throaty chuckle as he followed Pia towards the door.

Pia was asking Malik if he had paintings on his back like Daddy did and Malik said he did. He promised to show her all the pretty designs later. He looked over his shoulder, “does mommy want to see them too?”

“No!” she hissed and burrowed deeper under the blankets. She definitely wanted to see them all.

“Liar,” Malik sang out as he skipped happily with Pia to the kitchenette where her medications were kept.

The way he behaved with her and Pia was not how she expected a big, bad mafia enforcer, head mafia enforcer at that, to behave. He was playful, teasing and doting if she were honest. She heard the shower turn on in the ensuite bathroom and bolted from the bed. The last thing she wanted to be doing was laying in his bed while Brixton Beckwith showered.

She skittered past Malik and Pia in the kitchen and Pia had her head resting on the table watching her with dark eyes. The child had never sat so still for her in putting her eardrops in and she felt a twinge of annoyance at the way the girl had capitulated to them yet fought her at every turn.

“Where’s daddy?” Pia called out.

“Shower,” Jolie answered and moved towards the other bedroom. “I’m going to take my own shower.”

“Can I have a shower?”

“No. You had a bath last night. Pick out a dress like Malik said and you can get yourself dressed. You can come in and brush your teeth before we go out.”

“I don’t want to brush my teeth,” she called after Jolie.

She turned the shower on and began removing the flannel pyjamas, blushing as she remembered Malik asking if she were wearing the same ones. As if she would have gotten naked and then had to change her pyjamas into different ones because of Brix. She felt the flush on her body at the notion and knew it wasn’t the hot water making her skin red. These two overbearing men were doing their darndest to make her aware of them in a s****l way and this morning was the true first time in her life since Val she was overtly aware of a man.

Brix’s body was muscular and toned and the number of tattoos on his body made her want to get close and check them out. “Curiosity,” she told herself firmly. “It’s only curiosity.” The little voice in her head mocked her with the echo of how her knees had closed reflexively at Malik’s question about checking the rest of his muscles out. She bet his a*s was so hard you could bounce a quarter off it. “Ugh!” she stomped her foot frustratedly. Yet, each time she closed her eyes, the image of Brix’s bronzed skin covered in colorful ink replayed in her mind. Worse, her thoughts were punctuated with Malik’s comment and it reinforced her recollection of Brix saying they’d kissed and how he hadn’t denied oral s*x with Malik. Her crazy dreams weren’t helping the mix.

She was in the midst of wrapping in a towel grumbling under her breath about needing to get her mind out of the gutter when the door flung open excitedly and Pia barged in.

“I’m here to brush my teeth.”

“Great.”

“I need help with my toothpaste.”

“Sure.”

“I want Daddy to help.”

“Well, he can’t because I’m in a towel.”

“So?”

“It’s not appropriate.”

“What’s appropriate mean?”

“It means it’s not the right thing for him to see me in a towel. I don’t have clothes on.”

“But he saw it yesterday. Remember we looked at your tiger stripes together.” She hopped from one foot to the other and then bellowed, “daddy I need help with my toothpaste.”

“Oh, my goodness!” Jolie made wide eyes at her. “I can help with the toothpaste.”

“But I want daddy!”

“And I’m wearing a towel.”

“What is going on in here?” Brix entered the bathroom buttoning up a dress shirt and he came to a full stop and let his eyes rove over Jolie again. They narrowed on the scar which ran across her breasts immediately above where the towel was tucked. Her bra had hidden it yesterday.

“Daddy, I want your help with the toothpaste but mommy said no because she’s in a towel and it’s not propriate.”

“Appropriate,” Jolie shook her head in frustration.

“How about Mommy goes and gets dressed and I’ll help you with your toothbrush,” his eyes finally lifted from the scar which she refused to hide. As she moved to pass him, he stopped her and rubbed his thumb over the thin scar and met her eyes. He shook his head sadly and much to her surprise, muttered, “I wish he were still alive so I could give him a taste of his own medicine.”

She couldn’t help herself and she touched his cheek softly, “if he were still alive, I wouldn’t be.”

He exhaled loudly and then looked to Pia who was watching them with narrowed eyes. “Right, teeth.” He made big eyes and lifted her to sit on the edge of the vanity. “Let me guess, the toothbrush with barbie on it is mommy’s toothbrush?”

Jolie fought the smile as Pia’s squeal of laughter at his teasing lightened the mood but then she grimaced at Malik lounging on the bed. “What are you doing?”

“I want to see.”

“You want to see what?”

“What Brix saw.”

“No, you don’t.”

“Yes, I do.” He hopped off the bed, moved to her, and looked at the line on her chest, dragging his fingers across it. He cursed under his breath. “The rest?”

“Malik why?”

“Because I am personally going to deal with Chiara. Elio changed his mind last night.”

“No.” she whispered feeling sick to her stomach. “Please don’t.”

“Turn,” he said and as she did so he pushed the towel down, exposing her back but not her buttocks. His fingers lightly touched the marks and then he exhaled slowly and with gentle fingers lifted the towel back up. He turned her around and kissed her forehead. “I will make them pay. All of them. Every single one of them who was in the condo and saw what was done to you and walked away. Brix and I, we are going to make them pay.”

The darkness in his eyes made her flinch. The rage and fury in his very controlled and taut frame were frightening and yet, oddly, she felt none of the fear she had with Val. All she felt was worried for whoever was going to cross his path and how she had put him on it.

“Malik,” she swallowed the emotions in her throat. “I don’t want any more b***d on my hands.” The urge to fling herself at him and hug the sadness off his face made her freeze.

“It won’t be on your hands, Jolie.” He sighed, closed his eyes briefly and when he reopened them, he put a smile back on. “I simply needed to see for myself. Forgive me?”

She nodded before she could stop herself and was rewarded with a huge smile which made her heart stop and then begin again at full tilt.

“Good girl.”

As the man turned abruptly and exited the room and the screech of Pia’s peels of laughter and Brix’s rich rumbling chuckles escaped the bathroom, she wondered what the hell was wrong with her. In two days, she had gone from being terrified of any man to being intensely aware of the two she had been running from for the last six years. She was clearly losing her mind.