Chasing His Brother's Bride
Chasing His Brother’s Bride – Chapter 24

Opal eyed her like she was insane as they sat at the boardroom table with coffees between them. “He saw you naked.”

“Yes.”

“Then you hit him.”

“In the back of the head.” She had never casually raised a hand to anyone. She was devolving. She was sure of it.

“You’re going to marry him.”

“It keeps a cartel leader from putting a bullet in my head.”

“Do you want to marry him?”

“Nobody wants to marry a man they don’t love, Opal.” She wanted to marry him. She wanted it all and it strangely included Malik. She was going to die of a broken heart.

“But you’re lusting after him.”

“I never said that!”

“Girl,” Opal leaned back in her chair, curling her arms over her ample bosom and smirking, “you don’t have to. I have known you three years. In all of this time, the closest I’ve seen you to any man is the mannequin at Old Navy you accidentally knocked over and apologized to and you blushed because your hand was on the mannequin junk. Your face, is the same shade of red as it was when you touched the plastic pee-pee.”

“Pee-pee? What are you five?”

“Fine, p***s. P***s.” She repeated the word mocking Jolie. “I spent my weekend with my teenage son while he tried to kill me off with salmonella and raw chicken. You spent the weekend with the most gorgeous eligible bachelor on the planet and came back engaged to him.”

“This is insane. You’re not hearing me.”

“I heard you. The Cacciola’s caught up to you. They found Pia. They want to keep you both safe because your psycho ex, their son s***h brother, pissed off a bunch of people who will want to retaliate despite Val being dead if they know Val had a kid. Brix is going to pass Pia off as his. You’re going to pretend you’ve reconnected after breaking up in Vegas. You get to live in a big mansion with too many rooms with a hot husband, a gorgeous bodyguard, a bunch of sexy men who want to keep you safe and,” she waved around the room, “you get to keep your job. Neither of us are getting fired. And most importantly, Macey is going to s**t her f*****g pants. Did I miss anything?”

“No,” she dropped her forehead down on the table and sighed. “It’s too much Opal.”

“Are you afraid of them. Brix and Malik and the old man.”

“Nope. I mean Friday night I was terrified. By Saturday, seeing the way they treated Pia, and me for that matter, made me increasingly comfortable. They did everything they could to make me relax.” She paused, “they made me understand there is no violence in the world I will likely ever be exposed to because it is their only goal to keep us sheltered and away from it.” She bit her l*p still staring at the dark wood table under her face. “Brix said women, children and innocents never get pulled into business.”

Opal took a deep breath. “Jolie, of all the possible outcomes, this isn’t anything you could have envisioned so I get you’re freaked out but at the end of the day, you’re getting a home for Pia, a massive bank balance, protection unlike anything you’ve ever had before and support from a family who will love your daughter as their own. Did you ever think before this weekend you would ever get married?”

“No.” she didn’t hesitate on the answer lifting her head back up.

“Sweetie, I’ve seen you in this office. Men who have worked here for years around you still make you jumpy. Mordecai might be the only exception and it’s because he’s too old to make you nervous. You could take him with a toothpick. I once saw you break down in tears in your car because the guy at the grocery store kept hounding you for your number and you ended up screaming at him to f**k off. Honey, you, and ninety-nine-point-nine percent of the male population of the world do not mix. Val and his minions put true fear into you. All the men he had around you, all the time, leering, watching, waiting for permission to take over where he left off made you terrified of all of them. The mere idea you are sitting here with me today to tell me you’re going to marry Brixton Beckwith after spending a weekend in his hotel room with him, his bodyguard and father tell me they make you feel safe. To hell with love and devotion, Jolie. You need safety and security and he gives it to you. Take it. Don’t hesitate. Don’t run from it. Just take it.”

She nodded, contemplating the words. “You don’t think I’m crazy.”

“Your choices are to marry him and be safe or not marry him and have you and Pia running from drug cartels and mafia hitmen for the rest of your life. Marry him. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for my kid, Jolie. I’d marry him.”

She looked to Opal and sighed, “what happens if I do something stupid.”

“Like what?”

“Like fall in love with him?” she covered her face in humiliation as Opal’s mouth dropped open. “Even if he weren’t drop dead gorgeous and built better than Michelangelo’s David, he’s good in a way I can’t explain, despite knowing what I know. You should see him with Pia, Opal. Malik too. The relationship Pia has with them is special and it’s tugging at me. She calls them both daddy. They’re adorable together,” she whispered the last part, her voice barely audible. “All of them.”

Opal’s eyes glittered with dangerous teasing, “do you want to call them both daddy?”

“Opal!” she gasped, knowing her face was bright red from her friend’s naughty comment.

“Come on. They’re gorgeous. If you don’t want one, can you have the other?”

“Oh my gosh! What is wrong with you?”

“Sweetie, while I date more than you, I’m in my mid-thirties and the dating pool is slim pickings. I’m going to live vicariously through you. “

“You’re in your late thirties and nuns date more than I do.” She stretched her hands across the table and then pulled them back in a screeching noise which made Opal shudder and Jolie grin. “Once we get settled into the house, you and Axl can come over for dinner and you observe the eye candy which follows me around. Brix said I’ll always have security in the house with me. You can ogle them. They won’t mind.”

They both looked up to see Macey walking past the boardroom and spotting them through the glass. She c****d her head angrily and then beelined back to the door.

“Now what?” Opal m****d.

Macey opened the door without knocking, “do neither of you have work to do?”

“Excuse me?” Opal pushed her chair back ready to immediately go toe-to-toe with the woman.

“In case you forgot,” Macey put her hand on her h*p and jutted it out to the side, “we have a new employer. He is not going to like you two sitting in this boardroom and treating it like your personal breakroom. You should be down at your desk trying to secure your job. We need this room because Mr. Beckwith’s PA set up meetings with the staff in HR. You can’t be here.”

Jolie leaned back, “my job is secure. I’m not going anywhere. Besides Brix said we could meet in here. Opal and I had things to discuss and he told me to use this office.”

“You mean Mr. Beckwith.” Macey sneered at her for using his first name. “It is Mr. Beckwith to anyone not on the management team and even then, to most of them too.”

Jolie chuckled as she noted the man approaching behind Macey and her not seeing him. “Macey, I meant Brix. I had information I needed to share with Opal before anyone else. She’s my best friend. Brix suggested we get our coffee and come here to go over it.”

“You cannot be so familiar with him. I went to his office on Friday and he made it clear he will not put up with familiarity.”

“You made a pass at him,” Opal said suddenly as she put two and two together and then roaring with laughter at Macey’s glower. “You i***t. Oh it’s too sweet!” she wiped mock tears of laughter off her eyes.

Macey swallowed angrily. “I don’t know what you two are up to but get back to work now. I will not cover for either of you. Stop lolly gagging and go earn your keep.” She glared as Opal laughed harder when Brix folded his arms over his chest behind Macey as if waiting for her to incriminate herself further. “Mr. Beckwith is a busy man and he doesn’t tolerate nonsense. He will be furious to replace out you’re slacking off.”

“Which part of he gave us permission to be here did you not get?” Jolie asked trying to fight her own twisting lips as Brix shook his head in annoyance behind the woman.

“You’re lying because you think I won’t question it. I will tell him.”

“Go ahead, tell me.” Brix’s voice deep and throaty spoke from directly behind Macey. “Tell me how it is, Macey, that this door was closed to allow Jolie an opportunity to explain information to her friend before the rest of the company is notified and you barged in. I watched you slam in from the end of the hall without knocking. You interrupted and you didn’t listen to their explanation. Please, explain to me how this is anything other than you trying to assert dominance in a situation which doesn’t involve you.”

Macey was flushed as she swallowed nervously half turned to Brix in the door as if wishing to replace a way to run.

“Jolie, were you able to notify Opal of what we discussed?”

She nodded and sighed, “I was.”

“I’m thrilled,” Opal made wide eyes at him. “She’s been trying to do this too long on her own.”

“She should have come to me for help.” Brix agreed with Opal. “Stubborn girl.” He winked at Jolie who grunted with annoyance. He held his hand out, “come. We may as well start on your floor.”

“We may as well start here,” she waved at Macey ignoring his proffered hand.

“True,” He looked to Macey, “Jolie lied to you on Thursday when you asked her if she knew me.”

Macey turned to Jolie accusingly, “what?”

“Jolie and I were a couple in Vegas and my now deceased brother interfered. We ended things. She relocated to Boston and didn’t tell anyone where she was. I’ve got her back and I’m not letting go.”

Macey blinked at his smooth words.

Jolie scoffed as she considered the man who swore he hated liars was lying with panache. The cover story he and Malik had concocted was straight out of a soap opera. Malik had even suggested they not do an adoption and simply put Brix’s name on the birth certificate. Though Brix and Val shared only partial DNA as they had different mothers, there was enough if a DNA test was conducted, they would be a partial match. Further they could and would tamper with DNA if they had to. Malik went so far as to say they could argue the reason Val went off the deep end was because he was jealous of Brix and took it out on Jolie and Jolie ran in terror after he said Brix cheated on her and wanted her dead which was why Val beat her nearly to death.

“She has a kid,” Macey waved at her. “You want her back when she had a kid with someone else?”

“She had my kid,” Brix corrected and Jolie watched as the color drained from Macey’s face. “Pia is my daughter. Unfortunately, someone decided not to put my name on a birth certificate but we’ll get it sorted, right my love?”

“Yes Brix. We will get it sorted.” She stood up from the table and approached him and for no reason other than to piss all over Macey’s parade, she hugged him and stood on tiptoe and kissed his cheek. “She is your little girl through and through, right down to the big nose and fuzzy eyebrows.” She tapped his nose jumping when he moved his mouth quick as if ready to bite her fingers. She giggled, “Can I go back to work now?”

“No. We need to go have a chat with Mordecai and your department to make certain they all know I will not tolerate gossiping. The minute they start chattering about us, they’re fired.”

“They’re going to talk Brix.”

“Then they better not let me hear of it.” He kissed her forehead as if they were the only two in the room. He looked to Macey, “I’d like a word with Macey before I come down. Why don’t you and Opal go ahead of me. I’ll meet you at your desk in five minutes.”

“Okay.” She started to walk away but he yanked her back and kissed her on the mouth.

Opal’s giggle and Macey’s gasp were nothing compared to the way Jolie’s heart pounded. Surely the room heard it with the way it crashed against her ribcage. He was taking his time too. Kissing her as if he meant it, his mouth sliding back and forth across hers and then winking at her when he pulled away, brushing her hair off her cheek, and smiling. “Go. I’ll be down soon.”

She grabbed Opal’s hand and tugged her to the elevator avoiding Macey’s stunned stare. When the doors closed Opal lost it and started laughing.

“Oh my god, your face!”

“Shut up Opal! He did that for her benefit.”

“He did that for his benefit,” Opal corrected. “He likes you. He wants to put his d**k –” the rest of her words were mumbled under Jolie’s palm as the woman covered her mouth furiously.

“I can’t believe he did that.” More importantly, she couldn’t believe how much she liked it. Brix was going to be a problem to the libido she didn’t know she had. Two k****s and she was downright hornier than a teenager on prom night.

“I can’t believe you didn’t kick us both of out of the room and mount him like a pony at the county fair.”

“You’re disgusting.”

“You’re blind if you think that man is only doing this to protect you. He wants you as much as I want chocolate cake, red wine and four-inch heels and baby girl, I want those things every minute of my life, awake or dreaming.”

“He does not. He told me I’m not his type,” she whispered the second half.

“Maybe Friday night when you were crying and blubbering but now?” Opal shook her head as the doors opened to their floor. “He’s hotter for you than you give him credit for. Enjoy the ride, Jolie. He’s going to. Giddy up.” Opal made a neighing noise and clicked her heels as if mocking the steps, a horse would take.

She shoved her as they walked back to their desks and sat down, staring at each other across the space wordlessly. They held their gazes without speaking and then they both erupted into loud laughter as the words Opal spoke, the memory of Macey’s obvious displeasure and the overall insanity of the situation hit them.

When Celia approached to replace out what was funny, both women immediately noted her attire. A little black dress and they knew she had dressed provocatively to try to impress Brix and it made them laugh all the harder.

Opal squeaked out “best day ever.”