Chasing His Brother's Bride
Chasing His Brother’s Bride – Chapter 59

“That couldn’t have gone any worse,” Elio looked to the two men who staring slack-jawed at the door which had just closed.

“What the f**k just happened?” Brix rubbed his forehead in confusion.

“I believe we f****d up on a massive scale and made our wife feel she is an afterthought,” Malik gave a grunt and mimicked the same movement of rubbing his forehead.

“Did you promise her Sunday mornings are sleeping-in mornings?” Elio asked them curiously.

“Dad, this,” he waved at his arm which he admitted was aching like a b***h, “created extenuating circumstances.”

“Yet, there was nothing she said this morning which either of you were able to refute. Would an hour or two of being in bed with her this morning to give her the attention she deserves, have created chaos?” When the two men were silent, he tilted his head knowingly, “even you know she wasn’t wrong.”

Brix sighed, “Dad –”

“Save it,” Elio got out of his chair. “It’s not me you f****d up with. Your woman handled s**t like a boss last night and I am beyond proud of her. I should have grabbed her and brought her with me. Instead, I left Rosa to explain almost nothing to her and raced out of here. I got a telling off of my own last night by Rosa and unlike you two idiots, I listened to her. I then apologized to her. I made sure she knew I would never put her in such an uncomfortable position again leaving her to deliver scary news to Jolie. Then,” he looked at them, “I made sure she knew she was loved, adored, and respected and it included when I woke up this morning. I let her know I was leaving and gave her the option to join me. It might have been coming on six but I gave her the option and she wanted to be with me. Do you know why? Because she loves me and she enjoys being where I am.”

Brix watched with a throbbing head as his father left the room as well.

“What do we do, Brix?” Malik was looking hungrily towards the door.

“I don’t know. I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact she ordered a hit on Macey. She ordered a f*****g hit.”

Malik chuckled, “her mama-bear tendencies are incredible. She has zero remorse.”

“You’re wrong. She can sit there and say she doesn’t feel bad but there is no way in hell a woman with the heart she has and the light of her soul didn’t feel any guilt at all over what she ordered.”

“Maybe,” Malik sighed, “but we went about it wrong. We brought her in as if she had done wrong and interrogated her instead of telling her we approved of what she’d done but wanted to make sure she was all right after making the decision she made.”

Brix was quiet as he listened to Malik. “You’re right. I approached it wrong. I should have asked her how she was feeling after issuing such an order but she came in here all angry at us for forgetting it was Sunday.”

“I forgot too,” he sighed. “All I was thinking when I woke up was to make sure the a*****e Jax gets his and to figure out what the hell the holes in the security were last night. I didn’t even think of it being Sunday or how we were bailing on her.” He closed his eyes leaning against the window, “she thinks she’s the third wheel, Brix.”

“I don’t even know how the hell she’s come to this conclusion.”

“You and I are always together. She doesn’t get to spend the same time with us. We’re in the office together, we’re in the basement together, we’re away on business together and when we’re not together, we’re messaging and texting and talking on the phone. We don’t spend the same time with her and it’s not possible for us to spend the same amount of time with her.” Malik voiced his opinion.

“You’re right. We can’t spend the same amount of time with her. We have a PA already in Keely and I’m confident if Jolie worked with us as much as Keely does, she might kill me in my sleep.”

“What do we do?” Malik crossed his arms over his chest.

“We make the best of the time we do have with her. We stop f*****g up and leaving her alone when we’ve promised to be there. We do the things we say are going to do.”

“This is all fine and well but she’s pissed at us because we’ve already f****d up. I don’t think simply saying I’m sorry will make her forgive us.” Malik complained.

“I agree but it’s a start.” He got off the chair and g*****d as he felt lightheaded and had to sit back down.

“Are you okay?” Malik asked quietly.

“Yes. I will be. I need my girl,” he said suddenly and closed his eyes as he leaned against the chair. “I don’t like she’s upset with us.”

“Then let’s get you out there.” Malik leaned over him, “also, Brix, we’re home. The guys are in and out but nobody in this house, not a single soldier in this house is going to say anything about you seeming weak. You didn’t need to get up and go to the gym this morning, Brix. Do not push yourself here. You scared the f**k out of everyone last night. Nobody is going to give you hell for taking time to heal.”

“There’s no time. Dad gave me the business.”

“And you’re running the business but even moguls need to take a rest, Brix.” He held his hand out to brush his hair off his forehead, “you can’t run a family from the grave.”

He sighed and slapped Malik’s hand off his head, “fine. Help me up. I want to see Pia and make sure Jolie knows I’m not pissed about the order she gave.” He stood up again, slower this time and sighed, “I love them, Malik. All I could think of last night when the b***h shot me was not seeing them again and I swear it hurt more than the bullet.”

They walked slowly to the door and Brix felt with every step his body was growing more exhausted with each step.

“Daddies!” Pia shrieked when she saw them come out of the office.

Malik scooped her up before she ran into Brix and he peppered her in k****s and leaned her backwards so Brix could k**s her.

“Mommy said you have a booboo and I have to be careful. Can I see it?”

“It’s covered up with a bandage, Mia Pia.” He denied her curiosity and moved to sit in the empty stool beside Jolie where she was angrily shoving a stack of pancakes into her mouth. “Hey beautiful,” he leaned sideways and kissed her temple. She wiped it off and he chuckled. “Are you going to be angry with me all day?”

“I’m not angry.”

“No?” He noted Rosa and his father had scooped Pia up and were leaving him and Malik alone with Jolie in the kitchen. “Can we talk? Really talk and none of the angry s**t we just did in the office?”

“What’s the point?” she said bitterly.

“The point is, I love you very much. Malik loves you very much. And you are right, we excluded you last night and this morning and it was a mistake but we can’t apologize for our errors if you don’t let us talk.”

She pushed a piece of pancake through a glob of whipped cream and then sighed loudly, dropping the fork, “Brix. I’m trying but it really hurt. I asked for one thing, it was your time, and you couldn’t even give me this much. You got shot last night and it didn’t even dawn on you I would want to be with you this morning after almost losing you last night. You wanted to be with Malik, not me.”

“That’s not fair, Jolie,” he protested. “This is new to me. I’ve never done this. I’ve never been in love before. I’ve never had a life partner. I’ve never had a woman I should be running things past or thinking of their opinions before I simply do what I’ve always done. I’m going to f**k up, love. All the time but it doesn’t mean I love you less than Malik. Malik and I have been best friends for so long he knows my thoughts before I do. When I opened my eyes this morning, I didn’t even consider today was Sunday. My first thought was we had a security issue last night and I needed to make sure this breach didn’t affect anything more than the office. I woke up in pain, angry and frustrated and I needed to work it out. It didn’t dawn on me you would be worried or feeling neglected. I’m sorry Jolie.”

Malik moved to sit on the other side of her and brushed her hair off her shoulder, “I was like Brix, Jolie. I woke up, saw the expression on his face and we were on the same page. Fix the mistake of last night. I also didn’t even consider the day of the week or your request yesterday. I was focused sorely on the security of our family. My first thought is and always will be making sure you and our family are safe.” He sighed, “but I won’t have anything to protect if I don’t start paying better attention, huh?”

Brix smiled as she exhaled a shaky breath. “Jolie, there is something you need to understand from both of us. I really need you to hear this, okay?”

“Yeah,” she nodded.

“We love each other and I do not want to diminish the love and affection I have for Malik nor what he has for me but before your arrival in our lives, never once have either of us ever considered we would be in a committed relationship with each other. Never. Yes, we have shared women, and have flirted around but we’ve never had a romantic relationship with each other.”

Malik rubbed her shoulder softly, “neither had we even considered it was what we wanted. Jolie, even when we proposed this throuple as we’ve been calling it, it was for the purpose of each having you, not having each other.”

“Without you, we don’t work, babe.” Brix said bluntly. “My love for you is far different than what I have for Malik. It is not greater or less. It is no different than any other man who has a lifelong best friend who gets married to the woman he loves. The love is different. Now,” he looked to Malik aware what he was admitting was making him emotionally vulnerable but willing to risk anything for his girl, “this isn’t to say my feelings for Malik haven’t grown in a whole new way over the last month. I even considered letting him blow me in the back of the SUV yesterday,” he teased her and watched the pretty color stain her cheeks, “which is not anything I would have thought of let alone permitted in the past. You’re the catalyst for this, Jolie. You’re putting us both in intimate situations and making us far closer than we ever considered we could be. All of this is you.”

He tugged her so she had to get off her stool and put her so she was sitting on his lap sideways and turned her face to his. “I love you, Jolie. Please never underestimate the love I have for you. Yes, I messed up this morning but don’t give up on us because of one f**k up.” He closed his eyes and pressed his forehead to hers. “Please.”

She sniffed and nodded against him, “I don’t want to be the afterthought.”

“You are never an afterthought.” Malik slid closer. “Our thoughts this morning leaving the room were solely based on how to make sure we never have such a mess in security again and we end up losing you. You were the only thought we both had. You and Pia. All of our conversations were surrounding you and keeping you and daughter safe. We handled it incorrectly and we should have woken you and let you know what was on our minds.” He leaned into the embrace and sighed, “what are you thinking?”

“All along I’ve been scared of falling for you both and not being enough. You are both these men with larger-than-life personalities and I am the one who prefers to be in the background. I like to be behind the scenes and observing and watching but you’re always right in the front, flashy and bold. You’ll get bored of me and leave me behind. You have each other.”

Brix shook his head, “we love you. You need to take some of the confidence you have in every other aspect of your life and own this. You are the queen of observation but you’re missing what is standing right in front of you. Without you, there is no throuple, hell, there wouldn’t even be a couple.”

“There’s no us without you, Jolie,” Malik punctuated Brix’s comment. “Forgive us for this morning?”

She nodded, “I’m sorry too. I overstepped last night.”

“No!” both men spoke up loudly.

Malik laughed, “babe, I had to turn away because listening to you tell Brix you had no regrets made me hard and I couldn’t have Dad seeing me with a boner. It’s bad enough he has seen Brix k**s me.”

She giggled, “very funny.”

“I’m serious!”

“I was glad I was seated because it was sexy as f**k,” Brix added. He took a breath, “I went about things the wrong way. I was not angry, not in the least you gave an order. I was and am terrified however of the impact of making such an order on your mental health. It is never a decision to make lightly and part of me loving you is knowing despite how tough you are on the outside, inside, your heart is soft and beautiful. My goal this morning was to let you know if you needed to talk it out, cry it out, punch it out even, you could come to us. Instead, I came across as a d**k.”

“Yeah, you did.” She met his gaze.

“I am sorry, Jolie.” He chuckled at her obvious annoyance.

“I forgive you.”

“Are you okay with the decision you made last night? I mean it’s too late to change your mind but if you need to vent, we’re here.” Brix watched her shake her head and sadly meet his eyes. “It’s okay to be sad.”

“I can’t stop thinking of the way she looked at you in the video. She was always a judgemental b***h but this felt personal, Brix. She shot at you because you said you loved me. You could see her wheels turning from the minute you said it. I cannot imagine what she would do next considering she was brave enough to shoot you with the cops right there. She believed she was going to get away with what she was doing.”

“Okay.” Brix kissed her forehead softly, “I need your word though Jolie. We aren’t going to think less of you or be upset with you if you have sad feelings. If you need to talk it out, you come to us or Dad and you talk it out. Promise?”

“I promise,” she agreed.

“Good, now,” he gave a low g***n, “in the vein of honesty about how we’re feeling, my shoulder is hurting like a b***h and I’m hungry as hell. Can I get a stack of pancakes and then I want to lay on the sofa and rest?”

“Really?” concern immediately coated her features. “Malik, take him to the sofa and I’ll get the pancakes.”

“No,” Brix immediately shook his head. “Malik, get Rosa and Dad and Pia back and Rosa will happily make me a fresh batch while I cuddle my girls on the sofa.”

Jolie frowned, “I’m not going to ruin pancakes warming them up in the microwave.”

Brix and Malik both exchanged a long look as she caught on to why he was reluctant and laughed loudly. They were going to be fine.