Chapter 35 - Little Brother to the Rescue
Picking up her brother at the airport should have been a simple thing, but Emma was so strung out by the prospect that Trent spent most of the drive with one hand on the wheel and the other squeezing her shoulder or grabbing her hand. Too many thoughts were racing through her head: what if he decided not to help; what if he felt threatened by Trent; what if despite her wishes, he tried to confront Ryan?
She didn’t know how to deal with any of it so she fretted and fidgeted with her hair and her fingers, soothing repetitive movements that she wasn’t even aware she was making. Trent squeezed her hand the closer they came to the airport, saying nothing but trying to soothe her nonetheless.
When they finally did reach the airport, Trent surprised Emma by moving to pull into the pay-to-park area, telling her, “I’m going in with you. It’ll be okay.”
Biting on her lip, Emma asked, “Are you sure that’s a good idea? What if…”
“If ifs and buts were candy and nuts, every day would be Christmas,” Trent interrupted in a gentle voice, and she was so surprised that she could only stare at him for a long moment, a small giggle soon enough escaping.
Moving to exit his muscle car, Trent reached for her hand, and much to her surprise, made no move to release it even as they walked towards the arrival area of the airport. In fact, his hand remained in hers until they reached the arrival area, Emma peering into the glass enclosure looking for her younger brother to be getting off the appointed plane.
And when he finally did she let out a sigh of relief when his face lit up into a grin on catching sight of her, and he immediately pulled her into a hug once he was out of the secure area. “Hey big sister. Thanks for meeting me.” After a brief pause he pulled back, gazing up at the large man with her and smiled at him as well, “You must be the roommate. She didn’t warn me you’d be so tall!”
Laughing a bit, Trent reached out a hand, giving Keegan’s a firm shake and telling him, “Nor did she warn me that you and she are undeniably related. Same smile, same hair, same eyes...my sisters don’t look near as like me as you two do!”
Emma gazed back and forth between the two men actively in her life, a bit of wonderment on her face at the easy reception, and after a moment, asked her brother, “Any luggage?”
“Nah, tucked it all in the carry-on. Figured this would be a relatively short trip, there’s still time for longer trips later in the summer, especially if we get you guys settled into a new place.”
Beaming a smile at her younger brother, Emma hooked an arm through his, not surprised at all when a moment later Trent’s arm looped around her shoulder. For the first time in days she was completely content. Things were finally going in the right direction!
~*~
With Emma down for another nap, Keegan and Trent shared a quiet conversation in his living room, the bigger man explaining how the living arrangements came to be, and then the discussion shifting, to what their needs would be for housing. That led to Trent inching into his ‘guest’ bedroom to show off to Keegan his pride and joy, fluffing up noticeably when the younger man whistled low in appreciation.
“Can’t believe you’ve got all this going in such a small place.” And he paused, craning his ear as Trent did the same. “Was that someone knocking on your door?”
“It was.” Trent confirmed. “And if it’s who I think it is, please do us both a favor and go watch your sister sleep, and keep that door shut behind you.”
Keegan’s eyebrows roofed at that, but if he thought about protesting, it was silenced with one look from Trent and instead he edged off towards the master bedroom. Trent closed the door as quiet as possible behind him before heading towards his kitchen door. And, to no surprise at all, he found his goalie waiting for him, rocking back and forth on his feet with a look on his face somewhere between lost and irritated.
Opening the door and indicating that Ryan should enter, Trent tilted his head at him once he was inside, asking in a low voice, “And what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?”
“Quit the games.” Ryan retorted in a sharp voice. “You know damn well why I’m here. Where is she? I want to talk to her.”
Snorting a bit, Trent reminded him, “I’m pretty sure she’ll talk to you when she feels like it and not a minute before.” And with those words the goalie’s face contorted, Ryan making an obvious effort to keep tears at bay, and if not for knowing the other side of the story, Trent might have felt a bit of remorse for him. “Talking might have been a good idea quite some time ago, but now it’s a bit late for that I think.”
“I knew she’d come running to you.” Ryan spat out, a brief flicker of anger in his eyes before he was bringing a hand up to swipe at his eyes. “Just the opportunity you were waiting for, wasn’t it?”
“You being a moronic asshole and breaking her heart? Yeah. That’s so how I wanted her. Broken and devastated to the extent she’s making herself sick. You know me so fucking well.” And Trent started to flex himself out a bit, without words reminding his goalie who was the bigger of the two men and who would win if a battle came and went to blows.
“She’s making herself sick?” And this time Ryan’s voice had almost a whimpering quality to it, and again, Trent might have felt for him in different circumstances, but instead he just nodded his head. “She gave me back my ring.”
“So I’ve heard. She also had your sister set the lease on the apartment up for non-renewal, so you might want to move back up where you were so you don’t find them locking you out.”
“Shit. She told my sister? She’s going to kill me.”
Trent almost rolled his eyes at that, but managed not to, instead just telling him, “I’d have been more worried about Emma killing you personally, but to each his own.” And off Ryan’s glare, Trent added, “Since you’re not going to do what you came over here for, I ask again, what can I do for you?”
“Get her to talk to me?” And when Trent shook his head no, the anger flashed in Ryan’s eyes again, another low cross set of words flying off his lips, “You just want her for yourself, don’t you? Get her between the sheets and pick up where I left off?”
“You’re incredibly fortunate that I have no intention of beating your ass, or I would for that. But is it any damn wonder she left you with you having that kind of attitude towards her? And here I was just thinking the bet was brief stupidity. Maybe you are that much of an idiot.” And not giving the goalie much choice to get in another word, Trent started pushing him out the door, voice low but with no room for argument in it. “Good bye Ryan.”
The goalie’s last action before he walked away was to flip Trent off, leaving Trent shaking his head, before he too walked back to the main room, not surprised to find Keegan standing in the living room, eyes looking downright murderous. “I’m gonna kill him.”
“As your sister would tell you, he’s not worth the effort. If you overheard any of that at all, he’s still too angry, upset, what-have-you to have any sort of logical conversation with, and with no offense intended, he’s enough bigger than you unless you’re faster than you look, he’d kick your ass.”
Keegan huffed out a grunt without any other words, but nodded his head. Still, Trent got the feeling this wasn’t over between the younger Connelly and his erstwhile Goalie.
~*~
With price limits and needs firmly established, Emma, Trent, and Keegan went over various properties in the greater Blue Springs area. Despite saying 4 bedrooms – one each for Emma, Trent, and Keegan when he was in town – plus space for Trent’s hydroponics, they kept finding themselves drawn to the 5 or 6 bedroom houses.
“It’s a trade-off at that price point,” murmured Trent. “We get space, but we also get older houses, ones that probably need some work on them.”
“With the exception.” and Emma paused to scroll back to one of the houses she’d favorited already, continuing, “This one, which looks like it’s been updated, and it’s close to 7 Highway, so anything we need would be right there.”
“I agree, that one is definitely a promising one, though that pool without a fence is a definite liability issue.”
Smiling a bit, Trent told Keegan, “I could certainly build a fence if it came down to that being a deciding factor on a house. I’m a touch handy.”
Giving Trent a light smack, but grinning almost ear-to-ear, Emma quipped, “A touch handy. That’s like me being a touch investigative!”
“Oh, I just thought you were nosy. Gah!” But even Trent was laughing when she smacked him again, this time harder than the first, but still not hard enough to do any damage.
“So, little brother, do you think it’s time we get an agent, let them know we’re looking to move quick, and see what we can make happen? Are you on board?” And despite the confidence of her voice, Emma was biting on her lip, not quite to the point of making it bleed, but for sure gnashing on it quite well.
Keegan nodded his head and smiled, as much in agreement as watching the dynamics of the two ‘roommates’ in action. “Yep, let me get on that while whichever one of you cooks gets on that, and I’ll see about scheduling viewings as early as tomorrow if possible. Sound like a plan?”
“Sounds awesome.” Trent and Emma said in sync before both busted out laughing again.