22

AIDEN

 

Just my luck finding my brother with the girls from work, with Carly of all people. I give him a look as I approach that I know he reads immediately, but thankfully quirky pink-haired Ally seems to want rid of us fast. I’d bet my Ducati that she knows I saw Carly naked tonight.

Carly’s awkward as fuck.

I can’t dwell on all this. I can’t look at Carly or I’ll see through her clothing. That’s it; the universe has decided I’ve now got X-Ray vision with this chick and I’ll see right through her clothing until I finally bed her.

I can’t give it any headspace at all, though, because there’s something much more important happening tonight.

Half way through drinks and appetizers, I’m about to start spilling my guts to my brother. We’re in a quiet part of the restaurant. But, he beats me to the punch.

“So, I can see you’re about to say something you think is big and important to me, but I’m probably already well aware, so I’m gonna save you the hassle.”

I look at him with surprise.

“You and Mom haven’t been kosher for a couple years and you weren’t ever on great terms before that. Adele and I talked, and we think you found out she’s cheating on Dad.”

I take a sip of my drink.

“Adele followed her, out of suspicion. Saw her coming out of a hotel room about eighteen months ago with her personal trainer. She told me right away. She tried to bring it up to you but says you shut it down every time she tries to broach it.”

I let out a big breath, realizing I’ve been pulling a Quentin on Adele. I’m not proud of myself.

“That it?” he asks. “That why you can barely stomach being in the same room?”

I nod. “Uglier than that, but basically.”

“Dad knows she fucks around.”

I raise eyebrows at him. I suspected as much, but want to hear what he has to say.

“I went to him. Yesterday, in fact. You bein’ home, the vibe at Sunday dinner. I decided I had to get it out on the table. Ask him why you hate being around her, why he hasn’t tried to figure it out. He tried to shut me down, but I didn’t let him. He told me marriage is complicated. I pushed, and he finally blurted that he’s impotent. So, she has affairs.”

This shocks me.

“Told me they have parameters and she keeps things discreet.”

I scoff. Discreet my ass…

“Says he’s had problems getting it up for about a decade.”

I blow out a breath. “So, she fucks around. He allows it because he can’t give her what she needs?”

He shrugs.

“Gimme a fuckin’ break, Auz. She’d be faithful otherwise? Not too fuckin’ likely.”

Austin shrugs, downs his drink and signals the waitress to bring another.

“I walked in on her,” I announce.

His face goes sour, like he’s smelled something foul.

“Discreet. Right,” I add.

“In our house?” He clips, looking tweaked, like it’d be a whole other level if it was in my father’s house.

I shake my head. “Garden shed.”

“She was fuckin’ someone in the garden shed?”

I lift my hand in what some would see as a peace sign.

“Twice?” Austin asks.

The waitress comes back with two fresh drinks and takes our glasses away.

“No,” I say. “Not twice. Two men. At once.”

My brother’s eyes go fiery mad.

“Not pretty,” I mumble.

He’s glaring. His chest is rising and falling fast.

“She saw me. She chased me down. She then threatened me and tried to blackmail me into keeping quiet. All sorts of ugly threats. Don’t tell Dad. Don’t tell you or our sister.”

He’s watching, listening, and I can see his temperature rising.

“So that was when I hired Jude.”

Austin knows Jude is a buddy. We’ve been out for drinks and run into him a couple times together. He didn’t know before now that how I’d met Jude was because I’d hired him to investigate Audra.

“I had him dig. She’s spending Dad’s money like it’s goin’ outta style. Money hidden.  A few days ago, Jude found out she recently got two new life insurance policies on dad. A while back though, I found out …” I wince.

He jerks his chin up, urging me to continue.

“That my and your paternity might be a question mark.”

His shoulders slump and he swallows.

“She had an affair with Uncle Mitchell. It may have started around the time she got pregnant with you. It might’ve even started before I was born so…”

I put my hand into my inside pocket and pull out the envelope and drop it on the table but keep my hand on it.

“I had paternity tests done. Over a year ago. For both of us. I haven’t opened them. I don’t know what it says.  I’ve been sitting on all this, but after talking to you today, after she stormed into my office tryin’ to exert her authority, I knew I had to get in front of this. Bridge the gap with us before she pulls something. If he’s been having medical problems for ten years only, there wouldn’t be a question of our paternity. If it’d only been ten years? Uncle Mitch died just over ten years ago. She might’ve even been fuckin’ him when she married Dad, according to some of Jude’s digging.”

Austin’s eyes are on the envelope.

Uncle Mitch committed suicide.  So, if he’s his father, my father, or both, it’s not like we’ll have to start calling him Dad.  I told Jude I might want Uncle Mitch’s suicide investigated, too. I haven’t decided on that yet.

“I left these envelopes in my safety deposit box here in San Diego and that was another reason I liked being in New York. Far away from these envelopes.”

He says nothing. He’s just staring at it.

“Pissed at me?” I ask.

He shakes his head, but he’s not looking at me.

“I shouldn’t have done this in public,” I say.” Maybe I shouldn’t have done it at all.”

He grabs the envelope and rips it open.  Just like that.

My gut churns and acid rises up the back of my throat.

He yanks out the single piece of paper and his eyes are on it less than five seconds before relief floods his face.

Thank fuck.

He passes it to me.

I read it, see that my father is, in fact, Austin’s biological father, and then my forehead is on the edge of the table, my forearms resting on my thighs, my hands trembling. This has kept me up at night. Many nights.

My brother squeezes the back of my neck reassuringly and then pats my back as he takes the paper from my hand.

I look up when I catch the scent of something burning.

The table has a candle on it and he’s used it to set the paper on fire. It singes quickly, and he drops it into the empty plate from his appetizer and it quickly burns to black dust.

Just like that.

We’re drawing attention from the closest table. The flame goes out and the couple go back to paying attention to one another instead of us.

“You make me wanna kick myself in the ass, little brother,” I say.

He gives me a tight smile. “Where’s yours?”

“Safety deposit box, still.”

“Come with you tomorrow. Open it there with you if you want.”

Why the fuck have I been putting this off, letting it consume me for all this time?

I suddenly have a new appreciation for my brother. I’ve been punishing myself by keeping a distance.  He’s a good fuckin’ guy.

“I’m a dumbass,” I mutter.

He laughs and then shakes his head. “You didn’t know where I was at.”

“Because I had my head up my ass,” I mumble.

“I don’t know how I’d’ve handled it in your shoes, but whatever. We’re cool, man. You and me. It’s all good. Tell me about life in the big apple. And then tell me more about your sexy roommate. We’ll deal with the rest tomorrow. Tonight, I wanna have a nice dinner with my brother.”

The waitress comes with our food.

What if he’s Quentin’s son but I’m not?

“It’s gonna be all right man. Either way. You’re my brother no matter what some paper says. Adele’s brother. Braeden’s second favorite uncle.”

I snicker.

“And Quentin Carmichael is your dad.”

Dad. But maybe not father. All this time, I’ve been so worried about how a different answer would impact Auz. Now reality is setting in. What about me?

I had this ace in my back pocket, too. If one or both of us is Mitchell’s son, then if Dad died and she tried to take all his money, we could sue based on being entitled to more of the estate as Mitch’s sons.  I’ve been consumed with building a case to fuck her back should she fuck me or my father over.

“The big apple?” Austin tries again. He’s been to New York, plenty. He’s just trying to move the conversation along.

“Life in the big apple is what it is. Just like you’d expect. Been a workaholic the past few years.  In addition to what I’ve done with CC, I’ve got a healthy portfolio. Made it that way with earnings. Haven’t touched that first maturing trust fund. It’s just sitting there earning interest. What about you?”

“We’re not talkin’ ‘bout me yet; tell me about Carly. What’s the deal there?”

“No deal. I have every intention of fucking her is all.” I slice into and take a bite of my steak.

He smiles.  “She doesn’t seem like she wants to fuck you. She woulda paid money to disappear into a puff of smoke when you approached their table tonight.”

I scoff, then swallow. “Because I saw her naked an hour before that.”

His jaw drops, and he blinks, then leans forward, urging me to continue.

I shrug.  “Shower was broken in the main bath, so she used mine while I wasn’t home. I walked in.”

He laughs.

My mind wanders off to the image of her in my shower. The smell of her conditioner. And then her horrified face when I scared the shit out of her.

“Yeah, I figured,” Austin mutters.

“Figured what?” I ask.

“That she looks that good naked. I can see by your face.”

I take another bite of my steak, saying nothing but giving him a meaningful look.

He shakes his head. “Lucky fucker. If you can convince her you’re not Satan incarnate.”

“Might be a challenge,” I muse.

“You’re up for it.” He cracks open his lobster tail.

“I’m an asshole and a dumbass,” I say. “Let’s talk about you now.”

 

***

 

When I get into the apartment, the lights are all out except for the light above the stove. It was out when I left and now it’s on.

I stop and stare at it.

She turned it on.

She turned it on, so I’d come in to a bit of light, not stumble around in the dark.

I put my keys down and head to my room.

I go into my bathroom and see her stuff is gone.

I also see she’s picked all my shit up off the floor and washed out my sink, which was pretty fucking nasty earlier.

I roll my eyes, turn out the light, undress, then hit the hay.