Magnum

Gavin followed me outside and I tried to check my anger. He was my brother and I loved him for that, but all this drama was cutting into my routine. Time was money and playing games with Gavin did not pay well.

"You're being an ass to her, Antoinne." He stopped on the sidewalk and crossed his arms like I'd done him wrong.

I gave him the death glare. "Call me that again and we're throwing hands."

He didn't challenge me with any that's your name bullshit which was smart. We were the same height at six-foot-four, but I had fifty pounds on him and a lot of training. We used to spar back in the day, but I'd stopped kicking his ass when he got hooked on drugs. The kid was scrawny back then, and I didn't want to break his bones. He looked healthy now, but those memories remained. I'd probably never get to rough him up again. Too bad. We'd bonded through those fights.

"Is she even legal?" I asked him.

He raised his chin. "She's twenty-one."

Well, shoot. Coulda fooled me. She looked like she'd just been excused from prep school with the way she dressed. She was only seven years younger than me and four years younger than Gavin.

She didn't have an accent or give off any signs she wasn't a local, but I was grasping at straws. "Is she looking for a green card?"

He frowned and glared at me, fury brewing in his eyes. "No. She was born here. Stop insulting her."

"I'm just trying to figure out her angle."

"That's what's great about her. She has no angle. Can you just be nice for once?" His mouth turned down and his eyes pleaded with me to understand him. My little brother was still in there. Young and vulnerable, looking to me for acceptance like he always did. I wanted to give that to him, but something wasn't right about this.

"I just find it hard to believe a girl like her would be interested in a guy like you."

"Why? What do you think she is and I'm not?" His voice reeked with indignation and wounded pride, but Gavin needed my guidance right now. In order to give that to him in the right way, I needed to understand the full situation.

"She's a good girl." I motioned back toward the dining room where she was sitting dutifully waiting for her knight in shining armor to return to her.

"I'm a good guy," he insisted.

"Since when?"

He stepped back and gave me that smarmy grin he gave when he knew he was lying and no one was buying. "Since I found God." He raised his palms up flat like he was in church jamming to a praise song.

"Bullshit."

Our combined laughter broke the tension. We both knew there was no way he'd turned into a God fearing man in the last six months since I'd seen him. He liked sinning way too much.

"No, really, man, since I met her."

"She's wearing fucking pearls and loafers. You're gonna wreck her."

"I'm wearing a fucking bow tie and a suit." He held out his hands and performed a comical twirl for me.

"You look ridiculous."

"So what, Mag? Let me have this. Let me have a taste of goodness. Just a taste. Maybe I fuck it up. Maybe it goes wrong, but if it goes right? Can you imagine the old gator rat making good for a change? Don't I deserve a chance like everyone else?"

God, how did I get so jaded that I didn't see it that way? I didn't even give them any benefit of doubt. So maybe. Maybe this was legit love. Perhaps she was the monumental change that Gavin needed to get his life off the rails, and I was the one holding him back by not believing in it.

"Anything is possible, bro." He saw me deliberating and kept making his case. "Might even be a hot chick with a pearl necklace out there for you somewhere."

"Not a chance. That's why this doesn't make sense. What's she after? Protect yourself, bro. Don't let pussy lead you astray."

"Oh, now you're giving advice like you know shit about relationships? How many times has a bitch led you astray?"

"Never."

"Remember Sheila?"

Sheila was a mistake on my part. I thought she could handle me, but she lost it and followed me around for months, posted about me on social media. She put several missions at risk. "Do not mention her name."

"Every fucking day you're chasing women when you should be working, doing your training, making money. You spend half your time either getting it or getting rid of it. You risk your life for it, so don't go telling me you wouldn't jump on the chance to hit that virgin cunt right there."

I flinched and looked away from him as I checked out the traffic on the street. "Ah, man, bro. Nice way to talk about your future wife."

He glared at me sideways and brushed his shoulders like he was shaking off the insult. "We done with this conversation? I'm presenting this to you as something I want you to be a part of. If you can't cope, then don't come to the wedding. That's your choice, but I'm asking you to be there. Maybe we can be a family again, a fucked up imperfect family, but maybe she's what we need heal from all the crap we've been dealt in our lives. Maybe we're due some goodness for a change."

He did have a point, and he'd never asked me to accept anything like this before. He seemed like he genuinely liked this girl for whatever reason. "You love her?"

"Yes, I do." He stared me straight in the eyes and said it like he meant it or believed it for now at least.

"Hmm. When's the wedding?"

"Friday," he said like that was a totally acceptable answer.

"This Friday? Like in three days?"

"Yes."

"Why the rush?"

He shrugged. "When it's right, you know." He relaxed his stance and peered back into the restaurant through the window. "That hostess was bangin'. You gonna bag that one?"

"Shut up."

"I'm gonna be a married man soon. I'll have to start living vicariously through you."

"You better not cheat on her. She don't seem like the type who can take it."

"I won't cheat. Give me a chance."

"Fine. I accept this is what you want. I'm here for you now and always. You're my little brother and I love you."

He beamed at me and it was good to see him happy.

I patted him on the shoulder. "Let's go toast to the happy couple."

We walked back inside and she looked worried as she watched us take our seats. He kissed her cheek again and she seemed to calm down.

Maybe I was just jaded. Maybe this really was the girl he needed to turn his life around.

So I picked up my expensive Chinese booze and I raised a glass. "To the happy couple."

"Thank you." Gavin smiled and sipped his liquid fire.

Wren sniffed hers but didn't take a sip. For the first time, I noticed she was wearing a gold band on her ring finger, a miniscule diamond attached to it. It looked like jewelry a child would wear.

She tilted the tumbler and pressed the liquid to her lips.

Her sleeve hitched up.

Small marks caught my eye.

Moon-shaped crescents. Tons of them. All around her wrist. Under her beaded jade bracelet.

Disappearing up under her sleeve.

I took my sip and tried to play it off, but I'd seen it.

She had marks on her arms. No doubt.

Either self-harm or someone was hurting her. Gavin would never hurt a woman so someone else must be involved here.

I knew this shit was not what it seemed. Nothing ever was.

The waiter dropped the bill, and Gavin gave him a funky looking solid black card.

"I'm sorry we don't accept that card."

"Oh well, that's all I brought." He turned to me. "I can't pay with crypto here. Can you do me a solid and pick up the tab?"

Crypto? Gavin was tied up in cryptocurrency? Total recipe for disaster. I'd heard way too many stories of people losing everything through that scam.

"Sure, brother." I placed my platinum credit card on the waiter's tray. "I got this. Consider it a wedding present." 

Gavin nodded and I could see it in his eyes. We were good. I took care of him when he needed it, and right now, he needed me.

Wren's eyes followed our exchange. Something flickered there. The first sign of doubt I'd seen in her face all night. Then her gaze switched to mine and softened. Her lips pressed together and turned up in the tiniest hint of a smile at the edges. She was a mystery, her deep dark eyes holding in so many secrets, and I had no clue where to even start with her.

It was attractive. Gavin was lucky to have her. Hot sludge oozed in my chest. It tightened into a knot followed by a strong urge to grab her, force her to tell me everything, and then spank her innocent ass. I'd mess up her hair and smear her lipstick. Call her a bad girl and make her beg for forgiveness as tears fell from her eyes.

I shook my head to break the trance. Fucking hell. What was wrong with me?

My brother's girl.

My skin felt hot. I was not in the right frame of mind for this. I needed to decompress after the action we'd seen earlier. My brain was not thinking straight.

I cleared my throat and looked around.

Where was that hostess?

I needed to blow off some steam and she would do just fine.