Page 53 of Fragile

Asher stopped mopping and looked back and forth between us before he explained, “Garrett was here earlier.”

So, my father had decided to regulate his home visits. That wasn’t a good sign at all. “What did he say?” I dashed a hand down my jaw, feeling irritated.

“I don’t know, I hid and he let himself up. Hence the wine,” Asher replied with an uncomfortable expression.

“Why the hell did you hide?”

“I wasn’t alone,” Asher confessed in between mopping.

“So?” I knew I was being antagonistic but Leonie’s reaction to me doing her a solid had pissed me off.

“I had a friend over.”

“And you’re not allowed to have friends over?” I snarked.

“Well, if he’d have caught me doing what I was doing, then the cat would have been well and truly out of the bag.” My face dropped. Had my brother just intimated that he’d been fucking some dude in the kitchen?

“Meaw,” an amused voice said from around the corner. “Oh, sorry. Hi.” It belonged to a burly-looking black guy. He was wearing jogging bottoms and no top. He attempted to cover himself like he had tits. It could have been considered comical, but my mood had nosedived even further after learning that my old man was after me. The thought of him entering the apartment alone ground my gears.

Both Leonie and I exchanged glances before turning to Ash with a what the fuck expression.

He recovered fairly quickly, “Oh, don’t worry Mark, come out. This is my brother Gabriel and this is Leonie. I’ve told you about them.”

“I remember you from your picture,” Leonie said with a warm smile.

For me, introductions were strained and I felt quite awkward. As I said, I wasn’t homophobic by any stretch but meeting one of my brother’s lovers for the first time was a shock to the system. Was I imagining it or was the dude wearing make-up? Not full-on eyeshadow and shit but that stuff girls wore to cover their zits? Either way, he was definitely a pretty boy and looked exactly like a boyband dropout.

Leonie was all charm of course. Proper rainbows and unicorns, her silent treatment of me forgotten.

After a brief conversation, where she thanked me again and stated that ‘she owed me one’ Leonie excused herself. She said she would fill in her application form and I could sense my help had made her uneasy. I felt a moment of pity for her, had no one ever done the girl a favour before?

The sway of her hips as she walked off would have given me a boner had I not been for Ash and his fuck buddy standing there flirting.

As the boys carried on cleaning up, I went to my room. Leonie had made the bed and I lowered myself onto the pristine sheets, dragging the pillow she had slept on to my face. Her sweet scent mingled with my more masculine one and I realised that the two smells complimented each other.

Past behaviour be damned. So, I’d been a moody twat? I’d had a lot on my mind. Now my exams were over and I had already received several offers from other law firms. I realised that despite her negative response, taking control of Leonie’s situation had felt like a drug to me. Helping her made me feel good and if that was the case, I’d dish out some more chivalry. Maybe we could become friends with benefits or something. Christ knew I wanted to fuck her, especially after that kiss and I knew she wanted me too. Deep down.

I’d always said I wouldn’t become my old man. Doing a good deed made me feel good. Who knew right?

Lowering myself down onto the chair beneath my window, the one where I had watched Leonie sleep, I withdrew my phone and pressed the call-back button.

“Where the fuck have you been?” As expected, my father answered after three rings; a habit he had fallen into due to his mafia friends. The big bad men didn’t like to be kept waiting. He’d have seen it was me from his caller ID but old habits die hard.

“What’s up?” I questioned, dragging my hand across the scruff on my jaw. My entire body was wound so tight it could snap.

“I want you to come to the Charity Ball being hosted by Wright and Penn next weekend; there are a few people I want you to meet.”

Annoyance rolled across my bones. “You already know I’ve been offered another gig right?”

Silence stretched but I gnawed my lip, determined not to fill in the gap.

“I know. I get it. You want to be a made man and all that bullshit, but you’ll never reach your full potential working for Gavin, the ‘Limp Dick’ Preston.

“Really, from what I’ve read, the guy shits gold,” I snarked. Gavin’s firm Preston Jones rivalled my fathers but they were choosy about who they worked with and could afford to be.

“And where’s the fun in that? Don’t you want a challenge?”

I almost laughed at that one. “I’ll tell you what I don’t want.”

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