Page 513 of Savage Bosses

“Really?” he asks, smiling. “Cee-Cee is hellfire, and she’s going to give him a run for his money the older she gets.”

“How’d you see her?” Shayla asks.

“His wife popped up at the office with her unexpectedly earlier.”

Shayla gazes at me with concern, but I turn my eyes back to my plate.

“Ex.”

“What?”

“He divorced her. The smartest thing he ever did was to get rid of that manipulative, evil bitch,” Brayden says.

That comment snaps my head up. My brother never uses that term. He never calls women out of their names.

“Bray!”

“Nah, Bryn. You don’t get it. She deserves to be called worse than that.”

“Why? What did she do?”

My heart is pounding hard as I wonder about my brother’s rage. His eyes meet mine, and I see disgust and anger, but heartache lurks behind those emotions.

“Let’s just say that Cee-Cee wasn’t a mistake. Her conception wasn’t consensual.”

“I don’t understand.”

“You know how a woman has the right to say ‘no,’ or according to YouTube these days, you have to specifically say ‘yes’?”

“Um, sure…”

“Well, he didn’t say yes or no, but it damn sure wasn’t consensual. Sexual assault can happen to a man, not just a woman. We don’t discuss it because people don’t take it as seriously. How can a woman possibly do to a man what he can do to her?” he scoffs.

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“I’ve said more than I have the right to, but let’s just say old girl put a Mack hand down, got a baby and locked my boy into a marriage right after getting him a sixty-nine-million-dollar deal with Nike.

We grow silent for several moments until Brayden breaks the silence.

“Screwed with his head. He’s been whoring around ever since.”

Sickness overwhelms me, and I can no longer pretend to be okay.

“Excuse me. I need to use the restroom.”

I push through the doors, and Shayla’s hot on my tail.

“Girl, what’s wrong with you?”

I drop my face into my hands and groan.

“Bryn, talk to me,” she says, clamping her hands on my shoulders.

Looking up at her, I swallow and say, “I’m falling for him again, Shay.”

“How is he feeling?”

“Honestly, I don’t know. I know the attraction is still there, but I’m not sure beyond that.”