Page 27 of Overstaying His Welcome

I knew it to be true now. I'd done the research myself despite hating computer work.

Since then, we had had an imbalanced relationship.

Sometimes he loved me and called me "Bubby." He thought I was the greatest thing to ever happen to him. And then there were times like this where he wanted to strangle me. I thought it might be because he had different personalities, but at the end of the day, he refused to see a doctor. I wasn't quite sure.

What I did know was that I would protect him just like I would protect my team and Chance.

I also knew that he knew his way around a computer, maybe even better than Memphis. The only reason I hadn't brought him in was because his emotions weren't stable enough to do this full-time.

He sighed on the other end of the line and said, "It's fine, I’ll help. But I want you to bring me cupcakes from that place again."

The tension I felt broke.

“Sure thing. I’ll get an order of cupcakes together and fly them down there myself.”

My brother lived in Bellport after being shipped all around the country at one point. It was interesting to bring him things like that from time to time. I would need to plan the getaway soon, but not until I knew Chance was secure and that we had a trail on Diestro.

“Call it an IOU though. Things are tight right now.”

He hummed, "When are they ever not? Does this mean that your team knows about me now? Because this whole secret-keeping thing has really been a drag.”

He was so sassy sometimes. It made me wonder if my mother would have been that way had she not been oppressed by my father. I bet the two of them would have been thick as thieves.

“They know,” I answered. “They're right beside me. They can hear everything I'm saying to you.”

He giggled softly, then shouted, "Surprise bitches!"

Then he hung up the phone without saying a word.

I was met with a slew of wide eyes. Memphis was the first to say, "What the fuck? You have a brother?"

I shrugged. "You guys don't know everything about me."

And that was when Takeshi caught my eye and signed. “He’s not the biggest secret you have, is he?”

Well, fuck.

Now wasn’t the time to get into it, so I simply nodded as I tried to steer the conversation to safer topics. My time to tell them was running out. If I didn’t share it myself soon, I had a feeling they’d find out another way.

CHAPTER 7

CHANCE

The current mayorof New Roughoak had clearly decided to take a step back from things before his term ended. It was the only reason I could figure for me getting called into sessions he should have been at.

Why was I the one making decisions and signing off on stuff when I didn’t even hold the position yet? It’s like when you’re at work and they threw someone else’s load on top of yours. That shit sucked.

Yet here I was in my third meeting this week.

To top it all off, I still hadn’t heard back from Tank. He’d missed our last appointment two days ago. All I’d gotten was a text asking me to hold tight while he chased down leads.

No other explanation. No apology for missing out on time with me.

Some days, I thought our entire relationship was more one-sided than it should. The side it favored alternated too. If I was having a moment where I was all in and missing him, then he was busy. When my life was hectic, he was the one pining over me, sending texts asking me to fit him in however I could.

It would have been pitiful had it not been us.

The logic behind my thoughts was based totally on delusion. I lived in a world where we couldn’t be together and likely never would get the happy ending we both hoped for. Still, it didn’t stop us from trying.

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