Page 78 of Knocked Up by my Best Friend's Brothers

“Are you okay?” Cassius gently asks me. He doesn’t give Alexandra more than a glance. He’s too worried about me. “Do you feel alright? Should we take you to the hospital again?”

I chuckle softly. “God, no. They’re probably tired of me by now.”

“This isn’t funny, Christa,” he mutters, forehead pressed into mine. “You’re…” He pauses, suddenly realizing Alexandra can see us—I briefly forgot as well. “You’re family. We take care of family.”

Alexandra watches our exchange with renewed interest and a twinkle of humor in her gaze. All I can do is nod at them. “I’m okay; I promise. Just shaken up. We didn’t expect our Sunday walk to become so exciting.”

“Did you get a good look at those fuckers?” Nathan asks us both.

“Tall, white, male. Black leather jackets,” Alexandra shrugs. “Nothing that stood out, to be honest. Plain, average Joes.”

“She’s right. Besides, when we realized they were following us, we started running to get away from them,” I add.

“They must’ve spotted you from the restaurant,” Nathan concludes. “One or both of you probably had a tail.”

Alexandra lowers her gaze. “It could be my fault. I’m no stranger to unwanted attention since I started Verdant. People know who I am; they know I’ve got money.”

“I don’t think it was you,” Cassius replies. “Truth be told, we could barely find you on the internet when we first met to discuss our partnership.”

“Then I guess my head of cybersecurity did his job. Maybe they were after Christa,” she says, giving me a curious look. “What skeletons do you have in your closet, babe?”

“Too many to list,” I joke.

“You’re going to be okay,” River tries to reassure me.

“Though clearly, we’ll have to be more careful about your social outings,” Nathan adds.

Cassius nods in agreement. “You should come stay with us until we find out more. For your safety and our peace of mind.”

“Oh, hell,” Alexandra bursts into a shocked laugh. “I see it now. I thought it was just a spicy rumor I picked up around the water cooler.”

“What are you talking about?” River asks her.

“You and her,” Alexandra replies. “It’s not just the two of you. It’s the four of you.”

“Water cooler gossip? Really, Alexandra?” Cassius scoffs.

She shrugs. “Hey, I’m telling it like it is. Some of your senior staff dropped a hint here and there about how the Hawthornes like sharing their women, not just their house or their fortune with one another. Personally, I figured the salacious rumors to be harmless… but if it’s true—”

“It’s not,” Nathan says. “And it’s none of your business either.”

“It is, kind of. My company is tied to yours now. Even the tinge of a personal scandal could tank our stocks,” she bluntly replies.

“You can’t prove anything,” River says.

“I don’t have to prove anything. I don’t want to either,” Alexandra says. “I’m only trying to protect my business interests and my reputation. While you may not care about any of that, I do, so… I think it’s time you lay it out for me and tell me what’s going on.”

“Alexandra, our personal lives are not your concern—” Cassius tries to reply, but she raises a hand in protest.

“Oh, but your personal lives are my concern if they start to interfere with my business.”

“It won’t,” Nathan replies. “We are careful.”

Alexandra gives me a hard glare, and I feel like this is the end of the road where our budding friendship is concerned. “You need to tell them,” she says.

“Tell us what?” River asks.

I shake my head. “You promised.”

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