Page 93 of Crossing the Brooklyn Briggs
“I was going to ask for your help with something, Mateo,” Brooklyn says through her hands. “With Mr. DeNiro. I think he could use some cheering up after everything last week.”
With laughter still in his eyes, Mateo returns to his seat and accepts the coffee Charlie has been holding for who knows how long. “What did you have in mind?”
For the next hour, we enjoy a thankfully pain-free breakfast while Brooklyn lays out her plan. It is absolutely a prank, but it’s the kind of prank where no one gets hurt. In fact, it’ll practically be doing Mark a favor unless his pretentious self decides to take it too seriously, in which case that’s on him.
When we’re done, I satisfy myself with a kiss to Brooklyn’s forehead and a promise to see her tonight, after I finish helping Houston get his house ready before his tenant shows up this evening. She smiles and tells me she can’t wait, and even Mateo’s relentless teasing as I drive him home can’t dampen my mood.
Chapter Thirty-One
Brooklyn
“Houston is in so muchtrouble.” Jordan greets me with those words when I open my door Sunday night, and he’s got the sort of grin that would have me worried if it wasn’t in relation to my brother.
I step aside so he can come in. “What does that mean?”
“It means his new renters showed up early this afternoon, and he’s already smitten with Darcy.”
“Darcy?”
“The sister. Houston couldn’t keep his eyes off of her.”
Before I can say anything, Jordan wraps me up in a hug so tight that I can’t breathe for a second as he pulls me into his chest. Not that I’m complaining. While he held me the other night after Mark was…Mark, it wasn’t anything like this. On Tuesday, he was holding me together. Tonight, he’s holding me close. There’s a huge difference, and I feel every bit of that difference in the pounding of my heart while I tuck my head under his chin.
I’ve got a noseful of his amazing scent and nowhere pressing to be, which makes this moment so nice.
“Thank you,” he says after a while.
“For what?”
“Everything. Especially for Mateo. It’s like he finally understands me.”
Emotion sprouts in my chest, annoyingly pricking at my eyes at the same time. As if I did anything this morning. Jordan is the one who made sure his brother knew he was always wanted. He’s the one who let us laugh at him because it would help Mateo see him as an equal.
“Maybe you finally understandhim,” I suggest. “I see it all the time with my students. They’re doing everything they can to be the best they can be, and they just need someone to acknowledge that they’re trying. Someone to tell them that who they are is enough.”
“You saw that right away. He was already different after that first class with you.”
I wrap my arms more securely around his back, noticing each muscle as he moves while adjusting his hold to me so it’s less of a crush and more of a hug. “Thank you.”
He chuckles. “For what?”
“For being that person for me. It’s been so long since anyone…” I wasn’t going to do this. We’ve had a rough few days, so I was going to do everything I could to make tonight drama-free. But the words seem to be crawling up my throat, desperate to get free.
I hug Jordan tighter. “There’s something I didn’t tell you about James and the job at the lab.”
Just as I expected, he tenses, muscles flexing around me. “Are you sure you want to tell me? You don’t have to.”
“You don’t really mean that.”
One of his hands finds my hair and starts stroking from root to tip. “I really do. I want to know everything about your life, Queens, but if you’re not ready to—”
“He’s the reason I got fired.” I flinch, unsure how he’s going to respond to that.
His next word comes out in a growl. “Explain.”
I take a deep breath. I’ve kept this to myself for years, but it’s time I let someone else help me figure out how to get past it. “When he found out that the promotion I was up for was the same one he wanted, he told his boss that I had been holding back the research with my incompetence and was the reason our project stalled. He toldmethat he had just been praising me to make me feel better but that I was holding him back. I would only damage his career if he kept up a relationship because I had clearly been lying about my credentials. He didn’t want my bad reputation to sully his. Up until recently, I believed him when he said I was incapable of working in research without someone to hold my hand.”
I bury my face into Jordan’s shoulder, glad that he can’t see my face right now. I can feel his reaction, though. Every inch of him is rigid and solid, like his anger is pulsing through his body with each heartbeat and making him stronger.
