Chasing His Brother's Bride
Chasing His Brother’s Bride – Chapter 60

Jolie woke early on Monday morning aware she was awake even before the men. It wasn’t even four-thirty, she realized as she crawled out of the bed and saw the display on Brix’s phone near the bed. She made her way to the bathroom and did her business. While washing her hands and staring in the mirror she knew despite the resolve she had felt Saturday night and Sunday morning, going into work was going to be difficult.

She had a thought of Macey with her overdone hair and too-tight blouses and felt sick to her stomach. She knew the team had made her death look like a suicide in a jail cell which wasn’t being watched well enough, yet, in her heart she knew it was her decision to end the woman’s life which was the truth. She had taken another person’s life and in the quiet dawn of the morning and the reality of the situation she fought hard to stifle the sob rising in her chest. She closed her eyes and let the tears fall into the sink.

“Called it,” she heard Brix’s voice as Malik’s arms scooped her up and carried her back to bed.

She felt both men on either side of her Malik sitting her on his lap on the edge of the bed and Brix tight beside them. She sobbed her heart out against Malik’s chest while Brix made long sweeping motions on her back, whispering to her it was okay to be sad and how much he loved her gentle heart. Malik’s occasional tender k**s to her forehead and the top of her hair felt soothing and loving and she snuggled into him harder.

“I’m sorry. I thought I was tougher.”

“Don’t you apologize,” Brix commanded quietly behind her. “If you hadn’t cried honey, I would have been worried. I knew come this morning you would be upset.”

“It’s going to be hard to walk in there this morning.”

“We’re not walking in there this morning,” Brix said firmly. “I’ve closed the offices for a week. There were many in the building who cared for Macey and out of respect for them, following her suicide,” he emphasized the words, “and her erratic behavior over the last several weeks, we are closing the office to allow staff to grieve. The offices will open today between nine and five and there will be four counsellors on site and Keely will set up appointments for anyone who feels they need to talk. If you want to go in and talk to someone, we can set it up.”

“No,” she shook her head. “I don’t want to.”

“You really are resistant to counselling.” Malik said frowning down at her as he wiped her forehead. Brix rose from the bed and disappeared in the direction of the bathroom.

“You two really push it a lot for mob bosses.”

Malik chuckled, “I’m an enforcer, not a boss and when I was a kid and my parents died, Elio sent us both for counselling.”

“Did it make you feel better?”

“Not really.” He admitted with a laugh. “I felt way better when I was fifteen and Elio told me they found the guy who had cut the brakes on my dad’s car and had been holding him for me in a cell until I was old enough to deal with him on my own. Ending his life, made me feel way better than telling a woman I was sad my parents were gone.”

She chuckled against his bare chest and sniffed. “I don’t think counselling is appropriate in this case. Yes, I feel guilty because I took her life through the guys but if I had to do it over, I wouldn’t change my decision. I stand by my decision. I simply feel very badly for it having to come to this. She hated me all along and I don’t know why. I know her entire act about being concerned for me was false despite her saying her friend died from abuse. I don’t know what drove her to want to kill you to make me hurt.”

Brix came back out with a damp facecloth and sat back down beside her and wiped her face. “I can answer this.”

“You can?”

“Yes,” he smiled as she stared at him with big hazel eyes, her lashes damp and spiky from crying. “The first thing we did yesterday, before I even heard about your orders was to do a sweep of the place she owned with her fiancé. He was not there of course. He was at his family’s home as they tried to deal with the public fallout of his fiancée shooting her boss and hooking up with an FBI agent and being an informant. As you know Solomon’s family pride themselves on image more than anything and we knew they would be doing damage control. Solomon’s brother is an attorney with political aspirations and this looks bad for him in the firm he works at. Having his son’s fiancée embroiled in such a scandal is bad. Worse even than Elaine having an affair with Solomon’s sister-in-law.”

“What?” Jolie was confused. “Where did this come from?”

“Remember the guys who were extorting Elaine? It was because they caught her eating p***y in her office and it belonged to the wife of her husband’s brother. The same brother who wants to run for mayor. Scandalous.”

Jolie noted the brightness in Brix’s eyes. “Why am I only hearing this now?”

“Because we spend more time in bed f*****g than talking,” Malik gave a laugh when she pinched his arm.

“It’s why I want you to stay in bed with me on Sunday mornings so we can connect.”

“I know and it’s why we will stay in bed this morning since we missed out yesterday. For the record, we figured out by going through Macey’s house, Macey’s fiancé had a thing for you.”

“For me?”

“Yes. Did you ever lose a cardigan?” Malik snickered.

“I’ve lost a few,” she shrugged. “Why?”

“It seems her guy likes to role play. So did she apparently. We found a video stash and there is a video of her wearing a wig with hair like yours and your sweater and him f*****g her and calling her Jolie.”

“Ew!” she shrieked incredulously.

“It’s not near as bad as the one we found of her making him dress up.”

“As who?” she was cringing internally at the hundreds of possibilities in her head.

“Mordecai.”

“No!” she shivered with disgust. “No. You’re messing with me.”

“I can show you the video.”

“Wait, is this what all the guys were laughing at last night?”

“Yeah,” Malik chuckled as Brix grinned broadly at her.

“There’s one video where he’s complaining she needs to stop screaming so loud because classy broads like Jolie Haversham don’t scream. It seems he thinks you’re a librarian, all quiet-like.”

She shook her head, “whatever. Why Mordecai? He’s old enough to be her father.”

“Grandfather,” Malik snorted.

Brix laughed. “I don’t know but there is one scene where she made him eat one of those bakery cupcakes Mordecai likes so much out of her. She must have had a hell of an infection later.”

“Oh you,” she slapped at him at his teasing and then noted his facial expression. “She put a cupcake inside her?”

“On, around, inside,” Malik laughed. “We couldn’t stop laughing watching.”

“I can’t believe you watched!” she shook her head at both of them.

“Sweetheart, watching two plastic people role play and f**k is hardly the worst thing any of us have ever watched. Dad said it was far better than ninety-nine percent of the s**t from Val’s. It was good comic relief.”

“Ew. Mordecai though? He’s so sweet. He doesn’t deserve to be defiled like this.”

“She had a thing for oversized older men. Mordecai did it for her. She has hated you because you got to work closely with her dream lover and her actual lover preferred you to her. There was one video where she complained she was tired of dressing up every single night and pretending to be you and he told her to shut it and do it otherwise they weren’t doing anything else and he would cut up her credit cards.”

“Ugh,” she gagged at the notion.

“He’s going to be panicking thinking the FBI have those videos. As soon as our guys were out of there, we almost got caught actually, theirs went in without warrants and went looking for anything Jax might have left there. He’s in hot water with his supervisor. He didn’t have authorization to use Macey as an informant and then getting her to let him into BrixWith properties has brought him a heap of trouble.” He laughed, “we made sure the DA got an anonymous video of the FBI raiding the apartment. Since we are pressing charges and suing the government for unlawful entry, violation of our rights and a bunch of other charges our lawyers are excitedly dreaming up, this adds to the evidence they are working outside of the jurisdiction and the law.”

She made a face, “I hate Jax. I hope they burn him.”

“Funny story,” Brix gave a shrug.

“You killed him!” she cut him off with wide eyes.

“He went too far Jolie.”

“But he would have paid eventually.”

“Yes, but desperate men do desperate things. We had a bug planted on him while he was being arrested. He’s FBI and he wasn’t in holding more than thirty minutes. The minute he got back to his car, he was calling one of his buddies and talking about seducing Pia’s new kindergarten teacher.”

“For crying out loud,” she huffed.

“I can’t have him around our daughter.” Brix said. “He was shot last night in a gang-related drive-by when he stopped at a store for cigarettes. He happened to be at the exact same place as an informant we knew was working against one of the local gangs and I called in a favor. I gave them details on where to find the informant and they took out my FBI agent. It was a win-win.”

“How did you know the informant was going to be there?”

“I made it happen,” Brix shrugged with a laugh. “I think, we’ve had enough talk of business for today. It is time for us to go back to bed and hold you for a bit.”

“I would like that,” she nodded sadly. She crawled off Malik’s lap and took her spot in the middle of the bed. “Malik, you told me once before you wanted to teach me to fight.”

He paused in lifting the blankets up, “yeah?”

“Yes. I want to learn how to defend myself better and to not panic when I’m approached. The guys in the house, I’m becoming more comfortable with but I still feel uneasy if they get too close. I think,” she snuggled up to Brix as he slid in beside her, “if you teach me to fight, like the way you spar and stuff with Elio and Fabrizio, then maybe I won’t be so panicky. I think if you two and Trey and Alfonso and Luiz and a handful of the other guys, each take turns getting in my space.”

“I don’t f*****g think so,” Malik hissed cutting off the rest of her sentence.

“I don’t want to have s*x with them, Malik,” she made big eyes. “I want them to push my boundaries of fear so I get over it. Like exposure therapy. That way if we do have a new soldier in the house, I don’t fall apart in front of Pia. I want to be strong for her. Please.”

“No.” he shook his head as he got into bed and pointed at Brix, “he is the only other man who gets to put his hands on your body.”

“Malik,” she giggled at his overt jealousy. “I’m not going to wrestle naked.”

“I don’t like it.”

Brix laughed, “we will train you, Jolie. You can fight every single man in the house and when Malik’s jealousy gets the better of him, I’ll take him into the ring myself and let him pummel the s**t out of me.”

“Really?” she squealed excitedly.

“No.” Malik refused outright. “I may end up killing the entire team.”

“What if we trade?” Jolie asked him with a mischievous grin.

“Trade how?” he questioned with his eyes narrowed on her face, noting the devilry.

“The girls were asking me Saturday night about things, in front of Rosa actually, trying to embarrass me, but they put the worm in my brain and I can’t stop thinking of it. I’m really nervous about it. I figure if I let you do something I’m nervous of, you can let me do something you’re nervous about.”

“I’m listening.” He was up on one elbow watching her as she was curled against Brix’s chest.

“They asked if I ever let you both f**k me at the same time.” She knew her cheeks were bright red with her admission. She saw Malik go still and felt Brix tensing under her. “I was thinking when Brix is feeling better, if he’s the bottom, I can be the middle and you can be the top. We’ll need a lot of lube, I think,” she flicked her eyes towards his waist. “A lot, but I’m very curious to know if anal hurts when it’s consensual.”

“You’ve had anal s*x before, Jolie.” Malik whispered quietly. “It can be painful for you. I don’t want to trigger bad memories or a panic attack.”

“Well,” she took a deep breath, “it was rape, Malik. Let’s call it what it was. Rape and sodomy. It didn’t matter which hole he violated, none of it was with my permission. Also, I never think of him when we’re in bed. Ever. I know you both always have him at the back of your minds but for me, I always feel safe, loved, and protected. I know you won’t hurt me and I also know the minute I say stop, things stop. I know it’s not going to start off pleasant but if I’m going to eradicate all my fears, then I want to do it with you guiding me along the way. I love you.”

Malik leaned over and pressed a gentle k**s to her mouth. “How the f**k did we get so lucky as to find you?”

“I don’t know. Your bounty hunter really f****d up by letting me walk right in on his meeting. Now you’re stuck with me for life.”

Brix let out a bark of laughter and bit her shoulder playfully. “Brat.”

“Yes, but you love me, even when I’m a brat.”

“I do,” he agreed as he kissed the spot he’d nipped. “What do you say Malik? Can you trade off your insecurities about the guys teaching her to fight for the right to take her a*s?”

Malik gave a nod, “I will on the condition she promises to let us know if either things are too much. If the guys being around, you are making you feel ready to cave in on yourself, I need to know. I will not risk you having panic attacks because the guys have to put their hands upon you to teach you defense moves and I will not be happy if we do anything intimately which puts your mental health at risk. You need to talk to us. Okay?”

“Yes.”

“Promise? Because this morning we had to go looking for you when we both knew you were struggling. You didn’t come to us. You like to tell us what you want sexually but the deep emotional stuff you bring into the bathroom to hide. I can’t have it, Jolie. If I can’t trust you to tell me when it’s a lot, then I can’t let the guys put their hands on you and I can’t move forward sexually.”

She closed her eyes at his words, realizing his concern was far more about her keeping her feelings and concerns buried than it was his jealousy over the guys. She opened her eyes and met his dark ones straight on, “I will do better, Malik. I’ll come to you both if anything feels off. I’ll tell you what I’m feeling.”

“Good girl,” Brix said and squeezed her h**s from behind her. “Now, I’m injured and I can’t do much but lay here and let my wife and husband take care of me. All of this emotionally charged stuff is killing my morning boner. I need lips on my d**k.”

His words broke the serious mood and she was giggling as she threw his blankets off him while Malik hopped off the bed and ripped his own shorts off, kicking them across the room. She gave a big grin to Malik, “time to take care of the boss.”