- Text Size +

“Let’s go talk.” Brian told Emersen as he walked toward the door.

She nodded, stood and left the room with him.

“Come on boys, you gotta get in wardrobe.” Nick told his twins.

The two just nodded and left the room.

“You guys doing ok?” Kevin asked the other three.

“Yes.” Max nodded.

“Yup.” Was all Drew said.

“Just bored.” Danny nearly huffed.

Kevin only shook his head.

“They still got the basketball goal set up outside ride?” Max asked. His face suddenly looked full of hope.

“Yeah, you guys can go just make sure security stays with you.”

“Yes!” Max cheered and practically ran from the room. Danny and Drew followed behind.

Their guards who had been outside the room followed behind them.

Once they got outside of course their body guards didn’t waste any time lighting up.

Max grabbed the ball off the ground first and began dribbling around.

“You like her don’t you?” Danny asked Drew. He had stopped walking hoping to having a serious conversation with him.

Drew only stopped for a moment. He glanced at him then moved towards Max. Playing dumb he asked, “Like who?” He stole the ball from Max and tossed it in the hoop.

“Emmie, you couldn’t take your eyes off her.” Max laughed letting himself in on the conversation.

“Whatever.” Drew denied it. He shook his head.

Drew knew there was no shame in liking her. She was beautiful. He was denying it because he knew the other boys would give him a hard time about it. Especially the twins being that they were only just starting to get into girls.

 “Dude, you do! Admit it.” Danny pushed the topic jogging towards the ball. He caught up to it and began dribbling it.

Drew took a deep breath and ran his hands threw his hair and down his face. “Alright… fine!” He caved. “I do.”

“Knew it!” Max nearly cheered.

“Shut up!” He hissed quickly.

“Brian is gonna kill you.” Danny practically lost it laughing.

Drew became a bit angry, “That’s why you aren’t gonna tell him!”

Danny couldn’t help but to keep laughing.

The boy’s body guards laughed from where they stood. They had long since learned to stay out of the boy’s conversation. Still however, their conversations always seemed to amuse them.

Inside Brian sat off in a corner explaining to Emersen the plans for a press release.

“If we don’t tell anyone anything they’ll just make up a bunch of dumb stories. I have to tell everyone something. I just wanna find out from you what you’re comfortable with me sharing.”

“I don’t know. I have no idea how any of this works.” Her voice was at a more normal tone.

“Well, I figure it’s best to go with the truth but, not all of it is their business. I was thinking we could tell them that your mom never told me about you. We could tell them something personal happened and the state took you away from her, found me and gave me custody.” Brian suggested. He shift on the crate he was sitting on.

She sat a cross from him and looked down at her hands, “I, I told the boys she died. They asked why I was here now and… it just wasn’t as awful sounding.”

For a moment the wind seemed to have been knocked from Brian’s lungs. It was so heart breaking that Emersen found her mother being dead better than the truth.

Quickly he shook his head and came back to the conversation at hand. “Ok, so what if we say that she never told me about you? We could say she passed away and the state found me from my name and information being on your birth certificate and awarded me custody.”

Emersen just nodded.

“If that’s the story that makes you the most comfortable then that’s what we’re gonna go with.” Brian tried to reassure her that everything was ok.

“Thank you.” She smiled. She had feared he would be upset that she lied. Lying was bad.

For a moment there was a silence between them. It wasn’t awkward this time however. It was a bit more peaceful.

Brian had a something else to talk to her about though. So the silence was broken, “Uh, I’ve been thinking a lot and… well, I wanted to let you know that if you feel like you need some therapy or counseling…” He paused. “Or even just someone to talk to about, ya know, everything…” Again he paused. He felt awkward talking about it because he knew she was just ready to move on. “I support it. I’ll do whatever I can to help you get through all this. I want you to be ok.”

For a moment she was silent. She looked away from him and softly said, “I don’t think I’m ready to talk about it.”

“That’s ok.” He quickly replied leaning towards her a bit. “You don’t have to. I just want you to know that the option is there.”

She drew a knee up and casually wrapped her arms around it. “Thanks.”

He forced a smile. Inside he was hurting so badly for her. He wanted to take away all her pain but he couldn’t figure out how. As if all that wasn’t enough stress he also was stressing about telling the rest of his family about her and everything she had been through.

He didn’t know how they would take it. He knew his parents and brother would always love him but he was sure they’d still be very disappointed in his choices.

Bottom line was, he didn’t know what the future held but he certainly hoped happiness would be in the mix.

Chapter End Notes:

Sorry it took so long to get this updated. I've been under the weather. Feeling better now though!