The Better Brother

I cleared my throat as I reached up to unbutton my heavy jacket. Penny kept her eyes riveted to the floor, and I brushed by her with a forced smile gracing my lips. Something told me that I would be doing a lot of this tonight, with Nikki Lewis sitting across from me.

“Just got in,” I replied. “I’m about to jump into the shower. Did you settle on a place for dinner?”

“I told William where it was,” Penny said, an edge to her voice. I wanted to calm Penny’s nerves, but I kept to myself as Alyssa walked over to where she stood near the windows. I didn’t want to give Alyssa any sort of indication about a relationship between myself and Penny. Not yet, anyway. I needed to talk with Penny desperately without distractions around, but it seemed impossible over the past few days.

I took a hot shower to ease the soreness from my muscles before getting dressed again. It was close to five-thirty when William called up from downstairs to inform us that he was waiting outside in the SUV.

A thick snow started to trickle down from the sky when I followed Alyssa and Penny out into the cold evening air. I kept my gaze fixated on Penny as she walked alongside Alyssa to the back passenger seat. I opened the door for the two of them to slide in before I hopped into the front seat of the SUV, alongside William who immediately pulled out of the parking lot.

“Is this place close?” Alyssa asked. “I told Scott that I might be able to see him later tonight, depending on when dinner ended.”

I twisted around in my seat to look over at Alyssa pointedly. “You’re being rude, Alyssa. This is Penny’s mother, who happened to be a good friend of mine a long time ago.”

“She doesn’t even want to go,” she remarked cynically. “She tried talking her way out of dinner tonight because of that piece of shit boyfriend that is tagging along with her mother.”

I glanced over at Penny, who sat rigidly in the back seat. Her head was turned away from the two of us. I couldn’t gauge any sort of emotion because her long blonde hair shielded her face.

Piece of shit boyfriend. Now, it made sense why Penny had avoided going home. To spare her the humiliation, though, I didn’t question anything until we pulled up in front of a steakhouse on the other side of Chicago. I spotted Nikki standing alongside a younger man with dark blonde hair and a beard. She turned to smile at the SUV as William pulled up to the curb.

I turned to look back at Penny, but she had already hopped out of the SUV to walk around the front to greet her mother. I watched the two of them embrace awkwardly while I slipped out of the passenger seat, leaving instructions with William to wait for my call.

“My baby girl,” Nikki said, hugging Penny fiercely to her. “You look so beautiful, honey. I can’t believe how much you’ve changed over the past few months.”

“Thanks, Mom,” Penny said. She took a step back to barely nod in the younger man’s direction, which appeared instantly at Nikki’s side to stare at her. “Hello, Dylan.”

“Always good to see you, Penny,” he said smoothly. “And you look amazing, like your mom said.”

The comment caused something to flare up in my chest. I clenched my fingers into fists in my coat pockets as Dylan gazed at Penny long and hard before he twisted his head in my direction to look at me with distrust. Nikki paid little attention to any of it as she stepped forward to embrace me tightly as well.

“It’s so good to see you, Gabriel,” she said. “I’m glad you’ve been able to keep an eye on my girl here.”

I plastered a smile on my face again. “Of course. I know you’d do the same if Alyssa wanted to come visit you over in New York City.”

“Of course,” Nikki said, smiling. “Alyssa, darling. I remember when you were toddling around the hallway. You have grown into quite the young woman now.”

“Thank you,” Alyssa said. “It’s good to see you again, Ms. Lewis.”

“Shall we go in, then?” Nikki asked and looped an arm through Penny’s. “It’s starting to snow like crazy out here! Come along, Gabriel. I know how much you like a good steak.”

I stepped up behind the girls and stared hard at the back of Dylan’s head. I could see immediately why Penny didn’t like him. He had a predatory air about him and I didn’t like the way he looked at Penny. At all.

Dylan tore his gaze away from Penny as she followed her mother in through the glass doors. The tips of his ears went red when he noted that I had been watching him stare at Penny. Something wasn’t right about the way Dylan’s eyes rested on Penny a bit too intently. It didn’t sit well with me, either, when he flicked his eyes up and down me in an assessing manner.

“Can’t wait, babe,” he said, looking back at Nikki. He turned to walk up the pathway to follow Nikki and Penny inside. It was Alyssa who gently touched the back of my elbow with a frown.

“I didn’t imagine him staring at Penny, did I?” she whispered, breath streaming out in front of her. “It was weird, right?”

“Something isn’t right about him,” I agreed, and draped an arm around Alyssa’s shoulders. “Come on. We need to go inside before we freeze our butts off out here in the snow.”

We settled at a large table that faced a snowed-in patio area, and we exchanged polite conversation. Nikki seemed interested in my upcoming proposal for the government contract. As I spoke, I kept one eye trained on Penny, who sat on one side of her mother while Dylan sat on the other side. His eyes kept shifting over to where Penny sat looking at her menu, but her eyes weren’t moving.

“I hear that you are in line for some good things,” she said. “That’s exciting! I’m so happy for you, Gabriel. You’ve done really well for yourself and Alyssa.”

“Figured I better put my brain to good use,” I said with a shrug. “What about you, Dylan? What do you do?”

Dylan’s eyes glittered with irritation when he looked up at me. “I am actually Nikki’s personal assistant back in the city.”

“So, she’s your boss?” I asked coolly.