Cease Fire (Blackbridge Security 9)

“How’s Jules?” Gaige Ward, Blackbridge’s resident attorney and acquisitions guy, asks. It seems our luck on avoiding the subject has run out.

I look up, waiting for Brooks to respond, and see Gaige’s attention on me.

I shrug. “Don’t know. Ask the father-to-be.”

Yes, there’s a heap of irritation in my voice, and I have to bite the inside of my cheek to avoid apologizing to my best friend. He doesn’t deserve my wrath from this situation. I’m just as much to blame because I’m keeping her secret as well.

“Brooks?” Gaige asks when the man doesn’t immediately answer the question. “Jules?”

“She’s good,” he says, half of a fake smile on his face.

I narrow my eyes at him, wondering if he’s actually spoken to her recently or if he’s just assuming she’s fine. As far as I know, Jules and Brooks are cordial to each other when we all gather at my parents’ house, but outside of those dinners, they don’t have any sort of interactions. They’re not real friends. Brooks is mine and Jules is Beth’s. That’s just how it’s always been.

“And the baby?” Gaige pushes.

Brooks’s jaw clenches, and I find mine doing the same. His dentist is going to be just as pissed it seems.

“Growing,” he says, his eyes finding mine as if to check if he’s giving the right information.

I wish I could let him know for sure, but other than a couple of texts twice a day, I haven’t seen Jules in nearly a month. I just can’t bring myself to face her. Doing so would lead to me begging her to change her mind. I know from years of experience being around her, that once the woman sets her mind to something, she’s going to see it through, if only because her pride won’t allow her to admit that maybe she made the wrong choice.

I haven’t heard anything to the contrary where Jules and the baby are concerned, but I also don’t know that she’d come to me if there was a complication. The only things I have to rely on are her good texts when I ask how she’s doing. I guess I should just be happy she’s actually responding, but I also know that has more to do with her not wanting me to show up on her doorstep if she doesn’t.

Brooks is let off the hook when his phone chimes with a text.

“Fuck,” he mutters as he stands from the sofa.

“Problem?” Jude asks, always the first one to offer help in any situation.

“Fucking Archer Bremen,” Brooks mutters.

I tilt my head in confusion, but I won’t ask about the situation. Other than niceties in front of others, I haven’t really talked to my best friend in recent weeks. It’s gotten to the point that I don’t know if I’m freezing him out or if he’s doing it to me.

“I thought you were done working that case,” Jude says, and I want to hug the guy for asking exactly what I was thinking. “Didn’t he hire a new firm?”

I cock an eyebrow because this is news to me.

Brooks looks down at his phone, reading whatever is on the screen, his face growing tighter and tighter.

“He got arrested last night,” Brooks mutters.

“Need my help?” Quinten asks, scooting forward to stand.

Quinten is the fixer for Blackbridge Security. When clients get in a bind and can’t dig their way out, Quinten steps in to help them clean shit up, be it their image and reputation or to help them through sticky situations.

“Or me?” Gaige asks, also eager to have something to do other than sit around and wait for the girls’ shopping trip to end. “He’ll need an attorney.”

“I got it,” Brooks says, his face a mask of anger as he strides to the elevator.

“Wren didn’t tell him about Archer getting arrested last night?” Jude mutters, his head shaking back and forth.

“No one asked,” Wren says, his voice echoing around the room from an intercom I didn’t know we had.

“What the fuck?” Quinten snaps, looking around as if the voice of God has just been heard.

“I expect nothing less,” I mutter. “The man—”

My phone chirps with a text, and my heart begins to race just like it has for the last month. I frown, looking down at the message, hating that it isn’t Jules, but my sister.

Beth: I need you to go help Jules today.

I try to school my face to a more impassive expression, not needing the guys around me to get suspicious. I’ve been looking for a reason to actually go see her but have come up empty on excuses. Honestly, I’ve been hoping that Jules would reach out to me, needing something, but that has always been false hope where she’s concerned since the night I misread her cues and kissed her.

Me: Why?

Beth: I was supposed to help her today, but I can’t make it.