Code Name - Rook (Jameson Force Security 6)

Except… I never did ask Cage what he was doing for Thanksgiving. And he never asked me either, so it’s not serious to the point we would consider spending the holiday together.

So confusing.

I decide to be vague, hoping it satisfies. “It’s new, Mom. We’ve only been dating for a few weeks.”

“Well, invite him to have Thanksgiving dinner with us,” she demands.

I don’t argue with her. She’ll expect me to extend the invitation, although I’m not sure what Cage would think about it. We hadn’t talked about the upcoming holiday because I don’t think either of us is looking too far into the future at this point.

Luckily, the conversation actually steers to our Thanksgiving dinner, which is only four days away. We finish our meals, and I serve up the lemon cake. Mom and I have coffee with ours while Laney, Dad, and Brian drink beer with theirs.

So gross.

When it’s time to clean the kitchen, Brian starts to make a beeline for the basement, but I nab him by the arm. “You’re staying to help clean while Mom, Dad, and Laney go relax.”

“Why does Laney get to relax?” he asks. She has already darted out of the kitchen and into the living room to claim her favorite end of the couch. They’ll watch the current game until the Steelers start.

“Because you and I need to talk. Unless you want her to be privy to that, she gets a pass on the kitchen.”

“Fine,” he grumbles, and we both start putting the food into smaller Tupperware containers that I’m convinced were made in the seventies. Brian scrapes plates while I rinse them before they go into the dishwasher.

It’s only when we’re standing side by side at the kitchen sink, washing the pots and pans, that I start the conversation with Brian.

“You’re overdue paying me back the money I lent you,” I say quietly. I truly had no intention of letting anyone else in our family know I let him borrow it. It’s Brian’s private business, and I wouldn’t out him.

“I know,” he says with a sigh of frustration. “I’m having a hard time getting the guy who owes me money to pay up. It could be another few weeks.”

I just stare at him, my eyes hard with anger.

His shoulders sag. “I’m really sorry, Jaime.”

When Brian gives me that hangdog look, nine times out of ten, I’ll feel sorry for him. But not tonight.

I take the opportunity to tell him how I truly feel. Drying my hands on a dishtowel, I turn to face him and keep my voice low. “Brian… it’s time you grow up. You’re thirty-one years old, for God’s sake, and you live in your parents’ basement playing Xbox all day. You should have a full-time job, and, at the least, contribute to the household expenses here. Ideally, you should be out on your own and living your own life. Don’t you want that for yourself?”

Rather than look more piteous, Brian lifts his head, eyes flaring with anger. “Oh, stop being so damn self-righteous all the time, Jaime. We can’t all be as perfect as you.”

That felt like a slap in the face. “I never said I was perfect.”

“No, you just act like it when you try to preach at me like I’m a child.”

“Well, you act like a child.”

“What’s going on?” Laney pipes up as she enters the kitchen, her gaze moving warily between the two of us.

“Nothing,” Brian growls, tossing the dishtowel he’d been holding down on the counter. “I’m out of here.”

And he slinks back down into his basement hole.

“Fuck,” I mutter, and Laney’s eyebrows go upward. It’s not a word either of us use often. When we do, it’s for a good reason.

“Want to talk about it?” she asks.

I shake my head. “No, not really. Besides, I have to get out of here. I do have a ton of work to get done before tomorrow.”

Laney leans into me with a leering smile. “Does that include working on a gorgeous man by the name of Cage?”

“I wish,” I mutter. “He’s working, too.”

“Too bad,” she commiserates.

Definitely too bad, because the truth is, I really miss him when I can’t see him. Does that mean what we have is serious?

I just don’t know.

?

Later that evening, I’m lying in bed, reading a book. I had finished my reports, laid out my work clothes for the next day, and gave myself a mini facial. A smile comes to my face when my phone rings and I see it’s Cage. He told me he’d call tonight when he finished work, and I’d trusted he would. He’s never blown me off yet.

“Hello,” I answer softly.

He gives an exaggerated groan. “That voice… you sound all sexy and tucked into bed. Is that where you are?”

My laugh is husky. “You would be right about that.”

“Christ… I wish it weren’t so late, or I’d come over there right now and wring a few orgasms out of you.”