My Best Friends Brother

Chapter 148

BRIE’S P.O.V.

Damn it Romeo.

I love this boy, I love him like the brother I never wanted but honest to Christ above I am going to cave his fucking head in if he doesn’t get his shit together soon.

Why is he struggling with this? I’ve tried talking to him twice already but every time he just cuts me the fuck off.

I get why Al is pissed, I kind of get why he’s pissed too but I feel like he’s not seeing the bigger fucking picture here.

Heather and Liam giggle loudly as she paints over Liam’s palm and then presses his hand down onto the canvas. It’s the first time I’ve seen Jayce actually smile in fucking weeks as he looks over at the two of them before slouching back into his seat.

“This one taken numbnuts?” I don’t actually wait for him to answer before sliding into the seat next to him. I don’t need permission from a damn man to do shit and he knows that.

I’ll give him one minute. He can have one damn minute to start this conversation and tell me what the fuck is happening with him but after that I’m just going to tear him apart, it worked for Tara and Cole didn’t it?

One.

Two.

Three.

“Brianna, I know what you’re doing but the silent treatment thing doesn't work with me.”

Ten.

Eleven.

Twelve.

“Brie...”

Twenty-one.

Twenty-two.

Twenty-three.

“Damn it Brianna!” Sucker didn’t even make it to thirty, I’m too damn good at this manipulation of men thing, I should be in fucking government.

Jayce looks over at me, that hint of laughter dying to make its way from his lips when he realises that he's fallen straight into my trap, but it quickly vanishes when the weight of the situation hits him all over again. Running his hands down his face, he leans back and takes a swig out of one of those disgusting non-alcoholic beers that he insists on fucking drinking.

“Are you going to give me shit too?” I give him a look that answers the question for him, he knows full well that I’m not his biggest fan right now, no matter how much I love him. He also knows that I’m here to listen, he just needs to be the one that decides to talk. “I don’t know why I just can’t be okay with this Brie, I know that everybody else seems to be acting like it’s completely fucking normal but it’s just not.”

Oh Romeo. “Why not?” I ask, trying to keep any tone of judgement out of my voice now that he’s finally talking. “Which part of it is actually bothering you the most?”

“All of it.” He chuckles humourlessly. “I know that I’m being a fucking hypocrite so you don’t need to tell me, it’s pretty much the only words that Lee has said to me all fucking week anyway. Even my own daughter won’t talk to me anymore.”

He looks over at Heather, she’s a beautiful and seriously smart kid but she’s also been burdened with her father’s temper. I see so much of myself in her, both the parts which are a blessing and a curse.

To her this is simple; she loves both her uncle’s, now they love each other, she doesn't understand why that isn't a good thing. In some ways the world would be better if we all just saw it the way that fucking kids do.

“I get that I’m on my own with my opinions but they aren't coming from any kind of hate or anything, I’m just fucking concerned. Not that anyone gives a shit, my wife has barely said two words to me, my daughter practically thinks I’m a monster and all because I’m –”

“a cunt?”

Most people would be taken aback by me being my usual blunt self but luckily this boy is fucking used to it. He doesn’t even try to disagree, lowering his bottle back to the table and bringing his fists up together to rest his head against them precariously.

“I’m not trying to be.” He almost whispers.

I believe him, for all his flaws, Jayce is never just unnecessarily cruel.

“That doesn’t mean you’re being any less of one Jayce.” He doesn’t move from his position, the guy hasn't looked this fucking defeated in a while but in all honesty I think he just needs to start to see the world for what it is, rather than what he tries to make it. “Talk to me, make me see it from your point of view.” I feel that maybe if he just gets all this shit off his chest then he’ll be able to fucking breathe again, maybe find some understanding that's fucking missing at the moment.

“I’m just worried about him.” He starts, lifting his head up from the table but keeping his voice low so that we can keep this conversation between just the two of us. “Milo is a kid, I don’t mean that in an insulting way I obviously understand that he’s fucking nineteen, I just mean that he’s my kid brother. I feel like I’ve done a pretty shit job at looking out for him lately and maybe if I’d done a better one he wouldn’t be searching out for another older guy to step in and take fucking care of him.”

I get that, if Milo was a girl whose dad had run out on her and had been neglected by a lot of the adults that were supposed to take care of her like he has, then she suddenly gets in a relationship with a guy ten years older than her? Yeah, I can see why people would have fucking concerns about that. On paper it looks fucking bad, but the reality of their relationship is so far from that.

“It's not just the age thing though,” he continues, “it's what they both want from life right now. Josh wants to settle down, he’s wanted to settle down for fucking years now but I don’t want Milo to just fucking settle. He’s had this crazy offer from LSU, something a few months ago he would have fucking killed for and now he’s not even going to take it? So he can stay here and play house with Josh? He’ll regret it, one day when he realises he's given up his fucking youth for something he could have had later on, he'll fucking regret it.”

I look over at Heather, he really doesn't see the irony here does he?

“Do you regret it?” Jayce looks at me with confusion before I nod my head towards his daughter now cleaning the paint off Liam’s hands. “Al was twenty when you guys got pregnant with her, not even a year older than Milo is now. Do you think she regrets it?”

He stares at his daughter, almost as if he's never really considered that he put Al in the same position. When she had her miscarriage we spoke so much about what her life could have been with that baby, she would have been a young teen mom but fuck would she have been amazing. Sometimes life has a funny way of throwing a curveball at you, sometimes you miss but other times you just knock it straight out of the fucking park. I know she would’ve.

“Josh doesn’t want that for him Jayce. He wants him to go to fucking college and he wants him to do everything he dreams of. I’m not saying that he’s not thinking about a future with your brother, because I can promise you that he is...” I wait for Jayce to roll his eyes or something but he just keeps facing forward. “Age doesn't equal maturity, you should know that better than anyone. I get why you’re worried but you have to let Milo make his own decisions for his own fucking life.”

“It's not just that though Brie.” He starts again, lowering his voice when Heather sends daggers at him across the yard for distracting her. “I get that this is his life and I don’t get a say in it but I just feel like Josh should be taking a fucking step back or something. I know that me and Lee were together young, but we were both fucking young, we grew together. Josh is already fucking there and Milo is racing and clawing to play catch up to something he doesn’t need to be yet... Why am I the only one that can see this? I feel like I’m going insane, like I’m the only one that can see how Milo being with someone like Josh is going to be so fucking hard for him. I don’t want his life to be hard, I want his life to be amazing.”

Oh you poor sweet summer child.

He loves his brother, really loves him, but he’s still not getting it.

“And what the fuck makes you think it won't be?” Jayce tilts slightly towards me but doesn’t answer.

Okay, this soft touch thing isn’t fucking working, time to go Brie-mode.

I snap my hand out and grab hold of his jaw so that he’s forced to face me, and this fucking situation, whether he likes it or not. “I get your arguments Jayce, if Milo was with any other person I would share in every single one of your fears but you are forgetting one piece of vital information here... It’s Josh.”

Jayce looks at me with total bewilderment, it’s a look I’m very fucking used to when you consider that he's got all the brain cells of a squished cockroach.

“I know it’s Josh Brie, that's the fucking problem.”

No Romeo, it's the solution.

“No Jayce, it’s Josh... Josh. The guy who sat outside my bedroom door for fucking days when I couldn’t get out of bed after Granny died. The same Josh who held your wife every single night for the three years that you two were kept apart. The guy who never left her side and supported her even though his own heart was so fucking broken. A guy who moved to another part of the fucking country just so that he could maintain a relationship with a sweet little boy, even though his mother is a bitch that Satan himself wouldn’t fuck.”

I double check Liam can’t hear me before continuing.

“He didn’t see this coming Jayce. I don’t think either of them did. It’s Josh, Jayce, it’s Josh. I know that this is a lot to get your head around but he is one of the best human beings either of us have ever fucking met. Your brother is lucky to fucking have him and you should be so fucking grateful that he does. He doesn’t want to keep him from anything, he doesn’t want to tie him down – he wants to be there to watch him grow.”

I let my head fall into my hands as I let go of his chin, this is so fucking frustrating because I know he’d understand if he’d just see them together. They’re fucking perfect. I don’t know if he’ll ever truly understand how hard this must have been for Josh, I know maybe I wouldn’t have taken it well if this was him and May in a few years but this isn’t just any older guy going after a young bit of tail. Josh hasn’t let himself near a guy since Harley, the fact he has now means more than most people can comprehend.

“I know Brie. I know who Josh is and what he’s done, he took care of Lee when I couldn’t and for that alone I owe him everything. I just... Fuck, this isn’t the future I pictured for Milo, I don’t mean the being with a guy thing because you know I don’t give a fuck about that. I just mean with someone who’s known him his whole life, someone so different from him, someone I brought into his fucking world... I never thought this would happen.”

“Neither did he Jayce!” I snap. “This isn’t something they decided to do out of spite, both of them tried to fucking fight it but it's like destiny or some shit. You have to find a way to deal with this, I’m sorry, but you just do. If you’d just spend five fucking minutes with the two of them and an open mind you’d see that this isn’t going away Jayce. They’re actually kind of meant to be together.”

He may not want to hear that, or maybe he really wants to hear it but isn't willing to let it in yet, either way it had to be said.

I may have been able to figure out what those two were up to but that didn't make it any less shocking, I honestly assumed they were just fucking until I saw them together on the balcony. It all fucking hit me the moment their eyes connected, that look, the same one I see in Jayce’s eyes whenever he looks at my best friend.

Fucking love.

Milo is who Harley told me about, I truly believe that. They are too perfect together for it to be anybody else.

Jesus I’m getting soppy in my old fucking age.

“He’s my baby brother Brie, seeing him with anyone was always going to be weird... but seeing him with someone who knew him back when he was so fucking innocent... Was it always there for Josh? I know I shouldn’t fucking think that but you’re telling me you never considered it?”

Not for a second. Josh was caught just as off guard by this as any of us...

“Jayce I don’t know why you’re even thinking that. It definitely wasn’t there for Josh.... but if you really think about it... it was always there for Milo.” And that’s the really fucking beautiful part.

Jayce looks up at me from his resting place like he has no idea what I’m talking about, I can prove it though. Taking his phone off the table, I type in his code and start scanning through his photos, trying to find the one that will make him understand.

Yes I know his pin, I changed it to my birthday months ago so he wouldn’t forget it again. Twat tried to pass off some shit he got in a gift package after the team won the championship as my present. A gift package that arrived at my fucking office and that I fucking handed to him before he handed it back and said “Happy birthday.”

He tried to re-gift me a free fucking gift! Two days late!

I almost tore his dick off.

To say I was fuming would be an understatement, but he made up for it after he bought me some of Randy Orton’s used ring gear off eBay. Damn I love them... They smelt exactly the way I thought he would...

Steve still won’t wear the fuckers to fucking wrestle me though! I’m working on him.

I find the album with their wedding photos and quickly search out the image, staring at it for a moment and smiling before handing his phone back to him. It’s all the proof he needs.

“Look at his face.” Jayce looks down at the photograph of Milo after giving his speech that day, he’s got a cropped version of it on his Instagram that Josh showed me but I remembered the original, he was always a cute fucker wasn’t he?

Although I guess he’s less cute and more something else now... Not that I’m complaining but the guy hardly ever wears a shirt so it’s hard not to notice. I mean, hello? Yeah, Jacob Black called and he wants his fucking gimmick back mate.

I still love this picture though. Reminds me of who he used to be.

He’s smiling so brightly, staring off at what looks like nothing if you don’t pay attention, but on second glance you can see exactly who he's smiling at. All that love in his eyes directed completely at the oblivious man on the corner table, Josh laughing so hard at whatever Milo just said that he can’t even spot all the other affection he’s trying to show him.

It’s the same look that I see in him give Josh now, except now he returns it. Now he sees him too.

“Do you remember how you felt about Al all those years ago when you were just kids sitting on the utility room floor? The first sparks of a flame that would burn into the love you grew your life from? Tell me you don’t see that exact same fire in his eyes right there... Josh is his Lee, he’s it for him, coming between them will be no different than what your mother tried to do to you two.”

Jase looks at the photograph, really looks at it. He’s probably swiped over that image a hundred times and never seen the look he realises is there right now. They say that a photo can tell you more than words ever could, for me their whole story started right here. “Standing in their way won’t stop them being together Jayce, it will just stop you being a part of their lives.”

I can see it hitting him, looking down at the little boy who used to be his brother and realising that the man he's become now is so far from this child.

Milo was a kid with a crush. Miles is a man in love.

Nothing anybody does is going to change that.

“This is real isn't it? The two of them, they are really fucking happy together.”

Halle-fucking-lujah

I nod, leaning to the side and resting my head on one of his broad shoulders. I should really get paid by this lot for all the damage control I do in their lives.

I’m not expecting him to come to terms with this overnight like I have, he hasn’t had the vision of the future I was given. He’ll get there, Jayce may not have been the easiest person to be around lately but it doesn’t change the fact that he has one of the biggest hearts of anybody I know.

He always feels like he has to protect everyone, even from themselves. He needs to understand that Milo doesn’t need his protection from Josh, he needs his understanding and his fucking love.

“I need to talk to them, I don’t want to be another obstacle between them both if this is what they really want.”

That’s my boy.

“I’m pretty sure either way, you and Josh are going to end up as family. Maybe with the Thompson name on the end of his or maybe because of those two over there.” I jest, looking at the little cuties creating a world of painted colour.

Jayce looks over at where I’m pointing, Heather sitting next to Liam with his hand edging ever closer to her own as they both continue with their painting. Should I just get a big hat for the wedding now? He even continues to stare at her like a little puppy dog as she runs off into the house.

“I could live with that.”

Damn right you could, as the future wife of one of the Jones brothers I can tell you  -  that girl is going to be so fucking happy.

We just sit for a moment, the cold air not even bothering me as Jayce loops his arm around my shoulders and kisses the top of my head. So many people can’t understand him, they see him as a dick - which quite frankly he sometimes is, but mostly he just wants to make sure everyone has the best life. He wants to protect them from making the same mistakes he did.

I’m not saying that he’s right, sometimes he’s just being a controlling little cunt, but I think if most people had lived the life he has and experienced all the ups and downs that he’s had to overcome, they'd appreciate how his heart is always in the right place even when his head is shoved firmly up his own hole.

“Will you talk to them with me?” Jayce says just as my eyes full shut, sleep has been kind of difficult lately. Planning a wedding and getting ready to knock myself up kind of takes its toll on a girl. “I don’t want to say the wrong thing and fuck it up. I already lost one brother Brie, I don’t want to lose another one.”

Sometimes I want to run this man down with my bug, other times I want to use my body as a human shield so that I can protect him from all the splinters he lets so easily into his heart.

He could never lose Milo, not truly. There are some really amazing brother duos in the world but these two out match even the Salvatore’s and the Winchesters - they are the fucking Thompsons.

Liam looks nervously back at the house, what the hell is that girl doing in there? She’s been gone for fucking ages.

I lift my head from Jayce’s shoulder, grasping his well chiselled cheeks and bringing my lips to his forehead.

“Of course I will you idiot, you think that I’m just going to let you –”

“AAAAHHHH!”

Do most soul shattering, spine breaking, terrified scream of absolute despair tears everyone away from any other thought as we all stare up at the upstairs window.

May.