Page 28 of Chains
Chapter Seven
“Ihope yourparents are coming to my Mom’s brunch in a couple of weeks. She’s starting to think they don’t give a damn about the wedding,” Bret said before popping an olive into his mouth.
“They are, and I’m the one who told my mom to not worry about coming to every shower. Denver’s a good eight-hour drive to Alina, and my mom’s afraid to fly,” Autumn replied.
“It’s just that my mom thinks your parents should be more involved.”
“I actually wish thatwewere the ones involved. It seems like I’m doing a lot of the planning without you, and whatever I do, you or your mother veto it. What happened to the small wedding we wanted?”
“Youwanted it, remember?”
“You told me you did too.”
“I was just trying to keep the peace.” Bret motioned the waiter over. “Another martini.” He looked at Autumn. “Did you want another drink?”
“I’ll have a glass of merlot this time,” she said to the waiter. Autumn waited for him to leave, then shook her head. “I thought we were in thistogether. And what does ‘keeping the peace’ mean?”
Bret reached out and grasped her hand. “With my mother—not you. She’s going nuts because I’m the first one of my siblings to get married.”
Autumn sighed.He has an answer for everything. “I’m surprised Emily and Will haven’t tied the knot yet.”
“Me too. My parents are mad as hell at her for shacking up so long with him. I can’t blame them. He should either marry her or move on. Emily wants to get married in the worst way.” He laughed. “It feels sort of good one-upping the golden child.”
“I can’t relate to the dynamics you have with your siblings since I never had any.”
“Count yourself lucky. Sometimes they can be too much.”
The waiter placed the wineglass in front of her.
“Thank you,” she said before taking a sip out of it. “I’ve met everyone in your family but your brother. Will he be coming to the brunch?” A knot of muscles at the side of Bret’s jaw pulsed, and she knew she’d hit a nerve.
“Who knows or cares?”
She lifted one shoulder slightly. “I was just wondering. I know the two of you aren’t that close, but youarebrothers.”
“Unfortunately.” Bret took a big gulp of his drink.
“What’s the cause of the bad blood between you two?” Since she and Bret had been together, he rarely spoke of his brother.
“Chet’s a fucking loser. He’s always thought he didn’t have to follow the rules, and he gave our parents a real hard time, especially our dad, when he was in high school. The guy’s bad news, and if I never see him again, I wouldn’t give a damn.” He drained the rest of his martini, then gestured the waiter to bring another.
“What does he do?”
“How the hell should I know? He’s in that criminal gang—the Night Rebels.” Bret glanced at his phone.
“The motorcycle club?”
“Yes. It figures he’d get mixed up with them. It’s an embarrassment to our family.” Bret tapped something into his phone. “Why the hell are we talking about thathimanyway?”
“I was just wondering if he’d be at the brunch. There was this client at the clinic who had the most beautiful Siberian husky. He rode the coolest-looking motorcycle I’d ever seen.” Autumn took another sip of wine.
“Anyone who rides a motorcycle is either a thug or doesn’t give a damn about his life. There’s no way I’d get on one of those death-traps.” Bret’s phone beeped again.
“They can be freeing,” she whispered under her breath. “The guy had an air of defiance… rebelliousness about him,” she said wistfully.
“Who’re you talking about?”
With a slight shake of her head, she answered, “No one.”
