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“That
sounds wonderful, Dylan. The timing of all of this sucks, though. I’ve been
trying to get you to notice me since you hired me, and just when we could begin
to build something wonderful we get pulled apart.  It’s a tragedy.”  I hear
tears in her voice. What the ever-loving fuck, is she psycho?

This
girl thinks I want to be with her. “Yeah, it’s too bad, but you can’t wait
around for me. You are entirely too special, so I have to do what’s best and
let you go.”  Damn, I hope that sounds sincere enough.  I hate dealing with chicks
who can’t let go after one night.  P
lease buy it and let me off the hook.

“Oh
Dylan, you are such a great guy! It will be hard, but I will try to move on.
Maybe someday you will come back here, though.  If you do, I’ll drop whatever
to be with you.”
Yeah, that’s a big, fuck no!

“Yeah,
maybe, but it won’t be for a very long time, so you move on and be happy with
some great guy down there who can appreciate you.” Ugh, I’m about to choke on
this shit.  “Look, Joy, I’ve got to go and fix the kids’ breakfast.  You take
care of our shop.” The. Fucking. End.

“Okay,
bye Dylan. Take care of yourself.”

I
hang up the phone and hear a slow clap behind me as Jax sits down next to me on
the porch. “Very nice.”

“How
long were you listening?”

“Long
enough to hear you spinning your special line of bullshit with Joy. Bravo, you
have not lost your touch.”

“Fuck
off, shithead.  So, am I guessing you heard about Joy’s new title?”

“Yeah,
right.  That’s not happening, but I’ll let her think whatever the hell she
wants to; with a raise of course.”

I
finally notice Jax dressed in a suit and tie.  “Ah shit, did someone else die?”

“No,
asshole, we’re going to the bank today. So go change.”

“Today?
Damn, that was fast.”

“Yeah,
well, I may have scheduled an appointment a couple of days ago.  Now get your
shit together and get moving or we’re gonna be late.”

I
go in to grab the suit I wore to court.  Might as well put it to some use. In
the kitchen, I notice Luke getting something to eat. “Hey, I have to go out for
a little while, so can you watch them please?”

He
takes a huge bite of leftover pizza, “I’ve got shit to do today.”

“Okay,
I won’t be gone long. Just watch them until I get back.”

“Fine.”

That
was as good as it was going to get. “Alright, see you later.”  I turn to go
then turn back around deciding to sweeten the pot, “Hey, Luke, I need a favor. 
I want to pick up my stuff from Oklahoma City.  The problem is I need someone
to drive my Camaro back so I can drive the truck and bring back my bike.  I was
hoping you could help me out. Otherwise, I’ll have to drag my car while Jax
drags the bike.  Think you’d be interested?”  I know I just made his day.  His
face looks like he just came in his pants after looking at his first pair of real-life
tits.
This kid is so much like me it’s beyond scary.

He
wastes absolutely no fucking time, “Hell, yeah.  You’re really going to let me
drive your car?”  He’s turning red with excitement. 

I
continue playing like it’s no big deal.  “Yeah, man.  You’d be doing me a real
solid if you’d drive my car back.  I don’t want to ruin any plans you have,
though.”

“No
plans.  None.”  And folks, my job here is a success.  I could ask him to paint
this whole damn house, and he would just want to know when he has to have it
done. I just wonder how long it will last.

“Okay,
I’ll let ya know when.  Jax and I are leaving now, but we won’t be gone long. 
Thanks for watching the kids.”

“Yeah,
no problem, Dylan.  They’ll be fine.”  I turn away with a self-satisfied
chuckle at how well I played that.  Now you know why I am the people person of
our business.  I tell the other kids goodbye and then head to the bank with
Jax.

When
we arrive at the large main branch of the bank, we are greeted by a nice
receptionist who shyly smiles at Jax and me, and then leads us into a big
office with an older guy sitting at the desk.  He introduces himself as the
loan officer, and we all sit down to discuss the loan. An hour later, Jax and I
walk out of the bank. He takes his tie off as we head out to the car, “Well,
we’ve got that loan in the bag.”

I
hop in the driver’s seat, “Easy man, don’t get ahead of yourself.”

He
gets in and buckles his seatbelt as I start to drive back home, “Please man, he
was so excited about our plan that I wouldn’t be surprised if he were our first
customer. They are going to call us by early next week guaranteed. You’ll see.”

I
laugh. I did feel pretty confident about the loan. There isn’t any reason to
deny us, but it was still going to be a waiting game. I don’t give a shit.  I
feel like things are finally starting to look up.  I know they aren’t perfect,
but the shit doesn’t seem as damn thick as it was two weeks ago.  Hell, I even
made my asshole brother’s day, and Tuesday I would get to see Brooke again, my
hot little social worker who’s going to fuck with my life more than just being
all in my family’s business.
But damn, what a ride.

Brooke

When
I walk in the break room, I find Marla pouring herself a cup of coffee.  She
looks up and smiles at me and silently offers me a cup.  I’m not much of a
coffee drinker, so I decline.  “How’s everything going?”

I
think Marla feels responsible for me since I shadowed her a lot during my
internship. She is constantly asking me how everything is going. I head for the
refrigerator that blessedly someone keeps stocked with bottled water.  That’s
my drink, well that and wine.  And after my first visit with Dylan and his
lovely family, I may need to find a close vineyard. “Everything’s going fine.
So far that is.  I haven’t run into anything I can’t handle.” 
Except a 6
foot 5, tattooed sex god.
No worries here.  I knew it wasn’t very convincing;
it was Tuesday, and that meant I had to visit the Monroes today. I was nervous
as hell, and I know Marla picked up on it.  She just doesn’t know
why
I’m nervous, and I’ll be damned if I’m sharing.

She’s
just about to say something when Paige joins us looking more irritated than
tired, “Ugh, I need coffee now.”

Marla
laughs, “You look well rested why do you need coffee?”

Paige
looks agitated as she gets her cup of coffee. “Because if I can’t drink wine at
work, at least, I can have coffee to keep myself going. You know what happened
to me yesterday?” She doesn’t wait for either of us to guess, “A fucking kid
bit me.”

I
look at her, surprised, for some reason that was not what I was expecting, “A
child bit you? Why?”

“Oh,
because I wouldn’t let her go with her meth addicted mom.”

Marla
laughs, she actually laughs at this, like it happens all of the time and says,
“Was it at the Stewart’s?”

Paige
takes a huge gulp of coffee and nods, “Yep, it was my turn yesterday.”

I
have no idea what they are talking about, and my curious nature makes me ask,
“The Stewart’s?”

Marla
grins and explains, “They are a short term foster family. They take in kids for
three days tops and hold them during really bad situations. We all get sent
there eventually to pick up or drop off a kid; they get a lot of kids.”

I
feel saddened by that, these poor kids that were born into horrible situations.
That’s why I’m so determined to do everything I can for the Monroes.  I turn to
Paige, “So, the kid bit you?”

She
nods, “Yeah, but I mean it’s not that big of a deal. That’s not even the worst
thing that’s happened to me this month.”

Marla
shakes her head at Paige, “Don’t scare her away.”

They
all seem to think I’m fragile and need to be protected. If they only knew. “I
don’t scare that easily, but why do they all hate us?”

They
both look at me, and it’s obvious they are thinking about how to answer that.
Marla speaks up first, “What’s the matter? Are you having problems with one of
your clients?”

I
sip my water, “Not really, I mean, I only have one assigned family. Everything
else has been random appointments.”

Paige
rolls her eyes, “Oh my God, please tell me you are not complaining about Mr.
Tall Dark and Handsome!”

“I’m
not complaining, they just seem to hate me. I mean he does for sure and one of
his brothers.  I’m working on them, though.”

Marla
laughs, “Oh, for that boy I’m pretty sure I would take the abuse.”

My
eyes widen when she says that, and I can’t help but laugh. I’m not blind; I
know Dylan is a gorgeous man and sexy as hell. But he’s so rough around the
edges and clearly has no patience whatsoever for me. I’m trying to help him,
and he seems determined to fight me the entire way.  I can only hope that he
thought about what I said about trusting me.  I return to the conversation at
hand, “I’m sure your husband would love to hear that.”

She
laughs, I know she’s kidding. She is completely head over heels for her
husband. Paige pours some more coffee into her cup. “Seriously, Brooke, I can’t
believe you aren’t thrilled about having him as a client. He’s so hot.”

“Well,
you can have him because he hates me.”

Janice
walks into the break room, and we all shut up, not that Janice is all that
threatening, but she is our supervisor. “Who are you trying to get rid of,
Brooke?”

I
stumble on my words, “I, uh, I’m not trying to get rid of anyone. We were just
kidding around.”

She
gives me a kind smile, “You know you can come to me anytime if you need advice
and pretty much anyone in this office. We have all been there.  We know it can
be hard at first. The people we work with are usually going through the worst
times of their lives and it pisses them off. We are natural punching bags.”

I
smile, “Thank you, Janice.”

She
pats my shoulder sweetly and then goes back to her office. I talk to Marla and
Paige a little more before I head over to my desk to start my day.

My
day is full of meetings with people to help them get food assistance and then
fifteen minutes before four I grab my purse and stand up. Paige sees me stand
and hollers over at me, “Have fun, Brooke!”

I
shake my head. I don’t think they would be as in love with Dylan if they had to
deal with him weekly. I leave and drive to the Monroe home. In the driveway, I
can’t help but notice the addition of the sexiest car I have ever seen.  This
will always be a guilty pleasure of mine, loud and proud muscle cars. I’m
mesmerized for a moment and then shake it off.  I need to get a grip and face
the firing squad that is the Monroe family.

I
park my boring Ford Focus right behind the sexy beast so I can get a closer
look as I walk nonchalantly by it.  Just looking at it makes me hot.  I shut
off my car and get out.  Thankfully the thrill of getting up close and personal
with this beauty distracts me from the nerves I was feeling on the way here,
and I head to the front door.

I
ring the doorbell and hear shuffling inside. After what seems like an eternity,
Dylan opens the door. Geez, he
really
is a good-looking man. He fills
the doorway and towers over me.  Obviously, we’re going to play this game again. 
Which is fine by me, because now I know not to take deep breaths around him. 
He’s wearing tight jeans and a dark t-shirt that clings to his body.

He
steps out of the way, but only slightly, “Come on in.”

I
walk into the door and notice all of the kids are all lined up in the small
foyer of the home. I remember thinking how strange this was the first time, and
it’s not any less strange today.  I turn to Dylan because I just have to
share.  “I love the ’69 out there, beautiful car.” He looks slightly surprised,
but just nods. Not a man of many words.

“Is
it your car?”  Again with the nodding.  No answer from him. Today is going
wonderfully.

I
decide to turn to the kids, “Hey, guys. Have a good week?”

Michael
nods happily, “Yeah, I finished three books this week!”

I
smile at him; he is so adorable, and it’s good to see him have some joy in his
life during this difficult time, “That’s awesome!”

I
turn to Gabby hoping she will answer, “Did you have a good week?”

She
nods her head slightly but doesn’t say a word. I smile at her because that’s
more than I got last time.  I’ll take that victory too.  My eyes connect with
Dylan’s, and he silently shares the progress as well.

Now
I move over to Cassie, “And how is cheerleading camp going?”

Her
pretty face lights up, “So much fun! They put us on the trampoline so we can
learn to do splits in the air. I’m learning so much about cheering, and
everyone has been so nice! It’s so awesome, Brooke!”

“Cassie,
I’m so happy you’re having a good time.
  I hope you’re
making a lot of friends as well.”  I give her a genuine smile, because really,
who can resist that face.  It just dawns on me that Cassie is at that age where
girls need a mother figure, and something tells me that Dylan isn’t going to be
one to fill that need.  I know, without a doubt, that it’s going to be all too
easy for Cassie to latch herself onto me.  Now this can either be a good thing
or a bad thing, but I plan on doing everything I can to make sure it’s the
former.

With
the same smile on my face, because it’s real, I turn to Luke. I can’t ignore
him, “And how was your week, Luke?”

He’s
been standing in the foyer with a bored face during the whole exchange with his
siblings.  “It was fine.”

“Well,
what did you do since I saw you last.  Surely you haven’t spent a week just
moping around,” I say good-naturedly. At this point, I will do anything to draw
him out. I’m not expecting much, but color me surprised when he goes into
detail about getting to drive Dylan’s Camaro all the way from Oklahoma City.
Okay, now I’m jealous, but I can work with this.  I might have found my “in”
with Luke, and I’ll take any small victory I can and run with it.

I
turn back to Dylan, “So that car is yours huh?  My high school boyfriend drove
a ’69 GTO with a 366 under the hood.  Nobody could beat him on the mile.  He
had a big enough reputation that people from all over Kansas and northern
Oklahoma would come up on the weekends to see if they could take him.  Only one
car got the best of him, and it was, believe it or not, a ’65 Shelby.  After that,
he got into racing dirt bikes.  You might have heard of him on the Motocross
Circuit, Adam Shiller.”  I look between the two of them expectantly.

“You
dated Shiller the Thriller?” Luke asks, clearly the boy is shocked as hell.  I
should probably be offended that he sounds so disbelieving, but I’m enjoying
this way too much.

“Yeah,
my junior and senior years of high school. In fact, we still keep in touch.  My
roommate and I went to see him ride in St. Louis in May.”
Time to play it
like it’s no big deal.

Luke
turns to Dylan with a helpless look, “Dude, did you hear her? Shit, where is
Jax. When he hears about this, he might ask her to marry him.  I mean, she
knows Shiller the fucking Thriller.”

Dylan
just nods again, but I swear I can see a hint of him being impressed.

“Guys,
should we go into the dining room?” I ask.  “Oh, wait.  Before we do I just
need to take a quick tour of the house, just to see where everyone is sleeping
and…”

Now
Dylan has something to say, “And what? Why do you need to see where we are
sleeping?”

I
turn to him calmly, “Because its protocol. I just need to make sure your
environment is safe. It will be quick I promise.”

Before
he can say anything, the kids began filing down the hall to the respective
bedrooms.  Dylan follows them leaving me to bring up the rear.  “Let’s just get
it over with, come on.”

The
first room we come to has pale pink walls, two twin beds, a desk, and two
dressers. It’s a tight fit, but adequate. Dylan states the obvious, “This is
where Cassie and Gabby sleep.”

There
are clothes all over one of the beds and Cassie says, “I’m sorry about the mess
I couldn’t decide what to wear.”

I
smile at her, “I totally get that.”

She
smiles pleased, and we continue to the next room, its walls are painted dark
blue. Again two beds, two dressers, and a desk. It’s slightly larger than the
girls’ room, but not by very much. Luke offers the obvious, “This is where
Michael and I sleep. Is it up to your standards, Ms. Thriller?” Oh, now he
wants to be a funny guy.  Whatever, I’m going to ride this win to the end.  I
just nod with a big smile plastered on my face.  I’m not missing the angry kid
at all right now, but I’m sure he’s still in there somewhere.  Maybe before he
reappears we can reach a level of trust; I can only hope.

We
continue down the hall and pass by a bedroom that has the door open. It’s
clearly the master, but Dylan doesn’t stop.  “Wait, Dylan, is this your room?”

Cassie
gives the answer I seek, and one that needs to be followed up on, because it’s
the second time I’ve heard that name, “Jax sleeps in there.”

I
look at Cassie confused, “Who is Jax again?” Besides, the guy who's going to
ask me to marry him.

Cassie
smiles, “He’s Dylan’s friend. He’s awesome.”

I
look at Dylan, “Your friend?”

Does
he look
a little uncomfortable? Guilty? Frustrated?  I really can’t decipher that
expression.  “Yeah, my friend, Jax.  He’s also my business partner.”

“He’s
staying here for a while?”

“Yes.” 

This
Jackson guy staying here is
something we need to address,
but I’ll l wait until after the meeting with the kids and just talk to Dylan
about it in private. “So where do you sleep?”

“Why
are you so interested in where Dylan sleeps? Do you need to make sure he is
safe too?” Luke says, but I try to let it go.

“I
need to know all sleeping arrangements.  It’s just to make sure there are
adequate accommodations for everyone in the house, Luke.”

Cassie,
my sweet ally, says, “He sleeps on the couch. This place is way too small;
that’s why I’m trying to get Dylan to move us to a bigger house.”
Interesting.