He sure had. Enough to wallow in his grief.
Enough to hurt me.
Enough to blame me for things that weren’t my fault, and I said nothing.
Just forced a smile.
It gave this girl, his fan, exactly what she needed. It made her go, and I was left with nothing but staring at a wine shelf. Eventually, I grabbed a bottle.
“There you are.”
An arm folded around me, a long arm and a snug embrace.
Ramses smiled when he hugged me back into him. He kissed me on the top of the head, holding me close before seeing what I grabbed.
He lifted it up, a frown on his lips. “Honey, we’re basically about to go to a bro event and everyone in attendance, December included, will drink like it is.” Chuckling, he put the wine back. “Come on. We can do better than that.”
He laced our hands together, a platter of cheesecake bites in his hand. My first thought was if he could see what had just happened all over my face, but the second was what he’d said. He called me honey.
He must have seen the second thought.
Because he smiled, so big when he guided me away. He wrapped his long wingspan around me, and I almost forgot what had just happened. Ramses Mallick was a hell of a drug.
But that didn’t mean he could numb me.
*
Forever the optimist, Ramses chalked up my abrupt change in comfort as nerves on the way to December’s. He said everything would be okay.
He had no reason to think otherwise.
How exactly did one tell their twenty-two-year-old… youthful, vibrant boyfriend they’d lost a child? How did she break something down he’d never had to deal with?
How could she explain?
How could she describe that feeling to him? Something he’d never experienced. Ramses was perfect, untouched in so many ways. He’d had his own traumas, but he’d been fortunate not to bear the weight of this.
And hopefully, never would.
He stole my hand in his car, more assurances on his lips. He told me it’d be okay again.
I hoped it would.
“Arizona!”
Okay started with meeting his friends, December when she opened the door. She had a perfect flush to her cheeks, a video game controller in her hand. Apparently, she’d been playing.
Completely youthful.
She greeted Ramses and me at the door, enough beer in Ramses’s hands to provide for a frat house kegger. In fact, I’d believed it overkill. But I suppose younger people liked to drink.
Ramses held up one of the six packs to her, a smile gracing his lips. His other hand fisted the rest of the booze, but that didn’t stop him from hooking an arm around me. “‘Zona!”
I didn’t understand the reference, or why she’d called him Arizona. I assumed it was something between friends, and when she shifted to hug him, the same.
“Took you long enough,” she teased, squeezing his shoulder.
The gorgeous level of this girl exceeded the charts, her wispy dark strands cinched high in a messy bun. It complemented her pale skin, flushed with rose tint. She still looked like Snow White, still stunning. She propped the controller on her hip. “I was about to send out a squad car. You get lost coming all the way over from next door?”
But she wasn’t afraid to stick it to Ramses, the man jokes and sarcasm for days. I could definitely see why the two were friends.
“Nice,” he gritted, his eyes lifted, but he hugged me close with a warm grin. He hadn’t let me go, but he didn’t need to do that. I understood where these two were in regard to their friendship.
I trusted him.
Even still, there was hesitance there that hadn’t been, a nervousness at least on December’s end. Her smile slipped a bit in my direction, her hand working over that control, and perhaps, Ramses noticed that as well.
“December,” he said before placing a kiss down on the crown of my head. He was so tall, always did that. He smiled at me. “You know my Bri. My girlfriend.”
His Bri.
Like him calling me honey before, the sentiment warmed inside me, but a dull ache was there, too.
It hadn’t left.
I think it’d been seeing him with his young friend, her, too, in flip-flops and shorts. Though, she was at home. There was just such a simplicity about her too, a vibrancy in her youth.
Never in my life had I been envious of someone younger than me, but in that moment, I was. I didn’t know why.
“Yes.” She took my hand, formally shaking it. Then did one better when she hooked an arm around me too. I had the cheesecake bites, so it was a maneuver.
It made us both laugh, smile when she came away.
She pushed hair out of her face. “And gratefully, this time I’m wearing clothes.”
Laughter again from all of us, this meeting between us all so different and when the door widened, even more of that difference.
December’s husband came in, a ridiculously beautiful man with the features of a prince and the jawline to match. Blond, he squeezed December’s shoulders from behind before reaching out to help Ramses with some of the beers.
He shook his hand.
“Mallick.” He squeezed, a polish about him that differed from his casual wife. He stood taller, stance straighter despite wearing a Pembroke hoodie. This guy was basically huge. But not nearly as tall as Ramses. He smirked. “Good. We can get things going, and you can shut Knight the fuck up. He keeps going on about LJ and some deal. I’m about to goddamn kill him.”
Whatever this reference was made Ramses bark a laugh. He waved a hand over his head. “I’m sure,” he said before introducing me. “This is my girlfriend, Brielle. Brielle, Royal. I’m sure you saw him at the wedding. Royal, Brielle was a guest.”
I was shaking his hand, too, when he offered it. “Nice to meet you.”
“Same here.” Royal shot a thumb back. “We taking this inside? Seriously, I’m about to fucking kill Knight. What the hell is he going on about?”
“Business, which I don’t do in my free time.” Ramses chuckled, shaking his head. “I’ll talk to him, though. His boxers are probably just in a twist because his boy, LJ, is about to make a name in Maywood Heights.”
Royal grinned. “I heard and can’t fucking wait. These two are hilarious and so damn competitive.”
“There ain’t nothing to compete with!” came from inside. Then the guy I assumed was Knight appeared at the door. If Royal was big, this guy was a building. All big shoulders and thick arms.
He had a blond under his arm, a little thing that barely came up to his chest. I assumed this was their friend, Greer, his girl apparently.
“Mallick, brother.” Knight shook Ramses’s hand. “Glad you’re here. We can talk shop and why there ain’t no competing when it comes to Reed Corp.”
Royal dropped an arm around Knight, patting his chest. “Keep telling yourself that, brother.”
The two jostled each other like a couple of actual brothers, making their girls scoff and Ramses laugh. Ramses once again emphasized he didn’t discuss business outside of the office, and I assumed these other boys were just as affluent. I mean, I knew Royal was. I’d seen his last name Prinze all over the town, and I’d definitely heard the name Reed Corp.
Between these young men, there was a nice little empire going, a building or two named after the Mallicks on campus, and I’d seen the name Reed, as well.