“Gigi and I–" I hesitate.
“You and Gigi what?”
“Do you already know?”
My father has always been ten steps ahead of me. Maybe he already knows about me and Gigi and is waiting for me to come clean, or maybe I don’t give a fuck and I’ll throw her right under a bus of her own.
“Know what?”
“Our relationship has changed.”
“What do you mean?”
“We’ve been seeing each other… romantically.”
My father doesn’t speak for a moment.
“So, are you in love with her?”
It takes me less than three seconds to respond, unlike a certain drama queen I know.
“Yes.”
“And how does she feel about you?”
“I don’t know.”
“Is that the reason you’re considering making Miami your permanent residence?”
“That’s part of the reason.”
Who are you fooling, man? That’s the entire reason.
“I have to say that I’m a little surprised, Son.”
“Surprised or disappointed?”
“Surprised. I thought you had given up on our Gigi.”
“What do you mean, given up on her?”
“When you were in high school, you beat that Porter kid within an inch of his life. The only reason you would do something like that is because you wanted to be the one sitting on that picnic blanket with Gigi.”
“Please, I couldn’t stand her back then.”
“You don’t really believe that, do you? You’ve always had it bad for that girl. I think you've convinced yourself that your mother and I forced you to protect her over the years, but if you didn't care deeply about her you wouldn't have done it. You would have fought us tooth and nail every step of the way."
"Maybe."
"I get why you love her, Son. Gigi is a beauty inside and out.”
I look down at my phone again and suddenly feel so empty. I miss her dramatic ass and it hasn’t even been forty-eight hours.
“Yeah, she is.”
The rest of the ride is spent quietly with me rewinding in my mind every single moment Gigi and I spent in and out of bed in each other’s arms. This turn in our relationship has been a whirlwind and things admittedly moved fast, but still I’m left asking myself, how did we get here?
I don’t become completely distracted with other things until we arrive to my brothers’s dormitory and we don’t find them in their room.
“When’s the last time you talked to them?” Dad asks.
“Maybe the day before yesterday.”
“Maybe?” he questions in an accusatory tone.
“Are you blaming me for them going AWOL? You’re the one who fired their security.”
“Those fuckers lost them on the first day. Why would I pay them another red cent if they can’t keep their eyes on two college students?”
“Yeah, well, we can’t find them either.”
“I’d expect this irresponsible shit from Bronx, but Seven?”
“Seven has got Bronx's back. He won’t let him get too far out of hand.”
“So, you think us driving down here is a waste of time?”
“I think they’re both fine, but if Mom needs a proof of life picture of them to sleep at night, then that’s what we’ll give her.”
“Agreed, let’s start with the front desk. You take the lead.”
A kid who’s probably younger than my brothers is sitting at the front desk with earbuds in and a long face. Once we see him, Dad’s hopes are quickly dashed that we’re going to get any usable information about my brothers. He doesn’t seem like he pays attention to who comes and goes at all.
“Excuse me, we’re looking for Bronx and Seven Masterson from the third floor. Have you seen them today? They’re not in their room.”
"The twins?"
"Yeah."
“Did you try their phones?”
Obviously.
“Yep, but they aren’t answering.”
“Neither one of ‘em?”
“No,” I answer impatiently. “Have you seen them or not?”
“Well, I haven’t seen them today. Maybe they’re over at the Broadchurch Grill. They’re having karaoke there tonight and most of the kids in this dorm like to go there and get drunk. The house vodka is only $3 on karaoke night.”
“Thanks.”
“Neither one of those clowns is getting on a stage to do karaoke,” I say to Dad. "They're probably not there."
“They may not go for the karaoke but they'll definitely go for the girls,” Dad reminds me.
“Mmm, you have a point.”
We’ve been on edge for so long about the people that might come after us, that I completely forgot that bagging women is like an Olympic sport to my brothers. If they’re incommunicado and not calling home, it’s probably because of some pussy.
When we arrive to the eatery, we can see the kid from the dorm desk wasn’t lying. It’s standing room only in this place. I start scanning the room looking for my brothers, which should be easy because they’re as tall as me and will definitely stick out in most crowds.
“I don’t see ‘em yet.”
But as soon as I hear the off-key baritone notes, I know we only have to look to the stage for my siblings. Both of them are sitting in two folding chairs on the stage, each of them with their hands full of ass as girls dance in their laps, while Bronx tries to belt out a very pitiful rendition of a 90's love ballad I don’t remember the name of.
“Dad.” I point to the stage with a smirk.
“Unbelievable.”
“Incredibly bad.”
“I’m taking a picture of these fools and sending it to your mother. She won’t believe her eyes. You can deal with them when they finish getting their dicks hard. I’ll be in the car.”
I make my way toward the front of the crowd and stand with folded arms so they can see me. Seven spots me first and as his Cheshire grin quickly turns south, I can see him mouthing the word “fuck”.
Bronx is on the last verse of the song and is still clueless. After he wraps it up and gives a sloppy kiss to the girl on his lap, Seven leans over and whispers something in his ear.
The two big oafs march over to me like two naughty brats about to get a time-out. Some things never change, no matter how old we are.
“Hey, big brother!” Bronx tries smoothing things over with an enthusiastic greeting, as if that’s going to work with me.
“Big brother, my ass. You can’t ditch your security detail and then not pick up the phone when mom calls.”
“Dude, I was getting my dick sucked when she called.”
“All four times?”
“What can I say? The ladies love your brother.”
“And what’s your excuse, Seven?”
“She had a friend.” He smirks.
“That’s real nice,” I say sarcastically.
“Dude, we’re fine. I told Dad we could handle ourselves. I think this threat against the family is just a bunch of bullshit anyway.”
“Why don’t you tell Dad that then. He’s outside in the car waiting to drive y’all back to the dorm.”