was no way I was letting her go. “I’m different with her.”
“I know.” He leaned against the elevator and stuck his hands into his pockets.
I faced him directly, but he stared at the door, waiting for it to open.
“Maybe I was just …” He paused. “Maybe I was just jealous.”
What? I reeled back to study his reaction.
“I saw you and Sonia at lunch. I passed that place on Wells, the one you guys always go to. I saw you through the window.” Mason’s gaze dropped to the ground as though he were thinking deeply. “Janice and I aren’t like that.”
Fucking finally. But I held in the reaction. Don’t be an asshole. Don’t say anything. Bite your tongue.
“I don’t think we ever were.” There was a sadness in his tone, a vulnerability that Mason hardly showed.
Charles and I were on the same page when it came to Janice, but Mason would stick up for her until his face turned blue. Hell, my nieces weren’t very fond of her, and those girls liked everyone.
There were a million things that I wanted to say, tons of reasons Mason and Janice shouldn’t be together. I wanted to list them out and highlight each and every one—the most important being that she was a selfish gold digger who only cared about him because of the status he could give her. But I didn’t.
“You should be happy, bro.” I placed a heavy hand on his shoulder. “You already know how I feel about her, but in the end, it doesn’t matter. It’s your choice to make.”
I understood it all in that second. How everyone could tell me that Sonia and I wouldn’t work and her father could intimidate me and she could still possibly want her ex back. All the forces could be against me, us … but in the end, it was my choice to pursue her.
“We’ve been together for years, and, yeah … she’s put on the pressure of marriage,” he said when the elevator pinged open.
“She’s not too shy about it,” I muttered, stepping onto my floor.
He followed right behind me.
If the bridal magazines and Tiffany and Cartier catalogs were any indication. I bit my tongue before some asshole comment slipped.
“And I realized, she’s right.”
I winced. Please, for the love of God, do not make her my future sister-in-law. My parents would be turning over in their graves.
“That’s the only step now, but when I think of it …” He stopped in the middle of my floor, where I would turn to head down the hall to my office, and stared behind me into the air. —“… I can’t picture myself with her forever. Can you see Janice as a mother?”
I laughed. Yeah, the evil stepmother.
“So, I’m breaking up with her.”
I stared at him, dumbfounded. What is going on? “You sure?” I was tempted to take my brother’s temperature. “You’re breaking up with her?” I asked again, almost like I couldn’t believe it to be true.
Mason frowned. “I thought you of all people would be happy about this.”
I blinked, still shocked into silence.
“But, yes, I am sure.”
Brad
After work, I headed to the only place I wanted to be—Sonia’s.
Just when I’d thought my day couldn’t get any better, Sonia opened the door of her apartment. I didn’t think I’d ever met a woman who could make jeans and a T-shirt look so damn sexy. It was double-date night, which I wasn’t too excited about, but spending time with Sonia would make up for it.
“Hey.”
“Hey.” She stepped into the hallway and let the door shut behind her. “I heard someone did good today.”
“It’s all in a day’s work.”
Then, she poked my side and locked the door before leading us to the elevator. “You were never one to be modest.”
Is she flirting? I cocked my head. Shit, I think she is.
We entered the elevator, and I inched up beside her, our shoulders touching.
“If I’m being honest, it was a slam dunk.” I threw her my cockiest smirk. “I’m just the best at my job, which is why Charles and Mason wish they were me. The company would be in ruins without me. Bankruptcy.” Her laughter fired me up to keep on going. “People would lose their jobs. I could never have that on my conscience.”
“Of course not.” She rolled her eyes and angled toward me, and shit if I wasn’t having the best day of my life, just being by her.
I kept on bragging about how I was God’s gift to Brisken Printing Corp. and how