I would give your dumbass the benefit of the doubt. Because I know that you’re not stupid enough to be talking about my woman like that.” I growl.
Am I actually mad at my brother? No, he’s always lacked finesse. Does he need to know that I’m not actually pissed? Fuck no.
Ben coughs into his hand. “What Mason was trying to say, unsuccessfully,” Ben gives Mase a look. Ever the peacekeeper. Must be a middle child thing or something. “Maybe talk to her about not threatening us with ma. That’s all.” He lets his hands fall open on his desk.
Mason gives him a frown. “No, I’m pretty sure that fucking the evil out of her would work a lot better than talking to her.”
Ben and I both just stare at him. I just shake my head. “You really did fall out of the stupid tree and hit every fucking branch on the way down,” I state.
“Or ma dropped him on his big ass head a few too many times when he was a baby,” Ben adds in while shaking his head at the idiot that ma swears we’re related to.
Elle walks back in at that moment with a victorious look on her face. She doesn’t even spare us a glance before she sits at her desk and starts typing furiously.
The three of us just stare at her with varying degrees of amusement on our faces. She’s so damn serious as she’s typing up what is most likely her handing someone their ass. Her mouth is going a million miles a minute as she obviously lips what she’s typing. We just sit here watching her until she punches what I’m guessing is the send button and looks up with a huge smile on her face. A face that turns bright red when she sees the three of us staring at her.
She bites her bottom lip and I have to keep reminding myself that we’re both at work and should be professional. “What?” She questions, her eyes going over the three of us.
“What’s going on, honey?” The mirth was evident in my tone.
She gives me a bright smile that makes my heart skip. “I’m awesome, that’s what’s going on.” She chirps without shame.
“Someone’s modest.” Mase chuckles.
She looks over at him, never losing her smile. “I am awesome, why should I try to hide that? Especially when I knew that butthead was wrong and that his numbers were all off.”
“We’re very happy that you’re so awesome, honey,” I tell her.
She looks over and gives me a smirk. “Thanks, babe.” Not going to lie, I like the term of endearment, especially when all the other shitheads, I mean our employees are around.
She goes to say something when her phone rings. The change in her is automatic. The apprehension seems to just roll off of her in waves. Apprehension is replaced by dread when she looks at the screen and confirms who’s calling. Annoyance is the last one as she hits the reject button. It’s odd to see so many emotions in such a short amount of time.
She just sits at her desk, chewing on her bottom lip, staring aimlessly at nothing.
“You okay, Elle?” She startles at the sound of my voice like she forgot that we were in the room.
She looks over at me with a fake smile. “Yup. Nothing to worry about.”
“You sure?” I question, practically begging her with my eyes to tell me.
“Yup.” She bites her lip again before seemingly coming to some sort of a decision. “You know what? I have a few errands that I need to run.” She rushes out as she stands quickly, grabbing her purse, keys, and phone. She walks over to me with that fake smile plastered to her face and kisses my cheek. “I’ll see you later tonight.” She says before waving at my brothers and hauling ass out the door.
The silence in the office is deafening once the door closes behind her.
The three of us sit in silence for a few minutes. Me, I’m trying to figure out what the fuck to do. I know that something is going on with her and it fucking guts me every time she plays it off. As for dumb and dumber looking at me, well, they’re probably trying to figure out how to ask me what I’m going to do.
Three, two, one….
“That was kind of weird huh?” Mason tries for nonchalance and fails miserably. “Wasn’t that kind of odd, Ben?”
Ben pinches the bridge of his nose. “Really?” He