How to Have Your Boss's Secret Baby - London Casey Page 0,99

deep, shaky breath.

This was home.

But I still missed Cole.

Chapter Forty-Four

Cole

I found Cody through a cop friend.

He was strung out, sleeping on a park bench.

When I saw him, it was heartbreaking and cliché.

My brother had newspapers on him as a blanket.

I made sure everything was okay with him legally before I scooped him up and carried him to the SUV I had arrived in.

I sat in the backseat of the SUV and told the driver to take me to my apartment first.

With all the things I couldn’t do for Cody, the one thing I could do was get him back to my place and get him cleaned up.

When I dropped his ass into the shower and turned on the water, he started to perk up.

He sat on the floor of the shower and stared at me.

“How bad?” I asked him.

“Bad.”

“Do you regret anything you did?”

“All of it,” Cody said.

“Did you get any money from it?”

“No. They fucked me. They said they would pay me but never did.”

“Yeah, you never want to talk before getting the cash. Lesson learned. Next time you want to blow up my life, you’ll be better prepared.”

“Cole…”

I grabbed a bottle of body wash and tossed it at Cody. “You have five minutes. I’ll put some clothes out. Then you’re going to get help.”

I shut the shower door and exited the bedroom.

About an hour after that, I walked Cody into a nice rehab center that was outside the city. There were a few people waiting for us. Two women and one man.

Cody looked and smelled clean.

He had nothing else with him.

Nothing to show for his life.

I told him I would make arrangements to send him anything he needed. Clothes and whatnot. And I made it clear that if he tried to leave the center before he was allowed, I’d have him taken right to a hospital. Or jail.

This was the end of the line for Cody.

And myself in a sense.

I pictured Cody as a little kid.

Sitting on the sidewalk, waiting to get picked up by our father. Those painful memories acting as the foundation for who he was now.

Maya had been right.

I had been enabling it for years.

Cody knew no matter what happened, he could call me and I would bail him out.

This was my last bailout for him.

I grabbed my brother by the back of his neck and pulled his forehead to mine.

We didn’t speak a word to each other.

I nodded.

He nodded back.

And then he walked away.

He was off to fight some really bad demons.

Not that I was much better.

I had plenty of my own to face too.

The deal with Mr. Pickle completely fell through.

It rippled through the business world, with the both of us having two different sides to the story. I kept my side of the story simple. The company I was running was worth too much to be dicked around with. Mr. Pickle was trying to look good and when it came time to sign, he decided personal differences were worth more than the potential of the company itself.

I was in hot water though.

An envelope sat on my desk and I needed to open it.

Today.

Instead of opening it, I paced between my office and what used to be Maya’s.

Some IT guy was at her desk, going through her computer and files, making sure everything was secure before erasing everything to make way for a new secretary.

Each time the guy looked at me, he raised his eyebrows and asked if everything was okay.

Nothing was okay.

I missed Maya.

I missed her pregnant stomach.

I missed her body before she was pregnant.

I missed the high-neck shirts.

Thinking she was hiding herself but all it did was make me focus on her curves.

I wandered back to my office and I wasn’t alone.

Jackson sat behind my desk with his feet up.

Liam and Lincoln stood near the windows.

“This office is kind of small,” Jackson said. “Like your dick.”

“Good to see you too,” I said.

“You wanted us here,” Liam said.

“Hey, I’m not complaining,” Lincoln said. “I’m supposed to be drinking champagne for my brother’s wedding. Who the fuck debates on what kind of champagne to drink? This wedding is starting to become a drag. This is why I will never get engaged or married.”

“So your brother is doing you a favor,” Jackson said.

“Says the married man,” I said.

“I just keep looking at the light at the end of the tunnel,” Lincoln said.

“Which is?” Liam asked.

“The wedding itself. Bridesmaids. Single friends.”

“The pussy buffet,” Jackson said as he put his feet on the floor and stood