“I think he already did,” Brett said, still sounding out of breath.
I ignored his whining and took a seat across from Layla. She was easily the most professional of all of us; though we all worked hard at our respective jobs, Layla was almost obsessive about performing hers to perfection. To some extent, I was just lucky to be gifted, and Brett found the job that perfectly complimented his rugged looks.
It meant that whenever we had a problem, we frequently came to her, for she was one of the few who kept her place as clean and pristine as our parents and grandparents did.
“Well,” she said, obviously reading the TMZ article. “The good news is you didn’t get caught in a sex tape. Might be embarrassing and get you ribbed in the locker room, but—”
“I’m not worried about me,” I said with a sigh. “She has an ex. A crazy asshole. Someone who will see this and will stalk her.”
Whatever humor and whatever sarcasm Brett and Layla were about to give evaporated on the spot.
“And though Izzy didn’t say as much, I strongly suspect there’s more to it than just creepy, loser stalking. I think this guy has hit her before.”
“How sure are you?” Brett asked.
“Sure enough,” I said.
Layla leaned back in her chair and folded her arms.
“I have experience with asshole exes, but I don’t have experience with that level of asshole,” she said. Both Brett and I knew full well what she meant, and we both knew the fastest way to get a stapler thrown at us was to mention his name. “I’m going to be that person who says you better be careful about inserting yourself into a spot like this.”
“As in…”
Get rid of her entirely? Funny how, moments before, the thought had seemed reasonable, if not outright possible, but now, it seemed downright rude and dangerous to Izzy. Maybe that meant something.
“As in, you get entangled with this, and you’re not playing hero, you’re playing dummy,” Layla said. “You put your career at risk, you put your image at risk, you put the family name at risk…and for a girl that you’ve gone on two dates with?”
Put that way, yeah, it was a little bit hard to argue with.
“Brett? Thoughts?”
“You know me, I’m the last person to ask about serious dating advice,” Brett said with a chuckle. “You slept with this gal yet? Is she at least worth it in that regard?”
“Brett!” Layla shouted.
“What? It’s what guys talk about, don’t—”
“I haven’t.”
Both of them, not just Brett, stared at me as if I’d just announced I’d entered the priesthood.
“You really like this girl,” Layla said. “I’ll be. I can’t ever remember you being like this.”
Brett, of course, couldn’t let the moment quite go by and muttered “pussy” under his breath, but another shot to the ribs got him to shut up.
“Well, just be careful,” Layla said. “Too many careers or futures get ruined by love that hasn’t earned it. She’s got to earn it.”
Just then, before we could dive any deeper, Layla’s phone rang.
“Business never stops, does it?” I said, happy to change the subject.
“It’s actually Uncle Nick. Might as well make this a family call.”
She hit the speaker button so Nick’s voice would be broadcast to the room.
“Hey, I’m here with Nick and Brett; how’s it going?”
“Layla,” Uncle Nick said, sounding breathless and a little anxious. “Where are you three?”
“At Ferrari Wines, why?”
Uncle Nick cleared his throat.
“OK, just making sure. Bill is coming down here for some business. If grandpa asks, you tell him that we’re working our connections out east, OK?”
I arched an eyebrow at Layla, but she didn’t seem any the wiser, either. I didn’t want to say this didn’t help the stereotype of our family having potentially shady backgrounds, but what else could I say?
“Everything all right, Nick?”
“Oh, yeah,” our uncle said. “Nothing you kids need to worry yourselves with. Just making sure you all are good running the business without Bill there.”
“We are in our late twenties, not preteens,” Brett said.
“Not the way you womanize, Brett,” Uncle Nick said. I had to raise a hand to my mouth to avoid laughing too hard. “You three take care of yourselves.”
With that, Uncle Nick hung up. Layla and I looked at each other as if silently wondering if that was anything to worry about. When Brett interrupted with a line about how anyone with his looks would womanize, we decided it wasn’t.
I had enough to worry about on my plate, anyway. And it wasn’t anything that I could seemingly change right now.
After all, I didn’t know what more I could do to make it apparent to Izzy I was ready to see her again.
Chapter 12: Izzy
When I pulled up to the daycare center, I had to pause in the middle of the parking lot.
It had only been about an hour since the TMZ photo had broken. There was no way that Malcolm had already gotten this far up. Assuming he hadn’t gotten here already. What if he did?
But that was the thing about unforeseen events, right? You couldn’t see them coming. So if I couldn’t see this coming, then how could I possibly prepare?
Ryan’s inside. It doesn’t matter if you’re prepared or not.
The thought of my son getting into trouble because of my ex was enough to get my ass out of the Civic. I scrambled out, walking as fast as I could in my work heels, and went to the front desk. The lady who saw me, a young woman named Ginger, looked at me in surprise.
“Everything all right?” she said.
“Yeah, just need to pick up my son,
