Maybe Not (Maybe #1.5)(5)

I finish the trek across the living room and set the empty cups next to the sink. “I can’t do this anymore,” I say to him. “I can’t live with a girl.”

Brennan glances at me, amused. He doesn’t think I’m serious.

“Tonight. I want her out tonight. She can move in with a friend, or with that sister of hers she’s always on the phone with. I want her gone, Brennan.”

He can see that I’m not kidding. He straightens up and presses his hands onto the counter behind him, eyeing me. He shakes his head. “She’s not leaving.”

He reaches down and closes the dishwasher and presses the button to start it. He begins to walk away so I follow after him. “You can’t have final say in who lives here. I’ve tried for two weeks to get along with her, and she’s f*cking impossible.”

Brennan glances at all the cups lining the countertop. “You think pranking her is making an effort to get along with her?” He looks back at me. “You have a hell of a lot to learn about women, Warren.” He turns away from me and walks back toward his room. “She’s not leaving. She’s our roommate now so deal with it.”

He slams his door, and it pisses me off even more because I’m really tired of everyone slamming doors lately. I stomp across the living room and swing his door open. “Either she goes or I go!”

As soon as I say it, I regret it. Actually, I don’t. I’m not going anywhere, but maybe the threat will change his mind. He shrugs.

“See ya,” he says casually.

I turn around and punch the door. “Seriously, Brennan? You would let me leave over her?”

He stands and walks toward me, not stopping until we’re eye to eye. “Yes, Warren. I would. So go think it over and let me know when you’re moving out.” His hand grips the door and he tries to close it in my face, but I slap my palm against it and push it back open.

“You’re f*cking her,” I say.

“Stop it, already! I’m not f*cking her.”

My jaw is clenched tightly and I’m nodding my head slowly. That’s the only explanation for why he’s endlessly defending her. “I don’t know why you won’t just admit it, Brennan. It’s fine. You’re in love with Bridgette and you don’t want her to move out. If you would just admit it, I’d stop.”

Brennan’s jaw tenses and he expels a quick, frustrated breath. He runs his hands through his hair and that’s when I see it. I see it written all over his face.

Brennan is in love with Bridgette.

I don’t know how I feel about that, which makes no sense, since I’m trying to kick her out.

“Warren,” he says calmly. He backs into the room and motions for me to step inside. I don’t know why he thinks he needs privacy when the only other person in this apartment is Ridge. He closes the door behind me once I’m inside his bedroom. He puts his hands on his hips and stares at the floor for several seconds. When his eyes finally meet mine again, they’re full of defeat.

I knew it.

“I’m not in love with Bridgette,” he says calmly. “She’s my sister.”

Chapter Three

I’m pacing the room, holding my forehead, pausing every few feet to look at Brennan and shake my head, only to continue pacing again.

I liked it better when I thought he was f*cking her.

“How?” I ask. “How is that even possible?” I pause again and face him. “And why didn’t you guys tell me before now?” I feel slightly excluded, like Ridge and Brennan were trying to keep some big family secret from me. That isn’t right, because I’m their family. They lived with me after they left home. My parents took them in and gave them a roof over their heads and food on the table.

“Ridge doesn’t know,” Brennan says. “And I don’t want him to know until we find out for sure. We’ll have a paternity test done soon, but our schedules just haven’t worked out yet and it’s kind of expensive.”

Great. I can’t keep secrets from Ridge. We’ve been best friends since we were ten. I’ve never kept a secret from him, especially one this big.

“Warren, swear to me you won’t tell him. The last thing he needs right now is more stress, and if he finds out I’ve been in touch with our father, he’ll take it personally.”

My hands fly up in the air. “Your father, Brennan? Why in the hell would you ever want to contact that bastard again?”

He shakes his head. “I didn’t. After Bridgette found out that her biological mother had an affair with our father, she found me and asked me to help her find him.” He folds his arms over his chest and looks down at the floor. “I warned her, but she had to see it for herself. I won’t be seeing my father again, but if Ridge knows I even took her to see him, he would think I was going behind his back to reach out to our parents, and I wasn’t.”

“What did your father say when you showed up after all these years?”

Ridge and Brennan moved in with me and my parents when they were only seventeen and fourteen, so it’s been about seven years since either of them has had contact with their father.

Brennan shakes his head. “He hasn’t changed. He barely said two sentences to us before he sent us on our way. I think it disappointed her so much, she’d be fine not having a paternity test completed if it weren’t for Ridge and me possibly being her brothers. I think she just wants someone she can call family, which is why I’m helping her out with all this. I feel bad for her.”