Love Obsessed (17 page)

I enter the house with Matthew first. He’s asleep in his capsule, so I place him down on the kitchen table, then go back out to the car for the rest of our stuff. When I re-enter, Mum is making a fuss over Matthew who has woken up. I go and put our stuff in my bedroom, then go back down to the kitchen. “Matthew and I are moving in. It won’t be for long, just until I can figure something out.”

“What’s going on?” Mum asks.

“Beth is what,” I say.

“What has she done?” Mum asks.

“It’s what she doesn’t do, Mum. She doesn’t look after Matthew, she goes out all night, and I’m pretty sure that she spends most nights with someone else. I don’t love her, and I don’t care, but I will not have my son in that environment.”

“Ok. You two are always welcome here.” Matthew starts to fuss, so I run up to the bedroom and get out his bottle and formula and come back down to the kitchen to prepare it. Mum feeds him while I unpack and set up a place for him to sleep safely.

While mum is feeding Matthew, I pick up the home phone and call Erin. “Hey.”

“Cole?”

Erin

Sitting on the couch, cuddled up watching a movie, my phone starts to ring. “Who is it?” I ask as Cole reaches for it.

“Home. Hey,” he answers it and then he stills.

I pause the movie and then look over at him. “Who is it?” It obviously isn’t Mum or Dad.

“It’s Brandon,” he tells me while passing the phone over.

I grab it and tentatively put it to my ear. “Brandon?”

“Why did Cole answer your phone?”

“What’s wrong? You sound stressed.”

“Is Cole hiding you from me? Is that what’s going on now? Are you two dating?”

“Brandon, please calm down.” Cole tries to take the phone out of my hands. “What are you doing?” I ask him.

“If he’s not going to talk to you nicely, he can’t talk to you at all,” Cole explains.

“Calm down. He’s upset.”

“Erin,” Brandon’s voice brings me back to the conversation at hand, “where has Cole hidden you?”

“I’m not hidden anywhere.”

“I’m at Mum’s. I need to see you.”

I look over at Cole who is watching me. “I need to tell you something, and I need for you to be calm and listen to the end. I won’t come unless you promise me that no matter what you think or feel, you’ll listen to me and try to understand.”

“I don’t like the sound of that, baby.”

“Please promise me. I need you to.”

I hear him breathing deeply, “I promise.”

The conversation ends and Cole is still looking at me. “You’re going to tell him,” he states.

“We’re going to have to tell him eventually.”

“Ok. Let’s go.” We get up, jump in the car, and drive over. When we pull in Mum and Dad’s driveway, Brandon walks out of the house and starts to come toward us.

“Oh, shit. He does not look happy,” I say. Cole gets out of the car and walks in front of Brandon and around to me.

“Get out of the way,” Brandon demands. Cole moves, but not too far away. I follow Brandon’s movements with my eyes. He opens the car door and bends down, picking me up and lifting me out of the car, and then he starts to carry me toward the house.

“Put me down, Brandon.” I say quietly.

He ignores me as he walks up the steps, into the house, and doesn’t stop until we reach his bedroom. He places me on the bed, but stays next to me. “I’m being calm. Explain.”

“Cole and I are dating.” Brandon fists his hands. “Brandon, please let me continue.”

“Go on,” he whispers.

“We spoke. We had a conversation about me and you, and Cole understands that we’re a package deal, and that nothing is going to change that. Ever. We spoke about how he treated other girls, and he assures me that he respects me and I believe him. He treats me good.”

“I was only looking out for you.”

“I know, but I need you to be ok with this.”

He’s breathing deeply, “How long has this been going on for?”

“A few weeks, since the night Beth interrupted our beer. But that’s not why we....Cole picked me up from the train station and....it just kind of happened.”

“If he breaks your heart again, I will take you away and I will hide you where he will never be able to hurt you again. Do you understand me?”

“Again?”

“You sneaking Cole into the apartment at night, and him sneaking out in the morning, kind of gave it away that you guys were dating. That, and you guys weren’t that quiet.”

“Oh my God!” I squeal, hiding my face in my hands. “You never said anything.”

“I was putting you through hell. I wanted you happy. That’s all I always wanted,” he shrugs.

“He makes me happy.”

Brandon hugs me, “Good.” We hug for a while, just enjoying having each other close. “I left Beth, which is why Matthew is here. I packed him up, and we moved in.”

“Oh my....Brandon.”

“She isn’t a mother. She goes and parties and thinks that because she carried him, that gives her a right to go out every night. It’s a good thing I never married her.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. You know, ever since I brought you home that first time, Cole’s been asking me if he can marry you.”

“No way.”

“Way. I said no every time, of course.”

“And if he asks you again, what are you going to say?”

“Let me think on it.”

Cole

Mum must have called Dad, because he and Ryan show up not long after we do. I don’t blame her. It could go either way, and Mum can’t hold us off of each other.

“What’s taking them so long? They’ve been up there for ages.” I’m getting agitated at the amount of time that Brandon has had Erin up in his room.

“Maybe he climbed her out of the window, and he’s taking her away,” Ryan quips.

I throw him a stare and he laughs. “Thanks, bro. That’s just what I wanted to hear.”

“I wouldn’t put it past him,” Ryan finishes.

“Fuck,” I rub my face in my hands.

“They’ll be down, soon. They have a lot to talk about,” Mum says. We wait and wait. Matthew fusses a bit, but all in all, he is good. We hear a door open and then movement. I get up and go to the bottom of the steps, where Brandon and Erin are walking down. Brandon stops in front of me and stares at me. I clear my throat. He still hasn’t said anything. I don’t know why I’m so nervous; I never have been before when talking to Brandon about this.

Erin comes and hugs the side of me. She’s smiling, so it mustn’t have gone badly. “I haven’t told him,” she whispers into my ear, so that only I can hear. I turn and look at her quizzically. She shakes her head. “Ask him,” she continues, speaking louder. I look at her for a moment, smile, and then look at Brandon.

“Brandon, you’re my brother, and Erin is your best friend, which is why I’m asking you for your permission to marry her. I love her, and I want to spend the rest of my life with her as her husband.”

Brandon looks at me like he has each and every time that I have asked in the past. Finally, he speaks, “Are you asking me here, right now with Erin beside me, so that I can’t throw a punch at you?”

“Maybe.” My eyes shoot between them both.

He laughs, “I appreciate you asking me, even with everything that has happened between you two. You’re my brother, and Erin is my best friend. You break her heart again, and I will make sure that she is never in a position again, where you have the opportunity to do it again.”

“I won’t ever hurt her. I swear to you I won’t.”

“Make sure that you don’t, and you can marry her.”

I smile, “Yeah?”

“Yes, Cole.”

“Good, because we already got married.” The room erupts into gasps and questions. “I didn’t want to wait. The last time we waited, it didn’t work out for us. I asked her, and the next day we went to the court house and did it,” I explain.

“We’re going to have a ceremony later on, once everything is settled. I want my family there to remember it with me,’ Erin goes on with the explanation. Everyone is as happy as I could have hoped for, and best of all, Brandon didn’t throw a punch at me over wanting to be with Erin this way.

Mum and Dad take Erin into the next room. My guess is that they’re talking about the ceremony. Matthew starts to fuss, and when I look over to see where he is, Erin has him. Her eyes meet mine. She is so happy, and I can’t wait to have children with her. She will make the best mum.

“Congratulations, man.” Ryan hugs me before he goes to see what’s happening in the other room.

“Brandon,” I turn to him. He’s looking at Erin with Matthew in her arms. It makes me wonder if he ever thought for a moment that Erin might raise Matthew. “I want you to be my best man,” I finish.

He looks at me, his eyes softer than what they were before. With tears in his eyes, he responds, “I’d be honoured, Cole.”