Crazy Thing (The Brighton Family #5)

Chapter 33

33

DARIUS

T he moment Ziggy is dragged away, Felix grabs his plate of half eaten breakfast and drops down at my table. Uninvited. I glare at him immediately, because I know exactly what he’s doing here.

But I’m in too good of a mood to send him away.

Instead, I unlock my phone and open my photo gallery, pulling up my newest image of Ziggy. Because I miss her.

“Let’s hear it,” I mutter, working on a bite of bacon.

“You and Ziggy…” Felix starts.

“Yes…” I respond simply, still staring at Ziggy’s picture on my screen. Fuck—she’s cute.

I create a new folder in my photo gallery. I label it The Ziggy Stash and I add the pictures I’ve taken of her. I grin.

“You’re on a date…” my brother goes on, interrupting me.

“Yes…”

“A working date? ‘Cause she’s your secretary?”

I let out a heavy sigh and tear my eyes away from my phone to glare at my brother. I expected questions. But I wasn’t expecting dumb questions. “No, Felix. A date , date. Because she’s a girl. And I like her.”

He’s silent for a while.

“Are you sure?” He narrows his gaze on me.

“Yes, I’m sure. Why the fuck wouldn’t I be sure?”

A contemplative look comes over Felix’s face and he shoves a sausage patty in his face hole. Then he looks around the table for something to drink, but when he realizes that nothing here belongs to him, he leans back in his chair and reaches over to his table to grab his own juice glass. Then he slowly chugs it down.

I age a few years just watching him. I shake my head. Such a typical doctor. Absolutely no respect for people’s time. In my line of work, time is money, and wasting it gets you blackballed.

“Are we done here?” I ask, sounding as impatient as I feel.

“Well, you don’t date,” Felix says finally. “And you especially don’t date your assistant. Hell, most days you can’t even keep your assistant from quitting on you. Oh, and, what’s up with all the PDA? I’ve never seen you kissing a woman in public. So watching you sit here and practically chew on the girl’s ear, that’s definitely new.”

I roll my eyes. “You need to mind your business.” I take another bite of bacon. Ziggy’s right. I probably went a little overboard with the four sides of bacon.

My older brother shrugs. “Look, man. Just don’t get involved with Ziggy unless you know what you’re actually doing. She…” He quickly glances around the restaurant. “She can be intense. She’s not the kind of girl you can play with and just discard when you’re done with her.”

“That’s not the way I operate.” Damn, what does he take me for ?

Felix presses his lips together. “I’ll have to take your word for it, because I have never seen you behave the way you’re behaving with Ziggy today.” Then the annoying asshole stops and frowns, staring at me for a long moment before he speaks again. “But I’ve also never seen you grin like that. I’ve never seen you light up like a damn street lamp just because a woman is laughing at your lame ass jokes.”

My heart pounds harder. “Shut up.” I don’t want to hear his assessments of my personal life.

There’s no way I’m finishing my last few bites of bacon. I just want to get out of here. I’m tired of being under Felix’s spotlight.

So I get up from the table, leaving him scarfing down his omelette like it’s his last meal. I head to the cashier to pay our bill. I cover Felix and Daphne’s meal, too.Maybe he’ll be so thankful that he’ll leave me alone now.

My hope lasts all of two seconds, because Felix is following after me, crowding me at the register as I wait for the card processor to do its thing. “Stop running away from me, asshole,” he says, violently bumping me with his shoulder. “You’re different with her.”

“I know,” I growl.

Felix exhales, like I’m the one who’s being annoying. “Just know that your face will definitely end up on a voodoo doll if you fuck things up with her.”

My gut twitches with a flash of fear. But then it’s gone and I don’t care. I’m in too deep. Come what may, there’s no walking away from Ziggy now.

My eyes find hers from across the room as the girls exit the bathroom and spot us.I instantly fall back under my Ziggy trance. She’s so fucking beautiful.

She has no makeup, and her hair looks exactly the same way it did when she woke up. But she looks even more beautiful now than she did all dolled up for the charity event last night.

When I tune back into the room, Felix is still giving me some sort of strange lecture on the supernatural ramifications of breaking Ziggy’s heart. “…And if the threat of hexes doesn’t scare you into acting like a goddamned gentleman, I don’t know what will,” he mumbles under his breath as the girls approach.

I ignore the asshole as Ziggy and her sister meet us at the cash register. I sign my receipt with a quick scribble and then face Ziggy. “You ready to go?”

“Yes,” she says with a shy grin.

Grateful to get out of here, I turn to my brother and Daphne to say a quick goodbye.

Before I can get any words out, Daphne is hugging her sister and then throwing herself at me for a hug as well.

“I’m so happy for you!” she squeals into my ear. And she keeps squealing—at an almost-concerning level—about how happy she is to see me and her sister together.

I’m…shocked.I don’t know what to do with this.

But I like Daphne. She makes my brother more tolerable, so I don’t want to make things weird. Correction: I don’t want to make things weirder than they already are.

“Um, thanks.” I stiffly pat Daphne on the back with one hand.

My asshole brother laughs as he peels his woman off of me. “Babe, stop. Whatever trance he’s in, you’re going to snap him out of it. Then he’ll go back to being Darius The Heartless Asshole. And then everybody loses.”

Ziggy and Daphne laugh.

I do not.

Shaking my head, I glance over at Ziggy. I grab her hand.“Goodbye, Daphne,” I say, ignoring my brother, as Ziggy and I leave the restaurant hand-in-hand.

Felix shouts something after me but I ignore him. Instead, I lead Ziggy down the block to where our bikes are locked up.

Before we climb onto the bikes, I face her. “What are you doing for the rest of the day?”

She pauses and glances at her wristwatch. “Well, it’s Saturday. I’ve got to go open my shop. I’m already so late.”

I wrap my arms around her, right here, out in the open, on the sidewalk. “Spend the day with me.”

“I can’t do that,” she says apologetically.

I drop my forehead to hers, feeling guilty for even asking. I know how important her business is to her. It’s actually one of the things I like about her.

“Right. Sorry. I know. I just…I just don’t want to let you go yet.” I kiss the tip of her upturned nose. “I had a great time last night, and this morning, too. I like hanging out with you. I don’t want our date to end.”

Ziggy smirks, shrugging a shoulder. “Can’t relate.”

“Ziggy…” I smack her ass, not caring that we’re in public.

She hurls out a laugh. “Fine. I had a great time with you, too. I wish we could make it last longer.”

Grinning, I lean down and cover her lips with mine.

I’m lost in our kiss when Ziggy pulls back, her eyes all lit up. “I have a proposition.”

“A proposition?” My brows dip with suspicion. “I don’t like how that sounds.”

She props a hand on her hip. “Come on, Money Man. Aren’t you used to negotiating? I thought you were a big shot business man.”

I grunt. She’s playing to my ego and I know it. But dammit, it’s working. “Go ahead. Hit me with your proposition.”

She runs her tiny palms down my chest. “Come to my shop with me. It’s only fair. I go to your place of work everyday. Today, come to mine.” She steps close to me, leaning up against my chest, batting those long eyelashes.

How could I ever say no to that pretty face?

I find myself grinning and playfully shaking her hand. “Fine. You’ve got yourself a deal, Ms. Beaumont.”