Taming The Wild CEO novel Chapter 41

C H A P T E R 3 9 : T H E I S S U E O F T H E P A S T

J A V I E R S U M M E R S

Javier planted a kiss on her forehead. “I will buy you some time to get dressed.” He picked up his pants off the floor, put them on, then walked away. He came to a halt by the door to look over his shoulder and smiled as his eyes landed on her stretching her body on the bed. “Could you stay here for at least a few minutes? I would like to talk to him as well.”

“Sure,” answered Ella with a yawn.

He closed the door behind him and went downstairs. Sure enough, his brother was standing in the kitchen with his hands on his waist. He seemed to be focusing on the stove on the right hand side.

He took a deep breath and greeted his brother. “Piers?” His voice sounded a little unsure.

His brother turned around, eyes widened. He blinked once. Twice. His lips parted as if to say something but for a while, there was no sound coming out of it. "Jav?"

Javier nodded, his jaw tightened as if he was trying his best not to break down right there. It had been so long since he had last met Piers. Since that day when he had discovered him and his girlfriend of three years on Javier's bed after coming home from university. Piers had shamelessly declared that woman found him irresistible and that Javier should not be so surprised that even his girlfriend fell for Piers's charm. Instead of throwing fists at his older brother, he had simply turned around and walked out of the house. For a week he had not returned home and no one had known his whereabouts. When Javier had finally returned, he was a completely different person. He was colder, more skeptical, and distant. He had treated Piers as if he had not existed and eventually Piers took off to Italy after another incident involving their other brother Draven had happened.

"What? How—" Piers shook his head, unsure what to say. "What are you doing here? How do you know I live here?"

"I was looking for you." He shrugged one shoulder and shoved his hands into the pockets of his pants. "Mom knew you had a freaky accident." His gaze dropped to the floor as one of his hands went to the back of his neck and scratched a not itchy spot for no reason except for the fact that he was feeling nervous. "How are you feeling?" he asked, his voice was barely a whisper.

The corner of Piers's mouth turned upward, forming a smile that looked nothing like those dazzling smiles he had always used on women but a genuine smile that only his brother could cause, a smile reserved just for his little brother. "I am fine. You know you do not have to come all the way here just because Mom asked you to."

Still had his eyes fixated on the ground, he said, "I would still come even if Mom did not ask." Then as if he just realized what he had admitted, he quickly lifted his head and his eyes caught his older brother grinning from ear to ear.

"Thank you, Jav." He turned around and pour black coffee from the kettle into two mugs then offered one to his brother. "You still take your coffee black, right? I personally like a little bit of sugar in it."

"Half a teaspoon?" inquired Javiet curiously.

Piers raised his eyebrows in amusement. "You still remember," he commented.

Javier was not sure how and why he had remembered it. But he knew by heart that he actually recalled everything about his older brother. They had grown up together, spent at least a few hours of every day together. They had been that tight. "I never forget," he finally said then took the mug and had a sip. "Actually," he placed the mug carefully on the kitchen counter and smiled, "I never forget anything about you, brother. And as much as I told myself that what you did to me and to Draven were unforgivable, I could not, for the life of me, bring myself to hate you completely. Yes, I was mad and I convinced myself that I hate you for so long but now, I don't feel any of those hate or angry feelings anymore. All I feel, all I know, is that I miss you, brother." He places one hand on Piers's shoulder and smiled.

There were mixed emotions on Piers's face for a moment but eventually happiness ruled over the rest and he threw his arms around his little brother and hugged him tightly. "And I miss you!" he said wholeheartedly.

After a few seconds, they pulled away, and Javier, with a smile still on his face, said, "Look, for me what was in the past is in the past. But if you need this to finally move on then let me just say that I have forgiven you, brother."

There were only a number of things that he had never seen when it came to his artistic older brother. Javier had watched him pick up the brush for the first time, he had been there when one of Piers's paintings was displayed in the art gallery, he had seen his brother accomplished many things. But for the first time ever, he saw tears piling up in his brother's eyes before they started to flow down his cheeks.

Piers pulled him into a hug. "Thank you," he said through his sobs. "You have no idea how much that means to me. Thank you."

Once Piers had calmed down, Javier was sipping coffee on the stool by the counter while Piers was flipping pancakes on the pan. He knew sooner or later he had to inform Piers about Ella. "Piers."

"Hmm?" He turned at Javier then placed the pancake on the waiting plate and pour another batter on the pan. He pointed at the pancake and asked, "do you want butter or maple syrup?"

"Either way is fine," Javier answered quickly.

"Maple would make it better."

As he watched his brother opened the kitchen cabinet, Javier continued, "Look, I have something to tell you."

"Found it," he answered with a grin.

"I did not come alone. I came with someone and she was upstairs. I am hoping you two could meet." Then he walked to the stairs and called Ella.

Piers threw the maple jar from one hand to the other and did it over and over as if he was a juggler. "Someone important, I gather," he said teasingly.

"Maybe," Javier answered curtly, revealing nothing.

There were a few noises on the stairs as Ella was walking downstairs.

"We are at the kitchen," said Javier a tad louder so she could hear him.

Javier shook his head, a lopsided smile was on display. “Brother, you are not getting better with juggling.”

It was clear that he had not blamed his brother for the mess he had created on the floor nor for the lack of effort in cleaning it up. Joseph, on the other hand, seemed to be awestruck and had not heard a single thing coming out of his little brother’s mouth as his eyes were still fixated on Ella. Then as if he had finally found his voice, he called her name again.

“Yes?” she replied, still holding the mop’s stick in one hand.

“You—you were that girl on the beach the other day.”

She nodded, feeling happy that he had at least recognized her. “Yes. I was.” Still grinning from ear to ear, she turned to Javier and nudged his waist. “See, I told you it was your brother.”

Javier rolled his eyes in a dismissive manner however there was affection in his baby blues. “There are millions of people named Joseph on this planet.”

“True.” Ella nodded in agreement. “But still, I got it right. I managed to put two pieces together.”

“Alright, alright. You did.” Javier leaned forward and planted a kiss on top of her head. “Well done, sweetheart.”

Suffered a bit of embarrassment with the small public display of affection, Ella stole a look at the only onlooker around and could swear that she saw sadness in those green eyes although it was quickly gone and the expression was once again blank.

“So Ella is your—?” Joseph left his sentence hung as he watched the two of them.

“Secretary,” answered Ella efficiently.

“Lover,” said Javier almost at the same time as Ella then he added, “Ouch, that hurts.”

She patted his shoulder and gave him an understanding look. “I know. But there is still a long way to go before I can call you that.” Feeling a bit daring than usual, Ella rose to the balls of her feet and whispered so only Javier could hear, “Or before I let you anywhere near my bed.”

A mischievous smile stretched on his handsome face as he said, “You did not say anything about mine.”