Bossy

The next couple days were relatively uneventful.  Brody and I talked every night, though never as long as we had on Monday night.  He sounded more and more tired as the week went on, and I was glad he'd be home soon.

When I walked into happy hour on Thursday, Alex came up to me while I was waiting at the bar for my drink.  "How's Brody doing?" he asked, looking concerned.  "I talked to him yesterday for a few minutes and he said his dad called him.  He sounded awful, but of course he wouldn't tell me anything important."

I grimaced.  "He's not doing very well, obviously.  His dad calling really threw him.  He's not talking to me about it much either, but at least he's flying home tomorrow.  Though I'm sure he's going to have a ton of crap at work to come back to, so I don't even know how great that will be."

"He needs to take a vacation," Alex said, frowning.  "A real one."  I agreed and we walked over to the table.  I spent an hour or so chatting with everyone then took off.  When I got home, I called Brody.  He didn't answer and I left a message for him to call me back later if he wanted to.

I hadn't heard back by 9pm and decided to just go to bed early.  I left my ringer on in case Brody called.  He didn't, but I woke up when I got a text from him around 1am.  "Sorry, just finished up stuff for today.  I'll see you tomorrow."  I fell back asleep after a few minutes.

Friday morning I threw a pork roast in the crock pot for dinner.  I figured Brody might want a homemade meal after eating out for more than two weeks, and the pork was simple enough.  Nothing fancy, but he was pretty easy to please.  After work, I threw a couple potatoes in the oven to bake, then threw together a salad and stuck it in the fridge.  He had already asked to just stay at my house that night.  I showered and pulled on a pair of fleece lined leggings, knee high boots, and a comfy sweater, then left for the airport.

I got there right as he texted me that he had his bag.  I pulled up and spotted him right away.  He opened the back door and lifted his suitcase in, then got in the front seat.  "Hi," he said, leaning over to kiss me before leaning his head back against the headrest and shutting his eyes.

I resisted asking him if he had slept at all the night before.  It certainly didn't look like he had.  I pulled out of the pick up lane and navigated out of the airport traffic.  We were both silent until we were almost back into the city.  I wondered if he was sleeping.  Then he opened his eyes and said, "I'm starving, can we stop and pick something up?" 

"We can stop anywhere you want," I replied, reaching for his hand and sliding my fingers between his.  "Otherwise I have shredded pork and potatoes at home.  Whatever you want to do is fine."

"That sounds perfect, actually," he said, smiling for the first time since he got in the car.  "Then we don't have to go anywhere."

I drove straight home.  I sat him down at the table while I warmed up the potatoes and took out the salad and made him a plate.  "This restaurant has the best service ever," he joked, grabbing my arm and pulling me towards him when I went to get myself a plate.  He kissed me and smiled.  "Thank you." 

After we ate, Brody went upstairs to shower and I sat down on the couch, flipping through TV channels.  I don't know why I paid for cable, I hardly ever watched anything outside of a few select shows, which I could probably watch online.   He was upstairs for nearly a half hour, but when he came back down, I saw he had shaved the 5 days worth of facial hair he had collected over the week.  I couldn't help but stare at him as he walked down the stairs wearing just a pair of low slung sweatpants.

"Come upstairs," he said, turning off the TV and grabbing my hand. 

I looked at him in surprise.  I wasn't expecting him to want to do anything outside of eating and going to bed.  He laughed and pulled me up off the couch.  He kissed me, his hands sliding across my hips.

I pulled back and arched one eyebrow at him.  "Are you avoiding talking again?" I asked gently. 

He leaned down and kissed my neck, then nipped my earlobe.  "Mmmhmm, I am," he murmured against my ear.  "I'll talk tomorrow, I promise."  I let him pull me towards the stairs and followed him up.  He pushed my bedroom door open and motioned for me to go in.  He followed me in, and after he pushed the door shut again he wrapped an arm around my waist from behind and brought his mouth down to the back of my neck.

"Damn, I missed you," he muttered against my shoulder as I shimmied out of my leggings.  He didn't give me a chance to respond, though, and I gasped when he nipped sharply at my skin where my neck meets my shoulder.  "Take this off," he directed, pulling on my sweater.  I squirmed out of his grasp and turned around.

"You're awfully demanding tonight," I said teasingly, slowly inching my sweater up while walking backwards out of his reach, towards the bed. 

He cocked his head slightly.  "Is that going to be a problem?" he asked, taking a step towards me.  "You should tell me now if it is."

"Not even close to a problem," I replied.  He closed the rest of the distance between us and finished pulling my sweater over my head.  His lips crashed against mine and he groped me roughly before flipping me over so I was face down on the bed.  I moaned against the blanket as he slid one hand between my legs and turned my head to the side with the other.  He kissed me briefly before moving his mouth back to my shoulder, then my neck.  I got goosebumps as his lips and tongue moved down my spine, stopping between my shoulder blades.  I squirmed in dismay when his hand moved away from me.

Brody wrapped his hands around my hips and pulled me almost to the edge of the bed.  He propped them up with one arm and shoved roughly into me from behind.  He wasted no time, and finished quickly.  After he pulled away from me, I went into the bathroom.  When I came back out, he was laying on his side of my bed.

"Come here," he said softly.  I climbed into bed next to him.  He slid his hand across my hip and down my leg, before moving it back up my inner thigh.  I pressed my face against his arm as he stroked me gently, his aggression apparently spent.  He continued until I had had not one but two orgasms and pushed his hand away.  I laid back against my pillow and Brody leaned his head against my shoulder.  I pushed my hair into his hair, massaging his scalp.

"Feel any better?" I asked.  He shrugged. "I have to work tomorrow but you can stay here as long as you want.  I'll leave a key on the table for you if you want to go, otherwise I'll be home around 2 and I can take you home."

"I'm going to go into the office for a little bit, I think," he mumbled sleepily.

"No," I said sharply.  He looked up at me in surprise.  "I mean, I can't stop you, but look at you.  You're exhausted.  You probably haven't slept more than a couple hours a night this entire week.  You're a disaster.  You've had a really rough few weeks and I think you should take tomorrow off.  If you want to go in on Sunday I won't say a word about it, but I am strongly against you going in tomorrow.  You need a mental health day."

He stretched and settled himself on his side, pulling me against him tightly.  "I like it when you're bossy," he said into my hair.  "I do need to go in sometime this weekend, but you're right.  I promise I won't go in tomorrow."  He kissed the back of my head and I settled against him more comfortably.

"Good, thank you," I replied.   "That's two promises you've made for tomorrow now: to talk, and not to work."

"Wait a second," he protested.  "I said I wouldn't go into the office, not that I wouldn't work at all!"

"You are seriously impossible," I groaned.

"If I do a little work tomorrow and go in for a few hours on Sunday, it'll make Monday a lot easier," he explained patiently.  "I get why you want me to take a day off, and I love that you're concerned and want me to take care of myself, but I'll be miserable this week if I don't do some stuff this weekend." 

"Fair enough," I relented.

"Thank you," he murmured.  "I love you, and your bossy concern for my well being." 

"I love you too," I replied, "which is why I'm bossy about your well being."

I was still deep in sleep when my alarm went off the next morning, and it took me awhile to realize what was happening.  "Make it stop," Brody groaned. 

"Sorry," I whispered, groping for my phone, and finally silencing it.

I started to get up, but Brody wrapped his arm around me and pulled me back down.  "Call in," he suggested.  "Stay here." 

"I'd like nothing more," I replied, "but I can't.  I'll be back."  I laid a little longer before wriggling out of his grasp and going into the bathroom to shower and get ready.  By the time I came out to get dressed, Brody was asleep again, sprawled across my entire bed.  He didn't even stir as I quietly moved around my room.

I left my extra house key on the table in case he went somewhere (but hopefully not to the office!) and left for work.  My day was slow and boring.  3 of my 5 clients cancelled on me, but I was able to get ahead on some of my paperwork, at least.

When I returned home, Brody was reclined on my couch with his laptop on his lap.  "Hi," he greeted me with a smile.  He looked much better than he had when I picked him up the day before.

"Hi, did you sleep?" I asked in reply.

He laughed.  "I rolled out of bed around noon.  I haven't slept that late since college."  He hit a few keys on his laptop then shut it and set it aside.

I dropped my bag near the door, pulled off my boots, and sat down next to him.  He put his arm around me and pulled me against him.  "So that means you didn't do too much work either, at least not yet anyway, right?" I asked.

"Right," he confirmed.  "I got up, showered, walked over to that deli for lunch, washed your dishes, and did about an hour of work.  By the way, there's a sandwich for you in the fridge."

"I should leave you here while I'm at work more often!" I said with a grin.  "Thank you.  What do you want to do today?  I can bring you home whenever."

"I'd love to go home soon, but what are your plans?  Do you want to stay with me tonight?  What's the plan for meeting with Nadine and Jonathan tomorrow?"

I had almost forgotten about tomorrow.  I had been trying not to think about it because it made me anxious.

"Liv?" Brody said gently.

"Oh, sorry." I had gotten distracted by my anxiety about tomorrow and completely forgotten he was asking me questions.  "We're meeting for coffee at 10:30."

"Okay, so if you don't mind, maybe we can go to my house shortly?  I'd like to stop at the grocery store, but I can do that tomorrow too.  Do you want to stay tonight?  If you do, I'll just leave to go into work when you leave to meet Nadine and Jonathan."

"Perfect," I replied.  "Let me just change and get some stuff together."

20 minutes later I had changed into jeans and a sweatshirt and packed a small overnight bag and we were heading out.  We made a quick stop at the grocery store (and Brody is a super annoying grocery shopper, by the way.  He wanders and grabs random things and that shit doesn't fly in my world.) and then were driving out  towards his house.

"So," I said, glancing at him quickly.  "How are you really?"

He sighed and leaned his head back against the head rest.  "I don't even know," he admitted.  "I have no idea what's going to happen.  I wish I hadn't gone down to Miami to consult for them.  It was really stressful and now I'm all sorts of behind here.  Pete and Neil did a great job while I was gone, but there are still things that I have to do that I couldn't do remotely and have to catch up on now."  He paused and took a deep breath.  "And I wish my dad wouldn't have called me.  That really fucked with my head." 

"I can't even imagine," I said quietly.

"And I keep thinking about how this was going on for years, right under my nose.  I should have realized it.  If I had, maybe I could have stopped it.  But fuck, then I could have gotten in trouble too.  And it's not like I can actually stop my dad from doing anything he has his mind set on."

"That's true," I agreed.  "I'm just glad you're no longer a part of his company so you're in the clear."

"No kidding, this is stressful enough without having to worry about my ass being on the line on top of it all.  Though I guess I won't know for sure that they don't find something to nail me for until it's over."  He looked out the window, then back towards me.  "Okay, I talked, now it's your turn."

I looked over at him, confused.  "My turn to talk about what?" I asked.

"About how you're freaking out about tomorrow," he replied matter-of-factly.

I grimaced.  "I am freaking out about tomorrow," I admitted.  "I just don't want it to be weird.  And they're going to be all 'oh my god, our granddaughter!' and they're just strangers to me, you know?  Strangers that I didn't even know about until a month ago.  And what if I hate them?  Or they hate me?  What if I don't know what to talk about?  What if they're really weird?"

Brody chuckled, but not meanly.  "Well, I can't promise that you won't hate them, or that they won't be weird, but I know that they're definitely going to like you," he assured me. 

I pulled into Brody's driveway while he was saying this, and after parking I made a face at him.  "I'm totally ditching them if they're weird."

He laughed.  "If that's what you need to do, then do it."  Brody grabbed his suitcase out of the back and hauled it and my bag to the door.  "Oh, hey, here's your key," he said when he pulled his out.

"Keep it," I replied with a shrug as we walked inside.

He raised an eyebrow at me.  "Yeah?" he asked.

"Why not?  You spend so much time there anyway.  Then the next time you call me at 10:30 and ask to sleep over, I won't have to drag my ass out of bed to let you in.  Plus, it doesn't do me much good keeping it in my house.  What if I locked myself out?"  I looked at him, because he hadn't responded.  "Unless you think it's weird or something, then you can give it back," I concluded hurriedly.

"I don't think it's weird," he said.  "I just wanted to make sure you were sure.  You just tossed it out there so easily."

"Well it's not like I asked you to move in," I pointed out.

He turned to look at me.  "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make it weird.  I'll gladly keep the key.  There's no need to get defensive."

"I'm not getting defensive," I snapped.  Brody raised his eyebrows skeptically.  "Okay, maybe a little.  I'm sorry, I think I need a nap or something." 

"Well, I can help with the 'or something'," he said, grinning.  I rolled my eyes, but walked towards the stairs.  "Is that your way of accepting?" he called after me.

"I guess you'll have to follow me and find out!" I replied.