Cgc

"Cgc!" I hear Rhys whisper yell as I wake from my slumber. He slaps my face lightly as if he's trying to keep me awake and alive. I grab his wrist as I open my eyes. If he doesn't have a good reason as to why the hell he woke me up on Friday, I'm going to be pissed. He's standing above me, his eyes widened in panic mode. Great. "What, man?" I ask, annoyed, my voice still raspy. "Your parents are downstairs!You didn't tell me they were coming into town," he says, his voice still low in a whisper. My whole body freezes at the mention of my parents. They're here. What the hell are they doing here?

I pull the comforter off my body and slip on some drawstring pants off the floor. I don't bother finding a shirt before making my way downstairs with Rhys. I run fingers through my messy dark brown hair as I reach the bottom. Both Archer and Kayleen sit on one of the couches, looking very uncomfortable. "Not even a warning call before coming?" I say, catching both of their attention. My dad stands first and my mom follows shortly after. "Rhys, can we talk to our son alone, please?" my mom asks, her voice nicer than usual. He glances at me quickly before looking back at her.

"Of course, Mrs. Scott." He grabs his water bottle from the counter and disappears upstairs quickly. Luckily Valdez and Xander both stayed the night at the dorms with their girlfriends. I hope they don't come home when my parents are here. I walk into the kitchen and open the fridge to avoid them as best as possible. "You know you could have rented a nice apartment instead of living. . . here," my mom says from behind me, clearing her throat afterward. I scoff. "Did you come here to bash my house or are you here for something worth your time?" I ask bluntly.

"Straight to the point, son," my dad states. He stands in the middle of the living room with his hands in the pockets of his black slacks. He wears dress shoes and a white button-up to match his more formal attire. My mom and dad aren't older like most of the parents of people my age at 37 and 39. Neither of them looks a day over 28 which makes us look more like friends than father and son and mother and son. "Always," I say, taking a swig from my bottled water. My mom loops her arm around my fathers, standing confidently by his side. "I need you to come back home with me," my father says.

My eyebrows furrow in confusion. "What? When?" I ask quickly. "Now. You'll have to miss your game tomorrow," he says like it's nothing. "Hell no. I'm not missing my game, are you crazy? No way, man," I say firmly with a shake of my head. "Cai-" my mom starts, but I cut her off quickly. "First of all, it's Cgc. Second, if you think you're going to change my mind, save your breath. I'm not going anywhere. I'm captain, I can't just pick up and leave when you need me to," I tell both of them.

"Football is temporary. A means to an end, we've been over this. My company, your future company, isn't," my dad says. "Is this about the Alexander's again?" I ask. My dad nods once. He called me last week when I was about to tell Brynn about them - my parents. New Orleans is huge, there are lots of different real estate companies in the city but my father owns the one of most successful one. Then there's the Alexander family real estate company which rivals my father. They're newer, but they're good. They've stolen seven of his sales so far and he hates it. He hates them. They stole one of his sales just last week which is what the phone call was about.

He made me an offer. One I could not and did not want to accept. I'm guessing he's here to try and change my mind about it. He wants to take me back home to New Orleans for something and if it has anything to do with the offer he made me, I'm going to be pissed. I had no idea the Alexander's were a problem until just last week. I tried to remain as calm as possible when my dad was talking to me because Brynn was in the room but after I left, I called him back and that call was more brutal than the last.

"I told you, I'm not going to do it. I already called Jeffery and nothing changed. I told you they wouldn't budge if I called. I'm still in college, they don't care what I think," I tell my dad. He shakes his head and steps forward. My mom releases her hold on him, but stands behind him, having his back in this absurd plan. "That's not true, son. They're bitter. They resent us because their oldest son isn't you. Jeff is jealous that I have a son who loves real estate, who's going to be better than him when he steps into one of my offices come August. They want you. Imagine how fucking good it would feel for them to think they stole you from me," my dad says, voice hard.

Once you step onto Archer Scott's shit list, there's no going back. The Alexander family messed up there. I don't want to be on my father's side but if there's a war between them, Archer Scott will come out on top. Even if I don't go along with his plan, he'll find another way to take them down. To him, football is a means to an end for me. Well, I'm a means to an end for my father too. He doesn't need me to do what he wants. He just wants me to.

"It'll work," my mom adds from behind us. "They're not stupid," I say. My dad laughs at that. "What do you say, son? The LA office will be all yours at 22. Wouldn't that feel amazing?" he asks me with one of his wicked smiles. He's offering me his best friend, Richard Cohen's, position as lead of the LA office if I do what he wants. Richard has no idea but my father won't bother telling me. He'll just drop him and up me without questions. It's me who's going to be running his company when he can't anymore anyway, not Richard. It's fucked up, but my father doesn't care about anyone when it comes to his company. Not even my mom. Not me.

Before I can reply, the doorbell rings. Shit. "I'll be right back," I say. I walk down the hall that leads to the front door and open it quickly. A short blonde stands on the porch with Tupperware. "Hey," Brynn smiles and turns her head. "Who's car is that?" she asks. There's a black SUV parked in the driveway, filling in Valdez's Jeep's vacancy. "A friend. Rhys' friend," I lie. She nods and I look down at the Tupperware in her hands. She looks down at it too and then back up at me. "Oh! These are brownies. My mom made them and I thought I'd bring you and the boys some. Grandma's special recipe, they're really good," she says with a smile.

My heart skips a beat whenever she smiles. She's beautiful, truly. She hands them to me and I grab them. "Thank you for thinking of us," I say. I look back into the house where my parents wait for me in the living room. Normally I would have invited Brynn straight in but I don't want her knowing my parents are here. "Can I come in?" she suddenly asks. Shit. "Uh, actually," I look back again, "Rhys is having some. . fun with his friend and you can hear it from downstairs. I don't want to make you uncomfortable." That sounds like a good enough lie to make her come back later.

She scrunches her nose adorably. "How are you here withstanding it?" she says with a giggle. "I-"

"Cgc!" my father's voice booms from inside, interrupting me. I breathe out angrily and shut my eyes closed. Now she knows I fucking lied to her face. "Cgc. ." she says, her voice softer than usual. I open my eyes again and shake my head. "I'm sorry-"

"You don't have to apologize," she cuts me off. "I would invite you in, but I don't want you near them," I say truthfully. At this point, she knows about my horrible relationship with my parents and how they are with me. I don't want her to witness any more of it than she already has. If I can keep her as far away from them as possible, I will. She tucks her bottom lips in her mouth and tiptoes to try and look behind me. "I'll be okay," she says, focusing back on me. "Brynn," I shake my head, "last time you were in the same room as them, they said shitty things to you. I don't want that to happen again," I tell her.

"And last time I didn't know the full story. I do now. Let them say something mean, I couldn't care less," she says with a shrug. Brynn isn't blunt like me. She isn't mean or snarky like Maddy. She doesn't say nothing when people are mean to her either like Nova. If someone gets her irritated enough to talk back, she will. She stands up for herself and that's one thing I love about her.

I hesitate for a couple of seconds before nodding and inviting her in. Maybe it will get my parents to leave if they see her here. Or even be quiet. Either choice would be amazing. We walk back into the living room, her behind me. My parents stop whispering when we walk through the entrance. I place the brownies on the kitchen counter. "Mom, Dad, you remember Brynn," I say uneasily. They look at her for a long moment, no kind of expression on either of their faces. "Right. We're talking to our son so you came at a bad time. . . sweetheart," my mom says, her smile fake. "It's not a bad time. I invited her in for a reason," I tell my mom. "This is a family matter, Cgc," my mom retorts, jaw slightly clenched.

"I thought this conversation was over?" I say, crossing my arms over my chest and leaning back against the kitchen island. Brynn pulls out a stool next to me and sits down. My mom eyes her like she's being disrespectful. Even if she is, I don't care. I want her here. She'll hear about this stupid plan my father has eventually because I'll tell her about it. "No. Not until you give me an established answer on my proposition," my father says. He crosses his arms over his chest now, standing as tall as me at 6'4. I chuckle lightly and rub my lips. There's no way I'm going to fucking work for Jeffery Alexander.

Even if it's a ploy in my dad's plan to take him down. I don't know Jeff like my dad does, but I do know his kids. The son of my father mentioned. Julian Alexander. I went to high school with him. He was on the baseball team and always doing some kind of drug. He failed multiple drug tests so he was never able to play college ball. I haven't heard much about him these past couple of years but I've always known that he's wanted nothing to do with his father's company.

Then there's Jeffery's daughter, Jane. I know her well. My father also knows this.

"Jane works there," he adds, "with her father." My jaw clenches at the mention of her. "What does that have to do with me?" I say, pissed. My dad chuckles, stepping forward again. "Well, not only can we ruin him, but you can hurt his daughter too. That would show him not to mess with us," my dad says with an evil smile. None of his smiles are genuine. I cringe and shake my head. "I'm not touching Jane. Leave her out of this," I say firmly. Archer rolls his eyes. "Cgc, I was just playing. About Jane, that is. She's not important. Once her families business goes down, she will too." My dad shrugs.

"So what do you say, son?" he adds. Son. Am I really his son?

I love my parents but goddamn do they piss me off. They're not good people, I know this much by now. My dad wants to take down a man because Jeffery's men - not Jeffery specifically - stole sales from my dad's men. Maybe you should hire better realtors, Dad.

I don't want to say 'yes' to this plan for more than one reason. I don't agree with it, it's stupid. I don't think it'll work. I don't know the full extent of it, only that I have a part in it. And, I don't want to fucking help my dad do this. Maybe if our relationship wasn't shitty. Maybe if I actually liked him, I'd do it. I'd like to think I'm not as bad as Mom and Dad are. I could never ruin someone's business for a couple of stolen sales. My dad acts like he doesn't make as much money as he does. These sales do not hurt him. He's overreacting, but I don't try and change his mind because I know I can't.

"No, I'm not going to help you. Especially if it involves me leaving right now. I have a game tomorrow and I'm not flaking on my team, man. Find another way or do it without me," I say tightly. My dad blinks slowly and my mom wears a scowl. "Does this have anything to do with her being here?" he says, talking about Brynn. Brynn looks at me and me at her. I look back at dad. "Absolutely nothing to do with her. I told you I didn't want to do it last week and I meant that. You wasted jet fuel by coming down here, old man. Have a safe flight back to NOLA," I say, wanting them to leave as soon as possible.

My dad looks at me for a little longer before wrapping his arm around my moms again. "You'll regret it. We'll see when you're finally moved up in the LA office. Let me rephrase that. If you're ever moved up," he says, getting the last fucking laugh. I tighten my hold on the island behind me. "Focus on school, yes?" he glances at Brynn, "everything here is temporary. Your future job will always come first." I don't bother answering him as he and mom walk themselves out of the house without any other word. Once the front door closes, I breathe out an angry breath through my nose.

"Oh my God," Brynn says next to me. She places a hand on my shoulder and I flinch back lightly. "I shouldn't have told you to come in. I thought they'd censor themselves about what we were talking about but I guess they don't give a fuck if people know how shitty they are," I say. "Was this what that phone call was about then?" she asks. I nod and explain to her a little more in-depth about my father's plan. About Jeffery Alexander's twins, Jane and Julian. About how I know both of them and that he asked for me to fuck with Jane.

She heard that part on her own but what she didn't know was that I dated Jane in high school. We started talking the summer going into junior year and dated until the end of junior year. I liked the girl, but it wasn't anything special. Back then, my dad didn't mind since he was friends with Jeff and was the one to help him build his business to what it is today. I'm glad I broke up with Jane when I did but my dad uses it against me now.

"I'm glad you didn't do it just because of what he was offering you," Brynn tells me. I shake my head. "Believe it or not, but even I know I wouldn't be able to head of the LA office. Not so soon at least. I need to learn first, from Richard Cohen. Maybe one day I'll be able to, but not anytime soon. Who cares though, I'll never move up now. You heard my dad," I say, shrugging. I act like I don't care, but I do. The fact that he said that me never moving up has to do with me not wanting to do something horrible for him; it fucking sucks.

"I hope he doesn't mean that. You don't deserve to be belittled because you're a good person. He doesn't know your reasoning behind why you don't want to do it. He just believes you refuse to help him," Brynn says. I nod. "Being a good person in this world gets you nowhere, I guess. This is why I am the way I am, man," I say honestly. I'm a piece of shit who was raised by another piece of shit. I've told Brynn this since the beginning. I'm not a good fucking person. I should've helped my dad because I'm capable of being able to take Jeffery Alexander down alongside him.

"The way you are, huh? Do you mean a good guy? Because that's what you are," she says, pushing my shoulder lightly. My lips twitch into an almost smile but I shake my head instead. "I'll say it once again. You're the only person who believes that. Nobody says that to me and means it. Hell, no one says that period," I state, even though it might not be entirely true. One of my friends believes it too. She smiles small and gets off the stool to stand in front of me. "And I'll say it once again. No one sees the Cgc Scott that I do - besides your friends, of course. People can believe whatever they want, but don't think about yourself that way just because everyone thinks that way about you. You're way better than a lot of people, that is a fact." She pokes a finger into my bare chest.

Her smile gets wider as she looks up at me. I sigh contently. What she doesn't know is that everyone in this world can think the worst of me and fucking hate me and I'll believe them when they say I'm the worst person in the world. But then she'll call me the best person she knows and a good guy and suddenly I start to believe it. Her opinion is the only one that matters to me. Fuck everyone else. I smile too as we stare at each other without say thing anything for what feels like an eternity.

I swear her eyes flit down to my lips, but she looks back up at me quickly. She doesn't like you, Cgc. Sometimes when I feel like kissing her again, I have to remind myself of that fact. So I clear my throat and break the silence. "How about you, Rhys, and I get some breakfast at Killian's?" I ask her. The smile on her face never disappears and thank God because it's the only thing that brings light into my life in times like this. "The three miserable people?" She gasps. I laugh, remembering that one party we coined that we were all miserable. "Yeah, let's do it," I say.

We might be three miserable people but I'm not miserable when I'm with them. They're two of my favorite people in the world so there's no way I feel any less than content when I'm with either of them.