Ryan Renewed: New York Ruthless: Book 5

The smell of freshly baked croissants is making me feel hungry and I rub a hand over my stomach, smiling to myself as I remember there are two babies inside there.

“Have something to eat, Red,” Mikey says as he comes up behind me, pressing a soft kiss on my shoulder as he places two pots of jelly onto the table.

“No, I’ll wait for Hayden,” I say as I shift from one foot to the other. “He should be here by now.”

“He’ll be here soon,” Shane says as he looks up from his cell phone.

“Hmm. Maybe he is here and Conor is interrogating him in one of those rooms downstairs,” Liam chuckles darkly.

“What?” I gasp.

“Liam!” Shane warns his younger brother before he turns to me. “He’s not going to do anything but bring him straight up here, sweetheart.”

“Okay,” I whisper, fidgeting with the hem of my tank-top.

“Why are you so nervous, Jessie? It’s not like this guy is anyone special,” Liam grunts.

“Liam!” Shane warns again.

“Maybe one day he might be special to me,” I say as I blink away a tear. Pregnancy has me so damn emotional. I know he’s still struggling with the possibility of allowing someone else into our family unit, but he doesn’t get to be a complete jackass because of it.

“I’m sorry, baby,” he whispers as he reaches for my hand and squeezes.

“I know you don’t trust him, Liam, but can you at least give him a chance? For me?”

“For you,” he says with a sigh. “We’re not telling him about the babies though, are we?”

“No. Not yet,” I agree.

The sound of footsteps and muffled voices in the hallway makes us all look to the door. My heart starts to beat a little faster as excitement and nerves flutter in my stomach. A mild ripple of nausea rolls through my stomach.

I’m just excited and I need to eat.

Hayden walks into the room and he has a huge smile on his face when he does which tells me that Conor has been perfectly well behaved while he’s been escorting him from the basement where he’s been waiting for him for the past twenty minutes.

I smile when I see him. I can’t help it. He looks so happy. He looks a little like me. He is really my half-brother.

“Hey,” he says giving me an awkward wave and I figure he’s just as nervous as I am.

“Hey,” I wave back and Conor smiles at me, his face full of amusement.

“Come in and sit down, kid. Me and Jessie have made enough pastries to feed a platoon of Marines so I hope you’re hungry,” Mikey says.

“Yeah,” Hayden replies as he walks into the room and then suddenly he is standing right in front of me and I feel like I might cry. Jeez! Am I going to be this emotional this whole pregnancy?

“Hi,” he says again.

I laugh at his nervousness and hold out my arms. He laughs too and the suddenly we’re hugging. And everything is perfect – until it’s not.

I don’t know what the lingering aroma is on Hayden’s jacket – maybe oregano? But it is suddenly the most offensive thing I’ve ever smelled in my life. I’m hit by a huge wave of nausea and I push him away and bolt to the kitchen sink where I retch.

Concerned voices chatter around me and then a warm hand is on my back, rubbing softly. “You okay, Angel?” Conor asks.

“Urgh!” I groan as I retch again but nothing comes up. The feeling passes as quickly as it arrived and I stand straight. Conor hands me some paper towels and I wipe my mouth. When I turn around Hayden is staring at me with a look of shock on his face.

“You okay?” he asks.

“She’s had stomach flu, haven’t you, baby?” Liam says.

“Yeah,” I nod.

“Shit!” Hayden shakes his head.

“It’s not catching,” Mikey adds quickly. “I mean we’re all okay, so…”

“Shall we eat?” Shane says and indicates the table.

“Um, sure,” Hayden says as he heads to the table, a little uncertain now, understandably when he thinks the food has been prepared by someone with the stomach flu.

As I walk back to the table, Hayden waits for me. “Are you sure you’re okay?” he asks as he puts a hand on my shoulder and as he lifts his arm I get another whiff of the smell.

“Fuck!” I hiss as I run back to the sink.

“Maybe I should go?” Hayden offers.

“No,” I shout as I hang my head over the sink again. “It’s just your jacket. Can you take off your jacket?”

“My jacket?” he frowns.

“Give me the jacket, kid,” Shane says.

“B-but…I…” Hayden stammers.

I stand straight again. “Sorry. It just smells a little…”

Hayden’s mouth opens in horror as he sniffs his jacket. “Do I stink or something?”

“No,” I shake my head. Oh God, he thinks I think he smells.

“It just smells of something,” I say with a smile.

He shrugs it off and passes it to Shane. “Does it? I didn’t even notice. I mean it hasn’t been washed in a week or two but… Have I been walking around stinking?”

Shane sniffs the jacket too and the look on his face tells me he doesn’t smell anything even remotely offensive but he pretends anyway. “Yeah. Stinks,” he agrees and Hayden’s cheeks turn red.

“Shane. It doesn’t stink,” I say. “Don’t make him feel bad.”

“What does it smell of? Like BO or something?” Hayden sniffs his armpits now and suddenly Mikey is pressing his lips together to stop himself from laughing and Shane is looking at me so I can tell him what it smells of.

“No. Not BO,” I say quickly. “Like oregano maybe?”

“Maybe. It was hanging in the kitchen in work last night. We do a lot of Italian stuff.”

“That explains it,” I say with a smile.

“Oregano made you want to hurl?” he asks with a frown.

“Yes. I hate the stuff.”

“Oh.” He shakes his head and then he takes a seat at the table as Shane takes the jacket out into the hallway.

I take a seat next to Hayden and smile at him. Poor kid looks so embarrassed and I want to hug him again – so I do. Big mistake.

“I can still…” I bolt again as nausea washes over me like a tidal wave. I have never experienced anything like it in my life.

“Fuck, Jessie, you’re gonna give the poor kid a heart attack if you keep doing this,” Mikey chuckles.

“Do I really stink or something?” Hayden asks innocently and I feel so bad for him.

“We have to tell him,” I groan as I stand upright again.

“No.” Liam shakes his head.

“Liam. The kid thinks he has a body odor problem so bad that he’s making people spontaneously hurl,” Shane says.

“What is going on?” Hayden asks.

“It’s not you, kid,” Shane pats him on the back and he and Mikey and Conor start to laugh.

“Then what?” he asks as I walk back to the table and take a seat opposite him instead, in between Liam and Conor.

“She’s just developed a severe aversion to oregano,” Mikey chuckles.

Conor takes my hand and squeezes it gently. “You okay?”

“Yes. Fine now,” I say. “But oregano is banned for the next eight months. Okay?”

“Eight months?” Hayden smiles at me. “Wait! Are you…?”

“Yes. I’m so sorry, Hayden. This wasn’t how I imagined today going at all.”

“Wow! A baby.” He beams at me. “That’s amazing, Jessie. I’m so happy for you.”

“Babies actually. We’re having twins. And thank you.”

“Twins!” he laughs softly and then he looks around the table. “Who is…”

“Don’t even finish that sentence, kid,” Shane warns him. “We all are and that’s all you need to know.”

“Okay. I’m sorry if I offended you,” he swallows.

“Don’t worry about it,” I tell him as I shoot Shane a look. “Our set up is quite unique.”

“Is someone gonna eat some of these pastries I’ve been slaving over?” Mikey says, breaking the tension.

“Yes! I’m starving,” I reply as I take one from the giant pile in the center of the table.

After our incredibly awkward start, we ended up having a lovely brunch. Hayden is funny and sweet. Even Liam joined in the conversation after a while, unable to keep quiet when Hayden mentioned his aversion to tequila following an experience during his first semester of college when he passed out at a party and woke up with no eyebrows and a moustache drawn in permanent marker that took him days to wash off.

It’s late afternoon by the time Hayden is leaving, and that’s only because he has a shift at work to get to. Shane and Conor have agreed to drive him home and I have made them promise to behave themselves.

“You think we can risk a quick hug?” Hayden asks me as he stands outside the elevator. Conor and Shane have gone ahead and Liam and Mikey are in the kitchen clearing up, allowing the two of us to speak alone for the first time.

“I’ll hold my breath,” I say with a smile, doing exactly that as I embrace him quickly.

“Today has been amazing, Jessie,” he whispers in my ear. “I’m so glad I found you.”

I pull back from him. “Me too,” I say with a smile.

“I was feeling so lost since my mom died,” he says as a tear escapes and he quickly wipes it away. “I know you don’t really know me yet, but I hope that we can do lots more of this and maybe I can be a part of your life in some way.”

“Of course, Hayden. I would love that,” I admit.

“Can I see you again soon?”

“Sure. How about Saturday?” I offer.

“I have to work Saturday, sorry. How is Friday?”

Friday is date night, but I suppose I could see him in the afternoon? “Sure. We could have lunch?”

“Great. Where shall we meet?”

“Um.” I bite on my lip. The brothers won’t like me leaving the apartment without them and I’m not sure any of them have the time to take the afternoon off with me, especially as they won’t be working in the night. “Are you okay to come here?”

“Sure. I love it here,” he says with a grin.

“Perfect!” I reply.

And that was how Hayden Chambers came to be an almost daily afternoon visitor to our apartment.