For Richer, For Poorer （To Have or To Hold, Book Two）

　　Stood there, silently quivering underneath my bathrobe, the man edged closer to me in an almost sinister way. From the corner of my eye, I spotted my clutch bag – abandoned on the side table and next to my half-eaten, stale chicken burger. That bag had my phone in it, and was my only lifeline right now. 　　As the strange man reached out as if he was going to touch me, I ducked under his arm and made a bolt for my bag. As quick as lightning, I managed to grab the clutch bag and furiously scrambled inside of it to retrieve my mobile phone. 　　“Stay back!” I warned, moving behind the kitchen island, as the man grinned my way and walked toward me. 　　Pulling out my phone and desperately trying to type my pin in to unlock it, he was gaining on me, so reaching out my other hand, I picked up the only thing that was available – a baguette. What the hell was I going to do with that?! 　　“I have a weapon!” I shouted, waving it at him, which to be fair, was pathetic. 　　“What are you going to do with that? Make me a sandwich?” He chuckled, still walking toward me. 　　“Don’t come any closer!” 　　Unlocking my phone, the first thing to appear on the screen was Jace’s text message from last night. Hitting the call icon in the top corner of the text, I prayed that he picked up. 　　“Hello, Becca?” his voice rang out on the other end. 　　“Oh, thank God!” I shouted down the phone, eyeing the strange man who was stood watching me with a grin on his smug face as I still pointed the baguette at him. 　　“What’s wrong?” Jace asked with urgency. 　　“Can you come round? There’s a strange man in the apartment!” I yelled, feeling the weight of what I was telling him dawn on me. 　　“I’m on my way,” I heard him say, before the call immediately cut off. 　　“Oh, can we stop this charade?” The man sighed, turning away from me and going to sit down again on the sofa. 　　“Charade?” I screeched. “Who the hell are you, and what the heck are you doing in my home? I will call the police!” 　　“And?” He grinned, sitting back and unbuttoning his jacket. “I’m not doing anything wrong.” 　　“Not doing anything wrong?” I echoed. “You’ve broken into my apartment!” 　　He sighed, rolling his eyes at me. “You really don’t remember who I am, do you?” 　　“No, I bloody well don’t! Now get out of my home!” 　　“All in good time, sugar. Chill your beans. I’m not going to do you any harm.” 　　“How do I know that?” I asked, shakily holding the damn baguette like my life depended on it. 　　“Because I would’ve done it by now. A crispy roll of bread is hardly going to stop me.” He chuckled. 　　Perhaps he did have a point, but until I knew who the hell this man was, I would do my best to do some damage with it if he approached me again. Even if I crushed the sharp shards of it in his eyes, it may blind him as I made my escape. 　　Standing on guard for the duration, nervously watching his every move, I wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but before long, there was a loud banging on the door. Before the man could move off the sofa, I darted to the front door and quickly opened it, to reveal Jace stood at the other side. 　　Jace whipped past me, as I closed the door behind him and was so thankful for his presence here. Following him on, Jace strode over to the sofa and glared down at the man. 　　“What the hell are you doing here?!” he angrily growled, glaring down on him. 　　“Nice to see you too… bro,” the man replied, standing up to face him. 　　Bro? 　　“You know you shouldn’t be here. How the hell did you get in?” Jace fumed, moving closer to him. 　　“It wasn’t that difficult. I see you have a new occupant,” he replied, turning his attention to me. 　　“He hasn’t touched you, has he?” Jace asked me. 　　“Er, no. Can someone please tell me what’s going on?!” I screeched, feeling more confused with every statement that came out of their mouths. 　　“I’m Jace’s brother, Drew. We met last night at the club,” the man filled in, reaching his hand out to me. 　　Looking down at his outstretched hand, I lost myself in the memory of last night, as I recalled The Devil’s Hub nightclub that we had finished off our night in – and the man at the bar that had tried to chat me up. That’s why he had looked so familiar back then – he was Jace’s brother! Not as handsome as him, but now, when I looked at them both, there was definitely a resemblance. 　　“You met last night?” Jace asked, disturbing my train of thought and looking between the both of us. 　　“Oh yes. This beautiful lady was in the club I was in. I never forget a pretty face.” Drew grinned, letting his hand fall back down into position when he realised I was just staring aimlessly at it. 　　Seeing the peeved look on Jace’s face, I had to fill him in on the details, as there was no way I wanted him to think that I had any sort of romantic encounter with this man. 　　“We met at the bar when I was getting myself a bottle of water,” I began. “He was chatting me up, and I told him I wasn’t interested, before I went back and joined my friends.” 　　“And yet we still ended up in the same apartment the morning after.” Drew sniggered. 　　“None of this scenario is even remotely amusing.” I glared at him, before turning my attention to Jace. “Why didn’t you tell me that you had a brother? You told me that you had no family to speak of.” 　　“Nice.” Drew smiled. “So, does that make me the dirty little secret? Although I can think of some more.” 　　Jace’s expression dropped, and still, I couldn’t work out what any of it was about. Time and time again, I was presented with scenarios that made me realise how little I knew about Jace Morgan. 　　“You keep your mouth shut,” Jace warned. 　　“Don’t worry, little bro, your secrets are safe with me.” Drew smirked, patting Jace on the chest as he breezed past him toward the kitchen. “Coffee, anyone?” 　　“Er, I don’t mean to interrupt this little ‘family reunion’ you’ve got going on, but you forget that you’re in my home… for now,” I spoke, eyeing Jace in the corner of my eye. 　　“This is your home, Becca, and you, big brother, need to leave. Now.” 　　“After all I’ve done for you,” Drew began, moving back toward us. “You forget that when times were bad, I was the one who used to look after you.” 　　“Yeah, well, your variation of help was never of much assistance,” Jace replied, in an almost subdued fashion. 　　“Jace…” Drew began, sidling his way up to him, “we had some good times growing up. I know I’ve done wrong, but I want to make up for it. I had a lot of time to think when I was away, and I would like us to build bridges.” 　　Watching on, I could see that familiar wave of emotion flood through Jace, and almost instantaneously, he seemed to soften in his presence. I’d never seen Jace soften that easily – he was always so dominant and in control – yet I had no idea of what the history was between them both. 　　Jace sighed, running a hand through his hair before looking at Drew. “We need to talk… privately. But first, you have to go. Becca lives here now, and you can’t just come barging in here whenever you feel like it. There’s boundaries that you have to abide by.” 　　“Fair enough. I will leave you both be,” Drew replied in a plush accent, dotted with a hint of Liverpudlian. 　　Walking past us both, I watched him as he left the apartment; giving me a wink before eyeing Jace, who was stood not looking his way, before opening the front door and walking through it.