BATTLE CRIES AND WHITE FLAGS
Monday morning at 3CG felt like being in the damn Twilight Zone. It was quiet. Eerily quiet. Especially for three brothers working in the same quarters.
Zac could have cut the tension with a knife. How they even managed to get any work done on the limited communication they used was beyond him. Desperate to lighten the mood in the room, and not really paying attention to his whopper of an ice breaker, he asked, "So, Tay, how did your weekend go?"
"It went," he replied nonchalantly.
"Went? That's it?"
"It just WENT," Taylor said, frustrated, as he clicked around on his laptop. Then he sighed and stood up and muttered, "I swear these distributors can't do anything without someone holding their hands." And with that, he walked out of the room.
"Okay..." Zac said under his breath. Then he looked at Isaac. Isaac appeared in rare form this morning--exhausted, disheveled, and sucking back coffee like it was going out of style. Zac was more than curious. "So what's YOUR excuse?"
Isaac barely realized Zac had spoken to him when he looked up from his work. "Oh, uh, I didn't sleep much last night."
"Hm," Zac huffed. "You're usually so insistent on getting your beauty sleep."
Isaac smirked. "Sometimes it's just not feasible."
"Welcome to the world of the living, then."
"Yeah. Thanks."
Dissatisfied with this response, Zac pressed further. "You look like shit."
Finally, Isaac looked up at him, annoyed. "Yeah, I get it. Thanks for the observation."
"WHY do you look like shit?"
"WHY do you care?"
"Because Tay wasn't entertaining enough for me this morning," Zac retorted.
Isaac scoffed. "Is he ever?"
"That's why I live vicariously through you."
"You're demented, you know that?"
"Humor me."
Finally, Isaac sighed and turned around in his chair, glancing at the door Taylor had walked out of. Then he lowered his voice. "I was with Winn last night."
Zac nearly dropped the marker he had in his hand. "Seriously? After you dropped her like a bad habit?"
"You know that's not what happened."
"Well according to you, you pissed her off pretty bad this time."
"Yeah, well...she's not pissed anymore."
Zac laughed. "How the hell did you manage to get yourself out of that one? I mean, obviously it took some work, look at you." Then his eyes widened in sudden realization and he whipped his head around and looked out the door. Then he turned back to Isaac and hissed, "You slept with her, didn't you?"
Isaac responded with the rubbing of his forehead.
"Holy shit," Zac said excitedly. "It only took you, what, a month? How was it?"
Isaac started to blush and then he smiled. "It was amazing."
"Then it was worth the wait."
"Definitely worth it."
"Well don't keep me in suspense, man, let's have it!"
"Um..." Isaac turned back to his computer and put his glasses on his face. "I don't really want to talk about it."
Zac was taken aback by his response. "But--you always wanna talk about it..."
"Not this time."
"Oh my god...you CARE about her! Don't you? I never thought I'd see the day..."
"Look, let's keep it on the down low right now, okay?" Isaac replied quietly. "Tay doesn't know and they're not exactly on speaking terms right now, so..."
"What? Why?"
At that moment, Taylor walked back in the room and Zac verbally assaulted him upon sight. He supposed he should have been a little more sensitive to the subject but the truth was, he was having a hard time caring. His brothers' little game of tug-of-war was getting ridiculous. "Tay, why aren't you talking to Winn?"
The blood momentarily drained from his face and then he recovered, narrowing his eyes. "Excuse me?"
"You heard me."
"How do YOU know what's going on between me and Winn?"
"Well, Ike said--"
Taylor's body stiffened and he shot a look to kill at Isaac. Then his eyes darted between both of his brothers. "Whatever goes on between me and Winn is OUR business. Not yours. Either one of you."
And then, once again, Taylor was out the door. This time, they heard the back door close.
Isaac glared at Zac. "Just couldn't leave it alone, could you?"
Zac swallowed and ducked his head as he went back to his computer. It was apparent that he needed more hobbies. How would Kate feel about a date night Saturday night...?
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Taylor mentally planned his day as he drove to his meeting with the beer distributors. He hadn't had a plan before that. Just his meeting that morning and music stuff for the rest of the day. Now he had learned that his alleged best friend apparently had a big mouth. That disappointed him.
Alleged. He immediately felt guilty for thinking that word. The truth was, though, things got awkward after Saturday night. Fast. Was it worth it? Was risking their friendship really worth one night of drunken passion? This was the battle he'd been fighting with himself since yesterday morning.
On a positive note, he was still alive. Isaac hadn't killed him yet, so he took that to mean that maybe Winn's mouth wasn't quite THAT big. And even if Isaac knew, did he REALLY have the right to retaliate? Either way, Taylor's new order of business for the day was to address said big, or not-so-big, mouth. The idea of speaking to Winn shot his nerves all to hell.
Unfortunately, he didn't get the chance to catch Winn as early as he'd liked. He tried for her lunch break, but then his meeting ran over and what turned into a meeting about distribution turned into another discussion about brewing and, with new idea in mind, he played phone tag with the brewers for the next couple of hours, trying to set up meetings. That turned into yet another meeting with his brothers about said beer and by the time it was all said and done, the day had flown by and the sun had gone down.
The three brothers began to wind down and do their own things and Taylor looked at his watch, ready to call it a day. He walked up to the front to check the door when the sight of blue lights across the street caused his stomach to leap up into his throat.
Making sure to lock the door behind him, he ignored his lack of a coat as he bounded across the street and right into the door of First Class Finance, passing officers on their walkie talkies on the sidewalk.
Inside the office were Winn and all three of her employees standing around with a couple of officers, giving their statements.
Taylor was relieved to see that Winn was physically safe, but it didn't keep his concern from disappearing. She turned and locked eyes with him when the officer finished with her. "You're here," she choked out.
"Of course I'm here. What happened?"
Distress crossed her face. "We got robbed just a few minutes ago."
"Is everyone okay?"
"Yeah," she replied, her voice shaking. "Nobody was hurt. We were walking out the door, Tina had the deposit bags in her hand. The guy met us at the door at gunpoint and backed us back inside. It happened so fast...shit, I have to call my supervisor, I should have already done that..."
She seemed anxious. Rattled. Nervous. He couldn't blame her. He couldn't imagine how it must have felt to be held at gunpoint...
The thought nearly brought him to his knees at the realization of what had almost happened. All the guy had to do was pull the trigger. Half a second would be all it took for him to lose her forever. And here he was, nearly losing her over a night of drunken sex. A night that would have never happened if they'd been in their right minds. There were more important things in life than that.
As she searched her cell phone for her supervisor's number, she stopped and looked up at him. Then, to his surprise, she stepped over to him and wrapped her arms around his neck in a hug. "Thank you," she whispered. "For always being such a sight for sore eyes."
Taylor's heart melted in an instant as he wrapped his arms tightly around her. Her quiet sobs and soft sniffles told him that she was just now getting over the shock and her body was now allowing her to react. He swallowed a lump in his throat as he held her.
After a moment, she pulled away and wiped her eyes. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to--"
"It's okay," he said softly.
She looked into his eyes, searching them. "Is it?"
He nodded solemnly. "Yeah. It is."
The corners of her mouth started to turn up until she remembered her phone in her hand and she quickly got her supervisor on the line.
That small exchange alone made Taylor feel a world of better. While Winn took the necessary steps for her situation, he took it upon himself to assess the situation on his own. Stepping outside, he approached one of the officers. "So, uh, what's the status here? What's being done to catch this guy?"
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When Taylor had seemingly disappeared, Isaac and Zac searched the building for him before locking up for the night. Upon entering the front, one couldn't mistake the blue lights that flashed through the tinted windows of their studio.
"What the hell is going on over there?" Isaac asked, opening the door and letting in the burst of cold air.
"I don't know," Zac said, looking over his shoulder. "But whatever it is, it looks like Tay already has it handled..."
Isaac looked over his shoulder and glowered at Zac as they observed Taylor talking to the officer outside Winn's office. Great. This was all Isaac needed now, for Taylor to suddenly swoop in and play knight in shining armor like he always did. He cursed himself for putting him in such a positive light to Winn last night.
"I'm going over there," he said to Zac as he stepped out the door.
"Um, are you sure--?"
But Isaac had already stepped off the sidewalk. Behind him, he heard Zac lock the door and sigh as he trotted to catch up. With Zac on his heels, he stepped up on the sidewalk and shamelessly interrupted Taylor as he spoke with the officer. "Where's Winn?"
Taylor broke the conversation and looked at Isaac, perturbed. "Inside."
Needing no further instruction, he stepped inside the office door and observed Winn talking on her cell phone. After a moment, she wrapped up the call and hugged her arms around herself. She looked at Isaac and attempted a joke. "I think I'm gonna be sick."
"Is everything okay? Did you guys get robbed or something?"
She scoffed. "How appropriate for a Monday, huh?"
Suddenly they heard Zac's voice from outside. "Who the hell called the media? Is this necessary?" Then he ducked inside the office and walked over to Isaac and Winn. "Can't keep anything quiet around here, can you?"
"News station outside?" Winn guessed.
"Yep."
"I'm not talking to them." Then she got distracted and stepped away. "Hey, you guys, listen," she said, addressing her staff. "The news is here. We don't give interviews or statements and we don't get on camera. Got it?"
As Winn spoke with her staff, Zac muttered to Isaac, "We really shouldn't be here."
"I have a reason to be here," Isaac retorted. "What's your excuse?"
"To prevent a bloody, brotherly mutiny from happening right in front of the cops?"
Isaac scowled at Zac. Zac shrugged his shoulders.
At that point, Winn had disappeared. Isaac looked around and walked outside in search of her. He found her standing next to Taylor and talking to a couple of officers. Isaac glared at his brother's hand, which rested comfortably on the small of Winn's back, his fingers mindlessly twisting the red hair that hung long enough to touch his hand where it was.
As Isaac circled them, Taylor's eyes were threatening as they met his, and his hand subsequently slid further around Winn's waist and pulled her gently against his side. Winn didn't seem to notice this action as her hands flew while she spoke to the officer hastily, lost in what was likely the fifth or sixth recant since the incident.
Isaac had no idea what was being said. He was paying no attention to the conversation. As he stood there with his arms folded over his chest to stave off the chill in the air, he couldn't help but be consumed by the silent battle cry that Taylor had just directed at him. So was this it? Was Taylor actually going for it this time? Was he fighting? Making a move, taking a stand, what? One of these days they were going to come to blows and the thought formed a knot in the pit of his stomach.
"Okay, then, Miss Douglas," the officer said finally. "I think we're done here for now. It sounds like the boys might have a couple of possible leads. We're gonna stay on it, there's no way he could have gotten that far. We hope to have better news to you by tomorrow."
As the officers wrapped up and began to leave, Taylor released his hold on Winn to shake hands with the officers. Winn turned to Isaac and smiled. "Thank you for checking up on me, I appreciate it."
"Hey, it's not every day you see blue lights in the Brady District. So, listen, you think you might want to go have a drink after you lock up? Calm your nerves a little?"
"Um, yea--"
And then Taylor interjected out of nowhere, damn him. "Hey, you ready to lock up so I can get you out of here?" He asked her gently.
"Um--" Winn looked confused. "I--I have my car..."
"We were actually talking about going for a drink. Taking the edge off a little," Isaac told him.
Taylor shot him a look. "I'm not sure partying is the best idea right now."
"Actually, a drink wouldn't be so bad..." Winn attempted to interject.
Neither of them heard her. "Nobody said anything about partying--"
"Please, Ike, that's all you know how to do," Taylor spat. "I'm handling this, I'll take her home, okay?"
Finally, Winn stepped out of the way and held her hands up. "Okay. You know what? I drove here today. I have my own transportation. I'm taking myself home. The two of you sound like you need to have a drink--together. Okay? Have a nice night, both of you. Please."
And with that, Winn walked away from the scene and didn't come back.
Neither one of them had noticed Zac standing there until he whistled and made the crashing sound, illustrating it with is hands. "Crash and burn," he emphasized.
Both Isaac and Taylor wanted to kill him.
**************
"I just don't think you should be alone tonight," Isaac said into the phone as he swirled the whiskey around in his glass.
"I'm fine," Winn said. "Perfectly fine. If being alone was a problem for me, I'd have a roommate."
"Yeah, but when something like what happened today happens--"
"I'm not alone. I'm talking to you."
Isaac smiled into the phone. She had a point. Who was he to argue with that logic? "Is your porch light on?"
"Yes."
"And your doors are locked?"
"Yes."
"So if I decide to stalk you in the middle of the night, I can be seen and I won't be able to get into your house?"
"There's a key under the mat."
"Winn, you're missing the point."
She giggled. "I get it, I get it. I'm fine. And, yeah, today freaked me out, it was scary. And work's gonna be hell tomorrow because of it. But for now I'm safe. I'm at home and I'm cozy and my Christmas tree is keeping me company."
"I could be keeping you company," he muttered.
"You could be. And I'm sorry I just stormed out like I did, but once you and Tay started bickering, I couldn't take it anymore on top of everything else."
"I know. I'm embarrassed by that, I apologize."
"It's okay," she said. "Siblings bicker. I have siblings, too, I know how it is."
"Yeah..."
Suddenly, her voice changed into one that was appreciative and cheerful. "Ike! What are you doing? I totally see you."
He raised an eyebrow and looked around, self-conscious. "Um, you do?"
"Yes! I said you didn't have to come over! You're so sneaky..."
"Uh, Winn, I'm sitting in my apartment."
"What?"
Isaac's heart raced. "Are your doors really locked? Do I need to come over NOW?"
"Of course they are. I just--well who is that?" After a moment, her voice lowered to a whisper of observation. "Is that--? That's--Tay's here..."
Isaac collapsed back in his chair, relief making him weak at the knees, and then he grew increasingly annoyed all over again. "What's he doing there?"
"I don't know..." Her tone of voice was her obviously looking out the window. "What the--what the hell is he doing?" Then finally she said, "Ike, I gotta go. I gotta find out what the hell is going on with this--" Then she scoffed a laugh. "What the hell? Hey, I gotta go. I'll fill you in later, okay?"
Isaac sighed. "Uh, yeah. Okay. Have fun, I guess."
When he hung up the phone with her, he was fuming. Goddamn Taylor. Goddamn him all to hell. Why hadn't Isaac thought about just randomly showing up like that? He took this to mean they were back on good terms again. So he guessed he'd been right, whatever happened between them over the weekend hadn't been THAT bad. And, sure, he'd told Winn he wasn't emotionally available, which was true, but that still didn't stop him from wanting her all to himself.
Goddammit, if Taylor wasn't going to make a move, he needed to back off. That was just all there was to it.
Isaac turned up his whiskey glass and chugged what was left of it before he threw the glass against his living room wall. Letting the mess sit there amidst his otherwise immaculate apartment, he got out of his chair and went to bed.
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Winn opened her front door and scoffed in laughter as Taylor stood there, loaded down with plastic shopping bags. "I know I'm probably not supposed to be here, judging by the way you just kinda left me and Ike stranded out there on the street tonight, but consider this as sort of a peace offering."
"Oh my god," she laughed as she stood out of the way and let him inside. "Peace offering? For what? What is all this?"
He walked in and went straight to her kitchen, hauling the bags onto her small kitchen table. "Well, maybe not so much as a peace offering than maybe...a care package? After I left your office tonight, I went shopping. And I ended up with a cart full of stuff that's supposed to make women feel better and stuff." Then he raised an eyebrow and looked her up and down. "Nice pajamas."
She looked down at her ratty, old-as-dirt, vintage My Little Pony nightshirt and her white, thermal long johns she wore underneath. She scowled at him. "I wasn't expecting company." Then she looked at the bags again and smiled. "So what, according to Taylor Hanson, is supposed to make women feel better?"
He smiled as he began to unload the bags. "Okay," he announced. "So you have your girlie magazines--Cosmo, Glamour, Vanity Fair...a bottle of wine...several jars of your favorite peanut butter so you won't run out any time soon...ice cream, cake frosting..."
"No cake?"
A devious smile crossed his face as he shook his head. "Oh, no." He sat the chocolate ice cream and the chocolate frosting on the table together. "Mix these two together and you'll be saying, 'Cake? What cake?' You may never even eat the peanut butter again." Then he got back in the bag as Winn put the ice cream in the freezer. "I brought an entire stash of insanely-colored nail polishes, fuzzy socks, a couple of cheesy romance novels..."
Winn had to laugh at the lot of items on her table. "Tay, I only got mugged, I didn't get dumped."
"But I'm not done. What's left is the granddaddy of this whole excursion. The Grand Marshall. The crème de la crème..."
"I better be impressed..."
And then he laid them out on the table, Winn's eyes widening at every box. "I brought tea. In every single holiday flavor they had. Candy cane, gingerbread, some kinda nutcracker thing, sugar cookie, sugar plum, AND....pumpkin!" He announced the last one proudly, with a grin across his face.
Winn couldn't contain her excitement. "You--you brought me teas. Flavored teas. Christmas teas!" She giggled and grabbed the boxes to look at them. "Holy crap, I'm gonna pee nonstop for the rest of the month because I'm gonna drink ALL of these!"
Taylor smiled and rested his hands on his hips. "Well, there you have it. I did my best."
"Thank you so much, it's perfect! All of it! Every single guilty pleasure...ooh, I gotta put on some water! We're gonna do this right now!"
As she rushed across the kitchen, excitedly, to prep the water for her new tea, Taylor shook his head and laughed. "I brought you alcohol. And chocolate--"
"You brought me flavored tea and fuzzy socks! It's like you see straight into my soul or something!" She turned around after she started the water. "One of these days I'm gonna eBay so hard for you..."
"You almost make that sound dirty."
"If you saw some of the deals on there, you'd feel dirty." Then her eyes lit up suddenly. "Hey, you wanna watch a movie?"
"Another Christmas movie?"
"No," she said in thought. "I'm in the mood for something funny.
A short while later, a movie was playing on TV, but neither of them were really paying attention. Winn sat happily on the couch with her tea, her legs outstretched with her feet resting on a pillow on Taylor's lap. "You know what?" She said. "I bet when you took all that stuff to the checkout, the guy thought you were gay."
He looked at her and laughed in shock. "Are we really doing this again?"
She shrugged. "I mean, I'm just saying."
"I made it a point to clarify that NONE of it was for me."
"Oh. Well. Long as you clarified..." Then she spied the array of nail polish she'd brought in the living room with her as they sat on the coffee table. "You know what would REALLY make me happy? And we can keep it a total secret, just between us."
He eyed her suspiciously. "What...?"
She beamed at him. "Will you paint my toes while you're down there?" She wiggled her toes at him for emphasis.
"What? No. Absolutely not, I bought that as a fun activity for YOU. Not for me. I don't--I don't paint...nails...and stuff, I--no. Not gonna happen."
Winn pouted at him. "But--but they're RIGHT there. And you went to so much trouble to pick out the colors..."
"I actually just grabbed blindly," he muttered.
"Come on, just this one time. I'll never ask you again."
His eyes darted between her face and her toes. "Just this one time?"
"JUST this once. For now."
He huffed. "Fine. But ONLY because of what you went through at work today. That's it."
For someone who was so adamant against painting toenails, he sure was concentrating awfully hard on it. So hard, in fact, that his body was turned into it where she couldn't see what he was doing. She could feel it, though, and it didn't feel like a regular paint job. Especially when he started alternating between the solid colors and the glitter--with purpose.
After a few minutes, when they had quieted conversation so that Taylor could concentrate on his toenail masterpiece, Winn asked quietly, "Tay? Are we just going to pretend like Saturday night didn't happen?"
"I, uh, I thought we'd already, you know, squashed that earlier and stuff?"
"Well...I mean, I guess so..."
"Look. We were drunk. We weren't thinking clearly. And I honestly believe that if we'd been completely sober, it would never have happened. Right?"
"Right," he hesitated meekly.
"Right. So...I just want things to be normal again. You know? I mean, it--it happened, it's done, we weren't in our right minds, I really want to just move on and be normal again. That's it."
"You're my best friend," she said quietly. "I like when you bring me tea and you eat peanut butter with me and we have random, impromptu breakfasts together--which we need to do again, by the way. I don't want to lose any of that."
"Neither do I."
"So that's it, then."
"That's it."
"How's it going down there?"
"Almost done."
Winn sat back and sipped on her tea some more. She was happy. Blissfully happy, almost. She was glad that he wanted to move past their indiscretion. But something still nagged at her, something somewhere deep down where she couldn't quite pinpoint it.
Interrupting her thoughts, Taylor blew gently on her toes and then patted her shins and smiled at her. "Okay. All done. Don't move just yet, let them dry."
Anxiously, she leaned forward to get a closer look and a lump rose up in her throat. "Oh, Tay...you drew Hanson symbols in glitter. It's so conceited of you, but I love it so much!"
Taylor laughed. "Well they're far from perfect, but--"
"Yes, they are. They are perfect. I think I lied, I think you may have just been volunteered to do this again." Then she sat back again with her tea and she smiled at her toes and then she smiled at Taylor. "This has been the best night I've had in a long time. I'm so glad you're here. Thank you."
Taylor smiled and winked at her. "Any time."
Monday morning at 3CG felt like being in the damn Twilight Zone. It was quiet. Eerily quiet. Especially for three brothers working in the same quarters.
Zac could have cut the tension with a knife. How they even managed to get any work done on the limited communication they used was beyond him. Desperate to lighten the mood in the room, and not really paying attention to his whopper of an ice breaker, he asked, "So, Tay, how did your weekend go?"
"It went," he replied nonchalantly.
"Went? That's it?"
"It just WENT," Taylor said, frustrated, as he clicked around on his laptop. Then he sighed and stood up and muttered, "I swear these distributors can't do anything without someone holding their hands." And with that, he walked out of the room.
"Okay..." Zac said under his breath. Then he looked at Isaac. Isaac appeared in rare form this morning--exhausted, disheveled, and sucking back coffee like it was going out of style. Zac was more than curious. "So what's YOUR excuse?"
Isaac barely realized Zac had spoken to him when he looked up from his work. "Oh, uh, I didn't sleep much last night."
"Hm," Zac huffed. "You're usually so insistent on getting your beauty sleep."
Isaac smirked. "Sometimes it's just not feasible."
"Welcome to the world of the living, then."
"Yeah. Thanks."
Dissatisfied with this response, Zac pressed further. "You look like shit."
Finally, Isaac looked up at him, annoyed. "Yeah, I get it. Thanks for the observation."
"WHY do you look like shit?"
"WHY do you care?"
"Because Tay wasn't entertaining enough for me this morning," Zac retorted.
Isaac scoffed. "Is he ever?"
"That's why I live vicariously through you."
"You're demented, you know that?"
"Humor me."
Finally, Isaac sighed and turned around in his chair, glancing at the door Taylor had walked out of. Then he lowered his voice. "I was with Winn last night."
Zac nearly dropped the marker he had in his hand. "Seriously? After you dropped her like a bad habit?"
"You know that's not what happened."
"Well according to you, you pissed her off pretty bad this time."
"Yeah, well...she's not pissed anymore."
Zac laughed. "How the hell did you manage to get yourself out of that one? I mean, obviously it took some work, look at you." Then his eyes widened in sudden realization and he whipped his head around and looked out the door. Then he turned back to Isaac and hissed, "You slept with her, didn't you?"
Isaac responded with the rubbing of his forehead.
"Holy shit," Zac said excitedly. "It only took you, what, a month? How was it?"
Isaac started to blush and then he smiled. "It was amazing."
"Then it was worth the wait."
"Definitely worth it."
"Well don't keep me in suspense, man, let's have it!"
"Um..." Isaac turned back to his computer and put his glasses on his face. "I don't really want to talk about it."
Zac was taken aback by his response. "But--you always wanna talk about it..."
"Not this time."
"Oh my god...you CARE about her! Don't you? I never thought I'd see the day..."
"Look, let's keep it on the down low right now, okay?" Isaac replied quietly. "Tay doesn't know and they're not exactly on speaking terms right now, so..."
"What? Why?"
At that moment, Taylor walked back in the room and Zac verbally assaulted him upon sight. He supposed he should have been a little more sensitive to the subject but the truth was, he was having a hard time caring. His brothers' little game of tug-of-war was getting ridiculous. "Tay, why aren't you talking to Winn?"
The blood momentarily drained from his face and then he recovered, narrowing his eyes. "Excuse me?"
"You heard me."
"How do YOU know what's going on between me and Winn?"
"Well, Ike said--"
Taylor's body stiffened and he shot a look to kill at Isaac. Then his eyes darted between both of his brothers. "Whatever goes on between me and Winn is OUR business. Not yours. Either one of you."
And then, once again, Taylor was out the door. This time, they heard the back door close.
Isaac glared at Zac. "Just couldn't leave it alone, could you?"
Zac swallowed and ducked his head as he went back to his computer. It was apparent that he needed more hobbies. How would Kate feel about a date night Saturday night...?
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Taylor mentally planned his day as he drove to his meeting with the beer distributors. He hadn't had a plan before that. Just his meeting that morning and music stuff for the rest of the day. Now he had learned that his alleged best friend apparently had a big mouth. That disappointed him.
Alleged. He immediately felt guilty for thinking that word. The truth was, though, things got awkward after Saturday night. Fast. Was it worth it? Was risking their friendship really worth one night of drunken passion? This was the battle he'd been fighting with himself since yesterday morning.
On a positive note, he was still alive. Isaac hadn't killed him yet, so he took that to mean that maybe Winn's mouth wasn't quite THAT big. And even if Isaac knew, did he REALLY have the right to retaliate? Either way, Taylor's new order of business for the day was to address said big, or not-so-big, mouth. The idea of speaking to Winn shot his nerves all to hell.
Unfortunately, he didn't get the chance to catch Winn as early as he'd liked. He tried for her lunch break, but then his meeting ran over and what turned into a meeting about distribution turned into another discussion about brewing and, with new idea in mind, he played phone tag with the brewers for the next couple of hours, trying to set up meetings. That turned into yet another meeting with his brothers about said beer and by the time it was all said and done, the day had flown by and the sun had gone down.
The three brothers began to wind down and do their own things and Taylor looked at his watch, ready to call it a day. He walked up to the front to check the door when the sight of blue lights across the street caused his stomach to leap up into his throat.
Making sure to lock the door behind him, he ignored his lack of a coat as he bounded across the street and right into the door of First Class Finance, passing officers on their walkie talkies on the sidewalk.
Inside the office were Winn and all three of her employees standing around with a couple of officers, giving their statements.
Taylor was relieved to see that Winn was physically safe, but it didn't keep his concern from disappearing. She turned and locked eyes with him when the officer finished with her. "You're here," she choked out.
"Of course I'm here. What happened?"
Distress crossed her face. "We got robbed just a few minutes ago."
"Is everyone okay?"
"Yeah," she replied, her voice shaking. "Nobody was hurt. We were walking out the door, Tina had the deposit bags in her hand. The guy met us at the door at gunpoint and backed us back inside. It happened so fast...shit, I have to call my supervisor, I should have already done that..."
She seemed anxious. Rattled. Nervous. He couldn't blame her. He couldn't imagine how it must have felt to be held at gunpoint...
The thought nearly brought him to his knees at the realization of what had almost happened. All the guy had to do was pull the trigger. Half a second would be all it took for him to lose her forever. And here he was, nearly losing her over a night of drunken sex. A night that would have never happened if they'd been in their right minds. There were more important things in life than that.
As she searched her cell phone for her supervisor's number, she stopped and looked up at him. Then, to his surprise, she stepped over to him and wrapped her arms around his neck in a hug. "Thank you," she whispered. "For always being such a sight for sore eyes."
Taylor's heart melted in an instant as he wrapped his arms tightly around her. Her quiet sobs and soft sniffles told him that she was just now getting over the shock and her body was now allowing her to react. He swallowed a lump in his throat as he held her.
After a moment, she pulled away and wiped her eyes. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to--"
"It's okay," he said softly.
She looked into his eyes, searching them. "Is it?"
He nodded solemnly. "Yeah. It is."
The corners of her mouth started to turn up until she remembered her phone in her hand and she quickly got her supervisor on the line.
That small exchange alone made Taylor feel a world of better. While Winn took the necessary steps for her situation, he took it upon himself to assess the situation on his own. Stepping outside, he approached one of the officers. "So, uh, what's the status here? What's being done to catch this guy?"
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When Taylor had seemingly disappeared, Isaac and Zac searched the building for him before locking up for the night. Upon entering the front, one couldn't mistake the blue lights that flashed through the tinted windows of their studio.
"What the hell is going on over there?" Isaac asked, opening the door and letting in the burst of cold air.
"I don't know," Zac said, looking over his shoulder. "But whatever it is, it looks like Tay already has it handled..."
Isaac looked over his shoulder and glowered at Zac as they observed Taylor talking to the officer outside Winn's office. Great. This was all Isaac needed now, for Taylor to suddenly swoop in and play knight in shining armor like he always did. He cursed himself for putting him in such a positive light to Winn last night.
"I'm going over there," he said to Zac as he stepped out the door.
"Um, are you sure--?"
But Isaac had already stepped off the sidewalk. Behind him, he heard Zac lock the door and sigh as he trotted to catch up. With Zac on his heels, he stepped up on the sidewalk and shamelessly interrupted Taylor as he spoke with the officer. "Where's Winn?"
Taylor broke the conversation and looked at Isaac, perturbed. "Inside."
Needing no further instruction, he stepped inside the office door and observed Winn talking on her cell phone. After a moment, she wrapped up the call and hugged her arms around herself. She looked at Isaac and attempted a joke. "I think I'm gonna be sick."
"Is everything okay? Did you guys get robbed or something?"
She scoffed. "How appropriate for a Monday, huh?"
Suddenly they heard Zac's voice from outside. "Who the hell called the media? Is this necessary?" Then he ducked inside the office and walked over to Isaac and Winn. "Can't keep anything quiet around here, can you?"
"News station outside?" Winn guessed.
"Yep."
"I'm not talking to them." Then she got distracted and stepped away. "Hey, you guys, listen," she said, addressing her staff. "The news is here. We don't give interviews or statements and we don't get on camera. Got it?"
As Winn spoke with her staff, Zac muttered to Isaac, "We really shouldn't be here."
"I have a reason to be here," Isaac retorted. "What's your excuse?"
"To prevent a bloody, brotherly mutiny from happening right in front of the cops?"
Isaac scowled at Zac. Zac shrugged his shoulders.
At that point, Winn had disappeared. Isaac looked around and walked outside in search of her. He found her standing next to Taylor and talking to a couple of officers. Isaac glared at his brother's hand, which rested comfortably on the small of Winn's back, his fingers mindlessly twisting the red hair that hung long enough to touch his hand where it was.
As Isaac circled them, Taylor's eyes were threatening as they met his, and his hand subsequently slid further around Winn's waist and pulled her gently against his side. Winn didn't seem to notice this action as her hands flew while she spoke to the officer hastily, lost in what was likely the fifth or sixth recant since the incident.
Isaac had no idea what was being said. He was paying no attention to the conversation. As he stood there with his arms folded over his chest to stave off the chill in the air, he couldn't help but be consumed by the silent battle cry that Taylor had just directed at him. So was this it? Was Taylor actually going for it this time? Was he fighting? Making a move, taking a stand, what? One of these days they were going to come to blows and the thought formed a knot in the pit of his stomach.
"Okay, then, Miss Douglas," the officer said finally. "I think we're done here for now. It sounds like the boys might have a couple of possible leads. We're gonna stay on it, there's no way he could have gotten that far. We hope to have better news to you by tomorrow."
As the officers wrapped up and began to leave, Taylor released his hold on Winn to shake hands with the officers. Winn turned to Isaac and smiled. "Thank you for checking up on me, I appreciate it."
"Hey, it's not every day you see blue lights in the Brady District. So, listen, you think you might want to go have a drink after you lock up? Calm your nerves a little?"
"Um, yea--"
And then Taylor interjected out of nowhere, damn him. "Hey, you ready to lock up so I can get you out of here?" He asked her gently.
"Um--" Winn looked confused. "I--I have my car..."
"We were actually talking about going for a drink. Taking the edge off a little," Isaac told him.
Taylor shot him a look. "I'm not sure partying is the best idea right now."
"Actually, a drink wouldn't be so bad..." Winn attempted to interject.
Neither of them heard her. "Nobody said anything about partying--"
"Please, Ike, that's all you know how to do," Taylor spat. "I'm handling this, I'll take her home, okay?"
Finally, Winn stepped out of the way and held her hands up. "Okay. You know what? I drove here today. I have my own transportation. I'm taking myself home. The two of you sound like you need to have a drink--together. Okay? Have a nice night, both of you. Please."
And with that, Winn walked away from the scene and didn't come back.
Neither one of them had noticed Zac standing there until he whistled and made the crashing sound, illustrating it with is hands. "Crash and burn," he emphasized.
Both Isaac and Taylor wanted to kill him.
**************
"I just don't think you should be alone tonight," Isaac said into the phone as he swirled the whiskey around in his glass.
"I'm fine," Winn said. "Perfectly fine. If being alone was a problem for me, I'd have a roommate."
"Yeah, but when something like what happened today happens--"
"I'm not alone. I'm talking to you."
Isaac smiled into the phone. She had a point. Who was he to argue with that logic? "Is your porch light on?"
"Yes."
"And your doors are locked?"
"Yes."
"So if I decide to stalk you in the middle of the night, I can be seen and I won't be able to get into your house?"
"There's a key under the mat."
"Winn, you're missing the point."
She giggled. "I get it, I get it. I'm fine. And, yeah, today freaked me out, it was scary. And work's gonna be hell tomorrow because of it. But for now I'm safe. I'm at home and I'm cozy and my Christmas tree is keeping me company."
"I could be keeping you company," he muttered.
"You could be. And I'm sorry I just stormed out like I did, but once you and Tay started bickering, I couldn't take it anymore on top of everything else."
"I know. I'm embarrassed by that, I apologize."
"It's okay," she said. "Siblings bicker. I have siblings, too, I know how it is."
"Yeah..."
Suddenly, her voice changed into one that was appreciative and cheerful. "Ike! What are you doing? I totally see you."
He raised an eyebrow and looked around, self-conscious. "Um, you do?"
"Yes! I said you didn't have to come over! You're so sneaky..."
"Uh, Winn, I'm sitting in my apartment."
"What?"
Isaac's heart raced. "Are your doors really locked? Do I need to come over NOW?"
"Of course they are. I just--well who is that?" After a moment, her voice lowered to a whisper of observation. "Is that--? That's--Tay's here..."
Isaac collapsed back in his chair, relief making him weak at the knees, and then he grew increasingly annoyed all over again. "What's he doing there?"
"I don't know..." Her tone of voice was her obviously looking out the window. "What the--what the hell is he doing?" Then finally she said, "Ike, I gotta go. I gotta find out what the hell is going on with this--" Then she scoffed a laugh. "What the hell? Hey, I gotta go. I'll fill you in later, okay?"
Isaac sighed. "Uh, yeah. Okay. Have fun, I guess."
When he hung up the phone with her, he was fuming. Goddamn Taylor. Goddamn him all to hell. Why hadn't Isaac thought about just randomly showing up like that? He took this to mean they were back on good terms again. So he guessed he'd been right, whatever happened between them over the weekend hadn't been THAT bad. And, sure, he'd told Winn he wasn't emotionally available, which was true, but that still didn't stop him from wanting her all to himself.
Goddammit, if Taylor wasn't going to make a move, he needed to back off. That was just all there was to it.
Isaac turned up his whiskey glass and chugged what was left of it before he threw the glass against his living room wall. Letting the mess sit there amidst his otherwise immaculate apartment, he got out of his chair and went to bed.
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Winn opened her front door and scoffed in laughter as Taylor stood there, loaded down with plastic shopping bags. "I know I'm probably not supposed to be here, judging by the way you just kinda left me and Ike stranded out there on the street tonight, but consider this as sort of a peace offering."
"Oh my god," she laughed as she stood out of the way and let him inside. "Peace offering? For what? What is all this?"
He walked in and went straight to her kitchen, hauling the bags onto her small kitchen table. "Well, maybe not so much as a peace offering than maybe...a care package? After I left your office tonight, I went shopping. And I ended up with a cart full of stuff that's supposed to make women feel better and stuff." Then he raised an eyebrow and looked her up and down. "Nice pajamas."
She looked down at her ratty, old-as-dirt, vintage My Little Pony nightshirt and her white, thermal long johns she wore underneath. She scowled at him. "I wasn't expecting company." Then she looked at the bags again and smiled. "So what, according to Taylor Hanson, is supposed to make women feel better?"
He smiled as he began to unload the bags. "Okay," he announced. "So you have your girlie magazines--Cosmo, Glamour, Vanity Fair...a bottle of wine...several jars of your favorite peanut butter so you won't run out any time soon...ice cream, cake frosting..."
"No cake?"
A devious smile crossed his face as he shook his head. "Oh, no." He sat the chocolate ice cream and the chocolate frosting on the table together. "Mix these two together and you'll be saying, 'Cake? What cake?' You may never even eat the peanut butter again." Then he got back in the bag as Winn put the ice cream in the freezer. "I brought an entire stash of insanely-colored nail polishes, fuzzy socks, a couple of cheesy romance novels..."
Winn had to laugh at the lot of items on her table. "Tay, I only got mugged, I didn't get dumped."
"But I'm not done. What's left is the granddaddy of this whole excursion. The Grand Marshall. The crème de la crème..."
"I better be impressed..."
And then he laid them out on the table, Winn's eyes widening at every box. "I brought tea. In every single holiday flavor they had. Candy cane, gingerbread, some kinda nutcracker thing, sugar cookie, sugar plum, AND....pumpkin!" He announced the last one proudly, with a grin across his face.
Winn couldn't contain her excitement. "You--you brought me teas. Flavored teas. Christmas teas!" She giggled and grabbed the boxes to look at them. "Holy crap, I'm gonna pee nonstop for the rest of the month because I'm gonna drink ALL of these!"
Taylor smiled and rested his hands on his hips. "Well, there you have it. I did my best."
"Thank you so much, it's perfect! All of it! Every single guilty pleasure...ooh, I gotta put on some water! We're gonna do this right now!"
As she rushed across the kitchen, excitedly, to prep the water for her new tea, Taylor shook his head and laughed. "I brought you alcohol. And chocolate--"
"You brought me flavored tea and fuzzy socks! It's like you see straight into my soul or something!" She turned around after she started the water. "One of these days I'm gonna eBay so hard for you..."
"You almost make that sound dirty."
"If you saw some of the deals on there, you'd feel dirty." Then her eyes lit up suddenly. "Hey, you wanna watch a movie?"
"Another Christmas movie?"
"No," she said in thought. "I'm in the mood for something funny.
A short while later, a movie was playing on TV, but neither of them were really paying attention. Winn sat happily on the couch with her tea, her legs outstretched with her feet resting on a pillow on Taylor's lap. "You know what?" She said. "I bet when you took all that stuff to the checkout, the guy thought you were gay."
He looked at her and laughed in shock. "Are we really doing this again?"
She shrugged. "I mean, I'm just saying."
"I made it a point to clarify that NONE of it was for me."
"Oh. Well. Long as you clarified..." Then she spied the array of nail polish she'd brought in the living room with her as they sat on the coffee table. "You know what would REALLY make me happy? And we can keep it a total secret, just between us."
He eyed her suspiciously. "What...?"
She beamed at him. "Will you paint my toes while you're down there?" She wiggled her toes at him for emphasis.
"What? No. Absolutely not, I bought that as a fun activity for YOU. Not for me. I don't--I don't paint...nails...and stuff, I--no. Not gonna happen."
Winn pouted at him. "But--but they're RIGHT there. And you went to so much trouble to pick out the colors..."
"I actually just grabbed blindly," he muttered.
"Come on, just this one time. I'll never ask you again."
His eyes darted between her face and her toes. "Just this one time?"
"JUST this once. For now."
He huffed. "Fine. But ONLY because of what you went through at work today. That's it."
For someone who was so adamant against painting toenails, he sure was concentrating awfully hard on it. So hard, in fact, that his body was turned into it where she couldn't see what he was doing. She could feel it, though, and it didn't feel like a regular paint job. Especially when he started alternating between the solid colors and the glitter--with purpose.
After a few minutes, when they had quieted conversation so that Taylor could concentrate on his toenail masterpiece, Winn asked quietly, "Tay? Are we just going to pretend like Saturday night didn't happen?"
"I, uh, I thought we'd already, you know, squashed that earlier and stuff?"
"Well...I mean, I guess so..."
"Look. We were drunk. We weren't thinking clearly. And I honestly believe that if we'd been completely sober, it would never have happened. Right?"
"Right," he hesitated meekly.
"Right. So...I just want things to be normal again. You know? I mean, it--it happened, it's done, we weren't in our right minds, I really want to just move on and be normal again. That's it."
"You're my best friend," she said quietly. "I like when you bring me tea and you eat peanut butter with me and we have random, impromptu breakfasts together--which we need to do again, by the way. I don't want to lose any of that."
"Neither do I."
"So that's it, then."
"That's it."
"How's it going down there?"
"Almost done."
Winn sat back and sipped on her tea some more. She was happy. Blissfully happy, almost. She was glad that he wanted to move past their indiscretion. But something still nagged at her, something somewhere deep down where she couldn't quite pinpoint it.
Interrupting her thoughts, Taylor blew gently on her toes and then patted her shins and smiled at her. "Okay. All done. Don't move just yet, let them dry."
Anxiously, she leaned forward to get a closer look and a lump rose up in her throat. "Oh, Tay...you drew Hanson symbols in glitter. It's so conceited of you, but I love it so much!"
Taylor laughed. "Well they're far from perfect, but--"
"Yes, they are. They are perfect. I think I lied, I think you may have just been volunteered to do this again." Then she sat back again with her tea and she smiled at her toes and then she smiled at Taylor. "This has been the best night I've had in a long time. I'm so glad you're here. Thank you."
Taylor smiled and winked at her. "Any time."