The Reed Security Relationship Manual

1st Chapter:

“What are you working on?” Brooke asked as she came up behind me and wrapped her arms around my neck, giving me a kiss on the cheek.

“Uh…a rulebook of sorts. You know, for after we’re married,” I said distractedly.

I felt her stiffen behind me, and that’s when I finally fully paid attention. Dragging my eyes away from the paperwork, I turned to look at her, my eyes wide as I tried to figure out how to play this off. 

“For both of us,” I stumbled over my words. “It’s…to know what each other expects. You can make one too,” I said hopefully.

She snatched the paper out of my hands and walked away, reading it over. “Dinner must be homemade five out of seven nights a week.” She scoffed and glared at me. “Tracker must be worn at all times? What tracker?”

I stood slowly, holding my hands out to her, trying to tame the wild beast. “Sweets, now, after everything that’s happened, do you really blame me for wanting to have a tracker on you? And not just because of Reed Security. Let’s not forget how you came to live with me.”

Her jaw dropped, and I knew I had said the wrong thing. “Are you seriously bringing that shit up right now?”

“Brooke, you did hold me at gunpoint.”

“You were a willing captive.”

I held out my finger accusingly. “You didn’t know that.”

“No, but you came along all the same. And let’s not forget all the bullshit I had to put up with since living here. Electrocution, food being spit all over me, being gassed!”

“That was tear gas. Not at all the same thing as something like nerve gas,” I stated, hoping to diffuse her anger. “See, now if it were nerve gas, you would have died a very painful death.”

“I was spied on by nearly everyone in the company!”

“They’re watching out for us.”

“By watching us have sex?” she shrieked.

“I don’t get it. You’ve always been so cool about this stuff.”

“Yeah, when I haven’t been forced into it!”

I looked at her, completely confused. She was pretty much forced into all this. I didn’t understand the difference. She scoffed, shaking her head at me.

“Rocco, when I came to live here, I had no control over anything, but neither did you. You didn’t know about any of the things Knight put into this house, and you didn’t have a choice in me being here. So, as much as I didn’t like it, a part of me understood you writing the rulebook. But now you’re creating another one! You expect me to marry you when you’re demanding when I cook dinner, and you want me to wear a tracker?”

“It’s just a small one,” I muttered before I could think better of it.

She narrowed her eyes at me and slowly stalked toward me. “And what about the rule that says I’m responsible for taking out the trash?”

I swallowed hard as I answered. “Sweets, you’re home all the time. I’m working and…”

“And?”

My mouth opened, but nothing came out. There was no right answer here. If I said that she was home and should have to do those jobs, I would get punched in the face. If I said that it was part of the household duties, that would imply that I felt household duties all fell under her job, which would also get me a punch to the face. 

I slowly stepped forward and snatched the paper out of her hands. “You know, I think I’ll just cross that one off the list.”

“Why don’t you cross them all off the list. I’m not wearing a tracker.”

She stormed out of the room, and I chased after her. “Sweets, everyone wears them!”

She slammed the door, and I sighed. “Fuck.” I really thought that this would be good for us. I walked up to the bedroom door and knocked lightly. “Sweets?”

The door flew open, and I stepped back, sure that I was about to get punched. “What?”

Swallowing hard, I licked my dry lips and stared at her, trying to make my brain function. This was not my Brooke. My Brooke was rational and always surprising me. I didn’t know what the hell was happening. “I was thinking I would take Evie over to the training facility, maybe give you some time to yourself.”

“Why don’t you do that,” she snapped.

I nodded and jerked my thumb down the hall. “I’ll just…I’ll…right.”

I turned on my heel and headed out before her death glare burned holes through me. With all of Evie’s stuff loaded in my truck, I grabbed her and loaded her into her car seat, even though we were just driving to the other side of the property. When I got to Reed Security, I immediately took her down to the training center where some of the other kids were. 

As I was leaving the training center, I ran into Sinner, who was also dropping off his kids.

“Hey, are you working today?” I asked.

He shook his head. “Nah, I just needed a break from the kids before the new one arrives. Man, I can’t wait to meet her.”

For someone that was surprised with an oops baby, he sure didn’t seem all that upset about it. “I still can’t believe you’re going on number four. Are you gonna go for a team like Cap?”

“Hell no,” he scoffed. “I’m excited for this new kid, but I’m also terrified. Mason is a lot to handle. That little dude is a terror.”

We turned and headed back to the main building. Sinner just seemed to be following me because he had nothing better to do. Maybe he was running from Cara like I was running from Brooke.

“He is not,” I said, even though it was true. That kid was the epitome of every parent’s nightmare. The kid screamed and lashed out when he was angry, unlike anything I had ever seen before. “He’s just going through the terrible twos.”

“This…” He shook his head with a laugh. “This is not the terrible twos. This is like a teenager on steroids. The other day, he told me he hated me and wanted to kill me in my sleep.”

I flinched back. “What did you do?”

“What did I do?” he asked in surprise. “I don’t know. I exist. That seems to be enough for this kid to hate me.”

“Are you sure he’s yours?”

“What do you mean? You think Cara would cheat?”

“No, I’m suggesting that maybe you should check with the hospital and make sure somebody didn’t pull a switcheroo.”

He thought about it a moment. “You know, I wouldn’t be surprised. The first time I held that kid, he was swinging his little fists at me. It was like he hated me from the start. Maybe I should get a DNA test.”

“Right? That’s all I’m saying. It doesn’t hurt to check.”

He stopped me with his hand to my chest, his brows furrowed as he stared out in front of us. “But what if…” He slowly turned to me and swallowed hard. “What if the kid really is mine?”

I laughed and slapped him on the shoulder. “Then I would suggest you have Knight install a few safety features in your house. For your kids’ protection,” I added, even though I meant for him. 

“Yeah, for the kids,” he nodded along. 

“Hey, it doesn’t hurt to check. Chances are, he really is your kid. You just need to figure out what gets him going. Maybe keep him away from the training center for now.”

“Or…maybe I need to send him to train with Knight. He can kick the little shit’s ass, and he’ll be so worn out when he comes home that he can’t attack me.”

“Does he actually do that?”

“Did you see that black eye I had last week? Or the bruise on my arm last month?”

“Yeah.”

“The black eye was from a truck of his.”

“And the bruise?”

“He took my hammer and just started swinging. I swear to God, that kid had murder in his eyes.”

“Well, they say you can tell kids are psycho from an early age.”

“Yeah, but how?”

“Well, does he kill animals?”

“No.”

“Then you’re probably fine. But I would still keep him away from any weapons for the time being.”

We headed upstairs in the elevator and entered the conference room where Cap sat.

“I thought you were taking the day off?” he asked, looking up from papers he had spread out on the table.

I cleared my throat and shifted uncomfortably. “I had a little…run-in with Brooke.”

“What did you do this time?”

“I don’t fucking know. I mean, it could have been that I was writing up a rulebook for when we get married.”

Cap threw his head back and laughed. “You think that could be it?”

“Well, I assumed that was it, but you know Brooke, she’s the most chill woman of anyone you’ve ever met. I just don’t understand why this set her off.”

Cap nodded slightly, his brows furrowing. “How upset would you say she got?”

“I don’t know,” I shrugged. “Definitely more than usual.”

“And she was snapping at you?”

“Unnecessarily. Seriously, these rules are for both of us to benefit from. I mean, mostly me, but yeah, they’re for both of us.”

“Has she been craving a lot of chocolate?”

I thought back to the last few days, seeing the wrappers around the house and in the garbage. “You know, now that you mention it, there have been a lot of wrappers.”

“Are her breasts tender?” Sinner asked.

“Maybe a little more…”

“Well, I would say we’ve solved your problem. She’s either on her period or she’s pregnant,” Cap grinned.

I stopped moving, even fucking breathing, as I stared at him. I swallowed hard as I croaked out, “She should have had her period last week?”

“You’re not sure?” Sinner asked.

“I…I just try not to pay attention.”

“You’re a medic,” Cap said incredulously.

“That doesn’t mean I want to know my woman’s periods like the back of my hand. I stay away from that shit. The last time I had to deal with her periods, I ended up playing rock, paper, scissors for the last box of tampons.”

“So, how has she been getting her womanly supplies?” Sinner asked.

“Well, she gets them on her own now that she’s off house arrest. But before, I had Cara get them for me.”

“Ah,” Sinner nodded. “That explains all the boxes. See, I knew there was something else going on. No woman stocks up on tampons like the flood is coming.”

“And you didn’t think to ask her about it?” I asked. “You didn’t think it was strange and think…hmmm, maybe I should find out if everything is okay with her?”

Sinner narrowed his eyes at me. “And why the hell would I do that? You don’t open that door. Once you start talking to your woman about periods, that opens the floodgates for a whole other range of topics that I’m not ready to talk about, and never will be ready for.”

“What kind of topics?” Cap asked.

“Yeah, what topics?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.

Sinner rolled his eyes. “Let me preface this by saying that I’m very scared for both of you that I even have to explain this. It starts with just their period, but it branches off to how heavy it is, clotting patterns, length, and all the other shit that a man just doesn’t even need to know about. And then, after all that, she’ll start discussing what happens when she ovulates.”

“What happens when she ovulates?” Cap asked.

Even I knew the answer to this, and knew it wasn’t something I wanted to discuss.

“Check her underwear around that time of the month,” Sinner said with a grin. “You’ll wish you never knew.”

“Wait,” I shook my head. “So, if Brooke just had her period, then what could possibly be causing all this hostility?”

“You said you didn’t know for sure that she had it,” Cap pointed out. “Can you say without a doubt that she did have her period?”

“Well—”

“Were there wrappers in the bathroom garbage?”

I swallowed hard. I didn’t remember seeing any. I swayed on my feet slightly and had to grab the table for balance. “Oh, God.”

“Congrats, man,” Sinner grinned, slapping me on the back. I stumbled forward, barely catching myself. “This is awesome. Another Rocco baby to join the training center.”

“This…this is not good.”

“Why?” Cap asked. “I thought she was coming around to the whole idea of having Evie there all the time.”

“Yeah, Evie. A new baby? That’s like…I don’t know that she’s ready for that.”

Sinner nodded. “And once a new baby is in the picture, the way a house is run is completely different. Suddenly, every complaint is Why can’t you do this for me? I’m growing a baby inside me. And after the baby is born—” He shook his head and scoffed. “You can forget about ever owning your balls again. From there on out, you’re in charge of doing everything because they have a baby to take care of.”

“If you’re smart, you’ll get that rule book written before this baby is born,” Cap said. “And make damn sure she signs it.”

“And have it laminated,” Sinner added. “There can be no wiggle room in that contract.”

“Yeah, but how the hell am I going to get her to agree to my rulebook when she’s hormonal?”

We all sat there thinking about it for a moment. Sinner grinned and then snapped his fingers at me. “You have a fake one for her to sign. Then, after she’s signed it, you fake her signature on the real one and replace it. Problem solved.”

“Yeah, but that’s not enough. If it’s just that rulebook, it’ll be too easy for her to thoroughly read it. You need to drown her in paperwork.”

“How the hell am I supposed to do that? Should I have her sign a prenup or something?”

“Only if you want her to cut off your balls,” Cap huffed. “A prenup is like saying that you don’t trust her.”

“Either that or you think the relationship won’t last,” Sinner added. “No, what you need is to finish the Reed Security Relationship Manual. You can slip the marriage rulebook in also. Hell, we can all do it with our wives. Slip in the fake and then after they’ve all agreed to it, we’ll take out the fake and slip in the real one.”

“Yeah, but who’s good at forging signatures?”

“I know a guy,” Cap grinned. 

“Okay, still, we have one huge problem. If Brooke is pregnant, I need her to sign this ASAP. I don’t have the relationship manual where it needs to be. Not even close. And the further along she gets in her pregnancy, the worse those hormones are going to get. She’ll rip it to shreds, and I’ll be doomed.”

“I’ll take care of it,” Cap said, pounding the table once before walking out of the room. 

Sinner walked up to me and clapped me on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, Cap’s on it.”

“And if this doesn’t work?”

“Then you’re fucked like the rest of us.”