“Look, all I’m saying is—our issues, or whatever you want to call them, have nothing to do with Avery. For once, could you not treat this as a competition?”
His eyes went wide. “Me? You're the one who's always competing.”
I blinked in honest surprise. “What?”
An anger I’d never seen before temporarily contorted his absurdly handsome features into something ugly. “You’ve been competing with me for years, man. Do you think I didn’t notice? You’re always trying to prove what a great son you are to Mom, how you're too cool to care what Dad thinks.” He took a step forward, the baby forgotten in his hands. “You make me look like the bad guy in front of mom all the time just because I didn't take her side in the divorce.”
“He cheated on her!”
“But he's still our dad!”
We stared at each other in mutual horror. This was...not something we fought about. Ever. It was the unspoken tension that never got aired. But did he really think I’d been trying to show him up as the better son?
“He’s still our dad,” he said again, his voice a more normal volume. “Do I like the way it ended? No. But I felt bad for him, too, because you'd turned your back on him and—”
“He turned his back on us,” I reminded him, my voice harsh with emotions I’d thought I’d buried. “He walked out on us.”
Alex eyed me oddly. “He walked out on Mom.”
The silence that followed that statement made me want to punch something or...or race inside that house and pull Avery in my arms and hold her until I forgot all about my parents and my brother and our freakin’ issues.
“Is there a difference?” I said.
Alex shook his head but he didn’t answer. “I’ve got to get out of here.” He started to walk away and my gaze caught on the sight of the baby dangling from his hands that would likely start crying any second now.
“So what, you’re gonna stick her with all the work and then trash her grade?”
He stopped and looked down but I was on a roll. Years worth of simmering anger coming to the surface with a vengeance at the thought of him hurting Avery again.
Or of him dating her.
“We all get it,” I said. “You’re an entitled jackass who doesn’t care about anyone but himself. You’re a real chip off the old block, right?” I stalked toward him, his back still to me as he stood there like a statue. “You must make Dad real proud, you know that?”
He whipped around. “Screw you, Cris. If you’d gotten off your high horse maybe you’d realize that Dad’s not the evil villain around here and Mom wasn’t the only one who was hurt.”
I clenched my hands into fists, ready to go to war like we should have done years ago, but Alex beat me to it by thrusting the baby into my chest so I was forced to grab it or let it fall.
“You care so much about this stupid assignment? You take care of it.”
He whipped around and got into our car before I could stop him. He was in the driver’s seat and pulling away right as the doll in my arms started to wail.
I looked down at it and then over to the front door where four sets of eyes stared at me, including one pair of incredibly blue, incredibly wide, incredibly hurt baby blues.
Well, crap.
I lifted the doll and patted it awkwardly.
This day was not off to a great start.
9
Avery
My friends shot me questioning looks as Alex drove away, and Max ventured to whisper, “Want us to stay?”
I couldn’t speak for a second because Cristian was staring right at me, his dark eyes filled with emotion and focusing on me like I was the only person on the planet.
“Whoa,” Emma whispered. “He’s intense.”
That broke me out of my stunned stupor. Intense, that was one word for it.
I hadn’t heard every word they’d said out here when they’d clearly been fighting, but I’d caught enough. They’d been arguing, and my name had come up more than once.
“Avery?” Hazel prodded. “Should we stay or—”
“No,” I said. I tempered it with a quick smile in their direction as I added, “Thanks, but I think I want to talk to Cristian alone.”
This wasn’t totally the truth and Max’s arched brow said she was onto me.
I wasn’t sure what had given it away, but I didn’t just want to talk to Cristian.
I wanted to kiss him.
Right now, to be exact. Whether it was seeing him so worked up or coming to my defense or the hurt and frustration when the conversation had turned to his parents…
I just wanted to wrap my arms around him and kiss him until all those negative emotions disappeared and he was giving me those fleeting smiles of his.
“Call us later to let us know how it goes?” Emma said.
I nodded with a smile. “Thanks again for coming over.”
They filed out, but not without Max whispering, “For what it’s worth...I like the brother.”
I stifled a laugh and it came out as a snort.
I do, too.
But then, what did that mean about how I felt about Alex? You can’t like two guys at the same time, right? Certainly not two brothers. But as much as I’d hated seeing Cristian upset, seeing Alex hurting hadn’t exactly made me happy, either. My chest ached on his behalf as he drove away.
But it was Cristian who stayed, and for that I was glad. I wasn’t sure what I would have said to Alex, but I didn’t seem to have any issues talking to Cristian. He was easy to be around...easy to talk to, too.
I thought about the comments that had slipped out to him about how I liked his brother and cringed. Maybe a little too easy to talk to.
As my friends walked away, Cristian’s gaze never left mine. He headed up the walk to the front door with the hint of a rueful smile. “Hey.”
“Hi.” I grinned. I couldn’t help it. Crazy entrance or not, there was no doubt about it—I was ridiculously happy to see him.
He stopped walking, his shoulders dropping and his face softening as he let out a long exhale. “There it is.”
I arched my brows. “What?”
His lips tilted up on one side and his eyes filled with warmth. “That smile.” He walked closer slowly and with every step my heart pounded against my ribcage. “Has anyone ever told you that you have a killer smile?”
My belly did a backflip and that seemed to set off a flurry of butterflies. “I’ve been told I have the Joker’s smile, so if that’s what you mean by killer…” I started.
He laughed, that low rumbly chuckle, and stopped just short of touching me. I was on the porch and he was on the step below me so we were nearly eye to eye.
We were definitely mouth to mouth. All I’d have to do is lean forward…
His sharp inhale had my eyes flicking up and that was when I realized I’d been staring at his lips. I swallowed hard, ready to apologize but the words caught in my throat.
His eyes were...needy. I wasn’t sure how else to define the look I saw there. It was greedy and hungry and hot and dark and—
Oh screw it.
I summoned up every last bit of nerves I had and leaned forward, placing my hands on his shoulders and leaning in until my lips met his in a kiss that was just as electrifying as the night before.
He stayed perfectly still for a heartbeat and then moved so quickly I nearly stumbled when his arms wrapped around me and pulled me close so I was leaning against him. His arms held me tight as he took over the kiss, kissing me with a frantic urgency that was so at odds with last night’s sweet, tender kiss.
But it was no less perfect.
His kiss was just as hungry as the look in his eyes and his hold on me was tight as his hands gripped my T-shirt and tugged me as close as I could go.
So close we may have smushed the baby.
The telltale squeak of an imminent crying fit had us both pulling back, our gazes colliding with shock.
He let go of me slowly. “Sorry, I didn’t mean�
�”
“You didn’t,” I said, my grin likely filled with just as much giddy excitement as my heart. “I did.”
I’d done it. I’d kissed him! I made a mental note to tick that off my list of magazine tips and tricks. Just kiss him already…?
Done and done.
He laughed. “That’s right. You did, didn’t you?”
I took the baby from him and transferred the thing to my shoulder. “Want to come in?”
He shoved his hands in his pockets. “I’d love to.”
It was hard to decipher between nerves and excitement. He was here! Cristian had come.
So had Alex, but seeing my crush hadn’t elicited nearly the same amount of butterflies.
Interesting.
I set the baby gently on a cushion.
Did that mean I was over my Alex crush? I eyed the baby like Buttercup might know the answer. Was I that shallow and fickle that a three-year infatuation could go up in smoke because of one kiss from another guy?
I looked over to see Cristian making himself at home in the den.
Not just any guy. I bit my lip to fight back a grin. Cristian was like nobody I’d ever met before.
And he’d kissed me.
Yup. I was pretty sure the memory of that kiss would continue to make me giddy until the day I died.
“It’s nice out,” he said. “Want to sit outside?”
“Yeah, sure.” I went to get Buttercup but Cristian was already on it, toting the thing in his arms like it was totally cool to be bringing a lifeless doll along for the ride. I led the way out back, where my mom had set up some deck chairs in our small lawn.
We made ourselves comfortable and...we sat.
Didn’t sound romantic, did it? But it was. Somehow just sitting side by side with a fake baby between us that needed constant care...it was weird but it was romantic. Why? Because we talked.
I talked. He talked. We both listened. It was an honest to goodness conversation with a boy I liked, and it was perfect.
I’d talked to loads of guys before—like I’d said, I wasn’t exactly shy. But none had ever listened like what I had to say was crucial to their existence. And no one had ever looked at me like this.
Like I was the most important person in the world.
Like I was the only person in the world.
And there were some silences, but never the bad kind. Just the peaceful kind.
It was unseasonably warm and we sat out under the sun for hours, until my stomach started growling.
“You want to go grab some food?” he asked.
My heart squeezed like it had just been put through a juicer. I stared at him for a full moment because—he made it so easy.
How did he do that?
His lips hitched up on one side in that way I was truly starting to love. I was starting to think of it as my smile—the one that was just for me.
I had no idea if that was true or not, but that’s how it felt to be on the receiving end. LIke it was meant just for me.
“What?” he asked, reaching over to nudge me gently. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
I gave my head a little shake. I almost ignored the question outright, but decided to be honest. “You just make this feel so easy,” I said.
He arched a brow. “This?”
I nodded, heat rushing to my cheeks. I wasn’t about to spell out what ‘this’ was, thank you very much. I was so not ready to have that conversation. “This,” I said again.
His eyes sparkled with laughter. How had I ever thought he was intimidating? This guy was warmth personified. Sometimes that heat was sexy, sometimes it was affectionate, and sometimes—my mind flashed back to that interaction with Alex earlier—yeah, sometimes that heat was dangerous.
But he wasn’t a bad guy, and he wasn’t the druggie loser Alex had made him out to be all these years when he talked about Cristian to his friends.
“What do I make easy?” he asked. Mischief looked good on him and I smiled back as I answered.
“I just meant…this.” I gestured between us. “It’s easy to be around you. It’s easy to…” Gah! I was going to say it, wasn’t I? My cheeks burned as I blurted out. “It’s easy to flirt.”
His smile was slow and made my belly bottom out as air rushed into my lungs. Holy freakin’ crow, he was sexy when he smiled like that.
“And here I was thinking you were the one who made it easy,” he said. “You’re so great to talk to.”
I pressed my lips together as another blush stole up into my cheeks. “Thanks.”
I’d never had issues talking to guys, but that wasn’t what I’d meant. What I’d meant was—after three years of trying to get Alex to see me, Cristian had noticed me without me even trying.
I mean, sure, maybe tears and a hysterical meltdown had that effect on people. It was hard not to notice a nutjob who stormed into your house and fell asleep on top of you, I supposed.
But after spending countless hours reading ‘how to’ articles and devising strategies, this thing between me and Cristian just seemed too good to be true. It was more effortless than I could’ve imagined and more...fun than I knew love could be.
Not that I was ready to call this love.
But whatever it was...it felt like a start. A beginning. It felt like we were just touching the tip of the iceberg.
And I couldn’t wait to discover more.
“Come on,” he said, jerking his head toward the front where the cars were parked. “My treat.”
Just then Buttercup decided to wail and we both looked to her with exasperated sighs.
“I’m not sure any restaurant would be much fun right now,” I said. “But, I do have some frozen pizzas in the freezer if you’re interested.”
He smiled. “That sounds great.”
And that was how I ended up making dinner with Cristian...and Buttercup. Like we were one big happy family.
I watched him pour a prepackaged salad into a bowl and had to smother a laugh of sheer happiness.
The crazy thing was—this was exactly the type of homey, cozy scene I’d imagined when I’d come up with this plan for me and Alex.
And yet...I didn’t miss Alex at all. If he was here I would have been nervous and I had no idea what I would have talked to him about. And I just knew that no matter what I said, it wouldn't have held his interest.
Alex wouldn’t have been interested.
I got that now. Like, right this second it clicked and I understood.
All these years, I’d been right there in front of Alex, but he seemed to forget about me instantly the moment I wasn’t talking his ear off or grinning in his face. Oh, he’d always been nice, but he’d never really noticed.
I took a deep breath and leaned back against the counter as I stuck the bottle in the fake baby’s mouth to keep another screaming fit at bay.
I waited for the realization to hurt. I waited for a piercing heartache, or maybe even just a sting now that I knew Alex would never return my crush.
Nothing.
“You okay?” Cristian asked when he saw me staring off into the distance.
“Hmm? Oh yeah, I’m...great.” And I was. That was the crazy part. I was so freakin’ happy it hurt.
The only thing that nagged at me and threatened to mar my perfect happiness was...Alex.
Don’t get me wrong. It was a relief to not be thinking about him for once. It was like a weight off my shoulders to not be obsessing over someone who didn’t know I existed.
But also...what did that say about me? Was I so freakin’ desperate to be loved that it didn’t matter who it was?
The thought made my insides twist. No, that couldn’t be right. I couldn’t be that shallow. I believed in true love and true love didn’t just switch sides on a whim. It didn’t hop from brother to brother over the course of one weekend.
Cristian’s gaze moved over my face and I could have sworn he was reading my thoughts. All of the sudden he dropped his head and his gaze was trained
on his combat boots as he leaned against the counter beside me, some chain hanging off his jeans clinking against the formica. “I, uh...I’ve been meaning to apologize…”
I stiffened. “For what?”
He nodded toward the front lawn. “For causing a scene with my brother out there.”
“Oh.” I shifted awkwardly, weirdly uncomfortable now that the b-word had been mentioned. I mean, sure, I’d been thinking about Alex, but not like that.
“I don’t know how much you heard…” He trailed off, a question in his eyes.
I shrugged. “Some. Enough.”
Okay, fine. Pretty much all of it.
He grimaced. “Sorry.”
I shrugged. “You have nothing to apologize for. Brothers fight...or so I hear.”
“You’re an only child?” he said.
I nodded.
“You’re lucky.”
I blinked at the bitterness in his voice, so very at odds with the way he’d been talking all afternoon. So not like the kind, gentle giant I’d been getting to know.
He scrubbed a hand over his eyes. “Alex and I used to get along, but after our parents split…” he gave me a humorless little smile. “So did we.”
I bit my lip. “I’m sorry.”
He shrugged. “Yeah, well… It was a nasty divorce and sides were picked and we’ve been at each other’s throats ever since. He was always competing with me and today…”
He looked away but I remembered what he’d said. He’d been asking his brother not to treat this like a competition.
I cringed a bit as I remembered the context. He’d meant me...he’d meant I was the competition.
His voice lightened a bit. “Anyways, I’m surprised you’re giving me the time of day considering the crap that Alex spouts off about me at Lakeview.” He looked almost...amused by the fact that his brother talked badly about him.
I decided to go with it. Like I’d said, I didn’t have siblings. Maybe this was totally normal. I forced a smile. “So you’re not a deadbeat drug addict then?”
He gave a huff of a laugh. “I’m happy to report that I am not.”
I grinned. Every rumor I’d heard over the past few years sounded downright ludicrous now that I knew the guy. “And flunking out of school? How’s that working out for you?”
Saved by the Crush's Brother (How to Catch a Crush Book 2) Page 7
