Hangovers and Holidays (Untouchable Book 5)

by Heather Long

“Then how about a friend?” Dad offered. “Maybe we can start small. I’d offer to take you and Frankie to a game, but the series already wrapped for the year. Maybe in the spring. You know, if you two are still together…”

  If? Frankie and I were connected, period. But I let that go because I didn’t want to have that conversation. “Maybe. Look, I gotta go.” I backed up a couple of steps and then hesitated, because Dad hadn’t moved. “I’m not promising anything, but text me and maybe we can…grab a burger or something.”

  “I’d like that.” Dad straightened, the relief coursing through him almost palpable. Yeah, I could do a burger. I’d make it up to Mom. “Bring Frankie, if you want a buffer. I haven’t seen her in a while, and it’d be good to get to know her again.” He hesitated. “Unless you think Maddy wouldn’t approve.”

  It didn’t matter what Maddy approved or not, but I wasn’t having that conversation with Dad either. “I’ll ask Frankie.”

  “Okay,” Dad said with a nod. The weirdness of it though stuck with me, even after I said night and headed back toward the apartment. I paused at the corner of the building to glance back. Dad hadn’t moved. He wasn’t looking at me, but he was staring over at where Frankie’s car was parked, and I frowned.

  Thankfully, he didn’t linger long. After he climbed into his car, I continued on and shook my head. I didn’t need a relationship with him, but if he meant what he said, then maybe giving him a chance wasn’t a bad thing.

  Mom had a cup of tea in hand and sat in her chair with some crocheting while watching some program when I came in. She glanced at me. “Heading over to Frankie’s tonight?”

  “That was the plan,” I said. “Unless you need me to stay here.”

  “No,” she said with a wry smile. “I get wanting to be with your girlfriend.” There was a beat of hesitation. “Everything all right with your father?”

  I debated how much to say. “He’s feeling guilty. Wants to get to know me again.” I shrugged. “Asked about Frankie. Wants to take us out to eat, and I said we could try to get food at some point.”

  She nodded, the yarn flowing over the hook without hesitation or slowing.

  “That okay with you?” I knew the answer. Or more accurately, I knew what she would say, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to ask her.

  “I’m never going to tell you to not see your father,” she said, her voice calm and even.

  “I know.” Dropping to sit on the coffee table, I made sure I wasn’t blocking the TV before I focused on her again. “You never have. Not seeing him and not speaking to him has been my choice.”

  “You’re a good boy, Coop, but I can fight my own battles.”

  I gave her a shrug. “You don’t have to fight them on your own. Besides, I told him, I’m firmly #TeamMom.”

  That made her laugh, which was exactly what I hoped it would. “Well, in that case, I better get dinner with Frankie before he does.”

  Yeah, we could do that. “Next week? Pick a night. I’ll make it happen.”

  She grinned at me. “Good, and tell her she’s invited for Thanksgiving.”

  Oh. Right.

  “I’ll tell her.” Then I rose and pressed a kiss to Mom’s cheek. “It’s going to be okay. Trina’s going to come to her senses. She got over the terrible twos.”

  The corners of her mouth twitched. “You were an easy teenager.”

  “I was hell on wheels, Mom, I just kept it out of the house.”

  She gave me a knowing look. “But you have always known what you wanted, and when you acted out, it was to get her attention.”

  Yes and no, but we could agree to disagree on that one. “I’m going to grab my stuff. Text me if you need me?”

  As soon as I got to Frankie’s, I boosted her from the sofa where she, Bubba, and Archie were watching a movie. Jake had gone to work. After stealing her back to her room, I filled her in on what went down with my dad. Like always, she just listened, head tucked against my shoulder and her hand in mine.

  “So, I get to have dinner with both of your parents?” Her tone didn’t reveal whether she was fond of the idea or not.

  “Mom for sure. Dad, we can blow off.”

  She wrinkled her nose. “How often do girlfriends have to have dinner with their boyfriend’s parents?”

  My expression must have been as blank as my brain at that question.

  I had no idea.

  Archie and Bubba both cracked up when we asked them, but it turned out the insufferable bastards didn’t know the answer either.

  The week blew past us like we were sitting still. Frankie’s restlessness only grew more intense with each passing day. She hated the cast. Hated that we had to help with so much. But she’d been getting better at using her laptop for ninety percent of her assignments.

  I took her to work with me a couple of times. Jake took her another night. Archie dragged us all out to mini-golf just to cheer her up, and it could have gone hilariously wrong because she couldn’t hold the club correctly, so we all shot one-handed.

  The tears in her eyes were more from laughter than sadness, and that worked for me. After her session with the therapist on Friday though, she was in a worse mood. I’d gone to get my blood work done, as promised, when Rachel texted out of the blue.

  Queen Bitch of the Universe: Taking Frankie home. Gonna hang out with her after. She’s not happy.

  What the hell?

  Me: Did she tell you what happened?

  We’d all been careful to not ask her or push her on the appointments. The point of therapy was to let her work through the issues with unbiased assistance. Did I want to know? Hell yes. But we couldn’t demand to know. It was none of our business until she chose to share.

  Rachel took her sweet fucking time answering me. I’d had my blood drawn and I’d gone over the paperwork and then had a quick exam before my phone buzzed again.

  Queen Bitch of the Universe: Idk. At apt. She’s lying down. I’ll stay till one of you gets here.

  As irritating as she could be, I appreciated it.

  I checked my watch. I could ditch now with the doctor’s appointment finished. They’d email me the results, then I could give Frankie the all clear she’d asked for.

  Me: Heading that way now.

  I hesitated a second before adding.

  Me: Need anything?

  I was in my car before she answered with a succinct ‘no.’

  I fired off a text to the guys to let them know where Frankie was and that I was on my way there.

  Unsurprisingly, they blew up my phone before I was even halfway to her place. I didn’t answer them until I parked.

  All were in a similar vein, what was wrong? Did I need them to ditch? Whose ass did they need to kick?

  The last was Jake’s, but that also fit.

  Me: Don’t know. Maybe just had a bad appt. Can happen. Finish class. I’ll text after I see her. Might be a minute.

  Then I shoved the phone in my pocket. In the apartment, Rachel stood as I let myself in. The television was on, and she had a notebook in her hand. Apparently, she’d killed time doing homework.

  “She’s still in her room,” Rachel told me, pitching her voice low. “You good?”

  “I’m good. Hang out a sec before you take off?” At her surprised look, I shrugged. “She may not want me for company. She didn’t throw you out so…”

  With a faint smirk, Rachel dropped back onto the sofa like she belonged there and went back to her spiral bound notebook. What the fuck was she writing? Poetry? She cleared her throat, and I jerked my gaze up.

  “Her room is that way.” She pointed with her pen.

  Rolling my eyes, I said, “If I’m not out in five minutes, go ahead and take off—and Rachel?”

  “Yep?”

  “Thank you.”

  “Didn’t do it for you.”

  “Don’t care.” I mimicked her snotty tone, but I didn’t miss her faint smile as she kept writing without looking up. Leaving it with that, I headed bac
k to the bedroom. I tapped the door once before letting myself in. Still dressed in the jeans and sweatshirt she’d worn to school, she was curled on her side, facing the window with her back to the door. Her right wrist was propped on a pillow.

  Closing the door behind me, I crossed to the bed. “Want your shoes off?”

  Her shoulders lifted, then dropped. A faint shrug.

  “Okay, I’m going to call that a yes.” I tugged them off one at a time. “Need me to get rid of the jeans, too?”

  No movement.

  “So, no.” I moved so I could see her face, the wan look made my heart fist. What the hell had they discussed in that session? “Can I get you anything? Chocolate? Pizza? A hug?”

  The last word had her gaze tracking to me, and she let out a little sigh. “I could use a hug.”

  Toeing off my own shoes, I moved over to crawl onto the bed behind her and then eased her so her back was to my chest and I was wrapped around her. “Better?”

  “Tighter,” she requested in a small voice, so I bundled her up tighter and pressed my face into her hair. Her little relieved sigh allowed some of the tension to relax in me.

  “Anything you want,” I promised. After a few minutes, the sound of the door closing in the front carried through the house, and Frankie huffed out a sigh.

  “Crap, I left Rachel out there…”

  “She wasn’t worried about that,” I told her. “She texted me that you were feeling bad, and I told her if I didn’t come out, she could go ahead and take off.”

  Frankie groaned. “I need to apologize to her, I was just…”

  “You had a moment,” I reminded her. “You’re allowed. Besides, I’m glad she looked after you.”

  “You still don’t like her.”

  “Eh,” I grunted. “She’s growing on me. Kind of like a fungus.”

  “Mean,” she accused me, but it lacked any heat. Then, she added, “Thank you for coming.”

  “Where else would I rather be? Hmm?” I pressed a kiss to the skin behind her ear. “Do you need anything else, or do you just want to lie here for a while?”

  “Can we just…be for a bit? We had to talk about Maddy today. A lot of things came out, and I feel all kinds of stupid at the moment.”

  Not willing to touch that currently, I simply said, “You’re not stupid. And I have no problems lying here with you for a while. If you want me to get you naked and do some naked cuddling, we can do that, too.”

  That got me a little laugh.

  We were still cuddled together when the guys got home. Jake dropped in first. He took one look at us and had me scoot Frankie over, then he settled on her other side. When Archie and Bubba got there, they brought food, someone fed the cats, and we all took turns sitting with her and coaxing her to eat.

  Jake got her to eat a couple of pieces of chicken, and she finally let me strip her down and get her into some sleep shorts—my old boxers—and a tank top before I cuddled her back up in the bed. By unspoken agreement, the guys carried her television back in there from the living room, and Jake dug up some action movies to watch.

  Halfway through the second one, she let out a real laugh and a groan. I caught Archie’s look as he studied her from where he sprawled on the floor. He gave me a nod, and I let myself relax further. Some days were not going to be all fun.

  I texted Rachel after Frankie fell asleep.

  Me: She’s better. Sleeping now. Thanks again.

  While I wasn’t expecting much more than a passing acknowledgement, Rachel did me one better.

  Queen Bitch of the Universe: Good. Let me know if she needs anything. Thanks for telling me. Ur not so bad for an asshat.

  Lips pursed, I debated my response, then went for it.

  Me: From the biggest bitch I know, I’ll take that as a compliment.

  Queen Bitch of the Universe: That’s how I meant it. Take care of my girl.

  Me: Always do.

  Jake eyed my phone as I clicked off the screen, and I gave him a shrug. She really was growing on me.

  Hopefully, I wouldn’t need a shot or something if it turned out to be toxic.

  Frankie’s bad dreams came back, but we kept chasing them away.

  It was a long night.

  Chapter Seven

  A New Kind of Normal

  Frankie

  By Sunday, we were getting on each other’s nerves. Okay, correction, they were getting on my nerves. When I said I was gonna drive over to Mason’s to talk to Marsha, I suddenly had four offers for company. I kind of felt like an ass when I didn’t want them to go with me. If anything, I just wanted to breathe a little and kind of figure out what I was going to do for work.

  It had been a month, and while they might not have noticed it, the sharp decline in income versus the steep increase in spending had been a sock to the wallet. I still needed to transfer my payment for my car to Maddy’s account, something I hadn’t brought up because I really didn’t want to talk about Maddy.

  Especially not after Friday’s session with Erin. In fact, better to not think about it at all.

  “Guys,” I said. “I’ll be fine. I can drive. I know it’s a little awkward to get the seatbelt on and to start the car, but I can handle it.”

  “Of course you can, babe,” Archie offered in a soothing tone. He’d already snagged his keys. “But you don’t have to.”

  I closed my eyes for a beat, fisting my temper. “I want to go on my own.” Despite my attempts, it came out snappish. Touching my tongue to my teeth, I sighed at Archie’s frown, Jake’s worried eyes, and Coop’s guarded posture. No surprises there. Intellectually, I got it. They just wanted to help.

  They had been helping.

  Even my heart got that. But fuck, I needed some space.

  “Okay,” Ian said, shocking me. “Call if you end up needing a hand? Even if it’s just to start the car so you can drive on your own?” Just like that. No arguments or pushing.

  The other three glared at him, and I blew out a breath. “I will. And I won’t be long, I promise. I just…I just need to talk to Marsha and figure out how the schedule is going to work. The holidays are coming, and you know it gets busier there.”

  With the premature end of football season, the Friday crowds would thin out. So would the post-practice crowds during the week. Still, there had to be something I could do.

  Coop compressed his lips. It had to be killing him to not say whatever he was thinking, but he just gave me a nod. Though he scowled, Archie set his keys down before he dropped back onto the sofa and picked up the game controller.

  “Suck up,” he muttered to Ian, who just shrugged and gave me a small smile.

  “Thank you.” I mouthed more than spoke the words to Ian, and he winked. Warmth eased through some of the anxiety tying a daisy chain of knots in my gut. “I’ll text when I get there.” I could make that concession. “And when I head back.”

  The overprotective I got. Of course, it was also stalking me to the door and all the way out to my car in the form of Jake. He didn’t say a word until I unlocked the car and opened the door. It was a gloomy freaking day out here. I hadn’t paid much attention to the weather. There was just enough bite in the air that my nipples went peaked to hardened tips, even under a bra and sweatshirt. I should probably have grabbed a jacket. Even my jeans felt kind of thin against the damp breeze.

  I’d be damned if I admitted it though, especially when I turned to face Jake’s tense expression. The earlier worry was still very much present in his pale blue eyes. “I get it,” he said in a low voice. “You need to do things on your own.”

  “But?” Because there was definitely a but.

  “I need to know you’re okay,” he said, tracing a finger down my cheek. His and Ian’s bruises were all ugly yellow and green as they faded, the swelling having long since gone down. Personally, I couldn’t wait until they were all gone. His knuckles were still split in a couple of places, like they would try to heal and then the scabs would crack on them.

>   Archie and Coop both had similar marks on their hands, but they seemed to be healing faster. Maybe Jake was doing something with his? I made a mental note to follow-up on that. “Jake, I know you do. I adore that you guys are doing everything to make me feel safer. I know…” I sighed and leaned back against my car. “I know I’ve been kind of a mess. But I need to do this for me. I need to breathe.”

  His frown deepened. “Are we smothering you, Baby Girl?”

  “A little,” I admitted, but gripped his shirt when he would have backed off. “But I don’t think it’s just you guys. I think it’s me.”

  “Not sure I get that totally.”

  “That makes two of us.” Then I glanced toward the apartment. None of the others had followed us out. “On Friday, when I was talking to Erin, one of the things we discussed was my need to please Maddy.” I couldn’t quite look him in the eyes. “Even when she did shitty things, I made excuses for her and I did what I could to make up for her. And the worst part is…”

  Pushing these words out were hard. It had been almost impossible on Friday, this last part. It was why I’d been in such a bad mood when I left that appointment. Erin insisted that my feelings were valid, no matter what my opinion of them was. But…

  “A part of me still misses her, and I keep trying to figure out what I could have done differently.”

  “Frankie.” He exhaled my name, and there was so much caring in the way he said it that I had to blink back tears.

  “I hate her,” I told him, finally dragging my gaze up so I could look him in the eye. “I love her. I don’t know why I was never good enough.”

  “Baby Girl, the problem is one thousand percent hers,” he told me, the growl in his voice sending a shiver up my spine.

  “I want to believe that,” I told him. “My head kind of does, but my heart?”