For the first time in my entire life, I was thankful for Nellie’s ridiculous need to sing in the car. If not for her belting out the off-key lyrics of annoying pop songs, I might’ve gone insane. Granted, the sound of nails on a chalkboard would’ve been better, but at least it served as the distraction I needed to make it to Brooke’s house without blowing through a red light and winding up in an accident. Losing myself in thoughts of seeing her was enough to take my focus off the road.
Nervousness danced through my system, and the butterflies in my stomach decided to kick up their heels as I pulled along to the curb in front of Brooke’s house. I’d been anticipating this for three days, yet now that it was here, now that she was this close, I couldn’t remember what all I had planned to say. I’d be lucky if I made it to the end of the night without vomiting on my shoes—or worse, hers.
Nellie jumped from the car as soon as it was in park, leaving me alone with my thoughts. But those went out the window the second Brooke stepped outside. Not only because this was the first time I’d seen her in a week, but because her reaction at seeing me left my heart in my throat, cutting off my air supply, which made having any thought practically impossible.
Brooke’s steps faltered when her eyes met mine, and her chest heaved as if she struggled to find oxygen outside. I could relate, because I needed to remind myself to breathe as well. How could someone have such a strong effect on another person? Never, in my entire life, had I experienced both heartache and adoration at the same time. I wanted to ease her fears, wanted to beg her to speak to me, to tell me what was wrong, but more than anything, I just wanted to hear her voice.
Something had happened Monday night, I just wasn’t sure what. And now that I’d seen her with my own two eyes, watched the way she hesitated near the front door, reluctant to come to my car, I was sure that, whatever it was, I hadn’t made it up in my head. There was a slight twinge of relief knowing that—even if it left many questions unanswered.
I could see that Nellie was saying something, just like I could see Brooke’s eyes bouncing between her friend and where I sat parked along the curb. But I had no idea what they were talking about or what the holdup was. I could guess it had something to do with Brooke trying to change her mind about going, which wasn’t something I’d allow to happen.
Suddenly, finding my strength—or my balls, whichever you wanted to call it—I unbuckled myself, opened the driver’s side door, and put one foot on the pavement, just enough to pull myself out and talk to the girls over the roof of my car. “Come on, you two. I don’t have all night.”
There was a chance my harsh tone might’ve sent Brooke running in the opposite direction. However, I’d taken the risk, and it proved to pay off. Her shoulders deflated as if a weight had been removed—either that, or she’d felt defeated—as she made her way down the front lawn. If it could’ve been called that. More like a patchwork of weeds and dirt.
I had no idea how to handle being stuck in a car with her without the ability to discuss anything I wanted to, but at least I had Nellie to be the buffer until we got there. It also helped that Brooke had taken the backseat, which kept me from having to drive with her right next to me.
“I think not, Nell. I told you I would drive, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to play chauffeur. You can talk to your friend just as easily from the front seat as you can back there,” I said when Nellie tried to follow Brooke into the back.
She huffed, though she didn’t argue. Meanwhile, Brooke remained quiet, neither of us offering any type of greeting other than briefly making eye contact in the rearview mirror. I worried that Nellie would take note and question it, finding it odd that we suddenly acted like we couldn’t stand each other. But that would require her to remove herself from their bubble to pay attention to anything around her.
Nellie had herself turned in her seat to face Brooke, who sat behind me, before I pulled away from the curb. As much as I wanted to pay attention to their conversation, it didn’t sound like anything that would interest me. The only thing I cared about was finding an opportunity at the parade to pull Brooke aside without Nellie catching on. That was enough to occupy my mind during the drive—which, with Brooke in the car, had felt a lot longer than it was.
“Corbin!” Nellie shouted in my ear, making me jump and jerk the wheel.
“What?” I glanced around the parking lot, to make sure no one had seen me swerve, and then elbowed my sister. “You don’t need to yell. You’re literally right next to me.”
“Sorry.” She giggled. “I’m just excited. Do you think we can find a spot near the start of the float precession? That’s where we’re supposed to meet up with everyone.”
“Considering the entire town is here, I wouldn’t imagine so. There’s a good chance everyone has the same idea you do. I’ll just be happy if I can find a spot without having to parallel park.” I had worked hard for this car, and I’d be damned if some drunken idiot sideswiped it and drove away.
“Corbin!” Nellie shrieked again while stretching her arm across my body to point at something through my window.
This time, I let out several expletives underneath my breath and pushed her away. “What the hell, Nellie? Do that again, and I’ll drop you off right here and go home.”
“I was only trying to tell you that guy was pulling out, and it’s a good parking spot.” She threw her hands in the air and then mouthed the word asshole over her shoulder, as if I couldn’t see it.
Luckily, I’d slammed on the brakes when she screamed in my face, which had saved me from passing the spot. Giving my sister the side-eye, I shifted into reverse, backed up a few feet, and then cut the wheel to pull into the space. “Look at that…and I didn’t even have to go deaf to get it.”
Once we were all out of the car, both girls went skipping ahead, leaving me, their designated driver, to find my way to their group of friends alone. If getting the chance to talk to Brooke hadn’t been so important to me, I would’ve turned around and left their asses.
In fact, the night wasn’t over. If Brooke continued to ignore me, I might change my mind.
Who the hell was I kidding? I’d waited all week for this opportunity.
I wouldn’t leave until I had answers, one way or another.
Chapter 14
Brooke
I could’ve strangled my best friend for not informing me that Corbin would be here. The only reason she was still breathing was because that would’ve meant I’d have to explain to her why that bothered me so much. If only she knew that the one thing that would crush her, also happened to be the one thing that saved her life tonight.
Ever since dinner with Nellie almost a week ago, I’d decided to keep my distance from Corbin. At first, I didn’t think it would be too difficult, especially since it wasn’t like we were all that close. Sure, we’d hung out a few times, had drinks together, and I’d gone to his place to watch a movie—something Nellie could never find out about—but all that had taken place in a matter of three weeks.
We weren’t friends. Close acquaintances as best.
Oh, the lies I tell myself.
But that was neither here nor there. It didn’t change the fact that he was completely off limits. I’d always known Nellie’s feelings regarding her friends and her brother; it’d been a constant complaint when we were younger, as well as in college when her roommate had asked him out. Truthfully, I should’ve known better; I shouldn’t have needed to hear her objections last week to realize that he and I had blurred the line she’d drawn when we were kids.
Unfortunately, Corbin made it more difficult than it had to be. I knew we’d have to discuss it eventually—I mean, I’d gone from talking to him fairly regularly to completely ignoring him—but I needed time to figure out the best way to explain without making it sound like I was into him. The only problem was, he refused to wait. I’d caught him stealing glances my way all night, and if he kept this up, it wouldn’t be long before Nellie noticed, and I doubted he’d wa
nt that to happen.
If so, then he could figure out how to explain it to her.
“Oh my God, Brooke…” Mady came barreling through the tipsy crowd, out of breath like she’d either run a marathon or had just seen a ghost. “I thought I just saw Chase and his hussy of a girlfriend.”
I jumped out of the lawn chair I’d been perched in all night and immediately scanned the crowd around us, which wasn’t easy considering at least half the town had chosen this same spot to gather. It was prime real estate as far as something like this was concerned. Not only were we near the start of the precession line—which had given us the perfect view of the floats as they drove by, providing no one stood in our way—but we were also in spitting distance from a beer tent.
“Don’t worry, though.” She patted my arm and took a seat in the folding chair next to Nellie. “It wasn’t him.”
Nellie regarded her with a furrowed brow and scrutinizing eyes. “Then what was the point in telling us that you thought you saw him if you already know it wasn’t Chase?”
“Oh, to explain to Julie why I don’t have a drink for her.” Mady brought her plastic cup of green wine to her lips—they’d added color to almost every drink imaginable, and since we preferred wine over beer, it was a no-brainer.
All eyes moved to Julie, who sat on the other side of Mady, completing the small arc of our semi-circle on the side of the road. She blinked at our ditzy friend and said, “You went to get us both a drink. How does thinking you saw Chase equate to you only coming back with one for you? That doesn’t make any sense, Mady.”
“Sure it does. I thought I saw him and figured I’d defend Brooke, so I threw the drink in his face.” Somehow, Mady was the only one who didn’t see anything wrong with that. While we all snickered and grinned, she continued to sip her wine, completely unfazed by her admission.
Julie sat forward and clasped her hands together, elbows propped on her bare knees. “Let me get this straight. You went to get us both drinks, and on your way back, you thought you saw Brooke’s ex with his new girlfriend, so you threw my drink at him?”
“Yup, that’s what I said.”
“Guys?” Julie’s pleading eyes scanned our small group, desperate for help.
Nellie, being the self-imposed leader of our tribe, stepped in. “At what point did you realize it wasn’t Chase? I think that’s the most pressing question at the moment.”
“Oh, when he asked me what my problem was.”
“And what did you do then?”
Mady narrowed her gaze on Nellie as if the answer should’ve been apparent. “Well, obviously I was mortified, so I told him I thought he grabbed my butt. Then I left.”
This had to be a joke. Mady wasn’t known for doing or saying the right things most of the time, but even she should’ve been able to recognize how ridiculous that was. “And he just let you walk away?”
She waved me off and casually rolled her eyes. “He was wasted, don’t worry. I doubt he even remembers it. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s standing over there wondering why his shirt’s wet. Not to mention, the way his girlfriend—or whoever she was—glared at him, I think it’s safe to say something similar might’ve happened to him before.”
Well, if she’d gotten away with it, there was no point in pressing the issue.
Except, there was still one problem Julie wasn’t ready to put it to rest quite yet. “Fine, whatever, but back to the drink situation. If it was your decision to douse him in wine, why did it have to be mine?”
“Oh, I didn’t even think about that. Want me to go get you another one?”
At this point, it was clear Julie had given up. She slouched in her chair and sat with her arms crossed, staring at the floats as they creeped by, likely trying not to laugh at our friend. Mady did a lot of stupid things, but it was hard to stay mad at her.
“Speaking of Chase…” Nellie turned my way, though her eyes looked past me to the guy on my left. “It’s been weeks, Corbin. When are you going to actually do something about this little plan of ours? It’s kind of hard to get revenge when our accomplice won’t get off his ass and do what he’s supposed to.”
Even though I could only see him out of my peripheral vision—because I refused to look at him, knowing how weird he’d make everything—I saw his hands go up, defensively. Then he said, “Hey, don’t get pissy with me. I’m doing my part.”
“Then why haven’t we gotten an update?”
“I tried to tell Brooke about it last week, but she must’ve been busy.”
Instantly, I felt both sets of eyes on me. Nothing was worse than being caught in the middle of a sibling squabble, especially when neither of them were your siblings. This was one of the very few times I was thankful to be an only child.
Luckily, Nellie didn’t make me speak up. “Don’t put that on her. You could’ve just as easily called and told me. Brooke had a bad week, which makes it even more important to know your progress with Heather.”
It was like a horrible train wreck. I knew it was coming, but I couldn’t stop it.
“Chase had texted her that he missed her.” As soon as those words escaped Nellie’s lips, Corbin’s eyes burned a hole in the side of my head. “But when she responded, he said he hadn’t meant it, that he only said it because he was drunk. The bastard has to pay, and right now, you’re the only one who can make that happen.”
“Don’t worry, Nell,” he muttered softly, emotion heavy in his rumbly tone. “I’m handling it. But these things take time, especially since she’s still his assistant, which means there are only so many opportunities to speak to her away from Chase. Her desk is literally right in front of his office. It kind of eliminates the element of surprise if he knows what I’m doing, don’t you think?”
“Whatever, Corbin. So tell us…what’s the latest?”
He was quiet for a moment, then he cleared his throat. “I mentioned grabbing drinks sometime, and she said that sounded like fun.”
“That’s it?” Nellie practically shouted.
“Like I’ve said before, Nell, I can’t just go at her full-force. It’s a process. I had to put the idea in her mind, and now that it’s there, and now that I know where she stands, I can move forward. I plan to run into her at the end of the day sometime next week and complain about how stressed I am, then see if she’d like to take me up on my offer.”
“Great. Glad to hear it.”
It was obvious that Nellie didn’t have a comeback for him. He’d effectively shut her up, which was good since I was tired of discussing Chase. I appreciated the latest update; although, I had to admit, I was a little bothered that I had ignored his text days ago when he’d reached out to tell me about it. But truth be told, I wasn’t sure how I felt about it.
That was something I’d have to thoroughly contemplate when I had a moment to myself.
Luckily, Julie put an end to our conversation by asking Nellie to go with her to get another drink. At first, I was grateful for the interruption, knowing that it meant the topic was at least tabled for later. But once Nellie walked away, leaving me alone with Corbin, I instantly regretted the reprieve.
Granted, I wasn’t alone with him, considering there were still a few members of our group nearby, as well as the hundreds of random people who milled about. But without Nellie being the babysitter, it damn sure felt like it was only the two of us.
“Why won’t you talk to me, Bridge?” His pleading tone brought me one step closer to cracking.
And I couldn’t take that chance. “Like I explained the last hundred times you’ve asked tonight, I will, but now’s not the time.”
Since arriving, he’d tried countless times to corner me, taking every available opportunity to get me alone so he could find out why I’d stopped returning his texts. As much as I wanted to give him those answers, knowing he deserved that for his own peace of mind, there was no way Nellie would leave us alone long enough to have that conversation from beginning to end. And I didn’t care to discus
s it in segments.
With his hand on my cheek, he turned my head to face him. “I’ve told you a billion times not to exaggerate.” The smile on his lips kindled a fire in my soul and draped a curtain around us, separating us from the rest of the world.
That was, until he spoke again.
“Then can you at least tell me why you ignored me all week?”
I wrapped my fingers around his wrist and lowered his hand, removing his warm touch from my face. There was an instant loss, but I chalked that up to the chill in the air. “Listen, Corbin, we’ll discuss all of this when there’s time.”
“What do you mean by all of this?”
It seemed I was only making things worse. “It’s nothing.”
“Clearly it’s something. Did I do something last Sunday? Did I say something?”
I held up my hand in front of his face. “No. It’s not anything you did.”
“Then what is it, Brooklyn?” The pleading in his voice matched the despair in his eyes as he held my stare, and it reminded me of desperation I’d felt when trying to understand Chase’s reasons for breaking up.
My lips parted, and my lungs filled with air while words began to come together in my head. But before they could make their way to my tongue so that I could ease his mind, Mady’s loud gasp caught our attention.
“What happened?” I asked, worried by the sight of my friend’s wide eyes and gaping mouth. My initial thought was that Nellie had returned and caught the moment between her brother and me, but as I frantically glanced around, I quickly learned that hadn’t been the case. Then I wondered if maybe she’d overheard our conversation, causing me to hold my breath until she put me out of my misery.
“Julie’s taking Nellie home.”
I waited for more, but Mady didn’t offer anything else, leaving me even more confused than before. “Why? Is everything okay?”
She must’ve gotten a call from one of them, because her phone was still in her hand, the screen lit up and unlocked. “I guess her shirt got caught on the fence and ripped it wide open. Now everyone can see her tits.” She flicked her gaze to Corbin and added, “Sorry for talking about your sister’s tits.”
The unEXpected Plan Page 15
