Leaning forward with one finger stretched toward mine he let them touch, then before I knew what was happening he moved, and he grabbed my hand. He glanced at them and not at me, then whispered almost to himself, “Comprende.”
I was so captivated by how small and dainty my hand was in his, I half-forgot we weren’t alone. Damon dropped my hand like it had bitten him. Which did the work of snapping me out of the moment. Both of us sat back as far as we could from one another, and silence ensued once again.
Hoping to move past the awkwardness, I begged Kasper with my eyes for help.
“Miss Green, would you do us the honor, of allowing us to help tomorrow morning at around nine o’clock?” Bless Kasper for coming to my rescue again.
Looking at the other two, I tried to gauge how they felt about Kasper asking me. Dean was all smiles—maybe that was his default mode. Damon, on the other hand, refused to make eye contact.
“Well, I guess if y’all really don’t mind, then yes I’d appreciate the help as long as it doesn’t pull you from anything else.”
Relaxing slightly, I barely felt it when Kasper started tracing a pattern on my palm even though his attention seemed to be on the brothers. “We have nowhere else to be. In fact, you’ll have us for the whole day. Right guys?”
The brothers seemed fixed on Kasper’s hand on mine. Dean seemed more contemplative, while Damon just frowned. Clearing my throat, I wanted to get their attention back up to my face and away from the entwined hands. “Okay, well I’ll just plug my address in one your phones and that way you can find it tomorrow.” Before anyone else could offer, Dean handed me his phone. “Thanks.” Going to the GPS, I quickly plugged in my new address and handed it back.
“Okay, so the movers come tomorrow just to drop the stuff off, and since I’ve still got to figure out where to put the stuff and what to do with my car, I really do need to go, if that’s okay with Kasper.”
Blowing out a breath, Dean said quickly, “Well, we can go get the car for you.”
Not wanting to take advantage of their kindness, I tried to be polite. “No guys that’s fine, really I can just call a tow service. You’re already helping a lot as it is.”
Damon mumbled something too low to catch.
“What did you say Damon?”
Finally, he turned my way. “It was gonna come to us anyways, I said, so might as well.”
What? I stared at him, but then Kasper started drawing circles with his thumb against the back of my hand. Distracting as hell. Having a man, even one I’d just met, who wanted to hold my hand like this made me want things I probably shouldn’t.
“Did we not mention that Dean and Damon own the mechanic shop here in town? Their work is mainly on cars, but they also do custom jobs on the side.”
“Uhh, yes, you failed to mention that. Which reminds me, what do you do, Kasper?”
Kasper smiled devilishly at me, and I swore my stomach plummeted as if I was on a roller coaster. I was just waiting for the answer he seemed so happy to offer. Swooping close, he whispered, “Well, I’m the history teacher at the middle school here, I didn’t mention that, either? Huh? We’ll I guess we will be around each other a lot coworker.” Bomb dropped, he leaned away wearing a smug smile.
“How did you know I was the new teacher, I didn’t tell you.”
“Small town, Butterscotch, everyone knows of the new English teacher Miss Green,” he smiled, smugly. “I just put two and two together and got you.”
He got me did he? Well that was nice. Sarcasm. “Well aren’t you a big ole Sherlock Holmes.” Switching my attention to Dean and Damon I said, “Thank you about the car, are you sure the car and house isn’t too much trouble?”
Dean rubbed his neck and looked at me. “We kinda have a confession, too.”
Great. What now? “Well let’s have it, Kasper already threw me for a loop, what’s one more?”
“Well, we actually live on the same street as you, so going to your house isn’t any trouble at all.” At least he had the courtesy to wince as he confessed. “We’re practically neighbors.”
Before I could process that bombshell, Dean also continued. “Oh, and for tomorrow we can also get some pizza for lunch, maybe stay over and watch some TV. Make a regular movie night out of it. What’d ya say?”
Since the guys had it all figured out, and I’d eaten all those damn pastries which made me happy I said the one thing that I would probably regret, “Okay.”
Three
Kasper
After dropping Kelly off at her house and getting the keys to her car. Promising we’d be there the next day by nine. I drove just up the road to the brothers’ house. Just four houses from hers. I didn’t think Kelly realized just how close they lived to her, and I wasn’t sure they wanted to tell her.
Pulling up to the old colonial their parents left them, I figured this was one of the many things the boys and I needed to talk about. Not even bothering to knock, I headed in, grabbed three beers, and then set up in their workshop. The workshop was a mixture of mancave and whatever we were working on at that moment. It had a small bar area, with broken and chipped bar stools that we’d found at the thrift store for us to sit on. There was also a dart board we’d had since twelfth grade.
We’d been putting this place together since the sixth grade. Piece by piece with whatever we could find. I settled on the least chipped bar stool and waited. They hadn’t arrived before me, but if I had to guess, they shouldn’t be much longer. I bet they gave me just enough time to leave with Kelly, before they paid their check and followed.
Sure enough, by the time I got comfortable on one of the bar stools and popped the lid to my beer, Dean’s truck pulled up. They knew what we needed to talk about, this was where we always had our most important talks. If they didn’t know, then this was bound to be an awkward conversation.
Without a word, the brothers made it to me, and grabbed the beers I had set out on the bar. Damon ended up with the bar stool with the uneven legs. Served him right. Asshole made me use it the last time. The silence stretched as we played the game we always played—who would break and talk first? Sitting back, I calmly waited and watched their reactions. One of them would crack first.
We’d done this dance way too many times. Dean’s eyes closed as he leaned his head back, completely at ease. I doubted he was going to be the first to crack. It didn’t take long, before Damon began pacing back and forth. He ran his hands through his hair, a clear sign of his frustration.
Finally, he halted and faced me. “You brought a chick to eat with us. Was there a reason besides you wanting her to suck your dick? And don’t give me the good ole boy lines of just wanting to help? That’s bullshit, you had an ulterior motive, just spill what it is.”
Damon was naturally aggressive. But right then, he just skipped aggressive and went straight to asshole. He never intended to be aggressive, but when you were six foot four and two hundred and thirty pounds, it kind of came naturally. Then again, I couldn’t say he’d never used his size as an intimidation technique.
Since he shot up at sixteen, people smaller had been known to steer clear of him. Though he knew it did nothing to me or his brother. His being an asshole then had my mental radar sitting up. When he resumed pacing, I could tell he was getting himself worked up. Odd, Damon usually wanted, no needed control.
His pacing exhausted me. “Damon just sit down.” With all his huffing and puffing, I could see why Kelly might have called him a bear, though her Pooh Bear reference seemed a stretch. While Damon finally grabbed his stool again, I used the time to sort out my answer. How did I tell them what I was thinking without sounding like a lunatic? The brothers stared at me and waited for my big revelation. They were going to be disappointed.
“Honestly, I don’t know.” Standing up and shrugging my shoulders like that would help them understand more, even if it couldn’t. I was at a loss, too.
Dean raised his eyebrows slightly and straightened. “What do you mean
you don’t know? How about her body, her accent, her personality.”
Narrowing my eyes at him and crossing my arms, I stared him down. Those reasons had come pretty quickly to him.
Damon coughed, a hard-staccato sound. “I wouldn’t say personality. I mean, she’s hot for being so little but no to the personality and who the hell cares about a southern accent?”
“That’s just because most the women you ‘date,’ have their IQ in their breast not head.” Facing his brother, Dean said the exact thing that I had been thinking. “Plus, she didn’t drool on you at first glance.”
To make sure this didn’t end in a fight amongst brothers on who had dated the skankiest, I seized control of the conversation. “Dean, I know all those things about her. Something about her makes me feel comfortable and relaxed. I’ve never felt that with a girl. Not even Nicole. Like just the thought of leaving her on the side of the road caused my stomach to clench thinking of what could have happened to her.”
The brothers both shared a look with each other and then glanced back to me. We’d known each other since we were kids, and they knew I didn’t dick around when it came to relationships.
Dean cleared his throat and stared at me. “When you say you don’t know what you really mean…”
“What I mean is when I saw, her my heart tried to beat out of my chest and almost seemed to run toward her. Like the next breath I breathe is coming out of me and trying to get to her. That’s what I mean.”
Dean cleared his throat. “Bro, it’s only been like a few hours. This isn’t love at first sight and shit like that.”
Rubbing a hand through my hair, I realized now I was the one doing the pacing. “You don’t think I know this, but this…” I pointed to my head and then to my heart. “And this don’t. I’ve never felt this with any girl, and I want to find out what, no, I’ve got to find out what this is.”
Dead silence filled the room. There seemed to be no surprise on either of their faces. In fact, they both wore the same mixture of guilt and contemplation. Though Damon might have given me his signature stupid ass look.
“What?”
Leaning forward on his bar stool Damon continued to give me that look, which was slowly starting to annoy me. “Are you sure it’s not your dick you’re thinking with, instead of the head and heart as you just so beautifully put it?”
Dean split his focus between me and his brother. My gut sank, this wasn’t even close to how I’d pictured the conversation. Slightly difficult? Yes. A lot of questions? Maybe. But not this. I didn’t like where this conversation headed.
“I think I understand what you’re saying, I do really,” Dean said continuing to divide his attention between me and Damon.
Frustrated, I gritted my teeth. “No, I don’t think you do.”
“Yeah, pretty sure I do, well not to the extent you do, but I was interested definitely.”
He what? I stood to get a little closer to my friend but didn’t know exactly what was going to happen when I got there. I just knew I didn’t like where he was going with this.
“Aww, sit down!”
I stopped, and Dean paused, halfway out of his seat. Damon, still slouched on his bar stool, like nothing about this conversation bothered him took another swig of beer.
“So, you both like the same girl. So what? It isn’t the first time we’ve all thought a girl was hot.”
On the way back to my seat, I kicked the bar stool out from underneath Damon. There was something deeply satisfying about him spilling beer on his shirt.
“Shit man! What was that for, dickhead? I was just saying the truth.” Brushing his clothes he tried to get some of the beer off.
“Kelly’s different, that’s what, dickhead.” I reclaimed my seat and beer. “She’s not just some one-night fuck and done. To me or Dean.” I looked at Dean for confirmation about Kelly on his side.
Taking a swig of his beer, Dean nodded his head in agreement. “No, definitely not a one-night fuck for me, though you guys know I’d never been that way. That was more both of your territory.”
I hated when he brought up my early twenties. I might have been slightly over exuberant when meeting the ladies, but it’d been a while since then. Damon was our current over exuberant fella, and that was putting it nicely. It was crazy how in just a few short years we’d switched places. Once upon a time, he’d been the one who wanted commitment, not me. Of course, that changed after Camille burned him. Now he was just around long enough to say hi and bye.
As for me, Nicole left me wanting to settle again. I learned I liked being a homebody. That going out just wasn’t the same as when I was younger. It was like I’d been waiting on something or someone.
Catching Dean’s eye, we both turned and stared at Damon. He hadn’t said how he felt about Kelly. Under our scrutiny, he sat up straighter.
“What, what are you guys looking at? I didn’t say anything. That chick is between you two. Leave me out.”
My eyes narrowed. Was he lying? He was so hard to read, it was scary. Still, I had to ask him. We needed everything out in the open. “So, you have no interest in Kelly whatsoever?”
Guzzling the rest of his beer down before answering, he went to stand behind the bar. “Well yeah, I mean, she’s hot.” Beside me Dean cleared his throat and Damon raised his eyebrows, and then continued. “But just because she’s hot doesn’t mean I was going to do anything about it. I mean, there are plenty of other girls I could tap for that. If you guys want her, have at her. I’d think of her as a future sister even.”
With a roll of his shoulders, he finished his little speech. “Besides you’ve got a bigger problem than wondering about my feelings. The question you should’ve asked yourselves is a lot simpler. Which one of you are going to date her?”
Finished, Damon tossed his empty into the trash and then exited. Outside, his motorcycle revved twice, before racing away.
“He’s running from something.” Dean gave voice to my own thoughts.
“I know he is, and I think that something is Kelly.”
Dean scrubbed a hand against his jaw as he mused, “You think he had to go through that much effort to avoid talking about her?”
My only answer was a shrug, because I didn’t want to admit Damon would probably do more if we pushed. “It’s Damon, Dean, you should know.”
“Yeah, that’s what worries me.” He studied the ground, his voice low.
Knocking his arm with my elbow, to get him to look at me. “You think he’d hurt her?”
Shock stamped across Dean’s features. “What? No, at least not physically. Emotionally, he might, but not on purpose. Damon’s like a caged animal, or at least a bear like Kelly said. Especially when cornered with something as horrible as admitting his feelings.”
Crossing my arms, I grinned.
“What’s so funny?”
“Do you think we should get to him before Kelly does, because I don’t think Kelly will give him time to learn not to be an asshole.” The woman was a force of nature. Five minutes of conversation bowled me over. Damon was toast.
Nodding his head, he said, “Oh, I think we can watch. It’s like a train wreck we won’t be able to look away from.”
“Yeah, I think you’re right.” Sobering, I returned the conversation back to what we were talking about before Damon decided to storm off. “What are we going to do about us both wanting to date her?”
Dean slumped his shoulders, studying the floor like it would present the answer to our dilemma. I hated wiping away his grin. We had to talk about it though, I didn’t want to be slugging my best friend over a girl. We never had before, and I didn’t want to start.
“I can’t give her up, I know I just met, her but there something about her.” He lifted his head slightly to look at me. “If I believed in love at first sight I’d say this is it. But I don’t believe in that shit. But this, this is something special. This is just more, ya know? She just grabs me.”
Yep, a problem I recogniz
ed. “I know exactly what you mean. Same for me. It was like something that I didn’t even know was missing until I saw her and then boom… she fits. How can I just give that up?” If she told me to get lost, it would be different. If she said not interested, could I settle on being friends? Fuck.
Leaving his bar stool, he crossed toward me. “Well since we both don’t want to give her up, what do we do? Because I don’t want this to screw with us. You’re like my other brother. Thank fuck Damon’s not trying for her. That would be a whole other fucking mess.”
Yeah, Damon was going to try for her a lot sooner than he or even Dean thought. Not wanting to stir that hornet’s nest, I stayed at the conversation on hand.
“I say, let her lead, if she’s interested—she is. If she’s not than just stay her friend.”
Dean’s eyes widened. “So, what you’re saying is I can flirt, touch, maybe kiss?” He ticked off each item with his fingers. “And you and me, we’d still be good?”
Rubbing the back of my neck and blowing out a breath, I nodded. I couldn’t say, no because it really wouldn’t have been fair. At the same time, I would have loved to have said back off, but not my call. Kelly wasn’t property. She got to say who, when, where, how, and most importantly—if.
“Yeah, that’s pretty much what I’m saying. Just don’t make her uncomfortable and if anything new develops, we tell the other one. No secrets.”
Nodding his head, he held out his hand and we shook on it. “Okay fair enough, now that that’s settled. Do you want to go pick up her car?”
Twisting my arm, to see what time it was, I sighed. “Yeah text Damon to meet us there.”
Dean leaned back and blew out a breath, “He’s gonna love that.”
Holding back a small smile, I said, “Why do you think I said text him?”
Four
Dean
After hopping in Kasper’s monstrous truck, I texted Damon. Kasper might want a third hand to help get Kelly’s car, but Damon was gonna be a bitch to work with.
Road To Me Page 3
