Kennedy poured everyone one more shot and yelled, “Cheers to three more days until Thanksgiving break! We can do it, guys!”
We all threw them back, and they began to head out.
Aiden’s gaze lingered on me, and I stepped up to him. I couldn’t take my gaze away from the hickey. I liked it.
“Some game, huh?” he asked casually.
“Yeah. I’m glad you all could stop by. It was a lot of fun, and I think your friends are into mine. We’re playing matchmaker.” I nudged his shoulder with mine. Friendly banter and shit.
“Whatever, shorty. Listen. I have to go mingle with some sorority girls, and they post a lot of pictures. They rarely depict what’s really happening. Don’t read into things.”
Odd thing to say. I nodded despite my confusion. “Okay. I barely even check social media, honestly.”
“I want you to understand I don’t hook up with girls anymore.” His tone turned more serious than I’d heard before.
“Aiden—” I began, but he stopped me with both hands on my shoulders. His height never bothered me before, but now I felt trapped—the good kind.
“Have I ever lied to you?” His eyes demanded my attention. I couldn’t look away if I tried.
“No, but…”
“No. Exactly. I never have. I’m not lying, and I want you to know that.”
“Okay. But I don’t understand why.” My voice came out weak and unsure. It matched my heart.
“You don’t have to.” His friends called his name, and he yelled something back at them. He eyed my mouth, lingering way too long. My stomach flip-flopped in an entirely new way. “We’ll talk soon.” He ran his thumb over my bottom lip, then took off.
Chapter 24
Time to Give Thanks for Coincidences-Aiden
“ANOTHER lovely family Thanksgiving, bro. Really appreciate you dropping by, but clearly, I’m busy playing videogames and eating pizza. Maybe next time you could call first,” I said without emotion.
“Don’t be a dick, Aiden. Dad got called by a client. He had to go. You’ll understand when you join us in a few years. It’s always about the client.” He scoffed at my appearance: plaid pajama pants, no shirt, and slippers. “Did you even shower today?”
“Fuck off, Miles.” I didn’t let him come inside the house. I crossed my arms and sneered. He wasn’t who I wanted to see on Thanksgiving. His surprise visit was un-fucking-pleasant.
“Let me in. Are any of the brothers here for the holiday?” He tried to look behind me, but I blocked his view.
“Nope. They all had nice family meals waiting for them somewhere.”
“Sensitive. Did Jenna fuck you over, or did you screw it up? Why you’re cranky?” His voice was so similar to Dad’s. It made me hate him.
“Jesus. Leave her out of it. And no, I didn’t fuck anything up.” I was three seconds away from punching him in the nose, but I saw something flash across his face I hadn’t seen in years: loneliness.
“Well, according to your track record with women, I just assumed you’d do the same to her.” He shrugged like it made perfect sense. Dick.
“She’s one of the best friends I have. I’d never fucking hurt her,” I growled. Mess with me, fine. But Jenna was off-limits.
“Good to know. Now can we do this brother bonding thing?”
“You have nowhere else to be, Miles. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be here bothering me. What, no other friends?” I meant to hurt him. I really did, and then I had a small dose of regret.
Anger crossed his face, and I felt bad. I couldn’t ignore years of being treated like shit, though. “Maybe I wanted to spend the holiday with my only family.”
I sighed and ran my hands through my hair, finally caving. “Fine. Come on in. I have frozen pizza for later.”
“Thank you.” He came in and took a look around. “The place looks great. Really clean. Kind of wasn’t expecting it.”
“Despite what Dad has told you, I’m really making changes in the frat. We clean once a week, minimum. We always have five sober drivers every weekend, and we doubled our volunteer hours each month.” I wanted to say more, go through all the good changes, but it wasn’t the time. It always turned into a pissing contest when he was around. I felt I had to prove myself and my worth constantly, and I hated it.
“Impressive, Aiden. Truly. Dad has kept me in the loop a little bit, and he did mention you really showing your leadership skills.” He whistled and looked around more, clearly shocked at the appearance.
I was stunned my dad said anything positive about me, but I took it with a grain of salt. I was always still a disappointment. I heard my phone go off in the kitchen. “You want anything to drink?”
“I’ll have some coffee.” He looked at his watch like the time determined what he drank. Fucking lawyers.
“Okay. Be right back.”
I poured him a cup and debated chugging a bottle of whiskey but decided against it. It was only nine in the morning. My phone beeped again, and I set down the drinks.
Jenna: Happy Turkey Day!
Jenna: I’ll have you know I am currently smoking a cigar, at nine in the morning, and I feel like a badass. How’s your awkward family get-together going?
Aiden: Terrible. My dad canceled last night. My brother just showed up unexpectedly.
Jenna: You guys just going to hang out?
It wasn’t my proudest moment, but her questioning pissed me off. She was smoking cigars and hanging out with people who obviously cared for her. I was jealous, and it angered me because I had no right to be.
Aiden: I don’t know what the fuck we’re going to do. Look, I’ll talk to you later. Have a good day.
I knew I was being an ass, but being around Miles always made me hate the world. Knowing I was being unfair and wallowing just fueled my anger.
“Here’s your coffee.” I handed him a steaming mug.
“Thanks.”
“Play any COD?” I asked on the off chance my brother was still part human and not one of my dad’s robots.
“Ha! I haven’t in a long time. I’m probably no good, but it sounds cool.”
I smiled and went to set up the game. I handed him a controller, and we set out playing together for the first time in years. Awkward was the kindest way to describe the moment. At least we were on the same team…or it would’ve gotten ugly.
“Damn. This shit is fun,” Miles said as we took a break.
“Good. Glad,” I said without real emotion. Fun and Miles rarely went together.
Then the doorbell rang. And rang again and again.
“What the hell?” I got up, giving my brother a side glance.
Miles looked at me with the same confusion I was feeling. I set my controller down and went to the front door to see Jenna banging on the doorbell. She barged right on through me into the foyer.
“Aiden fucking Chad. How dare you brush me off? You don’t get to pick and choose when we’re friends. It’s a twenty-four-seven thing, and trust me; it’s not always easy putting up with your shit. Now stop sulking just because you’re having a little family drama. At least you have a family. Suck it up and join our holiday.” She stood there, hands on her narrow hips, glaring at me with her pissed-off green eyes. She looked scary, and in a weird way, it was turning me on. Her tight sweater didn’t help either.
I took a step to close the door, but I saw an older gentleman standing outside. I did the only thing I could. I waved. “Morning, Jenna. Nice of you to drop in on this cheerful day.”
“Don’t you sass me, Aiden,” she sneered.
“Yes, ma’am.” I smiled. She was too damn much.
“Is your brother here, too?”
Miles stepped into the foyer, not even attempting to hide his smile. “Hello again, Jenna.”
“Oh, hey there.” She glanced away for a second before narrowing her gaze back on me. “So are you both going to join us for Thanksgiving? We typically smoke cigars,
drink beer, watch football, and go eat at The Pit.”
“Sounds lovely and so normal. I’m in,” Miles said, earning a grin from Jenna.
“Don’t look at me like I have a choice in the matter. Let me at least go put on clean clothes.” I sighed and saw pleasure in her eyes.
Jenna nodded and scrunched her nose. “Yeah, good idea. You stink. Just meet us back at my apartment when you’re ready.” She slapped me on the shoulder as she stalked out of the house and slammed the door.
“What the fuck just happened?” I asked no one in particular.
Miles chuckled. “You just got your ass handed to you by a girl. And she did a great job.”
“Shut up. Give me five minutes,” I grumbled.
Soon after, we were walking toward Jenna’s apartment. I didn’t want to say I was happy about her intrusion on my pity party, but I was thankful. She was right, as she often was, and I was glad to meet her family.
I knocked on the door, and her uncle opened it with a big smile. “Nice to meet you, Aiden. Sorry our girl got a little pissy with ya. She can’t help it. She was raised by hooligans. Very few manners. We’re still tryna teach her.”
“Nice to meet you, too, and I’m used to her shit.”
He laughed and put his hand on my shoulder. “Come on in. Grab a beer. It’s a Smithson tradition to drink American beer all Thanksgiving Day.”
“Will do. Rich, right?”
“Yeah, shit. Sorry. I’m Jenna’s uncle.”
“This is my brother, Miles.” I tilted my head toward him.
Miles held out his hand in business form, but Rich brushed him off. “Nice to see ya, Miles. Grab yourself a beer.”
Miles looked at me in confusion, but I laughed.
Jenna was sitting on the couch, watching the parade. She saw me walk in and glared for a minute.
I sighed and sat next to her. “I’m sorry.”
“I forgive you.”
“I took out my anger on you. Through text. It was dumb. But I was just in a pissy mood because—”
She interrupted me with her hand on my mouth. I wanted to bite it. “I know exactly why you said what you did, and I knew the only way to get you over it was to get you here. I was going to invite you over as soon as you said your dad canceled.”
I put my arm around her and squeezed. “Thank you. It means a lot.” I pressed a kiss on the top of her head and took a whiff of her shampoo. She smelled like home.
“Grandpa, this is the guy I was bitching about. Aiden, this is my grandpa Jim.”
“Nice to finally meet you, Jim. I’ve heard a lot about you. You did a good job with Jenna. Besides today, she’s normally very kind and sweet.” I stood and held out my hand, which he took. He didn’t say anything at first, but he assessed me, and I let him.
Finally, he laughed. “I like you. You got good sarcasm. Anyone who’d call Jenna kind or sweet is a damn liar.”
I sighed and felt as if I’d won his approval—not like I needed it, but I wanted it nonetheless. Jenna smiled at some inside joke between the two. Ironically, I felt more comfortable with her family than I did with mine.
Realization lit Miles’s face. “Ah, you’re the ones we contracted to renovate the offices. You’re doing a hell of a job. We’re all super-impressed.”
Jenna’s grandpa beamed and raised his bottle to Miles. “Thank you, but I expect nothing less. We take pride in our work, and, Miles, Aiden, I gotta say your father is a very respectable man. He has treated us kindly, fairly, like equals.”
I’m sure my mouth dropped because Jenna lightly nudged me back into the conversation. I never would’ve guessed my father had a good reputation.
“We appreciate your kind words. I look up to him,” Miles said, and after the exchange, he appeared to be happier.
“Okay, boys. In an hour, we need to head toward The Pit. We’re meeting Gage, Cyn, and Joel there for lunch. Then they’re opening the bar for the game,” Jenna announced.
“Sounds good to me, darlin’,” Rich said and winked at me.
Conversation flowed freely, and it turned out to be the best holiday I’d been a part of in a long time. Jenna joked with her grandpa about every little thing, and he clearly thought the world of her. It pained me to think about the shit they’d dealt with, but it made me admire Jenna more than anyone in the world.
She got up and gave her grandpa a hug before grabbing another drink. Jim took the moment to ask about school. “So, Aiden, what are you going to school for? Jenna told me y’all got paired together in some science class, and you’ve got quite a knack for it.”
I saw Miles stiffen at the comment, but I ignored him. “Yeah, we’re both in a lab together. I’m thankful it happened.” I turned to look at her and caught her watching me with a weird expression on her face. “I’m not quite sure what I’m going to do. Law runs in the family, so I’m leaning toward it.”
Miles interrupted, but not rudely. “Leaning toward it? I thought you officially named your major. Dad told me you did and were already looking at law school.”
I gave him a half smile and was about to answer when Jenna interrupted me.
“Not wanting to sound rude, Miles…” She paused when her uncle stifled a laugh. “But have you been a part of the conversations between Aiden and your father?”
“Jenna, stop. This isn’t your battle to fight,” I said sternly.
“What battle, Aiden? And what are you asking, Jenna? Yes, I was a part of the conversations,” Miles fired back, clearly confused as to what was happening. He glanced back and forth between Jenna and me.
“Then you should know he has expressed his opinion about law countless times. You’re choosing to ignore it because you don’t agree,” she said with a good dose of heat. I rarely had people stand up for me, and seeing her do just it to my brother did all sorts of things to me.
Miles paled and looked at me for a solid minute in silence. “She’s right. Dad just told me you were lost and still partying and not focused on the future. I didn’t realize this was serious.”
The room stood silent, but I could feel the satisfaction radiating off Jenna. She’d accomplished her goal. She wanted my brother and me to talk it out, and we were about to.
“Let’s talk about this while we walk toward The Pit, okay?” I begged with my eyes and tone. I refused to dampen Jenna’s holiday with our family shit. Our discussion was overdue, and I had no fucking clue how it would go.
He gave me a small smile but nodded. Jenna came back to sit on the couch, but this time, she sat close enough to squeeze my arm.
The conversation picked up slightly, but it was loud enough for her to whisper, “I’m sorry for intruding, but you can do this. Fight for your future. I believe in you, Aiden. Believe in yourself.”
Chapter 25
The Heart Wants What It Wants-Jenna
“PASS the stuffing, would you?” I asked my grandpa, sitting by Cyn. She looked like she was about to pop. I was impressed she was still smiling. She’d almost canceled because she was cramping all day, but she rarely let anyone down. Plus, Gage would never turn down food. I could only imagine how much that hunk of a man ate.
He passed it over and winked. Never in my life had I felt more blessed than right now. The only people missing were Kennedy and Maya, but they were with their own families. Gage and Uncle Rich were arguing about some football match-up, and Miles even chimed in.
I looked over at Aiden and caught him staring.
“What, punk?” Whatever negative feelings I had toward him were nowhere in sight. His kind eyes, the sadness behind them, begged me to forget all about them.
“Nothing. I just, ah, am really thankful for you.” His dimples came out, and no one heard our private conversation or noticed my walls crashing down around me. They boomed, echoed in my head, and my heart was now up for grabs.
“Aw, thanks. I’m thankful for you, too.” I wasn’t prepared for the emotions hurtling through me.
I smiled, unsure how to deal. I finally had an inkling of the chaos Maya and Kennedy always talked about. The sweaty palms, the uncertainty…I got it, and I despised it.
“Miles and I had an honest-to-God real conversation on the walk here. He apologized for a lot of shit, and I told him about the shit I’m going through with our dad. It was refreshing to get it all off my chest.” He spoke softly, telling me about their resolution.
“I’m so proud of you.”
He beamed at my words, and I realized that was all he ever wanted from his family. Acceptance and being told he was worth something.
I had it very lucky. My family told me they were proud of me all the time. They would love me just the same whether I were a bartender, teacher, or scientist. They didn’t care. Although we came from different worlds, it didn’t mean one was better than the other. I wouldn’t trade Rich or my grandpa for anything in the world. Not money, cars, or clothes. Their support and love was enough. It always would be. I looked over at them, mid-conversation. They both had laughter lines on their faces. It was part of who they were, and my heart grew twice its size.
“Hey, Jenna, did you share the news with everyone?” Gage asked across the table, between bites of a roll.
“What news? The godmother? You posted shit online so everyone knows now. Old news, old man.” He was anything but old, but I couldn’t help messing with him. He was going to be the walking definition of a DILF. Dad I’d like to—
“No, the other news my wife told you without me. And please, call me old again…” His sexy eyes narrowed, and I regretted giving him shit. Gage was insanely hot and so out of this world I couldn’t banter with him without getting flustered.
I blushed and remembered how they were going to sign over part of the bar to me. “Uh, no. I didn’t know if Cyn was in her right mind. I ignored it. Haven’t thought about it since.”
“Hey, lady, I may be pregnant, but I’m still sane!” she protested, but Gage shook his head slightly behind her. We all chuckled, and she turned her stare on her husband. “Are you calling me crazy? You try carrying your nine-pound spawn for over nine months and not losing your mind.” She rubbed her hands over her belly and groaned. We all held our breath. She refused to head to the hospital despite the cramps because it was a couple weeks early.
Let Life Happen Page 17
