My Brother's Best Friend (The Lakeland Boys Book 3)

by G. L. Snodgrass

  Those little things that a guy needs to be shown the first time.

  Then, when I got older, he had Jason and me working construction for him. It was like someone had opened a whole new world for me. Introduced me to the pure pleasure of building something. Something new that didn’t exist before I put it together.

  It had been Mr. Turner who gave me my first hammer, a Stanley twenty-two ounce Fatmax. A man’s tool. A Christmas present that I still used on every job.

  And now, here I was, mooning over his daughter. It was like I was stabbing him in the back.

  Of course, that didn’t mean I was going to stop feeling the way I felt. That was downright impossible. No, I’d just have to live with the guilt.

  And all we’d done was kiss.

  When I got home from school that Friday I headed straight for the basement. It had become my room. I was crashing on the couch. It had its own bathroom. Best of all, I didn’t feel like I was disturbing the family. It was almost like having my own little apartment.

  I’d barely tossed my books onto the floor next to the couch when I heard the upstairs door slowly open with a long creak.

  Marla slowly made her way downstairs. My heart jumped as I swallowed hard. She was alone. This was the first time we’d been alone since the day of the fight with my dad. It had been difficult, but somehow, we’d avoided ever being just the two of us.

  Now. Here she was, breaking the unspoken rule.

  Folding her hands in front of her, she studied the carpet for a long minute before taking a deep breath, and saying, “We need to talk.”

  It was as if someone had unblocked a drain. A thousand thoughts rushed into my mind. None of them good.

  “Yes, I know,” I said. Best to get this over with. No use denying it.

  Marla was quiet for a moment then looked at me. “I don’t know what’s going on. I can’t keep doing this.”

  I nodded slowly. “I understand,” I said. Her brow was scrunched up in pain. Keeping a secret from her family must be eating her up inside.

  I took a heavy sigh and said, “I’ll move out, Nick ...”

  “Move out?” she said, “Why?” Her eyes narrowed as she studied me for a long minute. I swear the girl was wondering if I was a complete idiot.

  Now I was confused.

  “I know you don’t like keeping secrets from your family ...” I started to say.

  “My family,” she asked again, shaking her head. “Screw them. I don’t care what they know or don’t know.”

  “Then what don’t you understand?”

  She paused again as a faint pink painted her cheeks. She squared her shoulders and looked at me. I could tell she was having difficulty, but she finally blurted out. “Us,” she said. “I don’t understand. You kiss me. Twice, I might add. Say you have feelings for me. Then nothing. Ten days of pure agony waiting to see what happens next. And nothing.”

  Her eyes were getting ready to shoot fire. I tried not to smile. The girl could do angry better than anyone I know.

  “I walk into a room,” she continued, and you disappear like a wisp of smoke. What? Didn’t you mean it, what you said to me, right here in this room ten days ago?”

  Her eyes had shifted from angry to hurt, and it pulled at my heart. The one thing I couldn’t handle was the idea of Marla being hurt. Especially if I was the one doing it.

  Nope, not going to happen.

  “Marla,” I said as I brought both hands up to gently hold her shoulders. “That’s not it, and you know it.”

  “How Tank? How am I supposed to know it?” she said as her eyes flashed back to angry.

  My heart pounded in my chest as I looked down at her beautiful face. Even when she was mad at me, she was still prettier than anything else in this world.

  I didn’t think, the words wouldn’t have come to me anyway. I did what I wanted to and pulled her closer so I could kiss her.

  She sighed heavily as she melted into me. Her body pressed next to mine as her lips begged for more.

  It was like the world disappeared. There was only Marla and myself. All my problems, guilt about my dad, worries about my mom. What I was going to do after I graduated. Everything disappeared.

  Without thinking, my hands roamed to the small of her back as her arms draped around my neck, holding onto me like I was her only grip on reality.

  We kissed, our lips taking and giving. Learning about each other.

  I was lost.

  Then, off in the far distance, a noise interrupted me. Something important my brain tried to tell me. But the fog of Marla blocked it out.

  “Hey Tank, You down here?” Jason called from the top of the stairs.

  Both Marla and I instantly sprang apart. Like two magnets with the same polarity.

  My guts turned over as I glanced towards the stairs. My lungs refused to work as my heart raced.

  Jason was walking down, acting as if he hadn’t seen a thing. Amber coming down behind him. Her soft steps hidden in the heavy clump of Jason’s boots.

  I glanced at Marla. Her lips looked swollen, and her eyes held a guilty expression that she couldn’t hide. I was positive that I looked just as guilty.

  Nobody could have missed it. Nobody but Jason. The boy was oblivious. That was what comes from having a perfect life. He just never assumed the rest of the world was as screwed up as it was.

  Amber though, she didn’t miss a thing. She shot Marla a look, then turned to me, her stare appraising me and what she thought might have just been happening.

  I held my breath. If she spilled the news. I had a sinking feeling I was going to lose a best friend. That emotion was fighting with the pure pleasure rushing through me at the memory of kissing Marla again.

  “Hey, what you doing down here, Sis?” he asked as he plopped down on the couch and held up a controller for me. “You ready to get your butt kicked in Madden again,” he asked me.

  Marla swallowed hard as she glanced at me, then looked towards Amber, silently begging her to play along.

  “Mom told me to check on Tank’s cuts. To make sure none of them got infected.”

  Amber smiled and shook her head.

  Jason just nodded as he shuffled through the game to find the team he wanted.

  I had to hide a smile, the girl was a pro. Especially when it came to deceiving her brother.

  “Are they?” Jason asked as he started setting his team.

  “Are they what?” Marla asked, her forehead creased with confusion.

  “Infected,” Jason said.

  “Um no,” she said. “They are all good. But he should have gotten stitches like I told him.”

  Jason smiled and nodded. “Yeah, he is stubborn. But lovable.”

  It felt as if the world was getting back on an even footing. Like it wasn’t going to tip over into oblivion.

  “Hey, aren’t you going to set your team?” he asked me.

  It took me a moment to get my head around the idea that we had gotten away with it. He hadn’t seen us together. Hadn’t seen me kissing Marla.”

  “Um, what about Amber? Don’t you want to play with her?”

  Amber blushed for some reason.

  Jason smiled and said, “We’re going to the movies later. We made a deal. She gets to pick the movie if I get to hang with you for a while.”

  “Besides,” Amber interjected, “he’s tired of getting beaten by a girl.”

  Jason flashed me a smile, “There is that as well.”

  I sat down next to him, silently shooting Marla a raised eyebrow. We had come close to disaster. But it looked like we were going to avoid it. She smiled sweetly and sat on the couch arm next to me.

  The soft curve of her hip called to me as her fresh flowery perfume washed over me.

  “Hey, why don’t you come Tank, to the movies tonight?” Jason said out of nowhere. “Maybe if you come, Amber will take pity on me. We’re meeting Nick and Jenny. You should come, you need to get out.”

  I almost coughed but held myse
lf together. Jason pushed his running back up the middle as the game began.

  “No, I don’t think so. The last thing I want to do is be the fifth wheel.” I answered as I tried to focus on the game.

  Jason nodded as he set up for the next play, then smiled at me. “Hey, I’m sure we can find someone for you. If we try real hard,” his teasing smile let me know that he wasn't serious.

  “How about you guys?” Jason said to his sister and girlfriend. “Do you know anyone that we can set up with Tank? Pretty, not too smart, okay with clumsy big guys who don’t like to talk.”

  My stomach dropped as I glanced over at Marla. She looked like she wanted to take off the top of Jason’s head and fill it with used cat litter. The girl was royally pissed.

  “No, that’s, okay,” I said before she could get too upset.

  “Hey, I know,” Amber said with a sweet smile. “We should take Marla with us.”

  Jason’s brow narrowed as he continued to move his players on the screen. “Marla?” he asked as if someone had suggested he move to Mars for the weekend.

  I glanced over at Marla, her face had lost any trace of anger and turned as white as vanilla ice-cream.

  “Yeah,” Amber said as she slipped her arm into Jason’s. “We’ll never find anyone this late on a Friday afternoon. Besides. Tank owes her for all the nursing she’s had to do. Isn’t that right, Tank?”

  I might not be the smartest person. But I know when I’m being given a present. Amber was quickly becoming one of my most favorite people.

  “Yeah, sure, I do owe her. If she wants to come, it’d be fine with me.”

  Jason shrugged his shoulders. “Sure, she can tag along. But she doesn’t get a vote on what movie we see.”

  Amber laughed. “Neither do you, dear,” she said as she patted his arm.

  Marla looked at her brother like he was pond scum.

  “What about me?” she asked. “Don’t I get to say something? Did it ever occur to you I might have plans? It is Friday night.”

  Jason paused the game and looked at his sister. I swear it was the first time he’d really looked at her since he stepped into the room.

  “Do you?” he asked.

  Marla’s white face instantly turned beet red as she shook her head. “No, but I might have,” she said.

  “I didn’t think so.”

  “Hey,” she yelled as she stood up, her hands on her hips. “You don’t know. I might have.”

  “Nope. No way,” he said as he started the game again.

  “How can you know?”

  “Simple,” Jason said. “Dad wasn’t cleaning his shotgun.”

  I gulped and remained laser focused on the TV. If I looked at Jason, he’d see the truth in an instant. I knew he was only kidding about his dad. At least I hoped he was only kidding.

  “Great,” Amber said as she jumped up. “Come on Marla, Let’s leave these Neanderthals to their game, while we go figure out which movie they will hate the most.”

  “Hey, just remember. I get to pick the next one,” Jason said to Amber as he pushed a player over the goal line and slapped me on the back.

  Once they’d left the room, Jason leaned over to me and said, “Hey, thanks for agreeing to let Marla tag along. Something has been weird with her for the last couple of weeks. I don’t know what it is, maybe you can talk to her. Find out what’s going on. It’s some secret thing she’s not telling anyone. That’s not like her. Usually, she’s over-sharing information. Now I can’t get a thing out of her.

  I held my breath as I slowly nodded. If I spoke and my voice cracked, I’d be dead.

  Chapter Ten

  Marla

  I held my breath as Amber and I walked upstairs to my room.

  A date that was not a date. Sort of. My mind reeled as I tried to come to grips with what had just happened. Tank had just asked me to the movies. Well, he’d agreed that he wouldn’t mind if I tagged along. The same thing, right?

  Amanda kept shooting me looks, then trying real hard not to smile like a Cheshire cat.

  “What?” I demanded as we went into my room.

  “Nothing,” Amber said as she threw her hands up in defense.

  I ignored her as I went to my closet to try and figure out something to wear. It couldn’t be too sexy, or Jason would throw a fit. It had to be something that Tank liked. Something that would make him glad to be seen with me in public.

  Pulling out tops, I showed them to Amber for her opinion.

  “You know,” she said, “Jason asked me the other day if something was going on between you and Tank.”

  “What?” I asked, freezing in place, unable to believe what I had just heard. Amber knew about my feelings for Tank. She’d known the first day she moved next door. I was that obvious. But she’d kept my secret. One of the many reasons I loved her.

  “What did you tell him?” I asked, holding my breath.

  “I told him not to be ridiculous.” She smiled. “It wasn’t a lie. That statement could apply to a great many parts of his life. Besides, as far as I knew. Nothing was going on between you two. Just a sad fixation on your part. But nothing a big brother needed to worry about.”

  I tried not to laugh. Amber being Amber.

  “But,” she continued, “that was before I saw what I think I just saw.”

  My stomach fell. I knew we hadn’t gotten away with it. “How’d you know?”

  “Unless I’m wrong,” she said, “Tank doesn’t wear lipstick. At least not the same shade as yours.”

  My heart sank to my stomach as my chin dropped to my chest. What an idiot I could be. How had Jason missed it?

  Amber smiled as her head tilted to one side and she raised an eyebrow. She held that pose for a long minute. Waiting for me to tell everything.

  The silence built up between us. The pressure to tell kept growing and growing inside of me. I had to tell someone, or I would burst.

  I thought of what it felt like to be in Tank’s arms, and a smile a mile wide broke out on my face.

  “I knew it,” Amber squealed. “Tell me everything. Was that the first time you guys kissed? Did we break up a beautiful moment?”

  I slowly shook my head. “It wasn’t our first time kissing.”

  “What? When? Come on, tell me.”

  So, I did. The relief was immediate. Letting loose of this secret was cathartic. I hadn’t realized how much it hurt to keep it bottled up inside of me. Besides, I got to brag about being kissed by Tank Gunderson. The hottest guy, and sweetest soul in the universe.

  Amber squealed with me at all the appropriate moments. I could tell she was happy about it. And, what was most important. She didn’t think I was stupid for thinking a guy like Tank could like someone like me. She just accepted it as quite obvious. Like I said, Amber is the best of people.

  “Come on,” she said as she pulled me back to the closet. “We’ve got to find the perfect outfit.”

  “Why? It’s not a date,” I said. “As far as everyone else knows. I’m just tagging along.”

  She laughed. “Believe me, the rest of the world can think what it wants. The important thing is that both you and Tank think it’s a date. That makes it a date.”

  Like I said, Amber is the best of people.

  .o0o.

  My stomach was tied up in a knot tighter than a four-year-old’s shoe lace.

  Mom had let us borrow her car instead of Jason’s truck. She gave me a curious frown when she found out I was going. But didn’t say anything. I thought for sure she’d make some comment about me thinking I was older than I was, but she held it to herself. However, I could tell something was percolating in her brain.

  The ride to the movies was as tense as anything I’d ever experienced before. Tank looked big and strong in a blue flannel shirt and perfect jeans. The man was like an advertisement for manliness and the all its deliciousness. The bruises and cuts had disappeared. I’d been right, he did have a small scar at the top of his forehead.

  We s
at in the back, neither of us talking. About a mile of seat between the two of us.

  I wondered what he thought about. What did he think of what I was wearing? Was it okay enough for him?

  After a long afternoon of pure angst, I’d settled on a peasant blouse and my best jeans. The ones that made me look older.

  He’d smiled when I came downstairs, and for just an instant I thought I saw a look of lust in his eyes. The kind of look that could make a girl’s knees grow weak and wobbly.

  Then it was gone, and I couldn’t tell if it had been a phantom or if he was hiding it from Jason. For the briefest of minutes, I wanted to grab him by the collar and make him look at me like that again. I didn’t care who knew, not if Tank Gunderson looked at me like I was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

  Nick and Jenny met us outside the movies. He was holding her hand. Like they’d been boyfriend and girlfriend for two years instead of two weeks. I shook my head. This was Nick Parsons we were talking about. I had always thought that there wasn’t a girl in the world who could make him do all that romantic stuff.

  But here he was, gaga over the preacher’s daughter.

  When he saw me with the rest of them, Nick’s eyebrow shot up for a quick moment. I braced myself for some snide comment about Jason having to babysit his little sister.

  Jenny shot him a quick look, and he bit off what he was going to say.

  I quickly glanced at Amber. Had she told Jenny? A guilty look shot across her face. The thought scared me for a moment. The more people who knew, the more chance of it getting out. On the other hand, it sure looked like Jenny had just saved me from an awkward moment.

  “The line’s a mile long,” Jason said. “I don’t know if we will find six seats together. Not in a good spot anyway.”

  Amber slipped her arm through his and whispered something in his ear. Probably something about being alone in a dark movie theater with him.

  He blushed for just a moment then shrugged his shoulders. “If we don’t. We’ll just meet up here later. I feel Sam’s Banana cream pie calling me.”

  “You haven’t even filled up on popcorn and candy, and you’re already thinking about pie?” Amber said.

  He laughed and slipped his arm around her.