Live Like You Mean It

by Ava Stone

  “You want some lemonade, Brody?”

  “Yes, please,” I said, trying to make sure I sounded as nice and polite as possible, which wasn’t like me at all. But if this interview went well, I’d be able to see Leah, and there wasn’t anything else I wanted more than that. So nice and polite I’d have to be.

  Mrs. Willett handed me a glass and gestured to the breakfast table behind me. “You can sit down if you want.”

  I sat and watched Leah arranged my roses in a vase and then fill it with water. She grinned at me as she put them in the middle of the table and took a spot next to me. God, just being near her made me happy. I could—

  “So, Brody,” Mrs. Willett began as she put a cheese plate on the table, “you’re a student at Wheston too?”

  “Yeah.” I nodded. “Business major.”

  “Oh.” Her eyes widened as she dropped into a seat at the table across from Leah. She looked surprised, and I couldn’t help but smile. I didn’t look like a business major, not at all. Most of them walked around like they had sticks up their asses. Most of them looked like Braden. “And what sort of business are you interested in?”

  “Music,” I said before I thought the better of it. Shit. She wouldn’t like that answer. “But,” I added hastily, “my father runs a private management firm in Atlanta. He wants me to take a position there while I work on an MBA at Georgia State.” The fact that I didn’t plan on doing what my father wanted was inconsequential at the moment.

  “I see.” She nodded. “You’re a senior?”

  “Yeah.” I shifted a little in my seat. “I graduate this winter.”

  Her brow lifted. “Winter? That’s a little unusual.”

  My whole life was unusual. “I’m pretty much on my own track. I took a few years to travel Europe before I started school.” And I would still be doing that too if my mother hadn’t begged and pleaded for me to come home. When Dad’s manipulations didn’t work on me, he’d made Mom’s life miserable until I fell in line. Mom was my Achilles’ heel and he knew it. “You’re only young once, right?”

  “Where were you?” Mrs. Willett asked. “In Europe, I mean.”

  “All over.” I smiled, remembering those days. Honest to God, they were some of the best in my life. “But mostly Amsterdam. There’s this really cool artist vibe there.” And lots of pot. The good shit too. “I had a great apartment near the Prinsengracht.”

  She frowned at me. “I don’t know where that is.”

  “Sorry.” I shook my head. “Near the city center. The Anne Frank House is real close by.”

  “Lots of drugs in Amsterdam,” she said, her eyes keenly on me as if trying to determine how much I’d done over there just from looking at me. I didn’t think she could tell, which was a good thing.

  “Mom!” Leah heaved a sigh.

  Mrs. Willett looked from me to her daughter. “I think it’s an appropriate question, Leah.”

  “Look, you bullied me into this. And Brody was nice enough to come over here and meet you. There’s no reason to act like he’s a criminal.”

  Her mother blinked. “I don’t think I asked him if he’s ever been arrested.” Then she looked at me. “You haven’t been, have you?”

  I laughed and shook my head. “Not even once. I’m very boring, ma’am.”

  “I somehow doubt that,” she said, but she did smile, which I took as a good sign.

  The black and white cat meowed from the doorway and Mrs. Willett turned her attention to the animal.

  “Oh.” She pushed out of her chair and scooped the cat into her arms. “What is it, my little angel?”

  Leah rolled her eyes. “Mom,” she began, “we should really get going to Brody’s practice, if you’re satisfied he’s not some degenerate.”

  Mrs. Willett looked up from adoring her cat with an annoyed expression. “Don’t start, Leah. There’s no reason I shouldn’t meet any young man you’re involved with.”

  Leah’s mouth fell open in shock.

  Of course, there were several reasons I could think of off the top of my head why she wouldn’t want to meet me. The first being, we weren’t really involved yet. But as I had every intention of being involved with Leah and as long as I was the only guy Mrs. Willett was demanding to meet, I’d leave it at that. “I don’t mind at all.” I smiled at her mom. “It was nice meeting you, Mrs. Willett.”

  “It was nice meeting you too, Brody. We always do Sunday brunch here if you want to come by in the morning.”

  Sunday brunch? I couldn’t remember the last time I had a home cooked meal. Maybe a decade and even then my mom hadn’t done the cooking. Leah shrugged as if to say it was up to me. And if it was up to me, I’d spend every waking hour with her. “That sounds great,” I said as I stood up. “Thanks.”

  “Bye, Mom.” Leah took my hand and started dragging me from the kitchen.

  “Drive safe, ok?” Mrs. Willett called after us.

  Drive safe? It was the middle of day, but I nodded anyway since she seemed to like me and I didn’t want to change that. “Oh, yeah, of course. Always.”

  “Bye, Mom,” Leah said again as we stepped into the hallway. Then once it was just the two of us, she whispered, “Thank you,” to keep her mother from overhearing her.

  “Where’s your son?” I asked. I mean, I’d been anxious about the little boy’s existence ever since I learned about him. Seemed weird I hadn’t met him while I was here.

  “He’s napping.” Leah opened the front door and pulled me out onto the stoop with her.

  Napping? I guessed I’d meet him at brunch the next morning, then. That gave me one more day to stress about it.

  “You’re a saint to have done that.” Leah smiled up at me and all thoughts of stress vanished into thin air.

  No one had ever called me a saint before, and I couldn’t help but smile a little wickedly. “Oh, I’ll let you make it up to me, beautiful. Don’t worry about that.”

  “Oh, yeah?” Her gray eyes twinkled a bit wickedly too. “What do you have in mind, handsome?”

  Oh, I had a lot of ideas. “Just wait and see.”

  I was in serious trouble. The more time I spent with Brody, the faster and harder I was falling for him. I kept telling myself to be careful and take things slow, but…He made me want to throw all caution to the wind – have fun, enjoy every moment of life, and live like I was young and carefree.

  He glanced over at me as he shifted his Jeep into fourth. “I always liked driving stick until now.”

  He was right handed. His stitches probably pinched each time he had to shift gears. “I’m sorry about your hand.”

  He seemed to bite back a smile, and it made me think there was something I didn’t get. There probably was, but I didn’t have any idea what it could be.

  “I didn’t know you lived in Amsterdam,” I said, changing the subject as he downshifted to turn onto Farm Road 1920.

  A smile lit his lips. “It was awesome. I wish I was still there.” Then he winked at me. “Well, sometimes.”

  He went back into fourth and then fifth as we raced along the country road, not exactly the safe driving Mom had mentioned, but I wouldn’t have changed it for anything. Being with Brody made me feel more alive than I had in the longest time.

  “So, brunch,” he began. “What is that?”

  “Brunch?” I grinned at him. “It’s kind of a mix of breakfast and lunch. Late morning.”

  He shot me a less than amused look out of the corner of his eye. “I know what brunch is. I mean what should I expect tomorrow?”

  So he really meant to come, huh? And I’d worried about sending him a message by having to meet my mother. “Mom’s done it forever,” I explained. Even back before dad died. “It’s just a way to make sure we all see each other once a week no matter how busy we are with our lives.”

  He grunted in response to that, and I didn’t know what that meant.

  “So, you’re welcome to come,” I continued. “Mike and his girlfriend will be there. Jaso
n and his mom.”

  “Jason?” He grimaced slightly. “He actually shows up?”

  Why wouldn’t he? Jason was the most dependable person I knew. “Only for the last dozen years or so.”

  Brody pulled up to The Closet self-storage. Very odd place to practice, if you asked me. But then I’m sure no one would hear them out here.

  Brody drove through the security gate and all the way to the back row of units. “We’re right there.” He gestured to one of the larger doors, then he parked off to the side. He leaned toward me and squeezed my thigh, making tingles course through me. “If I didn’t have a stick, I’d have done this the whole way here.” He grinned right before he softly brushed his lips against mine.

  I couldn’t help but sigh. I could kiss him all day and never want it to stop. But he pulled back, smiled at me as though he knew how crazy he drove me, and then opened the glove box to retrieve a little key.

  “We have a futon mattress in there.” He slid from his Jeep and started toward the band’s storage unit.

  A futon mattress? Did that mean he wanted…I mean, I’m sure he wanted it. I wanted it too. But a dirty futon mattress in a storage unit? “Brody,” I called, exiting my side of the Jeep. “What are you doing?”

  He unlocked the large metal door and pushed it upward. “Setting up.”

  Setting up? “A futon mattress?”

  “Unless you want to stand or sit on the ground the whole time.” His blue eyes sparkled with wickedness as he started back toward me. “Or did you have something else in mind, Leah?” He captured my waist with both hands and smiled seductively. “Please tell me you’re being a naughty girl.”

  Oh! “You set me up for that,” I accused. But I didn’t really mind it, not when he squeezed my waist and inched my dress up in his hands.

  “And you so willingly fell.” Then he slid his hands beneath my dress, his fingers brushing across my belly, alighting a flame within me, making my pussy pulse with need.

  “What are you doing?” I asked, though I had a fairly good idea.

  “Letting you make this morning up to me.”

  Those words made tingles race across my skin. He leaned forward and kissed me again.

  My eyes fluttered closed and I was lost. The only thing I was able to do was kiss him back. When I touched my tongue to his, he groaned low in his throat and tightened his hold on my waist.

  My heart hammered in my chest as my nipples rubbed against the lace of my bra. I grasped onto Brody’s arms to keep from melting in a heap at his feet.

  And then his hand slid higher until he cupped my breast. I thought for sure I was about to go up in flame. My nipples peaked, straining for his touch. God, I needed that so badly.

  “You have the softest skin,” he whispered across my lips right before he ran his fingers over my nipple and squeezed it slightly.

  I thought I’d unravel right then. If he’d just squeeze it a little tighter. If he’d just—

  The mechanical clanking of the metal gate sounded in the distance, and my eyes flew open as I snapped back to the present. Someone was coming.

  What were we doing in the middle of the day, out in the open for anyone to see? I’d gone and lost my mind.

  Brody’s eyes locked with mine and he smoothed my dress back into place. Then he softly kissed me once more. “You’re gonna drive me crazy,” he whispered.

  Drive him crazy? I wasn’t even in my right mind. “No one saw anything, did they?”

  “Daniel was too far away to see anything,” he assured me.

  “Daniel?” Their keyboardist? I’d never be able to look him in the eyes if he’d seen us just now.

  Brody shook his head. “He’s always early. He has gotta get a life.” Then he leaned closer to me and pressed a kiss to my brow. “Come by my apartment tonight after work?”

  So we could pick up where we left off? In the privacy of his bedroom? That did seem to be a better choice than out in the open at a storage unit. I nodded quickly. “Ok.”

  Not even a minute later, a black Jetta pulled up behind Brody’s Jeep. A lean, dark-haired guy got out of the car. “Cade swears he’s gonna be on time,” he said as he started toward us.

  “Cade swears a lot of things,” Brody replied as he slid his arm around my shoulders like he’d done the night at the grill. And I was happy to have him right at my side, to feel like he really wanted me there.

  His friend’s dark gaze landed on me and he smiled. “Leah, right?”

  “Yeah.” I nodded.

  “Daniel.” He gestured to himself.

  “Thanks for letting me hear you practice.”

  He shrugged like it was no big deal. “Yeah, anytime. Just don’t, uh, Facebook this or anything.” He gestured to the collection of storage units all around us. “We kinda like to keep an allure about the group and this isn’t really the image we’re going for.”

  I laughed. “Yeah, no problem. I don’t even have a Facebook page.”

  Brody didn’t seem surprised by that revelation, but Daniel’s eyes grew wider. “You don’t have a Facebook page?”

  And hadn’t for a long time. I knew who my real friends were. They were the ones who hadn’t abandoned me in high school when I needed them. There weren’t a ton of them, but I didn’t need them to like a post to know they cared about me. And the others, the pretend friends…Well, I didn’t have time for them at all. I didn’t really want to explain all of that though, not to Daniel and maybe not even to Brody. “Not anymore.” I shrugged. “Anyone I really want to keep up with, I do in person.”

  “No one I miss from high school either.” Brody squeezed my shoulder, like he could tell what I’d been thinking. He couldn’t really see all of that written on my face, could he? “But like Daniel said, we have an image we’re selling.”

  “Well, as long as we’re safe then,” Daniel began, glancing at Brody, “Should we lay the futon on the ground for her?”

  “I was just getting ready to do that.” Brody squeezed my arm and then started toward the open unit with his friend.

  It didn’t take them long to drag out a fairly clean futon mattress toward the open space where I was standing. “What’s with the futon?” I asked after they placed it on the pavement in front of me.

  “Soundproofing.” Daniel dusted his hands on his jeans. “But we won’t need that today.”

  Huh. I would have never thought of using futon mattresses as soundproofing. Of course, I never needed soundproofing. “You need any help with anything?” I asked, stepping closer to the open doorway where the two of them were moving around some heavy-looking black boxes.

  “You ever hook up speakers and amps?” Daniel asked.

  “Uh, no.” I shook my head.

  “Yeah, then we’ve got it.” The keyboardist laughed as he picked up another black box.

  Brody shot me a smile that went right to my toes. God, I could just look at him all day, especially him lifting heavy boxes. He was even sexier than usual.

  I leaned against the corner of the unit as they started plugging cables from their instruments into their amps. It was just a storage unit off 1920, but I swear they had enough equipment to fill the Kennedy Center.

  A little red convertible drove through the metal gate, and Brody poked his head out of the unit to see who was coming our way. “Right on time.” He grinned at Daniel. “You must have struck the fear of God in him.”

  Daniel shrugged. “Whatever works.”

  Cade. I recognized him from that day in the parking lot at Brody’s apartment, now that the car was closer. He turned off the ignition, stepped out of his car, and tossed his sunglasses into the driver’s seat. Wow! He had an ugly black eye, all green and yellow. It was definitely healing, but it wasn’t pretty.

  When Cade spotted me, he stopped where he stood and just stared at me like I was some foreign species he’d never seen before. “What’s she doing here?” he grumbled.

  Shit. He hated me already and he hadn’t even met me. And he was Brody�
��s roommate. That sucked.

  “She,” Brody stressed the word, “has come to hear us practice. And you won’t be a dick.”

  Cade nodded curtly at me. “Hey,” he said half-heartedly.

  “Hey,” I returned cheerfully, since I had to say something and he clearly wasn’t happy that I was there.

  Daniel snorted and said to Brody, “I thought you said he’s been in a better mood now that he’s getting laid.”

  “Fuck you, Daniel,” Cade brushed past me into the unit.

  “Hey!” Brody narrowed his eyes on the drummer. “I’m only letting Kelly stay because you’re not as big of a dick anymore. So knock it off.”

  “Yeah, whatever.” He started for the drums in the far corner.

  Wow. He was moody. Moody. I’d never seen anyone quite like that. Was it me he objected to or just the world in general? I wished I knew. I’d have been more comfortable if I knew.

  The metal gate opened once more and a familiar silver Fusion drove into the complex. Jason. At least he didn’t hate me.

  I smiled at the thought of hearing him sing today. Other than a stray tune here or there, I never heard him sing anymore. There was never really an opportunity for him to sing at Sunday brunch or in the middle of the night when he helped me wrangle Winston back in the house. But he had an amazing voice, one you could never forget, and one that you couldn’t help but smile when you heard.

  Jason got out of his car and started for the unit.

  “Hey, Jase,” I said brightly.

  He stopped in his tracks and blinked at me like I was some sort of ghost. “Hey, Leah.” Then his green eyes flicked from me to Brody and back again. “What are you doing here?”

  “Came to hear you practice.”

  He looked at Brody once more. “Does Mike know you’re here?”

  “I’m fine.” I couldn’t help but laugh. Never once in my life had I ever checked in with my brother. Not during my wilder days and certainly not now.

  “Yeah, I thought there was a no girls rule for practices,” the drummer grumbled as he dropped onto the stool behind his bass drum.