by Jules Dixon
Her fingers rounded my neck, and she pulled me down to her until our lips joined, and we kissed until we both needed oxygen. Every kiss with her, I wanted to absorb her into me to keep her safe and help her to feel safe.
She broke the kiss. “I need to visit the restroom before I go back to the table.”
“I’ll walk with you.”
“No, please go keep Aidan company. I’ll be right back.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. I’m fine.”
I guided her toward the restrooms and headed back to the table.
Now to get her brother to warm up, because he can be as chilly as the weather.
Chapter Eighteen
Avery
The bathroom mirror reflected where my emotions had been that night. My eyeliner was already a little smudged so I submitted to the look and smudged the other eye to match. I pulled lipstick from the convenient hidden pocket in my dress’s full skirt. A dress with pockets was an invention of the gods. I patted the other one to check … phone.
“Avery! There. You. Are!”
I froze as the words echoed in the small room.
Emerson’s long arms wrapped straightjacket-like around me. She backed away. “I’m sorry if I was abrupt. I forgot to tell a friend something and needed to talk to her.”
“Oh … okay.” I turned back to the mirror and finished applying my lipstick.
“So you’re seeing Bryson?”
“He’s my boyfriend,” I corrected her.
“Really? He didn’t introduce you that way.” She fluffed her hair in the mirror. “Not like Bryson to leave out details. You know, army training and all.”
He hadn’t said I was his girlfriend.
I swallowed. “It was nice to meet you.” I stepped around Emerson, but she grabbed my wrist and her sharp nails scratched my skin. The sting trailed up my arm.
“Avery, you need to know some things.”
I shook free and continued on my way to the door. She followed on my heels.
“He still loves my best friend Quinn, Avery.”
I stilled as I grabbed the door handle.
“He texted her ‘I love you’ today. I can prove it … she sent me a screenshot. She’s so happy.”
The reflective tiles on the bathroom entry walls turned the space into a shiny claustrophobic hell. Emerson’s bleached smile reflected in the glossy tile as she shoved her phone in my face. A screenshot of a text from Bryson with today’s date and Quinn’s relayed happiness to Emerson filled my vision.
“They were girlfriend and boyfriend for close to a year. I guess he just needed to get some commitment jitters out of his system before he came to his senses.”
I yanked the door open and scuttled away, but Emerson stayed right at my side. My heels squeaked on the wood floor as I slid to a stop, witnessing Bryson hugging a woman and she kissed his cheek.
“They’re so cute together.” Emerson sighed. “I just know she’ll be my sister soon, well, sister-in-law.”
Bryson introduced her to the table. She turned to Jake and gave him a long hug from behind.
Jake’s with Bryson? Where is Aidan?
“Avery, sweetie.” Emerson stepped in front of me. “It’s better you found out now. Bryson made a mistake. I’m sure he’s just being nice and doesn’t want to hurt your feelings. But I won’t stand by and let him suffer when he could be with the woman he loves, and that’s Quinn.” Emerson pointed with blue eyes that flared with something malicious, not the blue flame of passion that Bryson’s had for the last two weeks.
My legs wanted to cross the room to him but my brain was reviewing everything Emerson had said … and more.
This is fast. Maybe I don’t know him and should have waited.
Quinn was stunning. The way she grabbed his arm when she laughed at something he said tunneled into my chest like an icicle dripping into snow creating a slick hollow cavern.
Aidan’s voice broke my stare. “Hi, I’m Avery’s brother, Aidan.” He held out his hand.
“Emerson.” She shook his hand. “My brother needs me to help him with something. Excuse me.”
He pulled me into a hug when she left. “Something wrong, Avery?”
“I’m not feeling well. Can you take me home, please?”
“Sure, but don’t you want to tell Bryson?”
I turned and my heel slipped on a wet puddle of snow on the floor. I stepped out of both shoes and ran out of the front door. The bottoms of my bare feet stung with each step on the snow-packed sidewalk.
“Avery! Avery Jo Knicely! Stop!”
Aidan was rarely forceful with his language. I halted, but I couldn’t turn to face him. By the time he reached me, my cold legs gave out, and I crumpled into his warm body.
Aidan held me up. “Shit, you’re shaking. I’ll get you in the car, then I’ll go get our coats.”
“No. I don’t want my coat, and I’ll buy you a new one. I just want to go home.”
“What is wrong?”
The tracks of my tears crystalized on my face. My hands shook as I grabbed his arms. “I don’t know what to think or believe right now. I’m confused.” I rocked my head against Aidan’s chest. “Please take me home.”
He turned us both, and in a minute he was driving to my apartment.
The farther from Bryson we drove the louder my sobs became. My heart was attached to his and the love string was being pulled taut, ready to snap with the growing physical distance.
“Avery. Tell me what happened, please.”
After I choked out an explanation, Aidan pulled into a parking lot and spun the car around.
“We’re going back. I realize you’re new to this whole relationship thing, sis, but you need to ask Bryson what’s going on. Not assume you know what the situation is from some woman who sounds chemically imbalanced to me.”
“No! He texted Quinn. He told her ‘I love you’. I saw it.”
My phone buzzed in my pocket. I read the message. The string to Bryson snapped and my heart drained of blood.
My brother stared at me as we sat at the light to get back on the main thoroughfare.
“Aidan, are you going to support me or him?”
He shook his head and turned the car toward my apartment.
Chapter Nineteen
Bryson
“I’ll be right back,” Aidan said, answering his phone as he headed off toward the restrooms.
Someone surprised me with a hug from behind. I looked up. “Hey, Breigh. Didn’t know you would be here.” I stood to give her a real hug.
“Jake invited me this afternoon.” She glanced down at him, then leaned down to give him a kiss on his cheek.
Although the move seemed innocent enough, the shit-eating grin on his face told me he had other intentions.
Don’t even try it, Greenstein.
“Breigh, have you met Jude Saylor and Presley Bradenhurst?”
Breigh walked around the table and shook hands. She came back to my side and scanned the room. “I thought Sage and Rahl would be here tonight?”
With one eye trained on the bathroom, I listened in on the conversation.
Jude piped up and chuckled. “Rahl texted an hour ago. They’re running late. Sage had a breakdown because nothing fit. Jokingly, he volunteered to let her wear his army camo pants. Apparently, that was not the right thing to say to a woman over six months pregnant with triplets.”
The table’s occupants reacted with varying ranges of amusement, the men more than the women.
“What’s wrong with camo?” Jake leaned forward. “It’s timeless. Classic.”
Breigh rolled her eyes. “Only you would think that.” She leaned into me and whispered, “So where’s the new girl and did she wear jeans with heels?” She wrapped her arm around my shoulders, like I imagined real siblings did.
I turned my back to the table, and Breigh leaned in. “Bathroom. She’s been in there for a while. And no, she’s wearing this silver dress with these sparkling
heels. Even better.”
“You want me to go check on her?”
“Maybe,” I said. “Let’s see if she comes out in the next minute.”
“So, Greenstein, got any feelers out this evening?” Breigh ribbed him as she sat down.
“There are a couple girls here that I could see ending up on the Greenstein Midnight Express.”
“Greenstein Midnight Express?”
I tried to stop Breigh from asking, but I wasn’t fast enough.
This won’t end well.
“Yeah, I have a powerful engine and I can rock the bed rails ‘til morning.”
“Gross!” Breigh’s dark eyes rolled and she did her best not to laugh but she ended up letting go, and Jake smiled. The fact she enjoyed his brand of humor was somewhat disturbing to me.
My attention diverted to across the room. Aidan was blocking most of my view, but I saw Avery’s shoes sparkle in the holiday lights between his spread feet. He pulled her to him.
I stood and a hand touched my back.
“Hi, Bryson.”
I turned. “Quinn, hello. Excuse me.”
“I want to talk to you.” She clutched my arm. “Please.”
“Make it quick, Quinn.”
“I … I love you, too.”
“What?” I reeled back.
“I love you too, Bryson.”
Presley’s eyes met mine. Quinn’s thin fingers trailed along my arm, and I stepped to the side to break contact.
“I’m missing something here, Quinn. What did Emerson say to you?”
“I got your text today and I was so happy. I wanted you to know that I love you, too.”
I pulled out my phone and was rolling through texts when Emerson interrupted my train of thought. The long train of confused thoughts.
“Bro, Avery got sick. Her bro ginger took her home. So now we can party and you don’t have to pretend.”
“What?”
She left? Shit, I have to go.
“Maybe it’s for the best,” Emie blabbed. “I assumed you were just being nice ‘cause you invited her tonight and couldn’t back out. Now you and Quinn can—”
I ignored her and went back to my phone.
Shit.
I stared at my sister.
I fucked up.
But she’d played her checkmate on Avery, I was sure of it.
This had to end. The manipulation. The lies. All of it. The time was now—not later. Avery deserved a man who was willing to make her first in his life and protect her, even if that meant making his sister, and possibly his own mother, an enemy. It would hurt, but everything in me said having a life with Avery would soothe that pain.
“Emie, stay right here. I will deal with you in a minute.” I shoved her into a seat and Presley’s eyebrows furrowed. Jude whispered in her ear, and she looked torn. She sipped her water and her glare tore into me.
Jake stood and moved to beside Emerson. “I’ll keep her here.”
“I don’t need a babysitter.”
Jake leaned down and whispered, “No, you need a good spanking and to grow up.”
My sister glared at him.
I tugged on Quinn’s hand. “Come with me. We need to talk.” Presley watched as I led Quinn to a well-lit corner. “Quinn, I’m very sorry but the message I sent to you was meant for someone else. Your text came in while I was mid-text and I didn’t notice that I replied to you in error.”
Her brown eyes softened, and she dropped her gaze from mine. “I knew it. I sent your reply to Emerson and she got all excited and told me to surprise you tonight. I should’ve texted you back and asked, but part of me wanted it to be true.”
I shook my head. “But it’s not.”
“I need to stop listening to Emie. She’s—”
“Evil,” I inserted loud enough that people turned and stared. “Sorry.” I glanced to the table and no one was talking. Except for Emerson.
Quinn laughed. “I wouldn’t go that far, but I’m not sure I can be her friend anymore.”
“You can still be my friend.”
“I don’t think that’s possible either, Bryson.” Her eyes dropped again and shuttered closed.
“I’m sorry, Quinn.”
They reopened. “I know you are. I’m sorry for the way I treated you. If I had been a little less Emerson-like and a little more me, maybe you’d still be mine.”
“I don’t want to hurt you, but I really don’t think so. As soon as I saw my new girlfriend, Avery, I knew she was the one.”
Quinn’s eyes watered, but she smiled through the pain. “I hope to have someone as wonderful as you someday.”
“You will.” I brought her in for a hug. “Okay, I’m going to piss my sister off. If you feel the ground shaking and see lava … run.”
“I’ll be the first out the door. I’ll go keep Jake company while you take care of Mount Saint Emie.”
“You like Jake?”
“No!” She stretched the word and shook her head. “Jake isn’t a guy you like. He’s a guy you hang with when you have no other options ‘cause you know at least he’ll be amusing.”
I chuckled, but what I needed to finish took away my amusement.
“It’ll all work out, Bryson.”
A knot formed in my stomach. Quinn was a nice girl. It was my sister who corrupted lovely into offensive, and when it came to Avery, possibly scared her enough to feign an illness. It was time to face the real problem.
We crossed the room and the silence at the table was about what I expected.
“Come with me, Emerson.”
“I’d prefer to stay here with these people to enjoy their mind-blowing conversation.”
Jake lifted Emerson from her chair and set her on her feet. “Now. Keep moving.” He followed behind her, pointing her toward the front door.
I grabbed three coats from the table. “I’m going to go find Avery and take care of her. Everyone, have a good night.”
There were encouraging smiles all around the table and it helped to loosen that knot in my stomach. Presley’s genuine smile was the last one I took in.
“I promise to make this right, Presley.”
She nodded. “I know you will. Good night, Bryson.”
Jake gave me a fist-bump as he walked back to the table and pulled a chair next to him out for Quinn.
Walking toward Emerson, I pulled my phone from my pocket and texted Avery.
Bryson: I don’t know what happened but I’m on my way to your apartment to talk. Remember I don’t lie and I don’t cheat. You are my one. I’ll be there in less than twenty. I love you.
“Where’s your coat?” I asked Emerson as she crossed her arms.
“In my car. Why?”
“It’s time for you to leave. And by leave, I mean my life.”
Emerson tipped her head. “You’re just upset you screwed up with Avery.”
“No, I’m upset that you have meddled in my life again. I admit when I screw up and I will to Avery. I texted Quinn in error. The text was meant for Avery.”
Emerson rolled her eyes. “Whatever. You say the love word too fast, Bryson.”
She didn’t need to know it was the first time I’d ever said it. Her business was limited to knowing that I wouldn’t be part of her life, but looking at her, I wanted her to understand what love could really do to a person. And in her instance, maybe it could change her.
“What’s too fast? When it happens, you feel it and know it’s real. I hope someday you get the chance to feel the love of a special someone, Emerson, because there is nothing like it. Avery is the only girl I’ve ever loved and she will be the only girl I ever love. Even if I have to beg to have her back, after your stupid and heartless stunts and my mistake, I will. ‘Cause she’s worth it. Unlike you, who is no longer worth my energy. I will give you thirty seconds to leave and then I will get Uncle Blake, tell him what you’ve done, and he’ll make you leave.”
Emerson crossed her arms tighter. “Don’t think Mom won’t hav
e something to say.” Her deflection indicated where this conversation was going. I was done.
She is done in my life.
“Emerson, you’re twenty-four, fucking grow up and leave me alone.” I turned her toward the glass front doors. She stomped her way outside. Staying on her heels, I only stopped when a couple making their way out of the parking lot caught my eye, a very pregnant Sage with Rahl assisting her every step on the slick sidewalk.
I made it to them. “Can I help?”
Sage’s melodic voice flowed. “Bryson! That’s so nice of you but—”
“Yes, please,” Rahl grumbled his plea.
I grasped Sage’s other arm and assisted Rahl to get her inside. We stopped for Rahl to change out Sage’s snow boots for flat shoes, and I maintained her upright stance.
Rahl stood. “Better?”
Sage’s eyes sparkled at him. “Always.”
“Jude, Presley, Jake, and Breigh are over there.” I pointed to the table.
“Are you leaving?” Sage asked.
“Yeah. My girlfriend needs me to take care of her.”
Rahl’s large hand clasped my shoulder. “Avery’s a sweet girl. Take better than good care of her. Make it care that she feels even when you’re not there. Know what she needs and is thinking before she even thinks it. It’s what she deserves.”
Sage rolled into him and her big belly bounced with each jerk of her body. “Damn emotions,” she garbled.
Rahl chuckled and kissed her forehead. “Come on, honey, let’s go see Presley. Your friends are what you really need.”
Sage nodded into his chest.
“Thanks, Rahl. I have a mistake to make up for.”
Rahl’s eyebrows rose slightly and he grasped my shoulder. “Make it the last mistake, Welch. I don’t want to have to tell Jude I was wrong when I told him you’d be the right one.”
I swallowed and straightened my back. “Yes, sir.”
“At ease, soldier. Now, go get the girl.”
I was in my truck and barreling down the road before his words really hit me. To have Rahl admit that he went the extra mile to see that Avery and I found each other and happiness—that was what family did. My new family was the one I had at work, and if I could get her to see what had happened and see that my mistake was an honest one, Avery’s family would be mine, too. The weight lifted from my shoulders. Dad and I could be a version of our family, but removing myself from my mother and sister lifted a burden of responsibility. They were adults. They would be fine.
