Fucking Ash. Figures he would be mixed up in a fight between two women. Who knows what he did to piss them off. Did he flirt with that other one while he was with Hannah, and she caught him? Of course, if I’d done that, both of the women would be attacking me instead of each other. Leave it to Ash to get women to fight over him.
Before I knew it, Beth was walking briskly towards them and I had to jog for a moment to catch up. I watched Hannah disappear into the crowd as Ash continued to deal with his other girl problem. Beth and I moved to intercept her sister.
We spotted her emerge from the crowd a little way away from us, her long brown hair framing her beautiful face while also making the anger in her eyes seem even more severe. Women usually only had two emotions when it came to my brother: lust and fury. He liked to think that he always left the trail of women behind him happy to have just had the Ash experience, but the reality was that he was simply oblivious to how many of them ended up with broken hearts. I didn’t even need to hear the story this time.
I was actually happy that Beth asked me to get her some cotton candy. “Hannah looks upset, I should talk to her alone.”
I didn’t need to be told twice. I turned on my heel and headed back the way we came, seeking out the candy vendor and taking my time at it. I made sure not to lose sight of them as I waited in line, though, just in case.
From a distance, I watched as Sarah met up with Hannah, and then the two of them ducked into a little photo booth, drawing the curtain closed for privacy. Then Ash arrived, having finally rid himself of the other woman, and tried in vain to get Hannah to talk to him. She kept ducking back behind the curtain, but he was pretty insistent.
Cotton candy in hand, I started back towards them. Before I made it there, Beth jumped out of the booth, leaving the two of them behind to work things out on their own. I flagged her down.
“What was that about?” I didn’t really even want to know, but thought it would be weird if I didn’t at least feign interest.
“I’m not really sure,” Beth said, her face scrunching up in the cutest way. “Hannah didn’t really want to talk about it, she just said that Ash was a typical man and that she shouldn’t have expected anything else from him, whatever that means. She actually seemed more concerned about what happened to Sarah when I told her about that. She said the argument with that other woman looked worse than it was.” Beth lifted her eyebrow when she said that last part, and then sighed. “After learning that people fight for entertainment around here, maybe that’s true. I guess I still have a lot to learn about the English world… Anyway, she told me to go and find Sarah and Reid, she thinks it’s time to go home.”
I nodded, hiding the grimace that threatened to break across my face. I would have liked more time to spend with Beth, we had just started to get into a groove. Leave it to Ash to screw things up because he couldn’t keep it in his pants.
But then I felt Beth slip her hand into mine, the cool soft skin of her palm making it impossible for me to hold onto my anger, and I relaxed. She was smiling, from her lips right up to her eyes when I looked over at her, and I couldn’t help but return the look as we left to find our siblings.
7
Beth
“Oh, Sarah, you look beautiful,” I gushed, trying my best to sound sincere. Not that I was being dishonest—she really did look stunning—but I didn’t think that she believed it.
“This dress is scandalous,” she remarked, staring at her bare arms in the mirror as she did up the top most button on her blouse that Hannah had purposefully left undone.
“It’s modern,” Hannah replied. As soon as Sarah dropped her arms, Hannah reached over and undid the top button again, ignoring the glare that our sister shot her.
“What do you really think, sister?” Sarah asked, turning to me with pleading eyes. I think she was hoping that I would take her side and tell Hannah that it was too much, but I couldn’t. I really did think Sarah looked wonderful, and Reid was going to be very happy. So I decided to pretend like this was all her idea.
“I’m so happy you’ve decided to finally embrace a more traditionally English way of dressing. I think this makeover was a great idea, you’re very brave to have gone ahead with it.” That earned me a glare of my own. “Reid will be very pleased, sister. You’ll see.” The mere mention of Reid seemed to temper her mood slightly, and she turned back to the mirror to give herself another look.
Sarah was getting ready for a date. Reid had called this morning and asked her to join him for a movie. Normally, I would have been surprised that she accepted, but the date was no more shocking than Sarah’s revelation that she had kissed Reid. She had admitted to it as Hannah drove us home from the carnival last night, and ever since then I’d been looking at her a little bit differently. Sure, she was still acting all prim and proper, but whenever I mentioned Reid’s name her façade would soften a bit. I think my sister was smitten.
To be completely honest, I was a little bit jealous. I really thought I would be the one to kiss a man first during Rumspringa, but all Wyatt and I had done was hold hands.
Well, I did give him that kiss on the cheek, but that didn’t really count.
“I’m not sure that I’m completely ready for this,” Sarah muttered. “A date alone with a man? What if I do something foolish?”
I couldn’t help but roll my eyes, luckily without my sister noticing. How did that kiss ever happen in the first place? I was about to reassure her yet again, but a knock on the door caused us both to jump, and Hannah to rush out of the bedroom to answer it.
I gave Sarah one more encouraging hug. “Go. Have fun. Try not to worry so much. Reid’s a good man.”
She looked at me with big eyes and then nodded once before giving me a tight smile and turning to greet her date. I decided not to follow. Better to let them have their privacy. Sarah was nervous enough without worrying about me judging how she acted. It was bad enough that Hannah was out there.
At least the two of them seemed to have made up. The kiss wasn’t the only thing that came up on the ride home last night. For some reason, Sarah and Hannah got into a huge argument about Father and how difficult it was that Hannah never came home after her Rumspringa. I always admired Hannah for what I had been sure was a hard choice, but the right one for her. But Sarah chose to blame her and take it personally, as though she had abandoned us. I’d thought she’d gotten over it by now, but clearly she was still holding on to some resentment. Still, sometimes just airing an old wound out in the open was enough to allow it to heal, and given the fact that the two of them seemed to have made up, maybe that was all that was needed here, too.
It was only a few minutes before I heard the door close and Hannah returned to the bedroom to find me.
“Well, for better or worse, she’s gone,” she said with a wry smile.
“I don’t know why she was so concerned,” I shrugged. “Clearly she likes him. They did kiss, after all.”
“You know Sarah; doing anything new is always difficult for her. We’re just lucky she agreed to go at all.”
“I think she’s the lucky one,” I pouted. “If Wyatt had called to ask me to go somewhere with him alone, you’d have to hold me back.” I was a bit disappointed that he hadn’t done just that, but it hadn’t even been a whole day yet. He was probably busy... fighting people or something.
“You know,” began Hannah, raising an eyebrow as she turned to look at me. “Out here in the English world, it’s not uncommon for the woman to call the man and ask him out on a date.”
“Really?”
“Sure. Women don’t sit around waiting for men around here like they do back home.” She reached over to the bed and picked up her purse, fishing around in it for a few moments and then pulling out her phone. The whole idea of telephones to talk to someone who wasn’t actually in the room with you was strange enough, but the fact that you could carry one around in your purse still made me shake my head in wonder. “Here, let’s give him a call. Lemme ju
st get his number from Ash.”
Her fingers flew quickly along the bottom half of her phone, and I knew from previous conversations that she was sending Ash a message. It was like writing someone a letter that they got instantly. The English world was an amazing place, although it seemed most inventions and technology were focused simply around doing things quicker. Why was everyone in such a rush around here?
Then again, who was I to complain if the end result was that I’d get to see Wyatt again today?
“Got it,” she said. “Should I call him?”
My eyes widened as I stared at her for a moment. “Okay,” I finally said. “Why not? Rumspringa, right?”
Hannah laughed as her fingers flew over the phone again. She put it to her ear for a moment and then handed it to me. “It’s ringing.”
I was proud that my hand wasn’t trembling as I took the phone. Even if I didn’t feel confident, I wanted my sister to think that I was. I hated when everyone treated me like the baby of the family. Of the three of us, I would think Sarah was the one more in need of swaddling than I was.
“Hello?” I could hear Wyatt’s voice come through the little rectangle of metal and glass like he was right next to me.
“Wyatt? This is Beth Miller,” I said, wincing even as I heard my last name come out of my mouth.
“Beth! Hi! Wow, I didn’t expect you to call. Not that I’m disappointed,” he added quickly. “It’s just… anyway, I’m glad you did. How are you?”
“I’m well.” I smiled at his nervousness. At least I wasn’t the only one. “I had fun yesterday.”
“Me too. I’d really like to see you again, actually.”
“Okay,” I blurted out, almost before he finished asking.
“Great. When, uh, are you free?”
“Right now,” I said, wincing again at how over-eager I must sound. “I mean, how about tonight? Sarah just left with Reid for a date.”
“Oh, yeah, okay. Sure. Tonight would be great. Is there anywhere in particular you want to go? I’m not sure what you’re used to doing on dates back home.”
I’d never actually been on any dates back home, but I still knew others who had. They always sounded horribly dull. “I was hoping for something a bit more interesting than that,” I admitted.
Wyatt laughed. “Okay, fair enough. What is it you’d find interesting, then? Is there anything you’ve seen or heard about that you’d like to experience?”
I pursed my lips in concentration, trying to think of something interesting to do. After the crowded carnival last night, I was hoping for something a little less busy. The problem was, I had no idea what to suggest. My mind wandered over what I’d seen over the last few days, trying to think of something.
“Sister,” I whispered, placing my hand over the bottom of the phone as I’d seen her do before. “What do you call that little park around the corner that we’ve passed a couple of times? The one with all of the people walking their dogs.”
“The dog park,” she replied, grinning at me.
I felt my face redden but I tried to ignore it, hoping that Wyatt hadn’t heard how foolish I sounded. “There’s a dog park nearby, maybe we could just go over there?”
“A dog park?” Wyatt said. “Hmm, you know what, I think I can do something better than that.”
“Really?” I asked, excited that he’d thought of something else. “Where?”
“You like to be surprised, so you’ll just have to wait. I’ll pick you up in an hour.”
“So?” Asked Hannah, as soon as I handed her back the phone. “Where are you going? Please tell me he’s taking you anywhere other than the dog park.”
“Yes, but he wouldn’t say where. It’s to be a surprise.”
“Sounds fun. So what are you gonna wear?”
I laughed. “Do you have anything even more revealing and modern than what Sarah wore?”
Hannah spun around to her closet, throwing open the doors. “Oh, I think that’s a pretty low bar to clear. Do I get to do your makeup as well?”
“I must have a shower first, but yes, of course! Just pick out a shade of lipstick that you think will look just as good on Wyatt as it does on me, because I don’t plan on letting Sarah be the only Miller that gets to kiss a Brody this week.”
Hannah coughed, and turned her gaze back to the closet, but it was too late. I saw the guilty look on her face before she hid it from me. “Fine. Then I shall amend that. I don’t plan on being the only Miller that does not kiss a Brody this week.”
Hannah was smiling when she looked back at me, neither denying nor addressing my unsaid accusation. Instead, she offered some advice. “Beth, listen. I know you’re excited to go out with Wyatt, and I know you’re anxious to explore all sorts of new things. Just… just make sure to do it at your own pace, okay? Not because you’re trying to play catch up to Sarah, and definitely not because you think it’s just what Wyatt wants. I’m not saying don’t do something if it feels right, just make sure that it really does feel right, you know?”
“How does one know if it feels right? What does right feel like?”
Her smile grew wider now. “You’ll know,” she said, then she winked. “Trust me. You’ll know.”
8
Wyatt
If I hadn’t picked Beth up at Hannah’s house, I might not have recognized her. Sure, she had the same golden hair and sapphire eyes that had captured my attention the first time I saw her, but now she was wearing makeup and wearing clothes that actually showed some skin.
Not a lot, mind you, but as it was a cool night I couldn’t exactly expect her to show up in a mini skirt and halter top. Her outfit was sexy enough, though, especially after only seeing her in long black dresses.
On top, she wore a long-sleeved white blouse that left her shoulders bare, but flared out at the bottom like a skirt. Beneath that were very tight black pants that I couldn’t help but notice accentuated every curve of her perfectly sculpted legs and ass. I could even see some bare ankle in the shoes she was wearing, although I was glad to see they weren’t heels. Not for where we were going.
“So are you going to tell me what you have planned?”
I was driving, but I chanced a quick look over to her so that I could flash my best shit-eating grin. “I told you it was a surprise.”
“Hmph.” She pouted her lips in mock disappointment, the light pink lipstick she was wearing glistening from a hint of moisture. “You could at least give me a hint.”
“Ok, a hint. Let me think.” I spent an extra-long time hemming and hawing, pretending to think of something.
“Well?” she demanded. Her tone of voice suggested she was angry, but she couldn’t keep the smile from her face. I was having a great time teasing her.
“Okay, well I guess what I can say is that the idea for it came when you mentioned the dog park.”
“That’s it? That’s the clue it took you so long to come up with?”
I just shrugged my shoulders and she let out an exasperated sigh. “That tells me nothing, Wyatt Brody.”
“That’s kind of the point, Beth Miller. Anyway, we’re here.”
Bright Falls wasn’t a big town by any means, but the one thing we had going for us was the only zoo outside the nearest big city. It brought people from small towns all around, and was normally very busy, but by the time I pulled into the nearly empty parking lot it was already past regular visiting hours.
“Ooh, the zoo? I’ve always wanted to visit a zoo,” Beth practically squealed with delight when she read the sign. I was counting on that reaction. Truth was, I had remembered how her eyes had lit up when I mentioned the petting zoo that first night we met, when we were talking about the carnival. We never did make it to that attraction, what with having to cut the date short on account of my idiot brother Ash. So now was my chance to make up for it.
“It gets better,” I said as I pulled into a spot right near the front entrance.
“Why is it so empty?” she asked, stepping out
of the truck and looking around. After all the cars at the carnival last night, this lot looked practically deserted. If this were a movie, I’d half expect to see a tumbleweed blow by.
“Because it’s closed,” I winked, turning and walking towards the locked front gate.
Beth hurried to catch up. “Wait, closed? So why are we here?”
I grabbed the big pad lock that secured the gate and lifted it, then slammed it back down against the metal a few times.
“Wyatt! What are you doing?” Beth grabbed my arm, her slender fingers tightening along my bicep as she tried to stop me. “If it’s closed, we should just come back another time.”
“Relax,” I said. “Just because a place is closed to the public, doesn’t mean it’s closed to a Brody.”
Beth’s pink lips opened for another objection, but the only sound that came out of them was a sharp gasp of air. I followed her widened gaze just as a huge man strode over to the gate. He was easily a head taller than me, and bigger too. His body was clearly no stranger to the inside of a gym, but by the looks of it they’d had a falling out and hadn’t seen each other in years. Most of his mass now was supported more by drinking beer than pumping iron. His face was wide, and covered by a thick and scruffy dark beard. A security guard uniform that looked like it was at least one size too small for him bulged along his body, and tattoos ran up and down his exposed forearms and neck. Overall, he was a very imposing man.
“What the fuck is all that racket,” he bellowed. “You’re making enough noise to wake the bears!”
Beth seemed frozen in fear as she stared at the big man, her fingers on my arm now curled tightly, nails digging almost painfully into my flesh. “Wyatt,” she hissed in an urgent whisper. “Let’s go.”
“I bet the only bear around here that was napping was you,” I replied. Beth’s fingers tightened even more. It was time to let her off the hook, before she tore a chunk out of my flesh and made a break for the truck.
The Brody Bunch Collection: Bad Boy Romance Page 45