Warnings and Wildfires

by Autumn Jones Lake

  “Whoa.” Jake jabs his elbow in my side. “Is that Amy heading to the ladies’ room?”

  “Don’t try to distract—” I start to say, but stop short when I spot Amy and realize, it’s not an ill-timed joke from my brother. “Aw, fuck.”

  Liam and Keegan both laugh.

  “Better go diffuse that,” Jake suggests.

  “You really think she’d say something to Aubrey?”

  “She didn’t seem too fond of you last time,” Liam reminds me.

  Bree scowls and stabs her fork into her salad without a word.

  The whole situation is awkward. Nobody else offers any other bits of advice. I stalk through the bar, but by the time I make it down the hallway, there’s no sign of either of them.

  This isn’t a big deal, right? Amy has no reason to talk to Aubrey. It’s not like Amy and I were ever in a real relationship.

  Definitely don’t say that to Aubrey. It sounds awful.

  The door opens and Amy steps out. Her lips curl into a smirk when she sees me.

  She jerks her thumb toward the door. “Aubrey’s in there all alone if you want to give her a Wallace Wallbanger.”

  I take a few steps closer. “What did you say to her?”

  She touches her fingertips to her sticky, pink lips. “Who me? Not a thing.”

  A bead of sweat rolls down my back and I hurry to re-tie the stupid halter-top my sister talked me into wearing. Thank God I noticed it was loose now, in the privacy of the bathroom. Flashing the entire bar would’ve been an awful way to remember my first night out with Sully.

  Ugh, more sweat. The bar obviously doesn’t waste a penny pumping any cold air into their closet-sized restroom.

  Finally, I secure the knot at the nape of my neck and squeeze out of the tiny stall.

  And stop dead.

  A girl I don’t recognize is perched on the edge of the sink, even though it looks one rusty bolt away from toppling over. Who is this chick with the skinny arms crossed over her ample chest and heavily made up eyes glaring like she’s trying to make me evaporate with the power of her mind?

  “Excuse me,” I say, pushing past her. She twists her body out of my way with a huff, as if I’d told her to fuck off—which maybe I should have.

  “Are you with Sully?” she asks.

  Suspicious of her intentions, I answer with a careful yes.

  “I’m an old friend.” She holds out her hand. “Amy.”

  I hold up my wet hands as a weak apology for refusing the handshake. “Aubrey.”

  Her eyes widen, and her lips flatten into a thin, angry line. “That’s a name you don’t hear often.”

  I’m used to people commenting on and confusing my name—Audrey, Avery, Ashley, Abby, I’ve heard them all—but it’s never seemed to piss off anyone before. “Yeah,” I mumble, squeezing by to grab the paper towels.

  She takes a step back and in the mirror I watch her gaze roam over my back, which is kind of creeping me out. “How long have you known Sully?”

  “A while.” Obviously she knows Sully, but there’s no way in hell I’m going to ask for details.

  Her mouth twists and her eyes narrow to slits. “So, you’re his new fuck-in-the-bar-bathroom girl? Because that was me for the last year or so. On and off.” She lovingly traces her fingers over the edge of the sink in case I can’t interpret her meaning.

  Whoa. That’s way too much information for a stranger to tell me about my boyfriend. And, ewww. Yuck. I didn’t need to know that.

  The thought of them together burns like acid. And let’s pretend it’s sweat stinging my eyes not tears.

  Is that what Jake meant with his whole “my brother never takes girls home with him” thing? Am I supposed to feel special?

  Slowly, I toss the towel in the trash and pull a comb out of my purse. “I don’t know anything about that,” I say, faking disinterest. I flick the comb through the ends of my hair, ignoring her and hoping she’ll go away.

  When she doesn’t leave, I stop and stare at her. “Do you need to use the bathroom? Or did you just stop by to tell me you have carnal knowledge of my boyfriend?”

  Amy jolts and her eyes widen. Maybe she doesn’t know what the word carnal means. Or maybe no one’s ever stood up to her before. Either way, I’ve put up with too many bitchy girls like her in the past to allow myself to show that I’m rattled.

  She shrugs—the lamest comeback ever—and flounces out the door.

  “Whatever,” I mutter shoving the comb in my purse and staring at myself in the mirror for a few beats. My stomach’s still fluttering after the confrontation. Finally, I reach for the door.

  Sully’s waiting for me on the other side.

  My anger and humiliation bubble up and I tamp it down. He’s a grown man. Of course he’s bound to have an ex or two running around.

  Although, a warning that he used to bang one in this very bar on a regular basis, and that she might be the confrontational type, might have been a polite head’s up.

  He steps forward and holds out his hand. “Everything okay?” he asks in a cautious manner. So, obviously, he suspects his psycho bang-buddy had some words for me.

  “Sure, I have girls follow me into the bathroom to tell me they’ve fucked my boyfriend all the time,” I say in a low, even tone.

  He closes his eyes briefly. “I’m sorry.”

  “Should we ask the owner to erect a shrine in there?” I flap my hand at the bathroom door. “According to Amy, it’s sacred territory.”

  This time he winces, so I guess it’s true. “I didn’t know she’d be here or that she’d say something to you.”

  “Obviously.”

  I will not cause a scene. I will not.

  “Let’s go. My sister’s going to wonder where I am and I think we should be there as a buffer, so she doesn’t castrate your brother.”

  The corners of his mouth lift in a hint of a smile. “You sure? Do you want to talk?”

  “About your ex? Nope. Not even a little.” I hesitate and then ask the only question that matters. “Are you two done? I don’t know how to navigate the ‘seeing other people’ game.”

  “The thing with her ended a while ago.” He takes my hands in his and stares into my eyes. “I’m not seeing anyone but you, Aubrey.”

  “Good,” I whisper.

  He leans down as if he’s going to kiss me.

  “Still too soon,” I mumble.

  He sighs and takes my hand. Together, we walk back to our table.

  I stop dead a few feet away. Sully’s eyes are on me, so he doesn’t notice at first. “Are you kidding me?” I ask.

  “What?” He glances at the table and groans. Wedged between Celia and Jake is a smug Amy, lapping up all the attention.

  Celia glances up and smiles as we approach. “You okay, sis?” She turns to Amy. “This is Amy, she works in the store next to my salon.”

  “We’ve met,” I grumble.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  My mother was adamant about raising her two rambunctious sons into good men. Not assholes like my stepfather. She had a lot of rules for us. The top three were: be honest, be considerate, and take responsibility.

  Tonight, I think I’ve cocked up all three. Although this situation never occurred to me, it should have.

  Aubrey hesitates to slide into the booth and I can’t really blame her. “Celia,” she says in a low voice, catching her sister’s attention. “I don’t feel well. Do you mind if we go home?”

  Celia snaps into big sister mode and scoots out of the booth. “Sure, hon.”

  I place my hands on Aubrey’s shoulders and lean down to speak against her ear. “Don’t go. I’ll fix this.”

  She shakes her head without saying a word.

  Celia opens her purse and pulls out a few dollars, but I hold out my hand to stop her.

  “I’ve got this, Celia. Don’t worry about it.”

  “You’re leaving?” Bree asks. She nudges Liam so she can get up and give Aubrey a hug. “We’ll
catch up later this week?”

  “Sure.”

  Amy watches the whole scene with a triumphant smile, while Jake, helpful brother that he is, keeps trying to distract her.

  I hate having Aubrey leave like this.

  “Celia can stay. I’ll take you home,” I say to Aubrey.

  Celia lets out a big yawn and wraps her arm around Aubrey’s shoulders. “I’m exhausted from my trip. I should probably get home anyway.”

  They say goodnight to everyone. Over Aubrey’s protest, I walk them outside.

  “Aubrey, can we talk?” This is not how I wanted things to work out tonight. I planned on Aubrey coming home with me again. And every night for the foreseeable future.

  “I need to go,” she says. “I didn’t want to cause a scene in front of everyone. But I won’t sit there with that woman and pretend everything’s normal when I know what she’s trying to do.”

  “I didn’t—”

  She cuts off the lame apology I was about to give her. “I know you didn’t.” She glances down. “I’m not mad at you. I just want to go home.”

  We’re, what? Two days into this relationship and I’m already fucking up. “We’ll talk tomorrow.”

  She nods and turns toward the car, but I grab her hand and pull her back to me. “You can’t leave without a proper kiss.”

  Finally, she smiles and even though it’s hesitant and unsure, it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve seen all night. Our lips meet. This is no quick goodbye kiss. It’s long and slow and deep. Trying to make up for the things I can’t say right now.

  She lets out a stuttering sigh and backs away. “Good night, Sully.”

  “So, are you planning to tell me what really happened?” Celia asks as soon as we drive away.

  I sigh and sit back, closing my eyes. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “Come on, one minute you two are so stinking adorable, I want to choke you and the next you can’t get out of there fast enough.”

  Celia will work the truth out of me eventually, so I might as well just spill it now. “Your pal, Amy, cornered me in the bathroom to let me know she and Sully used to be fuck-buddies.” It sounds ridiculous once I finally get the words out.

  “Holy shit, are you serious? I’m so sorry. I never would’ve invited her over if I’d known that.”

  “It’s not your fault. It’s not even that big a deal.”

  “Sure it is.” She reaches over and pats my leg. “I can already see how much you like him, so that must’ve been a shock.” She huffs out a laugh. “Poor Sully. Here he was being all sweet, staking his claim on you in front of his friends, and it backfired.” She shakes her head and chuckles some more. “Poor bastard.”

  “Shut up. Now you’re making me feel worse.” I consider her words while she makes the turn into our apartment complex and parks the car. “You really think that’s what he was doing?”

  “Letting everyone know to stay away from you? Uh, yeah. I don’t think he took his hands off you for five seconds. That’s probably what set Amy off if he was never like that with her.”

  Huh. I ponder that all the way up the stairs.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Disappointment pulls me out of sleep when I reach over and find the other side of the bed cold and empty.

  Two nights.

  Two nights is all it took for me to get used to waking up next to Aubrey.

  Will she even show up for work today? After last night, I wouldn’t blame her if she called out. Lucky for me, I don’t think she’s the type to bail on her responsibilities.

  “Damn, brother. You haven’t been this big of a pussy over a girl since high school,” Jake says as soon as I sit down for breakfast at our mother’s.

  “Language, Jake,” my mother scolds. She turns her curious face my way. “What girl?”

  “Her name is Aubrey.”

  “The girl you hired to work for you?”

  “That’s the one.” I grab my water and take a long swallow to prepare for the questions coming my way.

  “Is she on birth control?”

  Jake bursts out laughing.

  I choke on my water. “Jesus, Mom, really?” Not the question I expected her to lead with. What’s she like? When can I meet her? How old is she? Any of those would’ve been preferable.

  “Can you blame me?” she asks with a raised eyebrow. “That’s just as much your responsibility as hers. If you can’t talk about it, maybe you shouldn’t be having sex.”

  I grit my teeth. I love my mother, but sometimes the stuff that comes out of her mouth… “I can talk about it with her. I do not want to talk about it with you,” I clarify.

  She averts her eyes and tugs at the pendant hanging from a delicate gold chain around her neck. “Well, if I’d talked to you about that stuff earlier, maybe—”

  “Ma, stop.” I will not have my mother feel guilty about the mistakes Lauren and I made as teenagers. “Your hands were full raising the two of us.” I tilt my head Jake’s way.

  He gives me a why-are-you-throwing-me-in frown. “I know how to wrap it up.”

  Instead of whapping him upside the head, like she should, she reaches over and squeezes his hand. “Fair enough.” She stands and pats my shoulder on the way to the kitchen.

  I glare at Jake. “Really, dick?”

  Still laughing, he leans forward. “At least she got it out of her system. Maybe she won’t hound Aubrey too bad.”

  “Yeah,” I answer with a healthy bit of sarcasm. “I’m sure she’ll rein it in.”

  “I don’t hound people, Jake,” she shouts from the kitchen.

  In a lower voice, he says to me, “Think Aubrey’s still mad about last night?”

  “Hope not.”

  “Guess we’ll find out.”

  “What did you do, Sullivan?” my mother asks.

  I groan and glare across the table at my brother.

  Later that morning, I have a gym full of people trying to undo the damage from a weekend of over-eating and drinking.

  Aubrey shows up a few minutes early for her shift. Prettier than ever. How does she do that?

  “Can we talk?” she asks.

  I hope this isn’t the part where she quits.

  She follows me into my office. Before I even close the door, she touches my arm. “I’m sorry about last night.”

  I didn’t realize how much I missed having her hands on me. “You don’t have anything to be sorry about.”

  “I shouldn’t have left like that.”

  After leaving the bar, I considered how I’d feel if she was the one with an ex who confronted me that way. I’d probably be cooling off in the county jail right now. So no, I don’t blame her for being upset.

  “I understand.” I don’t need to say more than that and I sure as hell am not bringing up Amy’s name. It hasn’t escaped my notice that she didn’t ask any questions about Amy or what I did last night after she and Celia went home.

  “You can trust me,” I assure her.

  “I already do.”

  Good. I don’t ever want to give her a reason not to.

  In a lower voice, she adds, “This is a little new to me.”

  I’m not sure how to respond. Is she trying to say she’s never dated before? Or just that we are new as a couple?

  “It’s new to me too.”

  Finally, she meets my eyes.

  “I missed waking up next to you,” I say. Fuck it, after last night I want to tell her how I feel and be honest about everything.

  “I missed you too,” she whispers, taking a step closer.

  I cup her jaw, running my thumb over her cheek. “Kiss me.”

  She doesn’t hesitate to wrap her arms around my neck. This is exactly what I wanted. Her body pressed against mine. I lean down and gently brush my lips against hers. Gentle turns to wild as I slide my hands down to cup her ass, lifting her up and into me.

  Someone knocks on the door and opens it before I pull my lips away from Aubrey’s. Dazed, she glanc
es around as if she forgot where she was.

  Jake grins at us. “Guess she’s not still mad.”

  Aubrey glances over her shoulder. “She was never mad at Sully.”

  I chuckle, flex my arms around her, and lift my chin at Jake. “Get out.”

  Jake’s jaw drops. “You have—”

  “Get. Out.”

  He finally shuts the door.

  Aubrey squirms in my hold. “Come on. You have a business to run.” She pats my chest. “Work time, Mr. Wallace.”

  “One more kiss.”

  She leans up on her tiptoes and presses a quick kiss to my cheek. “If you’re good, you’ll get more later.”

  “Now that’s what I call motivation.”

  I’m still flustered from my talk with Sully. And Jake walking in on us. Even though he hasn’t said a word.

  Part of my job is to sort through the emails sent to the gym. If I don’t, they won’t get answered. Sully didn’t even remember the password when I started. This morning, the first message is from Trinity Photography.

  Sully/Jake,

  Sorry it took so long. Here’s your link to the gallery. Let me know if you want any shots touched up to use for promotional purposes. If it hasn’t been sold, it’s yours.

  Thank you again!

  Trinity.

  Intrigued, I click the link.

  “Wow.”

  It’s a gallery full of a mix of candid and professional portraits of both Jake and Sully. From serious to relaxed. Different lighting and settings.

  “You found our dirty little secret,” Jake says.

  Startled that I didn’t notice him peeping over my shoulder, I elbow him in the ribs. “Warn a girl.” I peer up at him. “What secret?”

  He chuckles. “Wrath’s girl is a photographer. She talked us into modeling for book covers that she designs.”

  “I’ve met Wrath. I’m sure she didn’t have a hard time convincing you,” I tease.

  Jake throws his head back and laughs. “He’s a big, scary bastard, right?”

  The answer to that is “duh” but I’m not about to insult his friend.

  “That’s really cool. The photos are amazing.”