Flynn's In (Lexi Frost Series)

by Tori Brooks

  “When Bryan and I finished, Dev was seriously pissed at Jess and threw a pillow at him. We were in Teri’s room, her bathroom has the best light and she’s got all the band-aids and everything. Anyway, Jess was down the hall and he ducked the pillow, but lost his balance and fell down the stairs. That’s when he broke his leg.”

  “How bad is it?”

  Jess grimaced. “They said I was lucky. It’s a clean break, whatever that means.”

  “You are. Continue, judging from Dev’s sling, I suspect it’s not over.”

  “No.” Kenny glanced at Bryan, who looked away awkwardly. “We were trying to get Jess to the car when it slipped out why Jess had the oil in the shower in the first place. He, uh —”

  “I can guess, continue,” Flynn motioned for him to get on with it.

  “Anyway, that conversation gave Dev a . . . a shock you could say.”

  “He’s jacking off and thinking about my sister! Gee, ya think?” Dev exploded, staring at Jess.

  “Oh God, Jess! Please say you did not tell Dev that,” Flynn looked at the sheepish blond in front of him in disbelief.

  “I didn’t! He guessed!” Jess’s blue eyes were wide and his face showed an innocence Flynn didn’t think he possessed. He doubted the young man was acting, or truly that stupid.

  “You kept staring at my eyes then said Cassie’s eyelashes were longer,” Dev said, taking another step toward Jess, forcing Bryan to hold him back again.

  Flynn nodded. It was a leap to get from that comment to the offense on the table, especially for Dev, but the damage was done now no matter how it came out.

  “All right, continue,” Flynn prompted Kenny and Dev settled slightly.

  “Well, we were all practically carrying Jess at the time; Dev on one side, Bryan on the other. Dev stopped short and let go of Jess. But Jess had his arm across Dev’s shoulder so when he lost his balance and fell over, he took Dev with him.”

  “Landed on me you mean,” Dev corrected him.

  “You shouldn’t have stopped,” Jess shot back.

  “You shouldn’t have been jacking off in the shower. I’m telling Cassie.”

  “Don’t even think about it.”

  “That’s enough,” Flynn intervened. “So why didn’t anyone call us? You’ve clearly been to the hospital. Dev, a doctor checked to make sure all the glass is out of your back, right?”

  “Yes,” Dev whispered.

  He looked miserable, Flynn decided, more than his injuries or the situation warranted. Dev clearly blamed Jess for the incident, but still acted guilty. Flynn studied them each in turn, deciding even Bryan had a guilty expression and was most likely hiding something. Kenny looked apprehensive, and Flynn made a mental note to again make sure he kept Kenny away from alcohol. The kid looked like he wanted a drink more than anything at the moment. Jess was mad at Dev, but it seemed only because Dev was angry with him.

  “Dev, come here a moment.” Flynn walked back into Dev’s room, letting him follow reluctantly. Flynn motioned for him to have a seat and closed the door. Unlike the room Jess and Kenny shared, Dev had bunk beds he shared occasionally with Bryan. He sat down on the bottom bunk quietly.

  “Why don’t you tell me about it?” Flynn prompted and sat down at the desk.

  “Not much else to say.”

  “I recognize a guilty face when I see one. I don’t think it’s Jess’s leg you’re feeling guilty about, or Nicholas’s phone, is it?”

  Dev shook his head.

  “I take it he took you to the hospital?”

  Dev nodded again. “Kenny wanted to call Mom. He said they’d need a legal guardian to release me or maybe even treat me. I told him to call Nicholas instead.”

  “And you took his phone so he wouldn’t call me or Teri.”

  Dev nodded again.

  “You knew we’d find out.”

  “Yeah.”

  “So what was the motivation?”

  Dev looked at Flynn, despondent and seemingly younger than he was this morning.

  “You didn’t want to disturb our little outing,” Flynn guessed. Dev hesitated before finally nodding. Flynn sighed and ran his fingers through his hair as he thought.

  “Dev, it’s nice that you’re taking an interest in your mum’s happiness, but that’s not going to fly with her. She’d rather know you were safe.”

  “I know, but it’s bad enough that she didn’t trust us alone. You convinced her to give it a shot, and I messed it up. I figured why ruin her whole day? She was going to freak out anyway, so she might as well finish having fun first.”

  “That’s very considerate. I assume that’s why you took Nicholas’ phone? How did you keep him from using the home phone?”

  “When we got home I wired my laptop to the phone line and dialed out.”

  “This one?” Flynn indicated the slim, black laptop sitting on Dev’s desk.

  “Yeah. You want me to fix it?”

  “Please. I’m going to chat with Bryan.” He stood to leave.

  “Flynn?”

  Flynn turned to find the guilt on Dev’s face was overshadowed by apprehension now, making his eyes look unusually large. He couldn’t help thinking a photographer would have loved it.

  “Yeah?”

  “How bad is it?”

  “With Teri? We’ll see. I’ll do what I can to minimize the fallout. Lay off Jess.”

  “But he was . . . and Cassie . . .”

  “And she’s your sister so naturally that’s a little disturbing. The thing is, Cassie’s probably more than just Jess’s fantasy if anyone at school gave an honest answer. Most guys are smart enough not to discuss their fantasies with the young lady’s brother. I’ll talk to him.” Flynn nodded toward the laptop as a hint, and Dev moved from his seat on the bottom bunk to the desk to fix the problem as Flynn left the room.

  “Bryan, you’re up,” Flynn called, motioning Bryan to the room Kenny and Jess shared. Bryan jumped and looked to Kenny for either an explanation or support, Flynn wasn’t sure. “Come on.”

  Kenny waved Bryan on, and he reluctantly got up and followed Flynn.

  “What did I do?” Bryan asked as soon as Flynn closed the door.

  “That is the question, isn’t it? I wouldn’t have thought you did anything, except for your guilty expression. Spill.”

  Bryan hesitated, then deflated in a sigh. “I suggested the oil.”

  “That’s it?”

  “What do you mean ‘that’s it?’ If I hadn’t suggested using cooking oil to Jess, Dev wouldn’t have slipped in the first place, so he wouldn’t have thrown things at Jess, so he wouldn’t have fallen down the stairs.”

  “Yeah, and if Jess had chosen to date a young lady he had some things in common with, he wouldn’t have had that conversation with you. And if I hadn’t convinced him to give a real relationship a try, he’d still be dating a string of lucky ladies and wouldn’t have needed the oil at all. Bryan, it’s not your fault. It sounds like the opening salvo was simply an accident. From there, it’s just the normal friction between Dev and Jess, and the fact that both of them are still growing up.”

  Flynn waved Bryan off. “You’re good.”

  Bryan didn’t leave though, Flynn looked at him.

  “Are you going to spin this for Teri?”

  “Hell yes.” Flynn sighed and opened the door. He indicated Bryan should follow him. Dev was back, sitting on the couch with Kenny as a barrier between him and Jess.

  “Teri doesn’t want to know about the oil, not why it was there or what Jess was doing. In the greater scheme of things it doesn’t matter. Dev slipped. There was a conflict with Jess, he fell, and Dev hurt his shoulder moving him. Kenny’s policy of ‘you don’t want to know’ applies.”

  They all nodded in ready agreement and he sighed in relief.

  “Now, she was reluctant to leave you guys without an adult in charge, although technically Dev is the only one still a minor. Just don’t be surprised if she’s a bit overprotective or distrustf
ul for a while. Honestly, Dev would have slipped even if one of us was here, and I can’t say that any of us would have necessarily thought to stop Dev from throwing a pillow at Jess. It seems harmless on the surface, so Jess probably would have fallen down the stairs anyway. The only injury that would likely have been avoided is Dev’s shoulder, and I’ll gloss over that.”

  Flynn pointed to Jess. “Don’t bait Dev, you know better. Besides, Cassie wears mascara.”

  Jess looked sheepish and nodded.

  “Fine. I’ll handle Teri, but I want it understood that this little issue ends here. No more retaliation or what ifs. Got it?”

  They all nodded.

  “All right. Now play nice, maybe work on those songs that I suspect didn’t get done.”

  “Dev can’t play.”

  “Work it out for now, I’ll come fill in for him in awhile. Play the melody and have him look at the lyrics, maybe some refinements to make it flow better.” Flynn turned to go back upstairs, then remembered the pizza.

  “Actually,” he turned back to face them, “we have pizza getting cold upstairs. Eat first.” He walked back upstairs to find Teri and try not to explain more than he had to.

  • • •

  Teri left the basement with the intent on heading to the kitchen. Tears burned her eyes. Her little boy got hurt and she wasn’t there for him. Listening to the muted conversation downstairs, she couldn’t make out what they were talking about. She’d question Flynn about it later. For now, she couldn’t let her son come upstairs and find her in tears again. She huddled on her bed, running through one wild scenario after another to explain why two of the boys visited the hospital today. While she was at the zoo instead of here where she was supposed to be.

  A soft knock on the door interrupted her misery.

  “Come in,” Teri reached for a new tissue and wiped her eyes as Flynn opened the door. He lingered uncertainly in the doorway. “What happened?”

  “Come on downstairs.”

  “Can’t,” Teri shook her head. “I don’t want Dev to see I’ve been crying.”

  Flynn hesitated and finally nodded. He left the door slightly ajar and walked over to the foot of the bed. She expected him to sit and talk to her, but Flynn remained standing.

  “The boys were upstairs trying to pick the glass out of Dev’s back —”

  “Why did he have glass in his back?”

  “Slipped in the shower, fell on a glass that was left there. Anyway —”

  “Why was there a glass in their shower?”

  “Could have been there for a long time. Anyway, they were kind of . . . being boys and threw a pillow at Jess. He was too close to the stairs, lost his balance, and fell. Dev hurt his shoulder helping Jess to the car. Even if we’d been here, Dev would still have cracked ribs, Jess would probably still have a broken leg, and, from the sound of things, Dev might still have a sprained shoulder. No reason to feel guilty for not being here.”

  “And why wasn’t I here?” Teri stared at him, her instincts told her there was more to this.

  “Dev didn’t have an ulterior motive for getting us out of the house.”

  “Why didn’t they call me? Why didn’t Nicholas call me? What are you two hiding?”

  “You know Nicholas would have called. Dev wanted you to have a nice day and knew this little incident would ruin it. He hid Nicholas’s phone and tied up the home phone.”

  “Dev stole Nicholas’s phone for the sole purpose of not letting me know he was hurt so I wouldn’t come home early?” Teri stood up, furious that her son would pull something like this.

  “I told you our outing was Dev’s idea, he took it seriously. I already told him it wasn’t cool, Teri. Let it go.”

  She hesitated, that wasn’t the only problem though. Dev was sixteen, occasional poor judgment was expected. This just seemed out of character somehow for Dev.

  “He fought with Paul, but he’s helping you,” Teri said, the discrepancy finally dawning on her.

  “It’s a completely different situation. Paul met you through your work, a world Dev isn’t part of. He was a stranger and, you have to admit, walking a line between being determined and being a stalker. Dev only sees that we know each other because of the band. I’ve spent a lot of time with him, he knows me. He knows that I’ve been taking care of you as much as the band and he trusts me. Plus I took him aside and told him up front that I asked you out, I made sure he knew, understood, and was okay with it.”

  “You asked my sixteen-year-old for permission to date me?”

  “Not permission, no. You can make your own decisions. But I gave him a chance to talk off the record about any concerns he had.”

  “Did he? Have reservations?”

  “Nothing that currently applies, don’t worry about it.”

  “When do I worry about it?”

  “Not for a while.” Flynn hesitated then stepped closer. Almost tentatively he wrapped his arms around her and held her close while examining her face.

  “Boys play rough, they get hurt sometimes. They can take it.”

  “But Jess fell down the stairs. He could have been seriously hurt.”

  “I know. I don’t think he realizes how lucky he is. If he does, it’s because he might be able to get out of Holly’s graduation party now, not because all he broke was a leg.”

  “Get out of . . . is something wrong with Jess and Holly?” Teri finally got used to the idea that Jess might be calming down, that Holly was a good influence on him. Or maybe it was Flynn’s scheme with Cassie.

  Flynn smiled. “She’s really not his type, love. I shouldn’t be surprised that you didn’t notice, you’ve never met the girls he usually dates.”

  “There were so many of them. Why, have you?” Teri asked sharply.

  He laughed. “I don’t have to.”

  “That’s right, you used to be Jess.”

  “Used to,” Flynn nodded.

  Teri eyed him suspiciously. “Was that what Dev was concerned about, you reminded him of Jess?”

  “Oddly enough, it wasn’t. I haven’t made it a secret so I guess he’s decided I’m reformed. Bryan doesn’t seem to think so. Not that he’ll talk to Dev about it, of course.”

  “They don’t tell him things they think might upset him. It’s sweet.” Now if Jess would just stop wrestling with Dev and putting dents in her walls, then that would be even better.

  “I suppose you could call it that. I see it more as self-preservation.”

  “Is that why you took him aside to tell him about us?”

  Flynn grinned. “You caught me.”

  “What am I going to do with you?” Teri smiled, turning out of his arms and stepping toward the door. Flynn caught her and pulled her close again. He leaned down and briefly let his lips press tenderly against hers. A single, soft caress of the lips and he straightened again.

  “I have confidence you’ll think of something.”

  Teri blushed slightly and he held her hand as he led her back downstairs.

  Chapter Twelve

  A month later, Teri found herself wondering why Flynn was holding back. His kisses were passionate, his touch familiar, warm, and welcomed. Hot even. He always backed away though, making Teri want to scream. She considered the frustrating foreplay as she edited the new photos she’d taken of Kayley and a few of her friends.

  At Nicholas’s suggestion, and Flynn’s enthusiastic encouragement, Teri hired Kayley and several other models to pose for a picture book of semi-nudes she was going to publish as Lexi Frost. Everything fell together quicker than she thought possible, and she had all of her pictures done in only two weeks. Now she was amid touch-ups, urged on by the agent in New York Tim found for her.

  Maybe working with nude women, with frequently only a shadow making the pictures publishable without a brown wrapper around the book, was making Teri more aroused than she should be. It didn’t used to affect her like this. She just wasn’t the sexually frustrated type. She wasn’t before Flynn anyway
.

  Teri stopped and listened to the quiet house. Flynn was in the kitchen doing something about lunch. The girls were gone for the week, hiking and camping with Tiffany’s family in the Olympic Rainforest. The boys might come home though.

  Dev’s shoulder had healed and he had his ribs checked again the day before. He got the official approval that he was fit and was celebrating by going skateboarding. Kenny and Flynn agreed Dev seemed to miss his skateboard more than his guitar while he was recovering, although Flynn wasn’t nearly as upset about it as Kenny was.

  Bryan and Kenny were spending more time with Brenda and Alicia. They alternated taking Dev with them and even double dating with Dev in tow for the past month to try to break him in to the idea of relationships. Dev didn’t seem to be interested as far as she could tell, but he stopped being bothered by it after awhile. Now they were watching Dev skateboard and cheering him on. Kenny promised to call her if anything unfortunate happened.

  Jess got the number of a nursing student at the hospital, and quickly traded Holly for Trina. She wasn’t sure what Trina was getting out of the relationship, other than the obvious, but there was less friction among the boys now so Teri took Kenny’s long standing advice and didn’t look too closely at what Jess was doing.

  She and Flynn were alone in the house for now. She got up and slipped upstairs to change. A short skirt and halter was casual, and a nod to the hot weather outside. Stepping quietly so she didn’t attract Flynn’s attention prematurely, Teri rationalized she wasn’t really sneaking up on him. Regardless, she felt silly and was less careful as she pushed herself up on the counter and sat down.

  Flynn glanced at her, then again a little longer before turning back to his grilled tomato sandwiches. He looked almost done, so she wasn’t interrupting.

  “It’s hot.”

  He turned and smiled at her, his eyes flickered down to notice how her skirt rode up her thigh. Teri gave herself a point in today’s impromptu match.

  “It’s July, it’s supposed to be. Speaking of hot, how’s the book coming?”

  “I need to walk away for a bit and get it off my mind before I go back and look again.” Teri uncrossed her legs and let her knees fall several inches apart. “You look like you could use a distraction too.”