I plop down onto the edge of the bed, and try to think of what I can say to her to convince her to come back to Galveston. “I think running to L.A. is the worse plan ever. Dixon wouldn’t have eloped last night if a part of him didn’t love you back. I say you show him the stubborn Brooklyn…The Brooklyn who doesn’t give up until she has exactly what she wants.”
“Well I have the car ride over to the airport to make up my mind.” Is all she says before grabbing her luggage and leaving the room.
“Ugh. You can be so stubborn.” I mumble under my breath, following her out.
~~~
The paparazzi got wind that we were all in Vegas and have been staked out in front of the hotel for the last twenty-four hours. Thank God I slipped on some sunglasses before leaving the hotel, because it was like a fire storm of lights as soon as we stepped out the door. They were yelling at Kayden and me asking if we were back together. He snaked his arm around my waist and flashed them his mega-watt smile before telling them, “Yes we are, and soon enough she’ll be Mrs. Kayden Knox.”
Kayden had one of the Knox Hotel Escalades bring us to the tarmac. The ride to the airport was definitely awkward. Kayden and I sat in the first row, Dixon sat in the back row alone, and Brooklyn sat shot gun. I spent the entire ride curled up in Kayden’s arms, relishing in the fact that I’m here with him. Vegas had some good moments, but I am ready to get home, get back to work and begin planning my wedding with Kayden. First thing on the agenda is picking a wedding date.
As soon as the car stopped beside Kayden’s jet, Brooklyn quickly jumped out. She doesn’t go inside though, and I know she’s contemplating going inside the airport and buying a one-way ticket back to Los Angeles.
The anger boiling inside of me gives me the courage to say something to Dixon. Kneeling on the leather seat I spin around and face Dixon. The driver is just opening the door for us as I begin tearing into him. Kayden steps out of the SUV, but stands in the doorway watching me, “If Brooklyn ends up going back to L.A., instead of Galveston, I swear to God Dixon, I’m going to kick your ass! If you don’t love her, why the hell did you marry her? You knew she was in love with you and what breaking her heart would do to her, but still you do this? If you want an annulment, fine. But don’t treat my best friend like one of the sluts you pick up in the clubs back in Houston, because I will not allow it! She deserves more than that.”
I don’t give him the privilege of responding back to me. As soon as I say what I have to say, I’m out of the car and looking for Brooklyn. I need to make sure she’s coming home with me.
After a lot of convincing, I’m able to get Brooklyn to agree to come back to the beach house. I promised we’d stay far away from Dixon, and that the flight would be over before we know it.
Brooklyn and I chose to spend the flight in the jets suite, lying on the bed, watching mean girls for the millionth time. Half way through the flight I hear Dixon yell out in pain and then Kayden asking him what the hell was wrong with him. Curiosity getting the best of me, I leave Brooklyn sitting on the bed, and head out into the cabin of the plane to grab us some snacks.
Standing behind the row of seats all four guys are sitting at, I rest my hands against the cool leather and peer over Dixon’s shoulder. I slide my eyes from Kayden back to Dixon and with curiosity in my voice, I ask, “What’s wrong? I heard ya yelling out in pain a few moments ago?”
Dixon snaps his head to Kayden glaring at him as if he’s telling him to not say a word, which only peaks my interest. I quickly give Kayden the look that says you either tell me, or I will have to torture it out of you. I smile as I see Kayden flash Dixon a sympathetic look before spilling it, “Dixon here, got trashed last night, and got a tattoo at the shop in the hotel!” Kayden drawls, clapping Dixon on the shoulder.
“You’re a pussy whipped asshole, you know that right?!” Dixon yells with annoyance in his voice. He tips his head back and drains his beer, his Adams apple bobbing up and down his neck. Slamming the bottle down, he stands, storms off and shuts himself in the bathroom.
“What’s up with the Dixon’s temper tantrum?” I ask, making my way around the seats and plopping down onto Kayden’s lap. Jax and Braxton divert their attention away from me and back onto the movie they’re watching. Immediately letting me know that they’re lips are sealed. Rolling my eyes, I focus back on Kayden. “Well?” I ask, tugging on the collar of his shirt and sealing my lips over his for a kiss. Pulling away I give him my biggest smile, “Come on! What did he get for a tattoo? Is it something really, really stupid? That’s why he doesn’t want me to see it?”
Raking his fingers through his hair, Kayden sucks in a sharp breath between clenched teeth. For a second, I think he’s going to keep quiet and not tell me. Seriously, how childish is Dixon being? It’s just a tattoo! A drunken tattoo none the less, so it has to be hilarious.
Lowering his voice, and pulling me tightly against his chest, I momentarily become distracted by Kayden’s cologne consuming my senses and his warm breath on my neck. I will myself to focus, soon enough we’ll be home and alone once again.
“Dixon…tattooed Brooklyn on the inside of his right bicep.” Kayden says totally knocking me off of my axis. I was not expecting that!
My mouth falls open and I stammer as I try to form words, I begin giggling uncontrollably. When I get nervous I laugh…a lot. “What!? He did what now? Does Brooklyn know?” I fire off my questions at rapid speed.
Kayden finds my state of shock amusing and a husky laugh escapes him too. “I don’t know. He said they went together after eloping. I still can’t believe that shit. They were totally shit-faced, so he doesn’t think she remembers.
“That asshole! Did you bust his balls? After all the shit he said on the plane ride back from the Bahamas’ about you tattooing my name on your ribs, I’d give it back to him tenfold.”
“You bet your sweet fuckin’ ass I busted his chops. I was getting him all riled up before you came out, but I think all of this is still sinking in. My aunt and uncle are going to kick his ass, that’s for sure. No pre-nup! My aunt’s going to flip-a-fuckin’ lid! He’s shaking in his fuckin’ boots right now.”
Oh damn. I didn’t even think of that. Jumping off of Kayden’s lap, I spin around and face Jax; I need to say something because I can only imagine how uncomfortable he must be. “How are you holding up Jax?” I ask, giving him a sympathetic smile.
Taking a pull from his beer, he smiles back as he gazes at me over the bottle. Resting the bottle on his thigh, he finally says, “I’m good mate, don’t ya worry one second ‘bout how I’m doin’. I didn’t expect any less; I’m not blind. Brooklyn is an amazing girl, and if the timing was different, maybe we could’ve went beyond friends with benefits. But I don’t regret any of the time I spent with her.” His Australian accent is just so darn sweet, I can’t stop myself. I pull a shocked Jax in for a quick hug.
“You’re so sweet Jax. I know you’ll find a girl someday who’ll be totally smitten with you. How could she not? Your drop dead gorgeous and have an accent that makes all the girls swoon.” I giggle as he raises an eyebrow at my compliments. Smacking his chest, I pull away and glare down at him, “Don’t you give me that look Jaxson! You’re a fine catch.”
Braxton chimes in, “Uhh Ohh, she used your full name, shit just got serious.” I notice the sarcasm and amusement in his voice and dramatically roll my eyes at him, huff out a breath of air and act annoyed.
“If ya say so.” He laughs again. Turning to Braxton, he elbows him and with sarcasm in his voice says, “Ya hear that mate, I make girls swoon with my accent.” This time we are all laughing as Dixon comes out of the bathroom. He gives us all a look and asks, “What’d I miss?” Which just causes us all to start laughing all over again?
After we regain our composure, I pull Dixon into the kitchenette area to talk to him in private. After a lot of talking and him listening, I convince him to go in and talk with Brooklyn. I can see he cares about her; unfortunately, Dixon
and Brooklyn both are afraid of commitment. They just have to realize that a monogamous relationship isn’t as bad as they think it is.
Anyone with two eyes can see the fireworks that go off when they’re together. They can rile each other up like no one else can, and they keep one another on their toes. I’m terrified that he’s going to shatter her heart into a thousand pieces, but I think they’ll always wonder what if, if they don’t at least try to see where things could go.
Chapter Eight
“Can you believe it’s been a month since Vegas?” Brooklyn asks, as she takes a sip from her sweet tea.
I take a bite of my grilled chicken sandwich, and wash it down with my ice water. “I know it feels like it was just yesterday. I can’t believe Monday was yours and Dixon’s one month wedding anniversary.” I laugh as Brooklyn rolls her eyes at me, and lets out an exasperated sigh.
“Who knew I’d be celebrating one month of marriage; I thought for sure we’d have had our marriage annulled the second we landed back in Houston.”
I spot Mya walking in out of the corner of my eye, and spin around to wave to her. “Hey, bride to be! You ready to get your shop on?” I tease, as she walks over with a tote full of bridal magazines and plops down in the chair between Brooklyn and me.
We’re having lunch at the country club with Mya to go over wedding stuff. Brooklyn and I are bridesmaids, so we’re deciding on our dresses today. Doing all this wedding stuff with Mya is making me anxious to start working on my own wedding. Kayden and I talked a little over the last few weeks since coming back from Vegas and decided we want to get married as soon as possible, so we’re planning an August 23rd wedding, two days before Kayden’s birthday. That only gives us April to the beginning of August to organize it, so I hired a well-respected wedding planner that Mya referred me too. I have an appointment with her this Monday at our house in Sugar Land to go over what I’m wanting.
Gladly accepting a glass of water from the waiter, Mya takes a few sips through her straw before diggings the books out of her bag. “This wedding is running me ragged. I swear it keeps getting bigger and bigger every freakin’ day! Braxton’s mama has invited everyone and their brother. We have over five-hundred guests that are just family plus all the team mates of his and friends from college. If you’re smart, y’all will do a small wedding, because I’m two seconds away from pulling a Brooklyn, and dragging Braxton to Vegas to elope.”
We all instantly burst out laughing as she calls eloping to Vegas, pulling a Brooklyn. That’s freaking hilarious! “Well, I tried to get Kayden to pull a Brooklyn as you say,” I slide my gaze to Brooklyn, and flash her a smile before focusing back on Mya, “but he’s dead set on giving me my dream wedding. I really don’t care about all the hoopla that comes with a wedding; I just want to be married.”
Brooklyn, now deciding eloping was the greatest idea in the world chimes in, “Yea eloping wasn’t the most romantic way to get married, especially seeing that we were both drunk, and only remember it because of the picture they kindly gave us.” She muffles a laugh and continues, “But I finally got Dixon to admit he loves me even if he was trashed, hell he even tattooed my name on his body! So I’ll gladly take whatever I can get!”
Mya shakes her head, and looks at Brooklyn with a look of awe on her face, “I still can’t believe you two are married. When Braxton told me, I thought he was joking! I figured Dixon would be the next Hugh Heffner, living in a house full of plastic bimbos until the day he died. But I think he is attracted to you because you’re nothing like the skanks he usually goes after. You challenge him daily, and don’t take his crap.”
I can’t help but agree with Mya. When I first met Dixon, I thought he was just another rich playboy who loved the chase and once he got Brooklyn into his bed, he’d be done with her. But he surprised me and continued to pursue her.
Their relationship was definitely unorthodox. They would hook up, and then go their separate ways. Brooklyn had her hands full with Xander, Dixon and Jax, but once Xander went on the road with his band, she was only hooking up with Jax and Dixon. I thought for a while she was going to maybe settle down with Jax because she and Dixon stopped talking after the Bahamas’ trip. Then when Zak attacked her, I thought Jax showing up in L.A. sealed the deal between them. But as soon Dixon caught wind that things were getting serious between Brooklyn and Jax, he began texting her again. Brooklyn didn’t have the will power to brush off Dixon’s advances; she is just as addicted to Dixon as I am to Kayden. There’s just something about our Beaumont men.
They both enjoy the freedom of casual dating, and I know for Brooklyn and probably Dixon too, they had no problem keeping their options open. They never had to deal with jealousy because they never allowed themselves to become emotionally involved with the people they were sleeping with. Something happened between them over these last five months, because gradually I saw Brooklyn starting to develop real feelings for Dixon. It was changing from just wanting to be with Dixon because of the hot sex, and the enjoyment she got out of chasing the bad boy, to falling for him.
I think Dixon was feeling the shift in their relationship too, and that’s why in the Bahamas’ he was such an ass and treated her the way he did. He was terrified of feeling the things she was causing him to feel, so he pushed her away before things went from fun to serious. With Dixon and Jax being friends and Jax working for Kayden, it made the whole situation that much more complicated. I know Brooklyn was torn between the feelings she had for both men, and the predicament it would put Kayden and I in, plus, both Jax and Dixon. At the end of the day, I think Jax was too nice of a guy.
“So how are things with the hubby? Is he slowly coming around to the whole marriage thing?” Mya asks Brooklyn, while flicking through a bridal magazine full of colored tabs sticking out, bookmarking pages she wants to show us.
Leaning back in her chair, Brooklyn pushes what’s left to of her Alfredo around her plate. The waiter returns with the chicken salad Mya ordered and she slowly chews on a piece of cucumber as she listens to Brooklyn. I’ve already had this discussion with Brooklyn multiple times over the last four weeks, so I skim through the bridal magazines while Brooklyn brings Mya up to speed on her and Dixon.
“Things with Dixon are getting better. We’ve been dealing with his parents; they had their attorney draw up a post-nup…I guess that’s what it’s called since we’re already married. Anyhow, they want me to sign it agreeing that if we ever divorce, I won’t take all his billions away from him.” Brooklyn says rolling her eyes with sarcasm in her voice. “I know Dixon and I are a pretty crazy couple, but I’m not sure it’s necessary.”
“That’s putting it lightly.” I mumble, and a small laugh escapes me as Brooklyn shoots daggers at me with her eyes.”
“Shush Savannah.” Brooklyn snaps at me but I can hear the laughter in her voice as she says it. Leaning on her elbows and flicking through one of the other books, Brooklyn turns her focus back to Mya, “I think as long as we both give this relationship one hundred percent, we can truly live a happy life together and not have to worry about divorce and all this money crap.”
Closing the magazine, I give Brooklyn a questionable look, “The thing is, if you are in a committed relationship, you won’t cheat. Can we say the same for Dixon? I want to have faith in him but I’m scared that he’ll try for a while, and then give in to his whoring ways and break your heart. Then I’ll have to break his dick.” Mya chokes on her water and starts drawing attention to our table.
Brooklyn’s features instantly change from carefree to pissed off, “If I remember correctly, Kayden was just as big of a man-whore as Dixon was. He changed because he found you. You’re enough for him so I have to believe the same is true for Dixon.” After a moment, Brooklyn looks me in the eye and in a whisper, states simply “I can’t worry every time he goes out with his friends or on a business trip that he’s boning the first girl to bat her lashes at him. I can’t go there; I have to have faith to keep my sanity”.
Mya rests her hand over Brooklyn’s and smiles at her, “I see where Savannah’s coming from. Love is a crazy, wonderful thing; you sometimes gotta take a chance and see where life goes. It’s about time Dixon settled down, his mama’s gonna want grandbabies at some point.” She laughs as Brooklyn’s eyes get as big as saucers at the mention of babies. I choke at her words. Dear God, the last thing they need is babies right now.
“I love him, I really do. Believe me, I’ve never loved anyone before; I used to laugh my ass off at Savannah and her happily ever after crap she’d constantly ramble on about, but only because I didn’t understand the emotions. I never believed there was a guy out there that would make me want to commit to one person for the rest of my life.”
Mya and Savannah nod their heads in agreement as they listen to Brooklyn, taking in everything she’s saying and how serious her tone has gotten. Mya leans her elbows on the table towards Brooklyn, “Braxton and I have been together since high school, and we could care less about a pre-nup. I think many hate the idea of one because it’s like your assuming your marriage won’t last. But it’s a way to protect your finances. We decided on doing one, writing up what we would want to split if we, God forbid, ever divorced. We agreed instantly on splitting everything in half. I think you just need to talk with Dixon, let him know how you feel and what you’re comfortable agreeing with. Communication is so important; you don’t want to start a new marriage off with hostility or doubts between you two over something so petty.”
After all this heavy conversation we all agreed we needed some fun, so we paid for our lunch and headed to the bridal boutique to try on some of the dresses we liked. I even found a few wedding dresses I wanted to try on. I’ve only got two months to get my dress and my bridesmaid’s dresses picked out, so I might as well kill two birds with one stone.
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