Without Hesitation

by CJ Azevedo

  He laughs lightly while hold onto him and slip my shoes on. “I’ll pass.”

  “This isn’t euchre, Luca, you don’t get to pass. Are you seeing her?” I’m curious. I want to know. Like he just said, I haven’t been around, I’ve been missing out, and apparently Ava hasn’t been holding up on her best friend duties by keeping me informed since Allison is over here hanging out like she’s part of the gang and not my brother’s ex-fling’s best friend. Plus, I really like Aubrey. I would love for Luca to settle down with her.

  “I’m not seeing anybody. C’mon, let me take you back to your guy. I’m sure he’s ready to have you back.” Luca takes my elbow and gently guides me back to the porch where Keegan gives me a hug and a kiss on the cheek, letting me know he’s taking off too.

  I stand next to Mitch, opting not to sit down. I’m sure he’ll be ready to leave as soon as Luca and Aubrey finish saying their goodbyes. Aubrey gives me a quick hug and Luca shakes Mitch’s hand before they enter the house to leave. I look down to Mitch and he doesn’t look like he’s ready to go anywhere. “Are you ready to go?” I ask.

  Mitch smiles and hands me a full glass of wine that was sitting next to him on a side table. “Not just yet. Why don’t you have another glass of wine and visit with your family a bit longer before we head out?”

  He’s just full of surprises tonight. I take my place beside him and curl into his warmth as he puts his arm around my shoulders.

  “Mace, are you ready for me to join forces with you and buy Eagle Place yet?” Declan asks curiously. Dec has never invested in any of my properties, that’s something I do on my own, but a couple months ago he brought this property to me that he found listed for sale that’s in bad shape. They’re asking way too much money for it, but even if I got them down to what it’s worth, it’s still too large of a project for me to fund on my own. Declan thought it would be a good investment idea for him and he could be a silent partner in it, not have to worry about too much. As his financial advisor, Greyden thinks differently. They’ve been going back and forth about it for months. I try to stay out of the argument because I want no part in his decision on spending that kind of money, but I really would love to get this project.

  “No. No, you are not doing that, Dec. It’s a bad move,” Greyden says as he removes Allison from his lap and puts her in the seat next to his. “It’ll tie up too much of your cash flow. You need to finish this ‘investment’ property and get it sold before you buy another one.”

  “We aren’t selling our home, Grey, get over it,” Ava retorts with attitude.

  This house was supposed to be a renovation of Declan’s, but that was before he fell in love and got married. Now he wants to keep it. It’s not the smartest decision financially speaking, so it gets Greyden all fired up, but it’s their first family home, so I can understand them not being ready to sell it yet.

  “To answer your question, Dec, no. They’ve come down quiet a bit. They know we’re interested and have the funds, but I’m not giving them an inch and it’s pissing them off.” As the realization dawns on me that I just slipped up and cussed, even as minor as “pissed,” which is very rare, but seems to be happening a little more as of late, I cut my gaze immediately over to Grey, who tightens his lips together and exhales roughly.

  “No reprimand, Grey? I’m shocked!” Ava laughs loudly and Grey just shakes his head.

  Allison looks annoyed, and Mitch stares back at me with questioning eyes, not having a clue that for as long as I can remember, Greyden Michaels has never let me get away with any type of foul language.

  “Never mind her, she’s had too much to drink,” I say to Mitch, then turn to see Ava, still giggling and now trying to tickle Declan at the same time. I drink my wine and Greyden stands up, telling us all that he’s leaving, and asks Allison if she wants him to walk her out to her car. Of course she does, so he shakes Mitch’s hand again, doesn’t look at me once (neither does Allison), they say goodbye to Dec and Ava, and disappear into the house.

  “Do you guys want to go inside?” Declan asks as he tries to calm Ava’s super happy hands down a little.

  Mitch looks to me, as if he’s willing to do whatever I want, and I really appreciate that. I know he has to be at the office early and I’m afraid that my very drunk best friend is about to become inappropriate.

  “I think we should get going, Dec. You have a child-free house tonight. Go make good use of it.” I stand up and wait for Mitch to follow.

  Dec and Ava follow us into the house and I hug them goodbye. Dec whispers in my ear to be careful and Ava yells at me to get laid. She really did morph into a different person once she married my brother. I like it, most of the time. When she’s not yelling at me to get laid, that is.

  Chapter Three

  November 8, 2004

  Macie’s First Date

  Greyden woke to the persistent shaking of his shoulder and his name being called over and over. Sitting up groggily, he shoved Declan back, causing him to stumble. “Stop it, man. I already told you, I’m not fuckin’ going. I’m not competing anymore, so there’s no point in me showing up this weekend. Now get out so I can go back to sleep. I was out late as shit last night,” Greyden grumbled before throwing a pillow at Dec for good measure.

  “I know that. I still don’t get it, bro, but that’s not why I’m here¸” Declan explained as he sat down on the end of Grey’s bed. “I need your help. Obviously you can say no, but it would really help me out if you didn’t.”

  “What’s up, dude?” Greyden asked, waking up a little more, noting the clock read 5:45 am. “Fuuuck. Do you know what time it is, asshole?” He threw himself backwards, lying back down.

  “It’s Mace,” Dec says.

  Butterfly? What happened? Greyden sat back up instantly, trying another miserable attempt at waking up.

  “She went on her first date last night. I still don’t know what happened exactly, but she’s a mess. She came in crying and then cried herself to sleep. Mom’s coming with me and Dad’s in surgery all day, so can you just go over and check on her when she gets up and check in on her through out the day?”

  “Who the fuck took her out?” Greyden found his blood boiling. Since they became “friends” last year, they hadn’t really talked on a one-on-one basis. Actually, she didn’t even really talk to him when she was with Dec and him and the other guys, either, but she did let loose and have more fun than she used to. He considered her his friend and although Dec and the guys went into excessive overkill in the role of big brother protector, he tried his best to lie low in that role for her sake. He knew she needed someone in her corner and he was down to be that guy.

  “I haven’t talked to her, she’s still sleeping, but my dad said his name is Landon and he’s on the basketball team. I’ll find out who he is on Monday and go see him at his practice after school,” Dec continued. “So, will you check on her?”

  “Yeah, man. I got her.”

  After Grey agreed to take care of Dec’s little sister, he took off so he could get some shuteye. Greyden didn’t have any plans on doing that. Instead, he went and showered and got dressed for the day. When he got out, he decided he needed to make things right for Macie, so he called Dec’s mom, told her his plan, and got permission.

  It was 7:00 am when he made it into the James’ home and he went straight up to Macie’s room. He opened her door quietly and crossed the room to stand next to her bed. She was a cute girl and she just kept getting cuter the older she got. She was going to be hot as hell.

  Greyden brushed the few strands of black hair from her pretty face before rubbing a gentle thumb across her forehead. Macie’s eyes fluttered for a moment before she stretched her arms above her head and rubbed her sleepy eyes.

  “Good morning, Butterfly.”

  Macie’s bloodshot eyes darted open and she flung her head to the side to find Greyden standing next to her bed, looking as yummy as ever. Greyden sat down next to her and waited for her to get her senses togethe
r. “Morning,” she said on a scowl with a raspy voice.

  “I woke up way too early and I’m starving. Wanna go get breakfast with me?” he asked, shooting her his most wicked grin. 99% of the time girls couldn’t turn him down because of it.

  “What time is it?” Macie asked, throwing an arm over her face.

  Grey laughed and pulled her arm back down. “Doesn’t matter. And I asked just because I’m supposed to, but you’re coming with me, so get up and get dressed. Wear comfortable clothes and bring a hoodie or jacket or something. I’ll be downstairs. Hurry up, I’m starving.”

  Nearly an hour later, she arrived downstairs showered and fresh-faced, ready for the unexpected. She had no idea what he was doing in her house or why he was waiting on her to take her to breakfast, but what she did know was that she was a nervous wreck, her disastrous night a mere smidge of a thought in comparison to her now blooming day ahead of her. Greyden was so hot she had a difficult time keeping her wits about her and actually sounding like the intelligent girl she was, so she mainly just looked at him and kept her mouth shut to keep from blurting out stupid things.

  “You’re lucky you look so cute. I would’ve been pissed if you came down still in your pajamas. I wasn’t joking when I said I was starving,” Greyden announced as he stood and headed for the front door. “Do you have a house key?”

  “Uh, yeah,” she said, reaching for the spare they kept in the bowl on the kitchen counter. “But I don’t have any money. I don’t think my mom left me any,” she admitted sheepishly, not sure how this was supposed to go down.

  “No biggie. I got it.”

  They got in his little Eclipse and started driving out of town. Macie didn’t ask questions, she just listened to the radio and gazed out the window, soon realizing that they were heading down the 101. Although she wasn’t sure why or where they were headed, there were plenty of places to eat right in their neighborhood. She yawned and settled her head against the headrest, deciding she didn’t really care where he took her.

  “Rough night?” Greyden asked, bringing back a flood of emotions she didn’t feel like dealing with, especially in front of him.

  “You could say that.” Not looking at him, she focused on picking at the pale pink nail polish she had painted on yesterday after school at her mother’s insistence.

  “Wanna tell me what happened?”

  “No.” She could only imagine what he and the guys would do if she told them about her “date.”

  Greyden nodded his head, trying to figure out a way to make her see that she could talk to him. He figured that she probably thought he would freak out just like her brother would and he wasn’t going to lie, he wanted to hurt the little shit that made her cry, but making sure she had someone was more important. Declan was most likely going to lose his cool all the time when it came to his sister and so were the other guys, so she needed someone she could confide in. She’s a cool girl so he’d be willing to be the one in the group that went to her side.

  “I just need you to tell me one thing.” Greyden’s voice startled her and she looked over at him worrying her lip between her teeth. The girls he usually hung out with did that to be sexy, and it worked for them, but Macie wasn’t even aware she was doing it and it held a complete different effect on him. “Did he hurt you? Physically I mean?”

  Macie lowered her eyes and slightly shook her head no.

  “My imagination is running away with this one, Butterfly, and it’s not happy. It’d be best if you just set my mind at ease and spill your guts, especially if he didn’t hurt you, because I guarantee your three brothers are planning on heading over to your school on Monday to have a chat with this guy.

  “UGH!” she exploded. “I don’t have three brothers. I have one, and Declan’s enough. Why do all of you have to be so nosy and overprotective?!”

  “Because we love you, Butterfly,” he answered easily. “And notice that I said three, not four,” he pointed out, touching her hand softly. “I don’t count myself as one of your brothers, real or honorary.”

  A very embarrassed and exhausted Macie rubbed her forehead and temples with her fingertips before releasing an exasperated and defeated sigh. “It’s just so stupid and embarrassing.”

  Greyden nudged her shoulder to get her attention. “If it’s stupid, then I won’t need to say anything and I can just convince the guys that I took care of it myself.”

  Macie thought about his offer. It sounded like just what she needed—to spill her guts. She didn’t dare tell her girlfriends; she didn’t even want to think about that conversation. She didn’t want to confide in her mom with this, either, and Declan was an obvious no. “Landon and I, we just—we had different ideas of a first date. It started off good and then by the end it just…it was humiliating and I’m good if I don’t ever date again.” This time she dropped her head against the window, not really wanting to go into any more detail.

  “So did he take you to a sports game when you wanted to go on a romantic date?”

  “I wish,” she grumbled, fogging up the glass beneath her heated face.

  “Talk to me, Butterfly,” Greyden cajoled.

  She brought her hand up to cover her face and mumbled into her palm, “Gah! Seriously embarrassing. I’m not exaggerating about that.”

  Grey just cut his gaze over to her quickly, then back on the road without saying a word.

  “Nothing has changed since you and I had our little chat or whatever on my fourteenth birthday.”

  “So you haven’t kissed anyone since me?” he asked her curiously.

  “No. Well, not until last night, anyway.” She still couldn’t force herself to look at him. Her throat felt thick and swallowing had become difficult.

  “So you went out and had fun, then he kissed you and it was a shitty kiss? That’s to be expected, Butterfly. I told you no guy would ever come close to that kiss I gave you.” He gave her his cockiest grin then ruffled her hair, trying to bring her out of her funk. It sort of worked. She smiled at least.

  “The kiss wasn’t bad.”

  Greyden made a wounded sound, clutching his chest and making her laugh outright. Once she controlled her laughter, she looked back out the window and began telling her story.

  “He took me to dinner and it was fun. We talked a lot and we have a lot in common, believe it or not. Then without telling me, he took me to a party. Before we went in, he kissed me in the car. Like I said, he was a good kisser. Before I knew it, he started other…things and I just didn’t know—I don’t know! Ugh, see? This is stupid.” Her eyes started to tear again and it wasn’t because she was sad. She was embarrassed and frustrated that she didn’t know what she was doing in the car last night or that she didn’t expect it.

  “What other things?” Grey asked quietly. He tried to come across as nonchalant as possible, although he wasn’t too sure he succeeded. He hated the idea of someone touching Macie like that. She’s way too young to get caught up with some guy that wants to fill her up in a car.

  “Don’t make me do this, please,” she pleaded. “He didn’t make me do anything I didn’t want to. I’m fine, just embarrassed. Can we forget it now? Please?”

  “What other things, Macie?” he asked, still quietly but a little more forceful this time.

  This time she sat up straighter, cleared her throat, and wiped her eyes. “I don’t know, exactly. His hands were just…everywhere when he was kissing me. I didn’t stop him at first because I was trying to wrap my brain around it, trying to figure out what was next and how it all worked.” She drew in a shaky breath. “I’m so sheltered it’s not even funny.” She glanced over at him and shook her head. He was paying attention to the road, so she did the same. “Then he asked if I was wet and started moving his hand…” She took another deep breath. Saying it out loud was definitely different than replaying it in her head. It was difficult to get the words out. “U-up my skirt and I sorta freaked out. I don’t know why, but I did. He asked if I was serious and I said yes o
f course I was. Then he just said ‘whatever’ and jumped out of the car, went into the party and left me. I waited for a few minutes and then decided to just walk home; we weren’t far. To make things even worse, I’d never heard the term ‘wet,’ so I was at a complete loss and felt like an even bigger idiot.”

  Grey reached over and grabbed her hand. It surprised her, but she didn’t retract her hand from his. “That has got to be the shittiest end to a first date ever.” He offered her a small crooked smile and she laughed.

  No longer did that horrid situation seem so terrifying. It actually seemed a little ridiculous now. “I know, right?” she exclaimed as she laughed and clutched Greyden’s hand.

  It didn’t take Greyden long to chuckle and shake his head as if he were giving in to something. “Do you need an explanation on the ‘wet’ term?

  Macie buried her face in her free hand. “No. I looked it up.”

  Grey kissed her hand and they laughed together, releasing all the tension in the car and making her feel a hundred times better.

  A few minutes later, after close to an hour on the road, they pulled off the freeway and stop at a small mom and pop diner. It was old but cute.

  “I can’t make it any further. I was trying to hold out, but I feel like my stomach is going to eat itself if I don’t feed it right now.” He shut off the car and unbuckled, opening his door. “Stay there a second,” he ordered, getting out and walking around the front of the car to open Macie’s door.

  She was taken back at first but regains her composure and slides out of the car gracefully, offering him her thanks.

  Once they were seated and perusing the menus, she couldn’t fight the urge of knowledge any longer. She had to ask. “Okay. I can’t stand it any longer.”

  Greyden laughs loudly, causing the other two diners to look our way. “I lost my own bet! I thought you would make it until I got back on the 101. You didn’t even make it to ordering the food before you broke!” He continued laughing, making her heart happy.