by Claire Adams
"It was his sister that Brandon cheated on me with." I shrugged as my friends gasped.
"Oh, fuck. Seriously?" Dedra opened the door and gave me a sympathetic look.
"Yeah, and I know it's stupid, but I just can't shake the fact that he's just like her. I mean, I must have seen him with five girls over a three-day period before we decided to give each other a try." I walked to the car and pulled my sunglasses onto my face. Going out with my friends was the like the last thing I wanted to do, but it was probably because it was the only thing that would pull me out of my funk.
After the incredible night with Brody, I couldn't help but think I was in trouble. It wouldn't take much to drown in a man like him. All I had to do was to learn to trust him and I would be completely lost. I guess it was somewhat of a good thing that I didn't trust him, at all. Especially not now.
"I know you don't need for me to tell you this," Emily started as she glanced over the top of the car at me. "But you know that Brody isn't his sister, and he's not Brandon, either, Cora."
"I realize that." I opened the door and got into the car as my phone dinged. Brody. I dropped it in the cup holder and buckled up. "I just don't want to end up in an emotional coma like I was three months ago. I was just starting to feel like the ice was melting around my heart."
I teared up, hating how emotional talking about Brandon left me. Did I still care about him or was it just the excruciating pain of rejection?
"Hey. We don't have to talk about this, but I'm telling you that I think Brody could be a different man. Clay hasn't stopped talking about how excited they all are to see a better side of him. He's the jerk in the group, and yet for the last few days, he's been chill, a totally different guy." Emily squeezed my shoulder.
"I'm not sure what to do about all of it." I glanced around. "If it's alright with you guys, I'd rather not talk about it. We can talk about anything but Brody, but I need some time to process what's up with us and what I want to do about it, first."
"Sounds good to me. Boys aren't the end all be all anyways." Dedra leaned up into the front seat and turned the radio up. "I'm saying let’s jam out, eat something greasy, and go lay by the lake and dream about the future."
"I like the sound of that." Cindy pipped in. "And maybe I can try and a new pasta dish on you guys tonight. Does that sound good?"
"Yep." I turned and smiled at them, forcing myself to let my nefarious thoughts subside. I wasn't going to bastardize the good time Brody and I had the night before—or this morning. Him washing me in the shower had been one of the most intimate times I could remember ever having with a man. He'd been tender and almost loving. It probably scared me more than the scorching heat from the sex.
"And, no boys!" Emily declared and gave me a cheeky grin. "One more shitty subject and then we'll just have fun."
I gave her a sideways glance and nodded. "Sure."
"You need to call your folks today and tell them that you're not coming back early. Life is going to move fast once we leave this place, Cora. You need the summer to have fun. That's what we planned a long time ago. Fight against it and get the six weeks back that they are trying to take. We were supposed to have three months, and you're down to having just a couple of weeks."
I ran my fingers through my hair. My parents weren't going to relent. They never did.
"Maybe I can come back after we go through the case work that they are wanting me to see." I picked up my phone and read through Brody's message as a smile lifted my lips.
Brody: Just wanted you to know that I was thinking about you. I'm a little concerned by how badly I want to see you again. Feels like we could make a chick-flick out of our situation. I was trying to think of a title, but all the good ones are gone.
Me: How about, Beauty and the Beast?”
Brody: Don't talk about yourself like that, baby. You're only a beast in the bedroom. :)
I laughed and put the phone down. "I will tell you one thing: Brody Myers is the all-around package, isn't he?"
"He seems like it." Cindy let out a sigh. "What are his plans after this summer? Is he staying in Arizona or going somewhere else?"
My smile faded at the thought of him moving away. "I don't know. I haven't gotten around to asking him. We just started treating each other cordially over the last three days."
Dedra chuckled. "You mean you just started treating him cordially. He's been good to you since we met the guys. It's you who was fighting that sexy ass attraction between you two."
"It is sexy, isn't it?" I pressed my teeth into my lip and glanced out the window.
"Hey, are you going to talk to your folks or what?" Emily tugged at the sleeve of my t-shirt.
"No. There's no reason to. I'll try to get back out here, Emily, but they've made it pretty clear that they expect me there for these trials. As much as I hate it, it's my future for right now. Until I can figure out if there's something worth fighting them over." I shrugged, tired by the conversation. The lack of sleep the night before had to be adding to my weariness.
My phone dinged again, and I pulled it up to see Brody calling.
"Hey." I closed my eyes and tried not to grin like an idiot.
"Hey, am I being overbearing? I've never done this 'see someone after a night of fucking' thing before, so you'll have to tell me if I'm doing it wrong."
I laughed. "You're so ridiculous. You know that?"
"Yeah, I get that a lot." He let out a short sigh. "I'm sorry about my sister, Cora, but I'm not sorry, too. If things hadn't have happened between you and Brandon the way they did, then last night wouldn't have been mine. I'm greedy as fuck, I know, but it was the best night of my life. It felt good. Right."
He was being too open. I wasn't ready for the confirmation that something lustful was soon to turn into love for me.
"Me, too." I pressed my fingers to the bridge of my nose. "I'm headed out with the girls for the evening, but I'll call you later. Is that alright?"
"Yeah. Let me know if you're up for me coming over, or you come on over here. I'm tired as hell, but I wouldn't mind snuggling up to the back of you and letting you take advantage of me while I sleep." He laughed softly.
"Only beasts do that." I smiled and turned to watch Emily looking at me as we sat at a stop light. "Alright. I'll talk to you later."
I dropped the phone into the cup-holder between us and lifted my eyebrow at her. "What?"
"You know what." She smirked and put her hands back on the wheel. "I might regret my words completely, but I really think he's going to be good for you."
"Maybe." I shrugged and turned up the radio. "But...we promised no more boy talk, so let's have fun and forget about the need to find the perfect man that will make our lives complete."
"Please. I don't need no man." Dedra bounced in her seat. "I do need a bag of candy from Tutties in town, though. Let's go there first."
"Sounds good to me." Emily pulled across the street and parallel parked perfectly, surprising me.
"Damn." I looked around. "When did you learn to do that? You usually suck at parallel parking the car."
She beamed. "Right? Clay taught me the other day. We spent the afternoon in his truck working on it. It was cool. Really cool."
I smiled and got out of the car before walking around and giving her a quick hug. "You know why the summer vacation is going to be all I need to get me back on the right track?"
"Because you've met the man of your dreams, and like every good girl wants of a bad boy, you can change him for the better?" She smiled like she knew some great secret.
"Nope." I laughed as her face fell. "Because you're here. Let's not get our own places when we get home. Let's stay together. Do you want to?"
"Really?" Her face lit up. "I would love that. I know you wanted to live in the city in one of those smaller flats, but if we shared a two-bedroom apartment between downtown and Arizona State, we could still see each other all the time."
"Yep. Let's do it." I moved to her side and wrapped m
y arm around her shoulders as we walked to the candy store. I'd broken her heart a few months back with my desire to get my own place. My parents thought it was a good next move for me, and much like I'd always done, I followed their advice, though it wasn't what I wanted, at all. I would go into pre-law and try hard to become the woman they expected me to be, but I was going to do it my way.
"What are you guys being all chummy about?" Dedra moved up on the other side of me and slipped her arm around the back of my waist.
"We're going to get an apartment together for the fall." Emily beamed, and I knew I'd made the right decision. My dad would give me absolute hell over it, but it would be worth it. Emily and I didn't have forever left, only a few years at best. Hell, if things kept progressing at the rate they had with Clay just over the short time we'd been at the lake, then we wouldn't even have a few years.
While I figured Brody and I might fall in love, I was pretty sure that Emily and Clay were already there.
"And, I'll come visit all the time and sleep on the couch." Cindy moved up beside Emily. "I'm going to get a small apartment above the culinary school in town and see about teaching a few classes. I need to make a few more connections before looking at opening my own place."
"And, you need a sugar-daddy," Dedra threw in. "To sponsor your restaurant."
"I'm not thinking that will be too hard to find." She wagged her eyebrows and opened the door to the candy shop as we laughed.
The smell of sugary goodness washed over me, and I breathed in deep, letting everything go and walking for the closest bin of chocolate. I was good for now, but the chocolate would help insure that I'd be just as good later.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Brody
Cora didn’t come over on Tuesday night, and then she came down with something that had her swearing me off for a few days. I kicked around the house, hating how badly I wanted to see her. It wasn't something I was used to, and yet I felt like I could get used to it.
"You still pouting?" Clay smacked me in the chest as I stood at the kitchen sink, looking out at the lake at all the activity going on.
"What? Yeah, I guess." I ran my fingers through my hair. "She only has a week left out here. Not seeing her for a few days is fucked up."
"You like her." He poked me in the side.
I glanced over at my best friend and snorted. "Yeah, dumb ass. You just getting that vibe?"
"I think it's great." Daniel walked into the kitchen and hopped up onto the counter next to the sink. "Are you going to try to keep things going with her after this next week? Is she staying here in Arizona?"
"I think she is. It sounded like her parents were somewhere close from the side conversations I've heard her have with her friends and the few times we've talked about the future." I rubbed my chest and turned to face my friends. "Let's get out of here this afternoon. There's a big party down on the dock by Clint's house. You guys wanna grab some beers and just go hang out?"
"I do." Daniel hopped off the counter and opened the cabinet, pulling out a bottle of suntan lotion. "I say we forgo inviting the girls and just go have some time to ourselves."
"You tired of Dee?" I asked.
"No, not at all. We decided we're better friends than anything else we could be." Daniel sat the sunscreen down and pulled off his shirt. "I'm thinking it’s for the better, anyway. Med school is going to require all of my attention, you know?"
"Yeah, I can imagine." I moved to the fridge and pulled out a six pack of beer. "Where the fuck is Derek?"
"He's still asleep. I think Cindy stayed over last night. You wanna draw straws on who's going to go wake him up and get her outta here?" Clay laughed and walked to the pantry to get the cooler out.
"Um, no. Emily interrupted me and Cora the other morning, and she's lucky she's so cute or I'd have bitten her head off." I chuckled as Clay growled at me. The boy was in love. I had no doubt that he and Emily would be together for a long time, and I was almost jealous.
Some part of me couldn't help but wonder if Cora was really sick or just too upset over the situation with Tinsley to be around me. My fucking sister and her lies. I couldn't believe it, but after talking with her, she'd confessed. I sat in shock half the afternoon after talking with her. She'd been nothing but a prude from what I knew, and it was crazy how you could live with someone your whole life and not know them, at all.
Cora was struggling with all of it. Her stomach might be upset, but she was struggling, too. Her lack of texts after Tuesday left me with two options: to step up and sweep her off her feet, or let the relationship fade away like she seemed to be trying to do.
I couldn't fathom not having another night with her. Or a day. Or a few hours.
"Hey. Did we lose you?" Daniel waved his hand in front of my face. "You go get Derek up."
"What? Really?" I glanced over at Clay, who was loading up the cooler.
"Come on, dude. You're the only one that he listens to. Go get him, shit." Clay gave me a look.
"Fine." I walked to the cooler and grabbed a beer. "But next time something comes up, one of you limp-dicks is up to handle it."
"Whatever." Clay scoffed at me and closed the cooler. "Daniel, help me lug this shit out to the porch."
I turned and walked down the hall, stopping outside Derek's door to listen. No fucking way I was going in if they were still getting it on. A soft whine caught my attention, and I pressed my ear to the door to hear the sounds of lust pouring from the other side of it.
"Shit, fuck that," I mumbled and walked back to the front as my cock twitched in my swim trunks. I was used to having sex a few times a week at minimum and quite a bit more than that when I went on vacation. The situation with Cora had changed that drastically, yet I still felt myself needing her, wanting her time and attention.
"What's up?" Clay glanced up as I closed their door.
"They're still fucking. I'm not going in there. No matter the size of the stick I drew." I rolled my eyes and grabbed one side of the cooler as Clay got the other.
"I'll leave him a note and he can text us later." Daniel walked back toward the house as I let my eyes move across the beautiful scene before us. The lake was a dark blue, and the brilliant green pine trees almost hovered over the edge of it.
"I love it out here. My dream house would be tucked into those large pines over there." I pointed before taking another drink of my beer as we wrestled the cooler down toward the dock.
"I couldn't agree more." Clay stopped at the edge of the pier and sat the cooler down. "Let's grab some lunchmeat and bread so that we're not starving later."
"Alright." I ran my fingers through my hair and walked back toward the house with him.
"Did you decide on whether you're going up north after this summer yet?" He gave me a sideways glance.
"No, I think it's going to really depend on what happens by the end of the summer. If I'm still single and not tied down to the thought of being with one girl, then I'm headed out of here. If by chance someone steals my heart…”
"Steals your heart?" Clay laughed and patted my back. "Where the fuck is my best friend? What have you done with him?"
I rolled my eyes. "You know what I mean. Don't throw that shit at me, either. You know you and Emily are talking long-term stuff and you barely know each other."
He nodded. "Yeah, we are. We just fit, you know? It's an amazing feeling."
"I can't imagine." I opened the door as Daniel walked back out.
"We ready?" He took his glasses off and started to clean them.
"Yeah, just grabbing food." I walked into the house and let out a sigh. My eyes moved to the darkened hall, and I couldn't help but wish it were me and Cora wrapped up in my bed together. Desire raced through me, but I shoved it back down. I was going to go over there in the morning if she hadn't called or come over first. There was too much between us that I wanted to explore to let things fall silent. Did she want that? For me to leave her be and let things just fizzle out?
"
Have you talked to Cora about the possibility of you leaving here after the summer?" Clay's voice behind me jolted me. I'd assumed he's stayed out on the porch with Daniel.
"What? No." I smirked. "We've barely started talking. It's really not that serious yet. I like her. A lot. A lot more than any other woman I've been interested in the past, but that doesn't mean that she feels the same way." I grabbed a few things from the fridge and shrugged. "She's probably just looking for a fun fling over the summer, and with her leaving in the next week, if that's all she wanted, then it'll be time for me to move on."
He rolled his eyes. "You're not moving on. Stop talking that psycho-babble-bullshit to yourself and ask her out."
"I have asked her out." I grabbed the bread and tossed it to him. "We've been on two dates, and both were a load of fun."
He rolled his eyes and walked to the door. "That's not what I meant and you know it."
"Right." I closed the door behind me, juggling the meat, cheese, and mustard while Daniel stood aside quietly. "I don't want to force anything on her, Clay. She's got a lot of baggage from the last guy she was with, and I found out on Tuesday that Tinsley was the girl that was fucking him when she walked in on them."
Clay jerked around. "Our Tinsley? Your fucking sister?"
"Yeah." I shook my head. "Unbelievable, right? I swear that girl's going to hell for lying and doing it really, really well."
"Damn. All those years of making sure not to look her way because she seemed so innocent and-”
"Hey." I glanced over at him, cutting him off. "She's still my little sister. Watch it."
Daniel laughed and took the cheese and mustard from me. "You guys are so easily duped. Your sister's been as active as you are all these years, Brody. Anyone with half a brain would know that."
"Oh yeah, doctor Dan?" I pushed at his shoulder as we stopped by the cooler. "What else have we missed? You know... us idiots."
He turned to face us, and I swear he aged 10 years in front of my eyes.