by J. B. McGee
“Always.” He carries me to the bed. “Rest here. I’ll get you some strawberries, wine, and run us a bath.”
I smile, completely content and sated. “Thanks.” Then my mind drifts back to the conversation we just had. I can’t help but wonder if eight months is enough time just for us. Because maybe I am a bit selfish and want to keep him all to myself for a while.
Ryan takes our suitcases from the limo. Bradley, Gabby, Joe, and Rebecca have already gotten their things and headed to their room. My shoulders relax for the first time since the confrontation with Rebecca.
I twist my neck from left to right, shrug my shoulders, and take a few deep, cleansing breaths. While I should be excited to have alone time with Ryan, I’m dreading it. “Hey,” he says.
“Yeah?”
“Why don’t I go put our stuff in the room, then we explore this area a bit?” He nods toward the street. “The lights here are beautiful, and I think I hear music.”
“You definitely hear music.” I smile. “That sounds good to me.”
“Do you wanna come with me or just hang out in the lobby?”
“I think there’s a courtyard through there. I’ll wait for you there.” Gabby told me about how pretty the area was from when she stayed with Bradley. When he told me we were coming here for the night, I was excited to get to see the place in more detail for myself.
Ryan gives me a quick peck on the cheek. “See you in a few, then.”
I smile. “Okay.”
I make my way to the back. It’s more of a pack porch with a big fireplace and rocking chairs. Maybe it’s changed. I plop down on one of the chairs and sigh as my thoughts wander to Joe. Is he making love to Rebecca? And what right do I have to even care after the last trip we were on together? That last time I saw him in Charleston.
“Gabby, are you okay with the ghost tour? Because I’ll only agree if you are,” I say.
She looks at Bradley. “Maybe I can be brave. The ghost tours are probably okay.” Her voice is shaky, like she’s trying to convince herself. “It’s just…up until this very moment, there’s no way I would even consider it. But you’d never let anyone mess with me, right?”
I nod. “Right. It’s not like anyone’s going to jump out and scare you. You’re not even guaranteed to see a ghost.”
Ryan laughs. “Do you actually believe in ghosts, Sam?”
My mouth dries, and I glance at Gabby, then Joe clears his throat. My eyes are drawn to the deep brown pools of his. His jaw ticks, and I’m having trouble figuring out his mood. “What if I do?”
“Well, nothing, I guess. But there are no such things as ghosts.” He nods at Gabby. “So, there’s no reason at all for you to be afraid. These tours are another way for people to make money off tourists.”
Ryan’s wrong on so many levels, but I refuse to get into it with him now. Or maybe even ever. He’s entitled to his opinion, and I’m entitled to mine. “Whatever you say.”
“So, are we going or what?” Joe asks.
Bradley nudges Gabby. “You sure you’re good with it?”
She nods. “I didn’t have Mr. Banks here to protect me when I was a timid teenager.”
He chuckles. “Good thing I wasn’t there or I would have kicked those guys’ asses for being jerks to you.”
Gabby’s eyes widen. “I’ve seen you beat people up for me. It’s hot.”
He smirks, then turns to Joe. “Ian.” Gabby’s ex who conspired with Bradley’s ex to trick them both into believing the baby was Bradley’s so Ian could sweep in and steal her back. Ian and Veronica said it went down differently, but who cares. They were both guilty of being fools. They deserve each other. What I would have paid to be a fly on the wall when Bradley figured it all out with Joe’s help. Bradley had walked up right as Ian was trying to kiss her, and let’s just say, Bradley nearly knocked him out. “Man, that dude’s name makes my blood boil. Prick.”
“Ah.” Joe smiles, and my insides flip. Watching his fists clench and his jaw tighten, I can only imagine him getting into an alpha pissing contest with another guy would be just as sexy as Gabby described Bradley and Ian’s.
Picking up my cell, I Google the tour company’s info. “So, five for the next ghost tour?”
Everyone nods, and I step into the kitchen to call the order in to reserve our tickets.
“I’d like to make a reservation for five for the latest tour you have operating tonight.”
“That’s our nine-thirty departure time. Does that suit you?”
“Yep. Perfect.”
“How many adults?”
“Five.”
“Any children?”
“Nope.”
Ryan storms into the kitchen. “Babe.”
I put my finger to my lips.
He shakes his head. “I got called in.”
“Can you hold on, please?” I ask the girl taking the order.
“Sure,” she replies.
I cover the phone with my chest. “What do you mean you got called in?”
“Just what I said.”
“Impossible. You weren’t actually on call.”
He nods. “Kurt was, but he had a family emergency, and he just texted to ask if I’d switch with him.”
I shake my head. “Fine. Go. I’ll get a ride back with someone else.”
“I’ll make this up to you. I promise.” He kisses my forehead.
“You sure will.” I smile. “Be careful.”
“You have fun tonight.” He leans down and kisses me.
“I’ll try.”
Replacing the phone to my ear, I take a deep breath. “I’m sorry. Can I make that four instead of five?”
“Sure. No problem.”
I finish the call, securing the order with my credit card, and return to the living room where it’s just Bradley, Gabby, and Joe now. Joe’s fists are no longer clenched, his shoulders are relaxed, and everyone’s laughing. I can’t help but grin. “What’s so funny?”
Joe’s laughs stop, but he’s still flashing those beautiful white teeth. The way his eyes sear into me makes me feel like I’m a rare piece of art on exhibit. A naked painting of a goddess. My insides flip, twist, and heat swirls like vines wrapping around me, totally consuming me. His looks shouldn’t make me feel this way. “Nothing.”
I narrow my eyes playfully. “Right.”
We’re about to sit in the booth at A.W. Shucks, and I’m staring at the booth wondering which side I should sit on and hoping Gabby will slide in beside me. Joe slides in one side, then pats the leather beside him. “I don’t bite.” His voice is low and throaty.
I wet my lips. Would I complain if he did? “No, I take you more for a constrictor.” I shrug and slide in next to him when I see Gabby and Bradley have taken occupancy on the other side.
He chuckles. “Sorry. A what?”
“You know.” I shrug. “Snakes. There are ones that bite, and there are ones that squeeze the life out of you before they devour you for lunch.”
“So you’re worried I’m going to devour you for lunch?” He smirks at Bradley. “Do you hear that?”
“Yeah. Pretty good perception she has.” Bradley cuddles Gabby in his arms. “Of course, I think Gabby had the same perception of me, and look at how wrong she was.”
Gabby nudges him. “You have the devour thing down, but I don’t think you’ve ever suffocated me.”
Joe looks back at me. “You think I’m going to suck the life out of you before I have you for lunch?”
“Well, dinner actually.”
“I have no plans of suffocating you. Quite the opposite.”
My cheeks burn. Are we actually having this conversation in front of other people—my sister and his best friend? “Excuse me?”
“I’m excited to show you a good time tonight. You know. I’m my brother’s stand-in.”
I suck my lip between my teeth at the thought of Joe standing in for Ryan, and I can’t keep my brain from straying to every way in which he could possibly
be a substitute given the conversation. “Um…”
“I mean, I hadn’t planned to bite ya, squeeze the life out of you, or devour you for dinner. But —”
Bradley bursts out laughing. “Damn. This is why we’re best friends.”
Gabby kisses him on the cheek. There’s got to be some kind of inside joke there I’m not picking up on because I’m not finding anything funny. Just dangerous. Because if they weren’t here and Joe wrapped me in his arms, I’m not sure I’d be able to stop him from devouring me. And that’s not who I am. I don’t cheat. Especially on my boyfriend’s brother.
Dinner seemed to drag by at a snail’s pace. I swear Joe purposely draped his cloth napkin over the leg closest to mine so our arms would have to brush every time he picked it up or put it back in place. Each time electrical currents shocked me, zapping my appetite away. The conversation was easy, though, and any opportunity to be with my sister makes me happy, even if my nerves are being constantly stimulated against my will.
We’ve made our way to the covered patio, and Gabby holds her stomach. “Did you eat too much?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “No, I’m not feeling well. Like I’m going to be sick.”
“You’re kidding, right?” Her face is actually pale, but there’s no way she’d bail on me. Right?
Her hazel eyes grow large. “I wish I was. I’m sorry.”
“So you’re leaving me to go on a ghost tour with Joe by myself?” The palms of my hands begin to sweat despite the chill in the Charleston air.
She nods. “I’m sorry, Sam.”
She can blame it on not feeling well, but she’s chickening out. I know her almost as well as I know myself—maybe better. Bradley Banks is a lot of things, but a miracle cure for anxiety and fear of anything paranormal or remotely haunted he is not. I exhale. “It’s okay. I hope you feel better.”
“For what it’s worth…” She pulls me away.
I raise an eyebrow. “Spit it out.”
She leans in to my ear and whispers, “I called it at our wedding. Bradley picked the wrong brother for you.”
“Gabby…”
“I’m just sayin’. I know you’re loyal and you’d never cheat on Ryan, but I’ve seen you with Ryan. You’re missing the spark. And with Joe, there’s not a spark. There’s an explosion.”
“Ryan and I are not missing the spark.” I fidget and stare at my feet.
“Sam. Let yourself have a good time tonight.”
“You don’t have a stomachache any more than I have a medical degree.”
Her lips curve into a coy smile. She places her hand in Bradley’s. “Take me home, please.”
Bradley shakes his head. “I’ll pay you back for our tours, Sam.” He nods at Joe then at me. “Y’all be good. We’ll see you in the morning. We’ll take a cab so y’all can have the car.”
I watch as they walk toward one of the busier streets in the direction of The Wentworth Mansion. They could just walk, and my guess is they will because my sister isn’t actually sick.
Joe shoves his hands in his pockets. “And then there were two.”
“Maybe we should just go home. I’m tired. This isn’t a good idea.”
He chuckles. “That’s the best excuse you’ve got?”
He takes a step closer, and my pulse speeds up. “Uh huh.”
“Look, I’m happy to take you home to a house we have all to ourselves. We can cuddle on the couch and chat since there’s pretty much nothing else left to do there.”
I shove his chest. “You can’t say stuff like that to me.”
“I just did. Let me finish.” His lips curve in a lopsided grin. “The longer we’re out, the less time we have there. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but it’s safer out and about than it is at home.”
“First, you assume I want you.” I take a step back. “Second, you assume I have zero self-control.” I raise my chin. “Both assumptions couldn’t be further from the truth.”
One step and he’s closed the distance I just created. My breathing hitches, and my heart thumps in my chest like it’s skipped at least one beat. “When will you stop denying it?”
“Denying what?” I turn and start to walk toward East Bay Street.
“Where are you going?”
“To the ghost tour.”
Footsteps quickly approach. “That’s what I thought.”
“Tell me…”
“Anything.” He grins as his hand brushes mine.
I allow my fingers to linger a little too long before snatching my arm away. “How did a guy like you end up owning a bar? I would have pegged you for someone who created romance novels with happily ever afters.”
He nearly chokes before chuckling. “What? Like that Nicholas Sparks guy or something? Why do you say that?”
I raise my chin and sneer. “Because you appear to constantly live in a fairy tale where you think I’m in love with you instead of your brother.”
He grabs his chest and nearly stumbles to the ground. “Ouch. Oh. Damn.”
People stare, and I grab his arm and pull him up. “Stop it. People are gonna end up calling an ambulance thinking you’re having a coronary.”
“For a doctor, or soon-to-be one, your diagnosis is totally wrong.”
“Humph. And what is it you’re suffering from?”
“I’m wounded. But rest assured. I heal quickly, and in a few hours, I’ll be ready to…what was that you said? Devour you?”
I glare at the sky and try to hide my smile. What have I done to the universe to deserve this? “You’re so stupid.”
He chuckles. “You act like you don’t like it, but I make you laugh.”
“I’m not laughing.”
“If you let the barrier down around your heart and admit you feel whatever the hell this is that swirls around us when we’re in the same space, you would.”
“What makes you think there’s a barrier? I’m in love with your brother.”
He scrutinizes me with those ridiculously beautiful lava eyes. It drives me mad he can make me feel so exposed with a single gaze. He shakes his head. “You’re not in love with him.”
“You’re in denial.”
“That may very well be true.” He balls his fists. “Dammit, Sam. Is it this comfortable and easy with him?” He stops me and squares my shoulders with his. “Is it? Do you feel this when you’re with him?” He lifts my chin. “Because I’ve never felt anything like it, and I’m really getting impatient waiting for you to acknowledge it.”
My stomach knots, then drops, like I’ve been slowly escalating toward the top of a ride, and someone’s snatched the cord, causing me to free fall. No matter what I do, the decision is going to shatter me when I get to the bottom. “There’s nothing to acknowledge.”
He narrows his eyes. “Okay.”
“Okay.”
“I’m giving you until the end of the night to change your mind, Sam.”
“Excuse me?”
“You’re goin’ to go on this fuckin’ ghost tour with me. We’re gonna laugh and have a good time. Then we’re goin’ back to your house and spend the night walking on the beach just talking. Because you’re my best friend, and you can deny that I’m yours, but we are…best friends. When I’m bored, you’re the person I call. When I want to share something, I want to share it with you. And after it’s all said and done, you’re going to look me in the eyes and tell me you have no feelings for me, or you’re going to agree that this is real, and you’re going to let my brother go when we get home. Fuck.” He brings my lips inches from his, and he darts his tongue and brushes his skin. My insides coil into tight ringlets. “I hope you make that decision because I want to kiss you so bad right now.”
“Do I get a say in this?”
“In whether I kiss you?” He shakes his head. “I’m not going to kiss you while you’re dating my brother, Sam.”
“I meant in having to choose.”
He screws his eyes shut. “No. I need to know. I’m losin
’ my mind. I can’t keep being the fifth wheel. Seeing you with him is like taking my heart, pulling it, then twisting, and tying it in knots.”
The mere thought of being the cause of that kind of pain for him makes my chest feel the same way. I stare at our feet. “We should get our tickets.” When I look back up, he’s beaming like a kid in a candy store, and no matter how much I try to stop myself, it’s infectious. My laughs escape. And escape. And escape.
“Sam…” Ryan’s standing over me, his hair disheveled and unruly. I should want him. Everything in me ought to want to go upstairs and make passionate love to him all night instead of explore the downtown of this little city, but I haven’t been able to expel Joe from my thoughts. “You ready?”
“Yeah.” I stand up, and he takes my hand in his. “Let’s get out of here.”
We stroll down the sidewalk. The roads are lined with crepe myrtles and hardwoods. Each trunk is lit with white lights, much like Hopelands Gardens. At the intersections there are roundabouts. One has a huge lit Christmas tree glistening against the red, green, and orange of the stoplights. From the street lamps, there are colored snowflakes and bells. “This place is really beautiful, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. It’s a cute town.”
“They have a med school about thirty minutes from here. Would you want to live here?”
“Eh.” He laughs nervously. “I don’t know if I would want to be in a small town longer than necessary.”
“What’s wrong with a small town?”
He shrugs. “Nothing. It’s just not for me. Would you want to live here?”
“I wouldn’t be opposed to it. It’s quaint.”
The music we heard earlier gets louder the more we walk. The number of cars parked along the streets also increases. There’s an alley between the buildings, and it quickly becomes clear this is a large part of the nightlife of this town. Ryan tugs me down the cobbled street. “Let’s check this place out. Kinda reminds me of Charleston.”
Yeah. And Joe. But I can’t say that to his brother. People dressed in tuxedos and formal wear have me scratching my head. “Are you sure we’re supposed to be back here?” I turn my head around and survey the place. “I think this may be a wedding reception or something.”