One morning I woke up to Tyler having done my laundry, and my clothes were stacked by type on his dresser. Casually he mentioned that he had an empty drawer on the top in case I wanted to keep anything in there. So I shoved all my clothes into the one drawer and called it a day. It wasn’t like there were a lot of them. Aside from the couple of dresses I had, which hung from a hook on his closet door, most of the things I had brought with me to my brother’s were now spread across his bedroom.
The sex was incredible, which was helping me not feel as bad about it. Tyler seemed to know exactly where and how to touch me and did so with confidence and passion. It was unlike anything I had ever experienced before, and I was insatiable for it. The second he got home, late at night from the bar, I would be ready for him, and by the time he had been home for more than ten minutes, we were usually already making noise in the bed, and his clothes would be spread over the floor.
Yet, in the back of my mind, when I was alone, I felt guilt over the betrayal of my brother. Not just for me, but also for how Tyler must feel about it. It was his best friend, and I knew it bothered him that he was keeping this secret from him. Or maybe not so much a secret as a blurry situation that he had not quite cleared up. It was most certainly up to me to clear the air with Nick and let him know what was going on, mostly because I hadn’t really broached the subject with Tyler, so aside from saying we were sleeping together, he wouldn’t have much else to say to him anyway.
I was going to have to talk to him soon. Both of them, really. But I still wasn’t ready and looking down to see yet another missed call from Nick didn’t help. The pressure to do or say something was heavy, and I just wanted to avoid it at all costs. At least for now.
I had also quite literally just gotten out of another relationship. A serious one that led me to the altar before it went bottoms up. I had to keep that in mind, and that as strong as my feelings were getting about Tyler, that my emotions were also running high and I was still hurt by everything that happened. I wasn’t entirely sure I was really ready for another relationship, and yet there I was, going through all the hallmarks of starting one. It wasn’t just sex; it was all the little relationship type things I was doing, and all the sweet little ways he took care of me, too.
Nick’s latest call went to voicemail, and thankfully he didn’t immediately ring again as he had been getting into the practice of doing. I was going to have to eventually pick up one of those calls, apologize for avoiding the others, and get on with telling him what was happening. But before that happened, I needed to talk to Tyler and figure out exactly what that was. It was a lot to ponder, and I decided that getting a fresh perspective on it all would likely be helpful.
Besides, Melissa had been covering for me, and I owed her at least the courtesy of keeping her up to date on where I was and what I was deciding to do. A little bit of girl time would come in handy, plus it would get me out of Tyler’s house, and I had a feeling that if I broke the bubble and actually went somewhere besides the distance between his bed and the bath or the couch, I might get a better angle on what was going on and my perspective of it.
Putting on actual clothes, I checked my makeup in the mirror and headed for the door. Tyler had left early that day, and I didn’t have a key, but he had told me where the spare was. Rather than leave it to chance, I left the door unlocked as I went out to find the spare, and when I did, I tried it in the door once to make sure. When I was positive it worked, I grabbed my keys, shut and locked the door, and got in the car, bound for Melissa’s.
Melissa met me at the door with a glass of wine and a bowl of popcorn. I had to laugh as I gave her a hug.
“Isn’t it a little early for wine?” I asked.
“Three p.m. is the new nine p.m.,” she said, ushering me inside.
Walking into her room, I crashed into her little love seat and curled my legs under me. She sat down beside me, digging her hand into the popcorn and turning to face me, an excited look on her face.
“So,” Melissa said, extending the “o” sound for several extra letters.
“So?” I asked, taking a big gulp of the wine.
“Come on, girl. I need deets.”
“What kind of deets?” I asked.
She cocked her head to one side and raised an eyebrow.
“You know exactly what kind of deets, Becca Watson,” she said.
I sighed. “I know,” I said. “At least pause the movie.”
She reached up with the remote and hit the Pause button without even taking her eyes off me. I laughed.
“Paused,” she said, deadpan. “Spill it.”
“First, more wine.” I shook my half-empty glass at her. She made a face at me and topped me off, and I took another big gulp before sighing and delving in.
“So, we’ve been sleeping together the entire week,” I began.
There came a squeal of such epic proportions from my best friend that I was sure the wine glasses were about to shatter.
“How. Was. It?” she said, enunciation each word.
“It’s been amazing,” I started, eliciting another squeal of glee. I proceeded to give her all sorts of sordid details that I felt ashamed I was saying out loud to another human before getting to how I felt about the whole thing. That part involved considerably less squealing and considerably more popcorn eating. The more emotion I admitted to, the more kernels went to their doom.
“Well,” Melissa said after a short pause and another refill of our wine. “I think one thing you need to do, and this is just your best friend talking here, is you need to make sure you’ve forgotten your ex. Because I am worried that you would be more open to the idea of being with Tyler if you weren’t so afraid that your happiness with him is a reaction to that relationship ending.”
“I have,” I said, perhaps too emphatically. “I mean, I’m not hung up on him at all. The only thing that crossed my mind is that I might be falling too fast because I was so heartbroken, but it’s not like I’m sleeping with Tyler for revenge or anything. I don’t know if Tyler and I had hooked up a year from now if I would feel any different. I’m just…”
“Scared of new relationships?”
“Yeah. Scared of new relationships in general,” I said.
“That seems like a conversation you should have with Tyler, don’t you think?” she asked, emptying her glass.
I sighed. “I know. I’m just scared. Especially since things aren’t exactly out in the open anyway.”
“Eventually, you need to talk to your brother, too. He has to understand that you didn’t do this on purpose, but you don’t have anything to apologize for, either. It’s his best friend. If anything, he should be delighted his best friend and his sister are happy being together.”
“I think his bigger worry would be that something would happen, and he would have to choose between us,” I said.
“People always say that,” Melissa said, “and hardly anyone ever chooses sides. He’s your brother and Tyler’s best friend. If you two split up, he’d be fine.”
“I suppose so,” I said. She was making really good points, some of which I had never really thought of before. I suppose it made sense what she was saying about my brother, and the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I might need to take her advice and just put on my big-girl panties and address the situation with both Tyler and my brother.
Melissa and I continued talking about how I felt, but by then it was rehashing old stuff and her just telling me it was okay to feel whatever I was feeling. I thanked her for being there for me and for being willing to talk about my trouble so often. She just hugged me in response, and I sat there, my head on her shoulder as we watched the movie we knew by heart already and quoted scenes to each other.
Eventually, it started to get a little late in the evening, and I had sobered up enough that I was safe to drive. With a quick hug, I said goodbye to Melissa and got into my car, pulling away and heading back to Tyler’s feeling a lot better about everything. E
ven if I did know now that I had some subjects I needed to broach with various people in my life. And not all of those conversations would be as light as the one with Melissa.
19
Tyler
I had the early shift that day, which meant working the bar for the lunch rush, along with setting up the night service. It was more boring than it was hard, but once the rush began, it wasn’t so bad. Getting through lunch was always an accomplishment because often we just closed the doors and took a break ourselves until six. The cost of keeping everything running never seemed to outweigh the business.
So it was at the bar, prepping for the night service in an empty bar, that I was standing when Jordan and Matt descended on me like a cheap mobster movie gang. They surrounded me at the bar, and I noticed Ava in the background, wiping down a table, but doing slowly so she could eavesdrop. Mason was somewhere in the back of house.
This was going to be fun.
“Hey, buddy,” Matt said in a tone that told me they were treating me with kid gloves. I hated that. I was older than both of them.
“Hey…” I said cautiously.
“We were just wondering,” Jordan said, “why Mason seems to think you’re down.”
I sighed. I guess we were doing this now. To hell with planning.
“So, he didn’t tell you, but he told you I was down?” I asked.
“Pretty much,” Matt said. “What’s up?”
I took a deep breath. This could go as well as it did with Mason, or it could go really, really poorly.
“I’m thinking about going back to school,” I said, “and eventually leaving the bar.”
“Wait, what?” Jordan asked. “Why would you leave the bar? You can do school and work here.”
“Yeah, I mean, depending on what you wanted to take, it might actually help the bar,” Matt said.
“I don’t think so,” I said, interjecting before they mapped out my entire future for me. “I want to do something in the tech sector.”
“Do you not like being here?” Matt asked, and I knew I had to reassure them it wasn’t about them.
“It’s not that,” I said. “I like being with you guys. I like this being a family business. It’s just, I don’t know, I feel like everyone else has something they love to do, and I don’t. I just have a job. A great job, but just a job, you know?”
They were quiet for a minute, and then a shift behind me made me turn around. Mason was standing behind me, a pencil stuck behind his ear and his sleeves rolled up to the elbow. He nodded at me.
“I should tell you guys,” Mason said, “I am in full support of this. Tyler wants to pursue his dream, and as sad as I would be to have him not with us here every day, I’d much rather know he was happy doing something he loved.”
His words hit me a lot harder than I thought they would. I smiled and opened my arms for a bro hug, and Mason accepted, slapping me hard on the back before I turned back around to the other two. They briefly glanced at one another before looking back to me.
“This is what family is for,” Mason said, coming up beside me and leaning over the bar toward the others. “We support each other. You both know if there was something you wanted to do, the other three of us, and Tom out in Cali, would support you. All Tyler is asking is for that same consideration.”
“Well, I know I’m sad to hear you’re going to be going, too, but like Mason, I just want you to be happy,” Matt said.
“Yeah, happiness first. The bar will always be around. You figure out what you want,” Jordan agreed. “Do you have any idea when you’re leaving?”
“No, I don’t really,” I said. “I’ve really just started thinking about it seriously recently. I might be able to do some classes and work part-time here, but one way or the other, when I get out of school I’d want to find a job doing something with the degree.”
“That makes total sense,” Jordan said. “Any idea of what you want to do specifically?”
“I have a few ideas, but nothing concrete,” I said. “I didn’t want to let myself get too involved with even thinking about it until I talked to you guys and made sure you wouldn’t hate me for it.”
“Hate you?” Matt asked. “You’re our big brother. We love you, man. And we all want to see you happy. So if that means we need to find someone else to sling drinks out here, then that’s what we need to do.”
“I appreciate it, guys,” I said. “This means a lot to me.”
“Alright, enough lovey-dovey,” Mason said behind me. “We have a dinner rush coming in soon. But before we get to that, a drink.”
He poured a couple of shots for us, and Ava came over to join us when I waved her down. She elected for a shot of clear soda, but the spirit was there.
“To our brother,” Mason said, holding up his shot in the air until we joined him, “may he find happiness and satisfaction in whatever he does.”
“Salut,” Matt said.
“Salut,” Jordan, Mason, Ava and I all said in unison. We downed the shots, and I took a deep breath before shaking the willies out. I hadn’t seen him pour it and had no idea it was that cinnamon fire stuff.
“Good God, Mason,” I said. “Warn me next time.”
“I don’t know how many times I’ve got left to prank you at the bar,” he said, laughing as he went back into the back. “Have to make use of them!”
I got home around ten, exhausted as the dinner rush was much heavier than expected, but happy to get out before the midnight run. I was also starving and had already pulled up my phone to check the local pizza joints for specials and make sure they still delivered after ten. When I opened the door to the house, though, a smell hit me that made me forget about pizza. No easy feat.
“Becca?” I asked as I got in.
“Hey,” she said excitedly from the kitchen. “I’m almost done. Go wash up and meet me in the dining room.”
“Almost done?” I asked, still confused and still standing in the open doorframe.
“With dinner,” she said, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Something deep inside me stirred. I couldn’t remember a time when a woman that wasn’t related to me already or who I was paying at a restaurant had cooked for me. It smelled delicious, too. As I shut the door and hung my jacket, I walked by the kitchen and saw her dancing as she finished cooking what looked like a whole roast chicken, gravy, mashed potatoes, and more. Whatever was stirring inside me was joined by the hunger in my stomach in a loud chorus that was telling me all kinds of things about how I felt at that moment.
I tried to ignore them all and went into the bedroom to change as fast as I could. I was excited, so much so that I felt damn near giddy. She looked so cute in my kitchen dancing and cooking, and for a split second, I saw a future. A future I didn’t dare think about again, and one I never would have imagined. But just seeing it for that fleeting second put me in a mood even better than the one I had when my brothers seemed to accept my choice to go back to school.
I got out of my work clothes, opting for a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt, and headed back out into the dining room. The table was already set, and there were glasses with a dark red wine already in place. I sat down at one of them, and she entered a moment later from the kitchen, carrying the bird.
“This looks amazing,” I said as she finished bringing all the sides out. “You really didn’t need to do all this.”
“I wanted to,” she said. “You deserve something nicer than frozen stuffed peppers.”
“Hey, I love stuffed peppers,” I said.
“Then you should have them the way I make them. From scratch,” she said.
“Uhh… yes,” I said. “Yes, I should.”
We dug in, and it was even better than it looked. I kept gushing about the food, and she kept blushing and telling me to stop. I wasn’t flattering her, though. It really was damn good.
“So, how was work?” she asked.
“Well, I told the guys about me wanting to go back to schoo
l,” I said.
“How did they take it?”
“Better than I could have imagined,” I said.
Her eyes grew wide, and a smile stretched across her face. “Really? That’s so great!”
“Yeah, they were really encouraging,” I said. “They all said they would be sad to see me leave the family business if it gets to that, but they wanted me to be happy.”
“Well, your brothers are all grown,” Becca said, piercing a piece of chicken with her fork. “They can handle themselves now. I am just so happy to hear they were supportive.”
“I just wish I hadn’t been so nervous to talk to them,” I said. “I shouldn’t have been.”
“That just shows how much you care about their opinion,” she said. “That’s not necessarily a bad thing.”
“Maybe,” I said. “I do feel bad about leaving them, you know?”
“You could always stay at the bar if you want,” Becca said. I tried to read her face, to see if there was disappointment or disapproval in that gaze. There was none. She wasn’t judging me and was genuinely trying to help me. I started to feel a connection there with her, something I tried desperately to deny but was growing with every day. Something far more than just sleeping together. “You could stay there, or you could pursue something else. Either way, what matters in life is that you are doing something, pursuing something, that makes you happy.”
She smiled, and I felt the emotion overcoming me. I wanted to hold her, to touch her, right then and there. I put down my fork and leaned over the corner of the table that separated us.
“Thank you,” I said. “You’re right.” I held out my arms for a hug, and when we broke the embrace, I placed a soft kiss to her mouth. I lingered there, tasting the red wine and salt on her lips. It was velvety, and decadent, and intoxicating. Just like her. “Thank you for supporting me.”
His Best Friend's Sister: A Secret Baby Romance Page 10