“Comfortable enough.”
“Ok, good. Let’s do this.”
I held open the door and gestured for her to walk into the hall. She took a deep breath before taking small tentative steps.
I let the door close behind us and put a hand on her shoulder. “It’s going to be fine.”
“Easy for you to say.”
“They’re going to be harder on me than you.”
“But they’re your family. It’s different.”
“Remember that when the tables are turned and we’re with your family.”
“Yeah, that’s not going to happen.”
I laughed. “I did say I’d pay you back.”
“And I’d never subject either of us to that. My mom would figure it out in seconds.”
“She’s that intuitive?”
“Completely. I was never able to get away with anything.” Her face fell. “Well, at least most of the time I couldn’t.”
“Only most of the time?” I moved my hand to her back as we walked toward the stairs. “This I have to hear.”
“It’s nothing exciting or fun. Trust me.”
“If you say so.” I wasn’t going to push her.
We walked down the grand staircase to the main floor before heading outside to the veranda.
Jade ran her hand down the bannister as we walked down the steps. “It’s absolutely beautiful here.”
“It is. It’s always been one of my favorite vacation spots.” I shielded my eyes from the reflection of the sun on the calm water. Despite the glare, the lake was as beautiful as always.
“I can’t believe you guys vacation up here while you also have a house down at the beach.”
“What you mean is that I’m spoiled.”
“Sort of.”
“I’m not going to pretend that I was deprived of much in that department growing up.”
“In that department? Meaning you were deprived in others?” Her brown eyes locked on mine.
“Forget it. It’s not important.”
“If you say so.” We continued down to the shore of the lake. “Oh, before I forget again, what’s your mom’s name? I felt like an idiot earlier because I didn’t know.”
“She’s Grace and my dad’s Steve.”
“Grace and Steve. Got it.”
The evening was windy, and Jade’s hair blew all around her. She pulled it back and held it at the nape of her neck. “I’m glad I brought some sweatshirts with me.”
“Do you want to get a sweater right now?”
“No. I like it. Sometimes feeling a little cold is good.”
“I know what you mean.” I turned back to look out at the expansive lake. It was the kind of lake that made you think of the ocean because it seemed endless. “Do you like the water?”
“Usually.”
“Let’s start with when you don’t.”
“Contrary to what I just said about the wind, I hate swimming in cold water. If it’s warm, I’m all about it though.”
“In other words you wouldn’t want to do a polar plunge with me?” I teased.
She cringed. “That sounds horrid.”
“It’s actually invigorating.”
“You’ve done it?” She eyed widened in surprise. “For real?”
“I did it last New Year’s. My brother talked me into it.”
“Your brother sounds crazy.”
“He is. Very.”
“And I have to go meet said scary brother now?”
“You do. That kind of makes me a jerk, huh?”
“Not a jerk unless you ditch me.”
“You think I’m going to ditch you? Doesn’t that defeat the whole purpose of bringing you with me?”
She tilted her head slightly. “Technically just having me here supports your claim, so you can ditch me after I meet everyone else.”
“But then I can’t sell them on how madly in love we are.”
She put a hand on her hip. “I wasn’t aware that was part of the plan. New girlfriend is different from madly in love.”
“I want to make sure we adequately put your acting skills to work.”
“Oh, we’re putting them to work.”
“Are we?” I leaned in slightly.
“If it isn’t the love birds.” Dylan sauntered over visibly intoxicated.
Jade straightened up.
“Dylan, this is Jade. Jade, this is my brother, Dylan.”
“A pleasure to meet you.” He held out his hand.
“Nice to meet you too.” She tentatively gave her his hand.
“How did you meet my brother?” Dylan took his time shaking her hand before releasing it.
“We work together at the radio station.”
“I see.”
She smiled. “Yeah, you know the whole ‘I want to sleep with my boss’ thing.”
I choked down a laugh. Was she really going there?
“Your boss?”
“Yes. Kyle is the manager of the station now after all.”
“What year are you?” Dylan continued the interrogation.
“I’ll be a sophomore in the fall.”
“Going for a younger woman, huh Kyle?”
“Like you should talk? We’re only a year apart, and you rarely date anyone close to your age.”
“And you saw where that got me.”
“What happened with Juliet was your fault.” I still hadn’t forgiven Dylan for hurting the girl I’d crushed on my whole childhood. I wasn’t into her anymore, but he’d been an asshole to take advantage of her adoration.
“So what do you do, Dylan?” Jade stopped me from saying something I’d probably regret.
“I’m in the process of taking over our father’s business.” He looked at me. “Kyle will be working for me after graduation.”
“No I won’t.” I had no intentions of going anywhere near the family business. Even if I had any interest in business, I wouldn’t have touched ours with a ten foot pole. My relationship with my family was complicated enough without throwing in working with them.
“You make it sound like you have a choice.” Dylan shook his head. “If you don’t they’ll cut you out of the will.”
“Like I care about that?”
Jade took a long look at me before turning back to Dylan. “Would you excuse us?” She grabbed onto my arm.
“Sure, I’ll see you at dinner.” Dylan stomped away.
“What a jerk.”
“You think?” I wasn’t going to defend him. He wasn’t perfect when he was sober, but he was worse when he was drunk. “Were you expecting something different?”
“I thought he was the golden boy or something.”
“My parents don’t see him the same way I do.”
“Is your dad as bad?” She continued her walk around the lakefront.
“Yes and no. He’s never drunk, if that helps, but he can be a jerk.”
“Your mom seems nice.”
“One out of three isn’t so bad, huh?”
She smiled. “We should probably head back inside. We wouldn’t want to be late.”
“We wouldn’t?”
“We shouldn’t.”
“We should have had more champagne.”
“Alcohol doesn’t fix everything.”
“It numbs it.” I laced my fingers through hers as we headed back toward the hotel.
She looked down at our hands. “You’re getting the hang of this.”
I shrugged. “It’s not as strange as I’d have thought.” It actually felt natural. Completely natural. I filed away that thought. Jade wasn’t going to have any interest in having a real relationship with me after spending a week with my family.
Chapter Seven
Jade
I tried to calm my nerves as Kyle led us back toward the hotel. I wasn’t ready to meet the rest of the family. If Kyle’s dad turned out to be anything like his brother I was in for it. I didn’t do well with jerks. It’s not that I couldn’t stand up for myself, it wa
s actually the opposite. I was likely to say or do something really stupid. At least according to Kyle he wouldn’t be drunk.
“You okay?” Kyle held open the door to the hotel.
“I’m fine.” I was the one who’d agreed to this crazy idea. It was a bad time to be having doubts.
We walked toward the dining room silently. Neither of us was particularly excited about getting this dinner started.
“Kyle!” A bubbly girl bounded over as we neared the restaurant. Her long brown hair fell in waves the way mine never would. “You made it.”
“Hey, Dana.” Kyle gave her a hug. “This is Jade.”
“Hey, Jade. Nice to meet you.” She held out her hand. “My cousin never brings girls to things so consider yourself special.”
I accepted her handshake. “Oh, Kyle always makes me feel special.” I figured I might as well lay it on.
Dana laughed. “No getting too sappy on all of us this weekend. We aren’t all as happy in love like you two.”
“What happened to Bobby?” Kyle ran his thumb over my hand.
Dana sighed dramatically. “He’s history.”
“That’s too bad.”
“No it’s not, and you agree. You hated him.”
“Hate is a very strong word.” Kyle shifted uncomfortably.
“You strongly disliked him.”
“That’s better.” Kyle glanced at his watch. “Is everyone else inside already?”
“Probably. You know how the grandparents are.”
Grandparents? How had I forgotten that part?
“I’m glad I found you guys. I wouldn’t want to walk in alone. Grandma is going to get on my back about finding a man.”
“You’re so young.” Kyle had said she was twenty-five. What was with his family caring so much about people being single?
“Not to her.” Dana rolled her eyes.
“Let’s not get on her bad side by being late then.” Kyle let go of my hand and moved it to the small of my back as we walked into the dining room. The warmth of his hand penetrated the thin fabric of my dress and sent a jolt of excitement through me.
“Right over there.” Dana nodded to a big group at a table by the window.
I followed Kyle over with dread. Even if I was actually Kyle’s girlfriend this would be hard.
“Look who decided to show up.” Dylan announced our arrival while looking right at me. What was his problem? Was he trying to make me uncomfortable? When he winked I got my answer.
“Oh Kyle, is this her?” an older woman stood up.
“Yes, Grandma, this is Jade.”
My stomach fell. Was I really going to have to lie to this little old lady?
His grandmother broke into a grin. “It’s wonderful to finally meet you, honey.” She walked around the table, leaning heavily on her cane, and hugged me.
Finally? How long did everyone think we’d been together? We really should have discussed the back story more.
I took a deep breath and snapped out of it. “It’s wonderful to meet you.”
“Why don’t you take a seat, Jade?” Dylan pulled out an empty spot next to him. “Kyle, it looks like you’re down by Grandpa.”
I looked around. Dana had taken a seat by the grandmother. Couldn’t his family have at least saved us seats together?
Making a scene didn’t seem like the best option, so I accepted the offered seat. Kyle threw me an apologetic glance before taking his seat all the way on the other side of the table.
“Hello, Jade. I don’t believe we’ve met yet.” The man on my other side held out his hand. It had to be Kyle’s dad. He looked eerily like an older version of Dylan.
“Hi, Mr. Bradly. It’s nice to meet you.”
“Please, call me Steve.”
I nodded even though I had no intention of doing it.
“Did you know that Jade works for Kyle at the radio station?” Dylan asked his father. “I never imagined Kyle would have taken advantage of someone that way.”
“He didn’t take advantage of me.” I quickly jumped to Kyle’s defense. What was Dylan’s problem?
“There’s nothing wrong with a man dating someone who works for him. It’s only natural.”
“Is it, Dad? Is it natural for a man to do that?” Dylan leaned over me. “I guess you’d know wouldn’t you?”
“Wait, did Grace work for you before you got married?”
Dylan grinned, and I realized the trap I’d walked into.
Steve cleared his throat. “No. We met when we were still in college.”
“Then pray, tell us, what experience are you pulling your wisdom from?” Dylan reclined back into his chair.
“Dylan…” Steve glared at his son.
“Yes, Dad?”
I was not going to sit in the middle of a conversation of Dylan accusing his father of sleeping around. “So, Mr. Bradley, I heard you’re a Harrison alumni.” I needed to steer the conversation away from relationships.
“I am. Most of the family is.”
“That’s great. How do you think the university has changed since you were there?”
“Oh, there have been a lot of changes.”
I silently sighed with relief as Mr. Bradley went into a long discussion about the school. Hopefully that would buy me some time. I carefully avoided looking at Dylan. I wasn’t about to give him another opportunity to make things awkward for me.
After Steve finished describing his gripes with the new administration I picked up the menu. Hopefully giving him an opportunity to talk about something he wanted to talk about would save me from any more painful conversation.
It didn’t help with Dylan.
“You looking forward to getting in the water while you’re here?” He rested his elbow on the table next tom me.
“Sure. I like swimming.”
“Have you ever been skinny dipping?”
“Seriously? You’re going to go there?” My mouth fell open.
“I’m only making conversation.”
I ignored him and looked straight ahead. Engaging him more than absolutely necessary would only egg him on. I also carefully avoided Kyle’s eyes. I didn’t want him making a scene on my account. Things were awkward enough. I didn’t need him making them worse.
The waiter had just cleared away our dishes when Dana threw me a life line.
“Jade, want to run to the restroom with me?”
“Absolutely.” I practically jumped out of my chair.
She smiled and walked around the table. “We’ll be back in a few.”
“I’m sorry,” she whispered as we walked away.
“It’s not your fault.”
“It’s still my family. They can be a lot to handle.”
“That’s putting it mildly.”
“That’s why I still can’t believe Kyle brought you. I’d have expected him to try to protect you more.”
“I don’t need protection.” I responded automatically, although after an hour or so next to Dylan I wasn’t so sure.
“You know what I mean.” She led us out of the dining room.
“I know, I think he just wanted to introduce me to everyone.” I was getting tired of defending Kyle. He hadn’t actually ditched me, but getting stuck on the opposite side of the table from him and forced to sit between his dad and Dylan wasn’t ideal. I’d barely managed to eat my dinner.
“You really like him, huh?” She pushed open the heavy wood door to the women’s restroom.
“Yes. I do.”
“You’re lucky Dylan graduated before you got there.”
“I’m beginning to realize that.” I left out the part about already knowing his awful reputation. There was no reason to go down that road.
“He has this tendency to always go after girls Kyle likes just because he can. I’m sure he assumes you’ll be as easy as the rest.”
I laughed dryly. “I wouldn’t touch him with a ten foot pole.” Then I belatedly realized I was talking about her cousin. “Sorry, forget I s
aid that.”
“It’s ok. I totally get it, but most girls don’t. It’s like he has a magnet that pulls people in. Trust me, I’ve lost more than a few friends that way.”
“He hit on your friends?” I stopped before opening a stall.
“Hit on? That’s putting it politely. It’s pretty recent though. He was much better pre some messy break up he had. I think that girl had also been one Kyle liked.”
“You’re talking about Juliet?”
“Is she a friend of yours?”
“Yes, a good friend.”
“So you know all about Dylan then?”
“She doesn’t talk about him a lot. It’s more that she talks about how much nicer Kyle is.”
“It’s like night and day now.” She hesitated in front of a stall.
“You keep saying now. This really is new? I mean he treated Juliet pretty awful.”
“Not this bad. This whole drunk all the time, picking fights with everyone stuff is new. He used to be fun and charming actually. Not the kind of guy you’d set up with your girlfriends, but one who was nice to have around at family occasions, you know?”
“I know what you mean.” I knew people like that. They didn’t make great friends, but yet they were still fun to have at a party.
I stepped into the stall, expecting it to end the conversation. It didn’t.
“What do you guys have planned this week?” Dana talked through the wall of the stall.
“Uh, I’m not sure.” I quickly finished up and washed my hands. When I’m in the bathroom it’s for one reason, to go to the bathroom.
Dana joined me at the neighboring sink. “I’m sure Kyle has some romantic ideas up his sleeve.”
“Is Kyle usually the romantic type?” I figured digging around couldn’t hurt.
“Shouldn’t you know the answer to that?” She reached around me for a hand towel.
“I mean with other girls.”
“What other girls?”
“Come on, he’s had girlfriends. You said yourself that Dylan always stole them.”
“I said he always stole the girls Kyle liked. He went on dates with girls in high school I think, but I don’t think he ever had a serious girlfriend before you.”
“He did. He was dating Abby last year.” The brat had left him for his frat brother. He was better off without her, but I knew it was pretty hard on him.
“But they weren’t serious, at least I never heard about her.”
The Hazards of Sleeping With a Friend Page 4