Curves in the Road (The Southern Devotion Series Book 2)

by Amy K McClung

  Angel must have answered silently with a nod or a head shake but I didn’t know which. All I knew is that I hadn’t had a clue about Tristan’s feelings for me. He never hinted that he was attracted to me in that way.

  “When did the feelings change for you?” Angel asked him.

  “During her pregnancy, weirdly enough. We went through it all together and at some point I started seeing her in a different way. I came to the realization that I wanted to have a family with her.”

  Angel questioned, “Why didn’t you ever tell her?”

  “She’s been in love with Derrick since we first met. I wanted to make sure there was no chance for them before I put the thought in her head to even think of looking at me differently. I want her to be happy and Derrick makes her happy. She never needs to know how I feel, Angel. Promise me you won’t tell her?”

  Angel replied sadly, “I promise. They’re good for each other, she’s happier than I’ve ever seen her.”

  Tristan replied, “I know, that’s why I can let her go. She’s still my best friend, that’ll never change.”

  When I peered around the corner, Angel had her arms around Tristan in a comforting hug. Boy did I read Tristan wrong. All this time I thought he had a thing for Angel when he was really crushing on me.

  Tiptoeing to the stairs, I moved up a few before making louder steps down to alert them of my presence. “Well, I’m packed and ready to go. Will you two be okay without me?” I said, winking and trying to act normal.

  Angel glanced at the clock on the wall, “Ooh, I have to run! I’m late for work.” She kissed Tristan’s cheek and then mine and said, “See you guys later.”

  When she was gone, I couldn’t hold it in anymore. “Can we talk?”

  Tristan looked surprised but said, “Sure, what’s up sweetie?”

  Taking his hand in mine I pulled him to the couch. I bit my lip, unsure of how to start this awkward conversation that may change our relationship forever. “I heard you and Angel talking. I wasn’t going to say anything but when I looked in your eyes just now, well I can’t ignore this.”

  Tristan’s eyes grew wide; he knew instantly what I meant. Reaching out I pressed my palm to his face, he closed his eyes momentarily at the touch. “I didn’t know, Tristan. All this time and I had no clue.”

  Tristan pulled my hand away from his face, “I didn’t want you to know MJ. I like Derrick, a lot. I’m truly happy you two worked it all out. I’d never try to come between that. I feel like Andrew Lincoln in Love Actually right now.”

  I smiled at the movie reference and said, “I always felt so bad for Kiera Knightley having to hurt him that way. The way she coped with it was pretty mature though, I always thought I’d handle it the same way.” With that sentiment, I leaned forward, placed my palms on his cheeks and gave him the gentlest chaste kiss on the lips that I could muster.

  When I pulled away he sighed and said, “It’s enough,” quoting the same line that Andrew Lincoln’s character had quoted in that scene.

  “I do love you Tristan.”

  He interrupted me to say, “You’re just not in love with me. I understand.”

  With a slow sad nod, I replied, “I hope that we can keep our relationship the same. You’ll find the right girl for you and she’ll be the luckiest girl in the world to have you.”

  Tristan’s lips turned up in a smile filled with hope and sadness all in one. “Let’s not talk about this again, deal?”

  Nodding, I changed the subject completely, “How’s school going for Macy?”

  “Amazing. It’s like an entirely different world here. She’s been there only a few short months and already she’s made more friends than she did in Florida. The best part is, no one is bullying her.” Tristan took my hand, “I owe you so much for convincing us to move here, it was the best thing for her.”

  “Sometimes a change of scenery makes all the difference. Plus, being at a school specifically for gifted children helps to fit in. When she has a day off school, I’d like to take her and Katelyn out to spend the day.”

  Tristan grinned up at me, “She’d love that. She loves you, ya know.”

  Being silly I swished my hair back from my shoulder and said, “Who doesn’t?” It didn’t even occur to me how that sounded until I said it, then I turned red with embarrassment until Tristan laughed and hugged me.

  ###

  When I shut the door behind me, Derrick called out, “I’m in the kitchen.” He stood at the stove with his back turned to me. Wrapping my arms around him from behind I pushed up on my toes to kiss the back of his neck. “Hello gorgeous,” he said, patting my hands that rested against his chest.

  “It smells delicious in here.”

  Turning in my embrace, he faced me to lean down and capture my lips in a kiss that I felt in my toes. “You smell delicious,” he whispered against my ear.

  His iPod was playing in the background, he leaned back to turn the music up. He led me away from the stove to pull me close again. We swayed to the music, his hands resting against the small of my back, mine around his neck with my head on his shoulder.

  At the end of the song, he lifted my chin before scrunching his eyebrows and asking, “What’s bothering you?”

  "You can read me like a book.” With a pause, I moved away from him and sat at the kitchen table. “I need to tell you something.”

  His eyes grew wide with worry so I added, “It’s nothing bad for us, I don't want to keep any secrets between us now that's all.”

  His first question upon hearing of Tristan’s feelings was, “How do you know?” I explained everything to him from overhearing Angel’s questions to speaking to Tristan myself and even the kiss. “You kissed him?” he asked, sounding hurt.

  “It was a friendly kiss.”

  Derrick nodded and asked, “Can you show me?”

  I shook my head, “No, I wouldn’t know how to kiss you in a friendly way.”

  That answered made him grin like the Cheshire cat. “Well, I can accept that then. Truthfully though, how could I blame him for loving you?" He pondered something for a moment before asking, "Will it be awkward being his friend?”

  “Not for me, but will you be alright with it?”

  “I won’t lie; it’s going to be strange to be around him. I trust you, MJ. That won’t change unless you give me a reason to not trust you anymore. I’m glad you told me. I agree that we need to stop keeping secrets from each other."

  “Fair enough,” I said with a smile. “That went better than I expected.”

  Derrick let out a soft chuckle, “What were expecting? Did you think I’d puff my chest out, march over to him, and claim my woman by beating him up for looking at her?”

  Leaning closer, I nipped at his bottom lip, “The claiming part would be nice.”

  He wrapped his arms tighter around me, pulling me in to kiss me. “You’re mine for as long as you want to be.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  **Derrick**

  The doorbell rang so I excused myself to answer it while Mary Jane kept an eye on dinner. Tristan stood on the front stoop with his kid sister Macy next to him. “Hey, Tristan…Macy. Come in,” I waved them into the living room.

  Mary Jane came out of the kitchen at that moment and exclaimed, “Macy!” She sprinted to MJ to hug her before they excused themselves upstairs.

  “Mary Jane is helping Macy get ready for her first date. I can’t believe I’m saying that right now.” Tristan said, following me to the kitchen. "She's only my little sister and I'm freaking out about her dating boys. I can't imagine how you're going to feel one day when Katelyn has her first date."

  With the news of his feelings still fresh in my mind I was a bit nervous and unsure of what to say to him right now. Instead of words, I grunted and gave nods of my head until finally Tristan stopped talking.

  When I turned to see why he stopped, his eyes were large with shock. “She told you,” he stated with dread filling his tone.

  “Sit do
wn,” I asked motioning to the table.

  Tristan began to defend himself, “Look, Derrick you have nothing to worry about.”

  I raised my hand to stop him. “I know. Tristan, when you two came to my dad’s funeral and Mary Ann was eight months pregnant, you went out of your way to convince me to give her a chance to explain. You asked me to give her a chance to tell me in her words what happened. You were already in love with her at that point, weren’t you?”

  He bowed his head and mumbled, “Yeah, I was.”

  “It took a lot of guts to push me towards her instead of leaving things be or trying to come between us. You’re an honorable guy, T. I can see that through the time we’ve known each other, and through the way you look at Mary Ann. I knew you cared about her, I didn’t know the full extent. Thank you for respecting what we have, it means a lot to me." In a show of sincerity, I extended my hand to him and he shook it without hesitation. "There's something else I wanted to talk to you about. Mary Jane said you were having trouble affording the rent where you and Angel are now that she's moving out."

  "I'm looking for a better paying job. It's not a big deal; we can make it work for a little bit." Tristan seemed embarrassed that I brought the matter up, it was easy to see it hurt his pride to not be able to take care of Macy the way he needed.

  "That's where I'd like to help. I'd like to hire you as a bartender for my club. Between what we'll pay hourly and the tips you'll earn, you should find that it pays much better than your current job."

  Tristan considered the offer for a moment before saying, "That sounds perfect. The only problem is that I don't know much about being a bartender. I know how to make a few drinks and how to pour beer without too much foam but that's the extent of my knowledge."

  "There's a bartender school that we can send you to. The course takes about two weeks which is perfect because the club doesn't open for another two months. We'll cover the cost, all you have to do is agree to work with us for a year and it will be no cost to you. That's the offer we'd decided on for any bartender so this isn't special treatment because you're a friend. I would like you to be head bartender though. You'd be over the other two, possibly three, bartenders that we would hire. Mary Jane also told me that you've been a supervisor in the past. So, tell me what you think."

  Tristan seems overwhelmed at the offer I've presented to him so I sit back and wait for his answer. After a few moments of silence, he replies, "I'll take it."

  "Great! I'll get you set up for classes as soon as possible. And during the next couple of weeks, I'll want you to sit in on the hiring with Ashton and me, if that's alright with you."

  "Sounds great. Look Derrick, I really appreciate this opportunity. It's going to mean a lot to Macy too."

  Mary Jane poked her head into the kitchen and asked, "Tristan, Macy's ready. Can you guys come out here and see what you think?"

  Tristan nervously walked into the living room and his mouth dropped open at seeing his little sister all dressed up. She's only fourteen and Mary Jane dressed her appropriately for her age in a lavender dress that fell just below her knees. She had curled her short hair and clipped a flower on the left side to pull it back. "You look beautiful, Macy," I said as Tristan stared speechless.

  "Thanks, Derrick. Tristan, do I look alright."

  Tristan bent to hug her and said, "You look gorgeous, Macy. Thanks MJ. I'll call you later and let you know how her date goes."

  Tristan stepped forward and hugged Mary Jane. As I watched them hug I thought I would feel jealous and angry now that I know his feelings. Instead, nothing had changed. She hugged him the way she hugs Ashton or any other guy friend. It took a load off my chest that I didn’t see any feelings there. Mary Jane and I had fought our way back to each other after two years and I'm done with wondering where we stand. From now on I wanted our life to be as happy as possible with no more conflicts.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  **Mary Jane**

  Tonight is the opening of A Shot in the Dark. For the past two months, I'd barely seen Derrick due to all the last minute details they had to complete. Gracie and I had been put in charge of putting together the invites for opening night. It was a night by invitation only but we'd also arranged for radio stations to give away a number of special invites to the public as well and once those were give out, we'd also allow the first fifty people who showed up inside.

  Tristan and I hadn't spoken since he called me to tell me that Macy's date went perfectly. He said the boy she went out with was a perfect gentleman. He dropped them off at the restaurant and then managed to seat himself in view of them without them noticing he was there. He said he'd never seen Macy smile so much in the last few years. After that day he'd been busy with Bartending School and helping Derrick and Ashton interview the other potentials.

  Gracie and I had designed the theme for the night around the rock band that Ashton had scheduled. We'd set up several contests for people to win different gift cards and a grand prize of two free drinks for a year for every night they came to the bar. Gracie had come up with a great game to go with the name of the bar. There'd be a lineup of five shots and the person would be blindfolded as they were poured, then they'd have to guess what is in each shot. Whoever named them all first would win the prize associated with that game.

  We'd even arranged business with a company that offers sober rides. Everything was coming together perfectly. Ashton, Derrick, Gavin, and Cameron were already at the bar putting the final touches on before tonight. Gracie and I gathered up Autumn, Katelyn, Addison, and Macy to go over to Maria's for the night. We'd offered to pay Macy to help Maria with the other two and she was more than willing.

  The doorbell rang and I ran downstairs knowing that it was Angel and Gracie coming over to get ready. They paraded in with garment bags and a box of makeup. "Let's get you two looking hot for your men's big opening night!" Angel exclaimed.

  "This is so unreal to me right now," Gracie said. "Ashton and Derrick have been talking about running a club for so long it seemed like a dream was all it would be. I'm so proud of them both."

  "Me too," I said. "It's so great that they were able to put it together as a family."

  "Alright, enough reminiscing ladies. We only have a couple of hours. Let's figure out which of these dresses you're wearing so we can take the others back tomorrow."

  Angel worked at a dress store in Green Hills. Her boss was a childhood friend of her moms so she let her get away with anything she wanted. For this weekend, she allowed her to gather an abundance of dresses in our sizes so we could pick the perfect one for tonight.

  It took us over an hour to settle on each of our dresses for the evening. Gracie chose a crimson strapless knee length dress with a black lace overlay and black velvet belt that cinched the waist. She paired this with her cowboy boots that were black with red stitching that Ashton bought her one night when they were out and her heel broke. They were sentimental to their relationship so she was ecstatic that Angel found a dress to match them.

  Angel chose a maroon sleeveless dress that hugged her curves and accented her olive skin tone perfectly. Mine was a strapless beaded pink and black tulle cocktail dress. The dress was mostly black with sparkles covering the tulle material. There was a large pink satin bow around the waist and a single strap of pink satin roses that traveled over my left shoulder.

  Once the three of us were ready to go, we piled into Angel's car for the evening. She drove because Gracie and I would both ride home with our guys at the end of the night.

  The party had already started when we arrived. There were photographers outside taking pictures of the crowd waiting to get in and of the outside of the building. It looked like a scene from the red carpet, something I'd only seen on television.

  The bouncer stood at the door checking a guest list. Gracie sauntered up to him, "Hey Bobby," she grinned. He leaned down to hug her and give her a kiss on the cheek. "Hey Gracie, it's great to see you again. Especially when you aren't kicking
and screaming over Ash's shoulder." Gracie laughed and blushed at the memory Bobby brought up. He'd been a bouncer at a club they attended one night. Ash had to drag her out kicking and screaming after the manager asked Cameron and Gavin to leave because no one wanted to see them dance together. Ashton kept his promise to Bobby that he'd find him a boss that wasn't homophobic. Once they'd decided on when the club would open, Bobby was the first one Ashton called.

  "Ladies, you all look drop dead gorgeous," Bobby said as he opened the rope gate to let us through.

  "Thanks, Bobby," we all chimed in as we stepped passed him.

  The first one we spotted was Tristan at the bar. He looked and gave us all a wink and a thumbs up. Gracie spotted Ashton so she ran over to greet him. I watched as he noticed her boots and grinned before dipping her in a passionate kiss.

  Angel moved to the bar and began to flirt with Tristan while I searched desperately for Derrick. A hot breath against my ear said, "You are the most beautiful woman in this entire room, hands down."

  Turning around, I came face to face with the sexiest man I'd ever know, Derrick. His smile made me want to push him into the back room and have my way with him right now. His hand took mine and spun me around in a circle. "What do you think?" I asked.

  "I stand by what I said. This dress looks great on you." He pulled me close and whispered, "I bet it'll look even better off."

  "You'll have to wait until later to find out."

  "Come dance with me."

  The dance floor was full of couples slow dancing to the song being played on stage. "I'm so proud of you. This place is amazing Derrick."

  "I couldn't have done it without my brothers. It's still so hard to believe how it all came together. I brought Katelyn here last night to show her what it looked like. She was so excited. She asked if she could have her next birthday party here."

  Laughing I said, "I guess if we did it during the day and had it in the private room where we could lock the bar it wouldn’t be too bad."