The Wrong Perfect Match (Fullilove in the House Book 1)

by Sidney Bristol

  The side door opened, breaking the moment.

  Jayden glanced up and stared. “What is on your face?”

  “Shut your pie hole,” Axl snapped.

  Despite his sharp words, he handed both Maddox and Jayden a beer.

  Unlike Maddox who was a Fullilove by birth, and Jayden who’d been adopted as a teen, Axl wasn’t technically a Fullilove though he was included in their eight as a son. He belonged with them.

  Axl’s mother had died when he was young. With his dad being a long-haul trucker, there hadn’t been many options for the family. Which was where the Fulliloves came into the picture. Axl had been absorbed into the family, not through the system like Jayden and his twin had, but simply because he fit them. When his dad was on the road, he lived at the Fullilove house. And when his dad was home, he got to hang out wherever his dad was staying for now. But those visits were always temporary and brief. At most, Axl got a week with his dad here and there.

  He hopped up and sat on the railing. The light coming out of the house made it easier to see the inch worth of scraggly beard and stubble clinging to his face. Then there was the stain on his shirt. He had a decidedly hobo look going on that was concerning.

  “Don’t let Mom catch you up there,” Maddox said in a sing-song voice.

  “When was the last time you showered, bro?” Jayden twisted the top off the beer.

  “Fuck you,” Axl grumbled.

  Jayden chuckled. “Crunch time?”

  Axl closed his eyes. “It’s almost over, and then I can sleep.”

  Jayden smirked.

  Axl was a programmer and worked for Dark Matter, a hugely successful video game company with titles that had become household names even to people like Jayden who didn’t play. Axl’s work seemed to ebb and flow. Clearly it was flow time.

  “What’s up with the flowers?” Axl asked.

  “Thought Mom deserved something nice.” Jayden wasn’t about to broach the topic of Nicole with them. Not now.

  “Hey, have you seen Asher lately?” Maddox asked.

  “No,” Jayden replied.

  Why was it everyone thought he knew where his twin was?

  “He didn’t come to the recital,” Axl said.

  Jayden frowned. “What? What recital?”

  “The boys’ choir recital you couldn’t come to because you were busy,” Axl replied dryly.

  That sounded vaguely familiar. Honestly, with so many kids’ schedules it was impossible to make everything. As a rule, the brothers did their best to show up and support the foster kids like the guys who came before them had done. It didn’t surprise Jayden that Asher wouldn’t show. That was normal. Asher did what Asher wanted, and nothing more.

  Maddox squinted at Jayden. “You think he’s okay?”

  “I’m sure Asher is fine.” Heck, maybe they’d have a little peace with Asher otherwise occupied?

  “It’s not like Asher to bail on something like the recital,” Axl insisted.

  No. No it wasn’t.

  Asher might flake out, but he did it to the kids less.

  “He’s probably fine,” Jayden said again, this time for himself.

  He didn’t want to keep running after Asher all the time. Wasn’t one of the perks of growing up that he wouldn’t be his brother’s keeper anymore?

  BRANDI SCRUBBED AT the backsplash behind the stove.

  God love Nicole, but the girl couldn’t see a splash of grease on the wall even if her name was written in it.

  At least she cooked. Really well.

  If Brandi never had to cook again, she’d clean and be happy she had a full belly.

  She hoped Nicole was doing well on this trip. It was such a big step for her and Brandi was so incredibly proud.

  Now if that annoying Jayden would just get out of the picture they could go back to their normal lives.

  Who did he think he was showing up with roses like that?

  Stupid men with their stupid good looks.

  She grumbled and put a bit more muscle into scrubbing at the grout.

  Of course her amazing day of doing nothing but binge watching her favorite shows would be ruined. Nicole never wanted to watch the same thing she did, so Brandi was always playing catch up. Now thanks to that obnoxious Jayden she was still behind.

  With any luck, she’d deterred him from showing up around here again. He’d left and taken the roses with him. Yes, Nicole would still need time to get over Jayden, but that at least was normal. And every girl got her heart broken. Nicole just had less experience with that sort of thing than most girls their age.

  Brandi and Nicole had grown up on the same block in a sleepy little town down in Oregon. Brandi’s first memories of Nicole were of a shy girl in a long dress that would steal glimpses of Brandi from around the big tree in her parent’s yard. For weeks Brandi would be outside her grandparent’s home, entertaining herself in the yard, all while Nicole watched on from afar.

  One day Brandi had enough of it, walked over and handed Nicole a doll.

  That was the first day of their friendship. The first day for a lot of things.

  They’d been each other’s support through the rough years, and together they’d chosen to pack up and leave.

  Okay, so they hadn’t exactly had a choice.

  Brandi had been kicked out, but it was inevitable.

  Was it really almost ten years ago?

  She paused in her scrubbing to ponder the passage of time.

  Nine years.

  A yearning filled her. More than anything she wanted to hug her grandparents.

  Like many a young woman, Brandi’s mother had gotten pregnant in her early twenties. She’d mostly hid the pregnancy, according to the family. Everything had been timed, so that Brandi was born just before her mother had to go back to college—without Brandi. She’d been handed off to her grandparents from the very beginning. Her mother had never entertained the idea of raising Brandi, as far as she could tell. The only pictures Brandi had ever seen of her with her mother were from holiday shots with everyone in them. There wasn’t a single picture of just Brandi and her mother until much later.

  It was so odd to look back at that time as troubled now. Growing up, she hadn’t understood the tension around her. She’d been a happy child, content with her grandparent’s adoration and her friend down the street. Her life had been normal. Pleasant. And then her mother and new husband moved in with them—and never left.

  Brandi had been around ten. She recalled her grandparents gave her a large bowl of ice cream after dinner one night, then served up the knowledge that her mother would be coming to stay with them.

  “For how long? The weekend?” She’d been confused, but not bothered. At that point, Mom was just another family member who stopped by on holidays and long weekends.

  The way Grandma and Grandpa had glanced at each other, with open concern, was forever etched into Brandi’s mind. It was the day she’d really opened her eyes and realized something wasn’t right.

  The arrangement was supposed to be temporary. Give the new, young couple a chance to get on their feet, save a little, then buy a house. It had all sounded so reasonable.

  Until changes began.

  Brandi recalled that first night clearly. They’d had an awkward dinner. Her step-father had barely acknowledged Brandi was at the table. She’d wound up watching TV in her grandparent’s bedroom so the adults could have the living room. It was a weekend, so Brandi was accustomed to staying up later. When she’d finally gone to bed, she’d run into her mother and step-father coming out of the bathroom.

  At ten she hadn’t understood what they were doing. All she recalled was getting yelled at by a red-faced man she barely knew. Grandma had tried her best to calm Brandi down and explain it away, but the damage had been done. The next day Brandi was forced to move out of her second-floor bedroom and into the first floor office. Supposedly it was to allow the young couple privacy. Brandi had tried to believe that and she probably did for a while.r />
  But those lies wore out by the time her mother brought home her third child to their second floor home.

  While they were all under one roof, there was a definitive line between upstairs and downstairs. While her mother, stepfather and sisters would join them for dinner that was the only point at which they intermingled. Everything else was kept separate, even the bedroom turned second living room upstairs.

  Brandi had always known she was unwanted and unloved by her mother. Her grandparents made up for the lack of love tenfold. But eventually that wasn’t enough, and she wanted more. More love. More affection. And since she couldn’t get it at home, she’d tried getting it elsewhere.

  She’d been nineteen and in community college when her mother found out she was sexually active. In hindsight, Brandi should have been smarter about where she kept condoms.

  One minute her life was orderly and she had a plan. She was in love with a guy she thought she’d live happily ever after with. The world had been so shiny and new.

  And then she lost everything.

  Her mother had kicked her out with the support of her step-father.

  Grandma and Grandpa hadn’t agreed, but with both having gone through major medical scares in the last year they couldn’t exactly stand to lose their live-in support. Brandi couldn’t yet make-up the money her parents contributed to the house. Their hands had been tied, and Brandi understood.

  She’d never forget how she’d stood on the lawn screaming.

  Nicole had popped out long enough to understand the situation and get yelled at by her own parents.

  Tears had stung her eyes and she’d had to fight through the suffocating feeling of not being able to breathe as she snatched clothes off the grass and threw into the trunk of her beat-up old car. The car she’d saved pennies for.

  She’d pulled down the road just far enough she couldn’t see the house in her rearview mirror and sobbed. It was one thing to live with the passive aggressive knowledge she wasn’t wanted, but to get kicked out like that? It had destroyed a part of her.

  To this day she could still hear the thunk of something hitting the passenger side window.

  Brandi’s eyes had snapped open and she’d looked up at a blurry Nicole clutching a suitcase in one hand and a backpack in the other. Nicole had to knock on the window three more times before Brandi’s brain sped up enough to unlock the door.

  “What are you doing?” she’d asked as Nicole shoved the suitcase between the front seats into the back.

  “Coming with you,” Nicole replied.

  “But—why? You can’t.”

  “I can. And I want to.” She’d turned to Brandi and reached across to clutch at her hand. “We need this. I don’t know about you, but I’m dying on the inside. I need to get out. I need to be free.”

  That was the moment both their lives changed for the better.

  They shut the door on their past and moved on. It hadn’t been easy. There were days when they got to talking about growing up and one of them would cry over old wounds. While Nicole’s departure from her family hadn’t cut ties, things were strained. They struggled, but at least they’d had each other.

  That didn’t make Brandi stop loving her grandparents. She’d really like a hug from Grandpa right about now.

  She shook her head and dropped the rag into her bucket of cleaning solution.

  What a mess.

  She wouldn’t be so melancholy if it weren’t for that irritating man.

  Who did he think he was, anyway? God’s gift to women?

  As if.

  Brandi’s phone clamored from the dock.

  She glanced over her shoulder and saw Nicole’s face grinning back at her.

  “Shoot,” Brandi muttered and quickly washed her hands.

  There was no way she was touching her phone with grubby cleaning hands. She danced on the cushioned matt, doing her best to be as quick and thorough as possible. At the very last moment she dove for the device, almost knocking it into the floor as she mashed her thumb to the answer button.

  “Nic?” Brandi called out breathlessly.

  “Brandi?” Nicole chuckled. “Are you cleaning?”

  “Guilty.” Brandi heaved a sigh. “How are you? How was the first day of training?”

  “Oh. My. God. It hasn’t even started yet and my brain is complete mush. I just picked up the materials and read through a few chapters so I can participate tomorrow. How am I supposed to pass this test on Friday?”

  “You’ll do fine.”

  “I’m going to need you to tell me that a lot more. I think I’m in over my head.”

  “No, you aren’t. Your boss thinks this is good for you. You’ve got this.”

  “Thanks, B. You’re the best.” It was Nicole’s turn to sigh. “How’s it going? Miss me?”

  “Of course I do.” Brandi trudged across to the sofa and flopped down.

  Neither of them had ever lived alone. She didn’t think they’d know how.

  She was lucky to have Nicole.

  “Did you make it through all your shows?” Nicole asked.

  “Not yet. It’s only Sunday. I actually did things. I was just cleaning the kitchen.”

  “Of course you were.” She chuckled.

  “Hey, I got a deal on two china hutches.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah. I think those will be my project this month.”

  “You’re going to make something amazing out of them. I just know it.”

  Brandi bit her lip.

  What should she say about Jayden?

  Not telling Nicole felt like lying. Then again, Nicole needed to stay focused. Any mention of Jayden might derail this big week for her.

  “Before you ask, I’m doing okay,” she said.

  “You are?” Brandi frowned at the wall. “Good.”

  “The date? Jayden?”

  “I thought that was ancient history.”

  “Haa. Haa. I know you’re worried about me, and that. I just want you to know I’m fine.”

  “Glad to hear it.”

  “It’s probably for the best we didn’t even finish the first date.”

  Brandi resolved to say nothing. If Nicole thought herself just fine, who was Brandi to say otherwise?

  Besides, a smart man would move on. She didn’t expect Jayden to show up again any time soon.

  Talk quickly moved from the bad date to other topics. Brandi relaxed to the point she decided to be done with cleaning. She emptied the bucket and laid everything out to dry before taking the phone to the sofa while Nicole explained some of the class concepts to Brandi.

  Lights outside made her frown at the windows, but she wasn’t expecting anyone.

  Then the doorbell rang.

  “Someone there?” Nicole asked.

  Jayden?

  Shit.

  Brandi needed off the phone now.

  “Uh, yeah, the neighbor said they had something coming and the address might be wrong. Let me go take care of this,” she said in a rush.

  “I need to study more. Thanks for listening to me.”

  “Night.”

  She just about hung up on Nicole.

  Brandi tip-toed across the living room, as if someone outside could hear her. She peered through the crack between curtains and the window to see...

  A delivery man.

  Not Jayden.

  She unlocked and opened the front door, blinking at a young man wearing a polo shirt with a logo stitched on his shoulder.

  “Brandi?” he asked.

  “Yeah,” she said slowly.

  He held out a white pastry box to her. “Have a cookie-filled evening.”

  She took the box, blinking at the guy. “Thanks.”

  He turned and jogged back to the car parked haphazardly at the curb.

  Cookie-filled evening?

  What the hell?

  Brandi closed and locked the front door, then took the box to the sofa. She sat, box on her knees, and opened it.

 
; Half a dozen iced cookies with I’m Sorry written on them were individually packaged and lying on a bed of pink tissue paper.

  For a moment she could only stare at the delivery.

  “Wow. Just, wow,” she muttered to herself.

  Jayden. No doubt.

  There was a card tucked inside.

  She pulled it out and flipped it open.

  “Sorry about earlier. Look forward to proving you wrong.”

  Below the two sentences was a series of digits.

  His phone number.

  She began punching the numbers in before she could stop herself.

  The line rang all of once.

  “Hello?” a rich, deep voice said.

  “You’ve got some fucking nerve.”

  “Do you not like cookies?”

  “What is it with men and throwing money at a problem? How much did you spend on six cookies and a delivery driver?”

  “It’s not about the money—”

  “Exactly. It’s about how out of touch you are. God, you are so not right for Nicole.”

  “I beg to differ.”

  “Because you talked to her for a few weeks on-line?”

  “I’m going to prove you wrong,” he said without losing his cool.

  The nerve of this man.

  “Be my guest,” she growled into the phone then hung up.

  Day 2: Monday

  Jayden tapped on his phone screen.

  Almost seven.

  Where was she?

  Brandi had thrown the gauntlet down, saying he needed to prove himself. Well, here he was. Where was she?

  He’d gotten off at five sharp, even choosing to skip lunch, so he was assured to get off as early as possible. Traffic had made him take a bit longer, so he’d arrived at fifteen till six. Seeing as residents obviously parked behind their homes, he’d opted to do the same. And he’d been sitting in the driveway now for an hour.

  He should have called when he arrived, but he hadn’t. And now stubbornness made him want to keep standing there.

  Jayden tapped his texts, glancing at the most recent in some hope that she’d reached out and he’d missed it.

  There were no recent messages from Asher.

  That was...odd.

  Normally Asher dropped a text every now and then. If for nothing else, just to be obnoxious. And yet, looking at the messages, Jayden hadn’t heard from his twin in over a week.