Flying High (Davis Brothers Book 2)

by Nicole Douglas

  But the look on his face now couldn’t be denied. It couldn’t be ignored. There was something there under his carefully blank expression.

  “I have something for you, Nat.” Lacey announced across the table.

  I was jolted back to the present. Back to Lacey and Max’s engagement. This moment wasn’t about me or Chris. It was about them.

  Tearing my gaze from him, I focus back on the beaming bride-to-be. I continue to feel his eyes on me as I wait for her to pull out a small white box. She hands it to me and I open it curiously, unable to hide my surprise.

  Inside sits a red Ring Pop with the words: He popped the question, now it’s my turn. Will you be my maid of honor?

  “Maid of honor?” I gasp, eyes filling with tears. “Are you sure?”

  Chris squeezes my knee under the table in reassurance.

  “Yes! You’re my bestie! Say yes!”

  “Yes!” I laugh, seeing that she’s as excited as I am about sharing this moment with me.

  We both laugh and jump up from the table for a tight hug. We’ve been friends since Brad Davis’s trial ended and he was carted off to a federal prison. She approached me after an especially grueling day on the stand and I braced myself, expecting her to tear me down after knowing exactly who I was.

  She surprised the hell out of me by spending over an hour building me back up, telling me I was brave for sharing my story with a courtroom full of judging eyes.

  Chris and I lived in the same apartment building as Max and Lacey because he longed to be close to his brother, to mend their damaged relationship. That meant plenty of girl time with her. Prior to this, the closest I had to girl time was helping the other girls working for Brad do their hair and makeup before a night of work. Lacey proved to be a breath of fresh air.

  Max had carefully avoided me during the time I lived in this apartment complex with his brother. I didn’t blame him one bit. I had made an ass out of myself the last time we were alone together. I’m sure he didn’t want a repeat of that.

  Chris and Max had repaired their relationship after drugs and resentment nearly tore them apart. Lacey and Max grew deeper in love with each passing day. Lacey and I built the best friendship I’ve ever had with another woman. And Max and I were successful in staying far, far apart despite practically being neighbors.

  Until now.

  Max makes his lack of excitement over the bridal party lineup obvious to everyone. His grimace speaks volumes and luckily Lacey is facing the other direction and misses it. But I don’t. I was looking right at him, hoping to find acceptance or at the very least apathy.

  No such luck.

  Chris kicks him under the table and he grunts before clearing his expression. But it’s too late. I saw it and it takes some of the wind from my maid of honor sails.

  I pull away from Lacey and paste a smile back on my face. Fake smiles are one of my many talents. I had plenty of practice in the past. It came back to me as naturally as riding a bike or reciting my ABC’s.

  We take our seats and finish dinner, Lacey excitedly talking about wedding colors and venue ideas. I struggle to focus on her words. Struggle to fight the pinch of hurt in my chest as I try not to hang my head.

  I’ll never escape who I was. My reputation will hover over me like a dark cloud wherever I go, no matter how many years pass.

  Chris’s hand rests on my leg throughout the night. It isn’t inappropriately high. He isn’t groping or rubbing or copping a feel. It’s just resting on my flesh right above my knee and I soak in the warmth and weight of it.

  It’s distracting as fuck. It crosses my mind that I should’ve shaved my legs but how the hell was I supposed to know we would end up in this situation tonight.

  Max casts us disapproving glances across the table. He can’t see exactly where Chris’s hand is but our chairs are closer than usual, his arm disappearing from view under the table on my side. I’m sure he can fill in the blanks.

  He clearly doesn’t want me around his brother anymore than his fiancé. Or himself. He would rather I just disappear into thin air so he didn’t have to see or deal with me again. I was a teenage mistake that just wouldn’t go away.

  I catch myself hanging my head again. Lifting my head up and straightening my posture, I look to Chris for strength. I let his hand soothe my nerves and ease the discomfort of being appraised so unfavorably.

  Chris and I have always been friends since I first arrived at the Davis mansion. I remember walking through the front door on Max’s arm and finding his brother sitting on the couch, a glass with amber liquid in his hand and a smirk on his gorgeous face.

  When our eyes met the smirk disappeared and time stood still. Until their dad came in and showed me to my new room upstairs, promptly breaking the moment. It was across the hall from Chris’s and next to Max’s.

  I carefully avoided anything sexual with him from day one. I may be a lot of things but I didn’t want to sleep with two brothers back and forth. That just wasn’t my style. And considering I had already sealed the deal with Max before laying eyes on Chris I had promptly placed him in the off limits category.

  If I had met him first I may have never latched onto Max in the first place. The reaction I felt when meeting him had certainly been more profound. I hadn’t felt anything when I met Max, really. Nothing more than hope of not having to sleep on my friend’s couch and excitement over successfully evading life with my mother by moving into a beautiful mansion with a father figure that seemed to have loose rules at best.

  How wrong and naïve that assessment turned out to be. I had been nothing but a lamb being lured into the lion’s den.

  Life didn’t always work the way we wanted it to. Max was the first Davis I encountered all those years ago in the teen nightclub. The intense meeting with Chris came days later. Not until after I was yanked into my new life and everything began spiraling at a more rapid speed than ever before.

  Some things just weren’t meant to be.

  Max brought his dirty plate to the sink, running the water and breaking my daydream. When Chris plopped on the couch and started up their video game console and Lacey disappeared down the hall to the bathroom I took it as my opportunity to get a private word in.

  I walked up next to him and placed my plate in the sink next to his. At the sight of me he tried to take off but I blocked his exit.

  He shot me a glare and went to step around me but I sidestepped, blocking him again. The muscle in his jaw ticked in annoyance. With no choice but to wait and listen, he folds his arms across his chest, creating a barrier between us. A masculine brow lifts questioningly, his patience waning thin.

  “Look. I know you don’t want me in your wedding. I don’t blame you.” I say, ignoring his scoff and finishing what I have to say before I lose the nerve. “But can we just try to get along for Lacey? Please? She’s really excited. I don’t want to upset her.”

  He shifts his weight and keeps his arms folded. His thick muscles in his arms flex and I imagine he’s fantasizing about strangling me and putting an end to this conversation and the possibility of me standing up in his wedding next to his future wife.

  For several moments his expression doesn’t change.

  “For Lacey.” He agrees reluctantly.

  This time when he makes a move to leave the kitchen I don’t stop him.

  ☠　Chapter Five ☠

  Chris

  I shake out my hand- again- trying to rid it of the tingling sensation lighting up my fingertips. It’s felt this way ever since I spent the evening touching all over Natalie’s leg. Her toned leg.

  How did she get toned? The girl ate Mac and Cheese by the case and never worked out a day in her life. Not to my knowledge anyway. Maybe there were some things I still didn’t know about her.

  At least an hour had passed since we got back to our apartment. I’ve showered, dressed for bed and return to the living room not quite ready to be alone in my room for the night. My mind wandered when I was alone.

/>   Our couch was the new meet-up spot, replacing the dark woods of our past. And this time it didn’t have to be a secret. There was no one left to hide from.

  Natalie sat on the couch already, combing her fingers through her wet hair. Her face was devoid of any makeup, a complete contradiction to how she looked earlier at dinner. I liked her natural beauty better than her being made up. She looked younger. Sweet.

  Her skin was flawless and for the life of me I couldn’t figure out why she thought she needed so much makeup to leave the house.

  A mask. That’s all it was. And she of all people sure as hell didn’t need one.

  I sit beside her and put my tingling hand back on her leg. That’ll help offset the sensation and the longing to touch her again. Or make it worse, it was hard to say for sure without diving back in and finding out. Maybe that’s what I really wanted, just to dive back in and enjoy any little bit of Natalie I could.

  Would she let me? We would soon find out.

  She looks down at my hand but doesn’t say anything. She doesn’t move away from me either. She just grabs the remote from the cushion next to her and turns on the TV.

  Does she feel this strange sensation too? Is her leg tingling the same way my hand is?

  Didn’t seem like it.

  I had never felt this way before, never had a reaction to such a simple touch. I stare at her profile as she fixates on the screen. A soft blush is creeping up her neck and into her cheeks. I almost couldn’t see it in the dimmed light but the glow from the TV illuminates her face enough to show me her flushed skin.

  I nearly missed it entirely but it was there. And it made my heart squeeze with longing. With want for something I didn’t hold out much hope of ever having until right now. New possibilities slammed into me and I force a lid on them.

  I clear my throat and focus on what’s safest to discuss. “Are you okay? With earlier?”

  “Fine. Just…You know. Awkward.”

  I know how hard it is for her to be around my brother after the twisted web we’ve found ourselves in. One of the many reasons I never thought it possible for her to feel anything for me. All the damage my family had caused her should have been enough to send her running to the other side of the country and trying to forget I existed after the trial ended and we were all set free from my dad’s clutches.

  She never loved my brother. Their feelings were never real. But she’s hurt and repentant for her past and that was hard to overcome with the reminder of your past was always hanging over your head, literally living one floor above you.

  I was a reminder too, having been there to witness all of the shit she was desperate to forget. I had been there for her throughout the whole ordeal. Wanted to help her get out of the house more times than I could count.

  I tried too but every time I offered her an out she begged me to go with her. To run away with her and start over with a clean slate.

  I always told her no.

  I couldn’t leave my little brother to deal with our father alone. And more than anything else I was a drug addict. I couldn’t take care of myself, let alone her. Where would I have gotten my drugs if I wasn’t in that house, the hub? My world revolved around my next high.

  What would we have done for money? How would we have fed ourselves, had shelter and hid from my dad when he came looking? And he would’ve come looking. There was no doubt in my mind.

  I couldn’t make her a target by whisking her away without a destination or plan in mind. If he found me he would have absolutely made me pay for running away.

  But Natalie was much more disposable to him. Any one of his girls would be easy to replace in his mind. That thought sent my pulse racing in anxiety every time I even considered it.

  I knew what running could mean for her and I couldn’t risk it. If she left I could’ve covered for her, but only if I stayed behind at the house and made up a bullshit story for a few days about where she went.

  Dad expected me and Max to keep tabs on the girls most days. He wouldn’t have noticed she was gone until she was far enough away to not be found. When he noticed his cash flow had slowed down he would begin missing her and by then she would be so far away and imbedded in a new town he would never find her and I would gladly take a beating for my part in that.

  But she wouldn’t accept that plan. We both stayed or we both left, she had always insisted. So we both stayed put. Together but not. Our friendship got me through some pretty shitty times.

  Worry for my little brother.

  Withdraws.

  Shame for what I did in my father’s business.

  More withdraws.

  Guilt for not protecting her better and shielding her from a life of being used and abused for money.

  I could protect her now though. No way would I let anyone ever hurt her again. Not even my grudge holding brother. No one would ever come above her and now that I was clean and sober, my head was clear enough to take care of the two of us.

  I was the man I needed to be all those years ago, someone she could rely on. Someone I could be proud of.

  I cast another stolen glance as she stares straight ahead at the TV, scrolling through documentaries she has saved on our DVR. She was so beautiful and sweet. How the hell was she still sweet after everything she had been through?

  She had layers and layers of new pieces to be discovered, all of them coming together to make her the amazing person she was. Even after all the years I knew her I was still learning more. Still was surprised each time I uncovered a new puzzle piece of her personality.

  There was a bottomless well of surprises where she was concerned.

  It was like she was locked up at my dad’s house, a prisoner who wasn’t able to be who she truly was. She had built a wall to protect her heart from the inevitable hurt and disappointment. I should have protected her from that. I had been a coward and it was one of my deepest regrets. One of the reasons I turned to drugs and alcohol to numb my emotions when I lived in that house.

  The hurt and fear and longing for a different life, one where I could be with Natalie, was dimmed when I was drunk and high. My regrets faded away and left nothing in its wake.

  Darkness was just what I needed back then.

  But Natalie was light. She woke me up and made me feel like I was standing under the sun soaking in the rays.

  Living with her was like waking up from a nightmare. It was like eating a nice, juicy cheeseburger after Max made me eat nothing but egg whites and unseasoned, grilled chicken salads with no dressing for a fucking week.

  With each passing day we shared this apartment I had the distinct privilege of watching her blossom into the person she wanted to be, shedding the shell of who she once was. The person she always was underneath the surface was coming to light and my affection for her grew with each day.

  I had slowly earned more of her trust as we shared a living space without other girls, Max or my father lingering around. I wasn’t stupid enough to not see the gift it was for her to let me in. I had slowly earned more of her trust. And there was nothing in this world I would do to fuck that up.

  For that reason I remove my hand from her leg, as hard as it is to do, and turn to her. The tingling returns to my hand the moment I break contact.

  “Max will come around, Nat. He’s just stubborn as hell.”

  “I know. But I just don’t want to be there if he’s so uncomfortable by it. It’s his wedding. I don’t belong there. He deserves it to be amazing. They both do and I don’t want to ruin it.”

  “You won’t. He doesn’t know who you really are. He just sees the past.”

  “I don’t want him, Chris. I’m not trying to seduce him. That’s what he thinks. It’s what he’ll always think. But it’s not true. You have to believe me.”

  Her voice cracks and I scoot closer to her on the couch. Our legs press together side by side and I drape my arm around her shoulder. Shoulders were safer than legs. Much less sexy and enticing and much further from what was located bet
ween her legs.

  But…it was closer to her tits. In fact, my hand dangled inches from her left tit and if I moved the wrong way- or the right way, depending on how I looked at it- I would be touching it.

  It’s been a long time since I’ve been laid. Too long. Entirely too long because I was starting to sound like a horny teenage boy trying to sneak in a boob graze from his best friend while she was in distress and pass it off as a show of comfort.

  “You believe me, right?” She sounded worried and I was pulled back to the conversation.

  Focus damn it.

  “I know that, Nat. Come on. I don’t think that.”

  “I’m just tired of everyone looking at me like I’m still a whore.”

  Tears glisten in her eyes and if that wasn’t the equivalent to taking a cold shower I don’t know what was. I move my hand further away from the danger zone and take a calming breath.

  I hate that she still feels this way after all this time and all the changes she’s made. After it wasn’t even her fault she ended up sleeping around so much to begin with. She hadn’t even been doing it for fun or money or anything else you might suspect. She had been doing it for safety. That was the thing. It may have been for money, technically, but she never saw a dime of it.

  “I don’t look at you like that. Lacey doesn’t either.”

  “Your brother does. He hates me.”

  “So what? Who gives a shit what he thinks?”

  I was one to talk. I cared what he thought of me but he was my only family. I needed his approval in some way. Natalie didn’t have family at all. Her mom had contacted her after the high profile trial made the news and she was plastered on every news channel testifying against my father.

  When her mom started pointing blame to Nat for the things she went through during their first phone call in years, shaming her for the things she had been through and the fact that she didn’t just go back home, Natalie had ended all contact with her. Max and I were probably the closest she had to family, having lived in the same house for years.