Skin to Skin

by J. M. Stone

  I moved away from him, grabbing a stack of books to add to the rack. “I guess you can go on back to the shop, then. I’m sorry about…” I gestured vaguely before continuing, “all of this. I don’t know what the hell she’s doing.”

  “Yeah, I guess I will go back. Shit was weird today, right? Not just me?” he asked.

  “Totally weird. Not just you, I promise,” I answered.

  “Oh, Allie wanted me to ask if you would come to dinner at Emma’s house tonight with me. Emma apparently is feeling like the group hasn’t spent much time together lately, and wants me to bring you. Not sure why Emma didn’t call you, or even me, for that matter, but whatever.”

  “Uhhh…I guess? I can just meet you there, though. You don’t have to pick me up, I’ll just come directly after I close up the store this evening.”

  He didn’t fight me on it, not that I thought he would, gave me a wink, a quick smile, and he was gone. I thumped my head down on the counter in front of me, cursing Allie and Emma and their interfering under my breath.

  The rest of the day passed without incident, which was a relief. Allie came in looking sheepish at about two, and we worked without talking much, each trying to avoid the giant elephant in the room. We closed the store at six and she rushed off, calling over her shoulder to remind me about dinner.

  Twenty minutes later, I pulled up at Emma and Luke’s house, having only stopped to put gas in the car. It didn’t look like anyone else was there yet, except for Allie and Emma. I walked up on the porch and jerked my hand back when I heard them talking inside. The window was open, so I could hear every word.

  “Well how the hell was I supposed to know? Do you think I planned on my mom and Nanny being there? I was only supposed to get him over there and I did. What the hell did you do?” Allie sounded surly.

  “Um, I don’t know, maybe keep your lies straight? Cheese and rice, woman! They’re onto us!” Emma’s voice was shrill with what could only be described as exhilarated fear, which made for an interesting sounding combination. “And this was your turn, damnit, so what was I supposed to do?”

  Emma sighed and started speaking again. “I talked to my sister and she said she walked in on a very, very heated conversation between them at Chloe’s house on Saturday. Apparently that kiss between them made a very big impression on him. I know Chloe likes him, and I know she’s struggling with the whole friendship thing, just like he is, but I swear. Ever since they’ve gotten back, it’s been fucking painful to have them in the same room together. I can’t believe we didn’t see it before…it wasn’t angry tension, it was fucking sexual tension!” she crowed.

  I had to strain to hear Allie’s next words and they made my heart ache, but in a good way.

  “Are we doing the right thing, Em? I know she really does like him. I can see it in her eyes, and it was never something she intended, either. Not to mention, I think he’s totally seeing her in a new light since that road trip. I think they would be great together, but I just…I don’t want to hurt either one of them. I love them both, you know?”

  I heard Emma sigh, “I know Allie, I know. Too late now, though.”

  Allie giggled as Emma continued. “We’re in too deep!”

  I huffed and knocked on the door, chuckling at the chaos that erupted inside. Yips, barks, woofs, and growls accompanied a flurry of scrabbling sounds as the dogs went wild trying to get to the door.

  “Damn dogs!” I heard Emma yell before the door was wrenched open, releasing the flood of canines upon me.

  “Whoa!” I cried as I tried to sidestep them so I wouldn’t be sent flying.

  “Chloe!” Allie cooed sweetly. I could see the panic in her eyes, though, wondering what I’d heard, if anything.

  Emma pushed her aside and waddled her way outside onto the porch, yelling, “Don’t you do it, Doug! Don’t you dare! You’ll be a bad dad…DJ! Come back here!” She glared at Allie, growling, “Help me! Call your dog back, too, damnit!”

  I looked over my shoulder to see Doug running hell bent for leather into the woods, DJ and Grady hot on his heels.

  Allie and Emma both started hollering for them, but they were ignored. They both started cussing under their breath at the same time, too, which was cracking me up.

  “So, where’re they going?” I asked conversationally.

  Emma sighed deeply, sounding very resigned when she said, “Doug found a stupid skunk nest. I sent Luke out to try to get rid of them somehow without killing them…did you know that some people have skunks for pets? You can get rid of their scent sacs or something like that, and they’re just like a cat! They’re so cute…anyway, he couldn’t get anywhere near the nest, or where he thinks it is, because the stench is so strong. He stumbled out of the woods holding his stomach and dry heaving. It was bad. Funny…but bad.” She grinned.

  “Ah,” I said. “So now Doug is obsessed and his little followers are just like little lambs being led to slaughter.”

  Allie and Emma both nodded, while Emma replied, “We’ve been lucky so far. Doug is the only one who is consistently getting sprayed. I think he’s addicted to the scent, and the tomato juice baths afterward. Since I’m pregnant, I get a pass, but Brandon and Luke have been flipping coins to see who has to bathe him. Damn dog.”

  She looked out over the yard and chuckled when she saw the two little pups running like mad back toward the house. Doug was trotting behind them, tongue lolling out the side of his mouth.

  “Guess we got lucky, today, huh?” Allie asked.

  Emma grinned at her again. “Nope, we didn’t, but the guys sure did!”

  The dogs came back into the house and Allie grabbed up Grady, coddling him like a baby, but I couldn’t say much because I did the same to DJ. I gotta say, Doug and his little girlfriend sure made some cute babies!

  After playing with the puppies for a few minutes, I cornered the two women. “Alright. Spill.”

  Twin expressions of exaggerated innocence stared back at me.

  “Your wide-eyed, who me expressions aren’t going to cut it. You know what I’m talking about, and Emma might has well have put up a billboard saying you guys were up to something. So, what’s going on?” I narrowed my gaze at both of them, looking first at Emma and then cocking my head and staring even more intently at Allie.

  She looked defiant for a second before she deflated, the sourest look I’ve ever seen moving across her face. Emma looked relieved once she saw that Allie was going to cave.

  “Alright, fine! I set you up, sent Brandon over to the shop to help you, but I got sidetracked and forgot to make sure I had the boxes there! There was supposed to be boxes and then you two would spend time together and…and…oh, hell. I didn’t think it through! I was just on a high from managing to put the bug in his ear about staying at your place since it’s technically closer and he did. So…”

  Her face became immediately animated again, but it was more on the gleefully evil side; well, not really evil, but more like mischievous.

  “Did anything happen?”

  She looked so hopeful, and so did Emma. I couldn’t help it, I blurted out, “We kissed again! Twice!”

  Twin gasps sounded and they oohed and ahhed over it for a second but the distinctive slams of car doors closing stopped the conversation cold. Male voices and laughter rang out, causing the dogs to go crazy again, and Emma and Allie immediately began grinning, the anticipation on their faces so adorable to see.

  Luke and Brandon walked in, Jackson right behind them, followed by another guy that I didn’t know. He was tattooed, and had black hair, shaved on the sides with a short, spiky mohawk that looked like it was dipped in fire. The color was vivid, fading from black to blonde to orange, with the tips a flaming red. He had on aviators, so I couldn’t see his eyes, but he was drop dead gorgeous in a very sexy-yet-dangerous way.

  His face was scruff covered, like he hadn’t shaved in a few days, and he was wearing a tight black t-shirt with ripped and faded jeans over…I did a double take,
sure I didn’t see correctly, but I did. He had black leather flip flops on his very neat but manly feet, definitely not what I had expected.

  “Hey, T.J.!” Allie and Emma both said, embracing the stranger readily with hugs before they claimed their men with heartfelt kisses.

  Luke and Jackson said hi to me and gave me hugs when they came up for air before Brandon introduced T.J. to me. “This is Chloe, Jackson’s sister. Chloe, this is T.J., the guy I met at the convention in L.A.”

  I held out my hand and he took it in his, holding it as he murmured, “Nice to meet you.”

  His eyes never left my face as I nodded and replied, “You, too.”

  He winked in response and dropped my hand as Brandon suddenly moved, slinging an arm around my shoulder and squeezing me tight as he quipped, “She’s our little Cali-girl.”

  It sounded like a conversation opening, what with T.J. being from California, as well, but it clearly wasn’t as Brandon maneuvered me around toward the kitchen. I sent an apologetic smile over my shoulder at T.J., because I’m not a rude person and that, frankly, struck me as rude on Brandon’s behalf. So wait. Was he jealous? No…that couldn’t be it.

  T.J. just gave me an enigmatic half-smile and turned his attention back to Jackson, who’d asked him something as he tucked Allie into his side once more.

  Brandon let me go as we got to the kitchen table and looked at Emma who was waddling around gathering paper plates and napkins. The doorbell rang, causing the dogs to go crazy again and Luke hollered at them to stop while he went to answer the door.

  Twenty minutes later found us all stuffing our faces with pizza and making grossed out faces at Allie who had a pizza to herself because she wanted pickles on it. Even Jackson looked mildly repulsed as she devoured piece after piece like a starving woman.

  At one point she looked up, noticing that everyone was staring at her with varying expressions of disgust on their faces and said, “What? Like I’m the only one in the world who eats pickles? I don’t think so. Emma, you eat pickles all the time, and Chloe, you just ate pickles wrapped in a piece of cheese the other day, so…” She cocked her head in a little ‘what now’ move and took another huge bite of pizza.

  Emma laughed and inclined her head, acknowledging Allie’s point, but then qualified it a little. “True, and Chloe, that sounds a little disturbing in itself, but Allie, you’re eating pickles on pizza. Pickles are not a normal pizza topping and you’ve never eaten them like that before.”

  Allie just shrugged and said, “I’m pregnant, bitches. Get over it.”

  We all laughed at her and dinner wore on, full of smiles and the easy camaraderie I’ve come to expect from this group. It warmed my heart to be included in it and I felt so blessed that they took me in with open arms, making me a part of it like I’d always been there. I think it said even more about the depth of love they had for each other, as friends and family, that this group had been born out of one little trip to a tattoo shop almost two years ago. It’s a beautiful thing, I promise.

  I noticed T.J. out of the corner of my eye, sitting there sort of quietly. It’s not that he wasn’t participating, or that he was excluded, because that’s not it. In fact, everyone had embraced him just as readily. It was more of him just being…watchful. He’d taken off his glasses earlier and I’d finally gotten a look at his eyes. They were honeyed brown, like warm whiskey with the sunlight shining through. Breathtaking.

  He caught me looking and I flushed, smiling and quickly looking away. I heard a huff beside me and realized that Brandon had witnessed the interaction and, if I wasn’t mistaken, I’d almost swear he was jealous. But, as I’d told myself earlier, that couldn’t possibly be true. Could it?

  Perplexed, I grabbed my pizza off my plate and took a big bite, getting even more flustered when a piece of pepperoni flew off and dropped into my lap. I dropped my pizza back on my plate and grabbed my napkin to wipe my hands and face before I went to grab for the wayward slice. But…I never got to grab it.

  “WHOA!” I yelled as, suddenly, a hundred pounds plus of yellow fur and a wet pointy nose shoved into my lap under the table, snuffling and snorting to reach the dropped pepperoni. I tried and tried to push him back but couldn’t, scrambling at the same time to shove back my chair and stand, but I only succeeded in somehow falling off the side of my chair onto the floor where I was bombarded with exuberant doggy kisses.

  I heard everyone laughing and Luke hollering at the dogs to leave me alone, which they finally did, trotting off happily, Doug smacking his lips with satisfaction at having retrieved his unexpected treat.

  Me? I just laid there on the floor. I really would have just stayed down there, but then Brandon’s face appeared over mine, fighting a smile as he tried to look concerned.

  “You alright down there?”

  Chapter 6

  Dinner wound down eventually with everyone still laughing at my unfortunate floor dive. Leah had shown up late and they had quickly filled her in, allowing her to join in their glee at my expense.

  Allie and Jackson were the first ones to leave the get together, grabbing Grady and heading out the door with a brief wave, the looks on their faces making it clear exactly what their intentions were. I didn’t know how they were going to survive the six weeks after she had the baby. Or Luke and Emma, either, for that matter.

  They were giving each other that look, too, which made Leah give her grossed out face and take off, beeping her horn and setting Doug to howling, DJ yipping along with him. Brandon had stepped out on the porch with T.J., after T.J. had said his goodbyes. He’d only been able to quickly shake my hand again before Brandon had called him away to walk outside, leaving me the only one in the house with the love birds.

  I heard Luke murmur something to Emma, making her giggle and slap at him, telling him to behave and that was definitely my cue to leave. I told them goodbye, accepting hugs and more good natured ribbing from them before I gave goodbye rubs to Doug and DJ and headed out the door, making my way toward my car where Brandon was standing, having just waved as T.J. pulled out of the drive.

  He turned to me and asked, “You heading out?”

  I nodded, trying not to laugh at his wistful expression. He glanced back at the house, roughed his hands over his head and face and muttered something about going to the shop for a while.

  I took pity on him. “You can come stay at my place tonight, if you want.”

  “Yeah?” He asked, looking hopeful.

  “Yup. I’m thinking you’re not gonna wanna be here,” I said ruefully.

  “I’ll just grab some clothes and meet you there, okay?” he said as he turned to go inside. He paused, hesitation clearly written across his features before he asked, “Uh, so…um, you cool if I just stay for a while?”

  Surprise flashed through me and I struggled to hide it as I stammered, “Y-uh-yeah, th-that’s fine.”

  He smiled and jogged inside. I stood there staring after him for a moment in a daze before I shook it off and made the drive home.

  I paced through the house, waiting on him to show up, berating myself the whole time. ‘Why the HELL would you agree to this? Geez, you’re a dumbass Chloe Jane Matthews. Can’t keep your fucking head together around him, want to do nothing but jump his damn bones and you tell him he can LIVE WITH YOU?’

  “Well, what the hell was I supposed to do?” I yelled out loud at myself, immediately feeling stupid for actually carrying on a conversation with myself like a crazyass.

  I speared my fingers through my hair and gave a quick tug, hoping the slight sting would help bring me back from the edge.

  I whirled as a knock sounded at the door before the knob rattled and Brandon let himself in. He looked at me in surprise, which gave way to puzzlement as he froze and just stared at me.

  “What?” I asked irritably.

  “Well,” he said cautiously. “Is everything okay?”

  Huh?

  “Yeah, why wouldn’t it be?” I asked, and then continued, “
Nope. Nevermind,” as I realized that I still had my fingers tangled in my hair. I gave a small, exasperated groan and released my hold as he just grinned at me and came all the way in, closing the door behind him and locking it with the deadbolt.

  I flopped down on the couch with a huff as he just shook his head and lugged the duffle he was carrying into the spare bedroom. He came back and plopped down beside me, patting my leg and smiling once more.

  “You sure you’re okay with me staying here?” he asked, still smiling, albeit very cautiously.

  I turned to him, feeling like an ass. “Yeah, it’s completely fine! Don’t worry about it at all, you can stay as long as you want. It’s not like I’m going to run you out of the house having loud sex every night. Hell, you’d be hard pressed to hear me moan while I’m-” My words choked off, my eyes widening in horror at what I was about to reveal to him.

  Brandon sat up, totally perked up by the turn in conversation. “What was that, Chloe?” he asked, smiling widely.

  I shook my head, refusing to answer the question. “Want to watch a movie with me?” I asked him, hoping to change the subject, or at least distract him long enough for him to forget the word vomit that just flew out of my mouth.

  He agreed, winking at me, letting me know that he knew what I was doing. But I didn’t care, by God, because we were so totally not going there. Not with him blowing so hot and cold on me all the time, kissing me one minute until I’m ready to burst into flame, and then ramming the ‘F’ word down my throat. You know…friend.

  I jumped up and grabbed the first movie that I laid my hand on, which turned out to be Friends with Benefits. Very funny, very sweet movie with a very hot Mila Kunis and a surprisingly decent Justin Timberlake. I put it in and hit play, sinking back down onto the couch beside him without a second thought.

  We watched and laughed until we got to the sex parts…God, how could I forget how many of those there were in this movie? And it’s not like they were all that hot; in fact, they were pretty humorous, too, but still.