“What are we missing?” my sister asked me; I shrugged.
“Cane and Max came to visit us in Austin a couple of years ago. Max here had a little too much Crown and did a little rendition of Garth’s classic,” Pierce said, not bothering to hide his grin.
“You did?” I turned to Max, my jaw dropping open. “Come on! Sing for me tonight!”
“There’s nothing that will get me on stage again,” he said, holding his hands up in defense. “Just let it be.”
We all laughed as Max blushed, something he didn’t do very often. I could only imagine how much he would’ve had to have drank to sing karaoke in front of a bunch of strangers. Max was pretty reserved and karaoke wasn’t something I could imagine him doing.
“Maybe if we switch out that Corona for Crown,” Pierce winked.
“Oh, stop it,” Isa said, shoving on Pierce’s shoulder. “Leave Max alone.” She took a sip of her wine. “But it is a shame I didn’t get that on video.”
Max groaned, tugging the brim of his hat over his eyes. I squeezed his thigh under the table and he peeked up, rewarding me with a shy smile.
Trying to turn the attention away from my man, I looked across the table. Jada was leaning against Cane, looking adorable in a pair of black pants and a white top. Her hair was so thick and shiny, the light from overhead reflecting off the strands. “How are you feeling, Jada?”
She shrugged. “Alright. I’ve been too tired to do much lately. Just getting dressed felt like climbing Mt. Everest.”
“I felt that way in my last trimester with Joselyn. I was too tired to do anything, so I didn’t. Just enjoy being pregnant, make Cane take out the trash and run the vacuum.”
Jada laughed. “You think he lets me do anything? I’m surprised he hasn’t found someone to brush my teeth for me.”
We erupted in laughter and my gaze met my brother-in-law’s. He winked. “I’ve been looking for someone to do that. You busy next week, Kari?”
“Stop it, Cane,” Jada said, shaking her head. “It felt good to actually get out of yoga pants this evening. But now that I’ve experienced it, I’m ready to put them back on.”
“You look so pretty,” I smiled reassuringly.
“I look like a whale.”
“I don’t want to hear you say that. You’re beautiful,” Cane whispered to her, but loud enough for us all to hear.
Isa smacked her lips together. “So sweet! Why don’t you say sweet things like that to me,” she said, turning to Pierce. He was waving his hands over his head.
“Hey! There’s Brielle,” he said.
“Brielle?” Max asked, his eyes following Pierce’s. “Why is she here?”
“I invited her. I thought it would be fun,” Isa said. She watched Max’s face and twisted her lips. “She’s old enough to be here, Max. Relax.”
Max shifted in his seat, clearly uncomfortable. He glanced at Cane and a look passed between them, making me uncomfortable. I wasn’t sure what was going on, but something was up.
“Hey!” Brielle squealed, making a beeline for Isa. “How are you? Oh my God! Look at you! I love that dress!” She wrapped her arms around Isa’s neck and hugged her tight. Pulling back, she kissed Pierce on the cheek. “How are you, Trouble?”
“You’re calling me ‘Trouble’? Ah, the irony.”
“Hey, Max,” Brielle said, her eyes softening as she looked at her brother. She bit the inside of her cheek. “How are ya?”
Brielle was younger than Max by a few years. She had the same sort of exotic look going on that Max had—dark hair, amazing green eyes, and gorgeous skin. Where he was sharp and defined, she was rounder, curvier with a body any girl would kill for.
“Not expecting to see you here,” Max said, his eyebrows raising.
“Why not? It’s a reunion in here tonight!” She glanced at me and plastered on a fake smile. “Hi, Kari.”
From anyone watching the interaction, it would seem like she was just another sweet girl saying hello to her brother’s friend. But the air between us, the feelings she sent without words, was anything but polite. It was always like that with her.
“Hey, everyone,” Brielle said, turning to Cane and Jada.
“How are you, Bri?” Cane asked, watching her curiously.
“Good! How are you? And how is the baby, Jada? I can’t wait to see it!” She smiled genuinely at my sister, making me more confused.
Jada put her hand on her belly. “The baby is good.”
“Heyyy!”
Our eyes all shot behind Pierce at the sound of a woman’s voice. She was average height, a tan face and had on large, silver hoop earrings. A white lace dress hung fashionably off of her thin frame and brown cowboy boots were on her feet.
Samantha always looked pretty.
I sat up in my chair, following Sam’s gaze . . . to Max. He was looking at her, a smile making the dimple in his cheek sink in. My cheeks heated immediately as I watched their exchange.
“How are ya, Sam?” Max asked.
“I’m good,” she said brightly, her eyes never leaving him. “How about you?”
“I’m good.” He cleared his throat.
Screw her and her red lips.
Pierce stood up and grabbed a couple of chairs from a nearby table as a group of guys finished at the mic. The only open spot at the table was between Max and Cane.
“Why don’t you ladies grab a seat? I’m going to get us some drinks. What can I get you?” Cane asked, standing up.
“Ah, thanks, Cane! I’ll have a Stella,” Brielle said.
“Um,” Sam said, smacking her lips together as she looked at Max’s drink. “I’ll have a Corona, please.”
“Want me to go with you?” Jada asked her husband.
He gave her a look like she was out of her mind. “No and I’ll get you another water.” He turned to me. “Hey, Kari. Why don’t you come with me?”
I looked quizzically at him and the look on his face told me to just go with it. I pushed back from the table. “Be right back.”
I followed Cane to the front of the building as a girl with no musical ability what-so-ever belted out Genie In A Bottle by Christina Aguilera. The place wasn’t too busy but had enough patrons to be entertaining.
Cane rested against the bar while we waited on the bartender. He looked at me like he was waiting on me to speak.
I took the bait. “Not that I don’t love hanging out with you, but wanna explain?”
“Maybe I just wanted to spend some time with my beautiful sister-in-law?”
I rolled my eyes. “Not your style, Alexander. So spill it.”
“Alright,” he said, standing up to face me square on. “How well do you know Sam?”
“I’ve seen her a few times.”
Cane snorted. “Keep it that way.”
“What?”
“Look, I’ve known her a long time. She’s harmless, I think,” he tapped his chin with his fingertips, “but I’m not a huge Sam fan. Just . . . keep an eye on that one. Max has this sense of obligation to her or some shit, which I understand, considering the circumstances. But she’ll walk all over you if you let her.”
“Uh, Cane? Did you forget who you’re talking to? No one will walk all over me.”
He winked. “Good girl. Just keep that in mind when you deal with her. She’ll chew you up and spit you out if you don’t watch it.”
I nodded, thinking back to something he said that didn’t settle with me. “What did you mean about ‘the circumstances’?”
“Fuck,” he muttered and shook his head.
“What?”
The bartender arrived to take our order. She took one look at Cane and began batting her false eyelashes, pressing her cleavage together. He completely ignored all of her innuendos, barked out our order, and turned back to me. She stomped away in a huff at being outright rejected.
“Look, Kari. Max feels some sense of obligation to Sam. It’s a long story and not my story to tell. I just fucked up mentioning it,
probably. Imagine that. But it’s nothing for you to worry about, just water under the bridge that still causes a few ripples.”
“Fabulous,” I groaned, taking two of the drinks the bartender sat on the counter. I waited as Cane paid and then followed him back to the table.
I always suspected there was something between Max and Samantha, something that had changed the dynamic between them from “family friends” to something a touch more. It’d never seemed inappropriate, just more intimate than I would’ve expected. Than I would’ve liked. It bothered me a few times when Max seemed to almost cater to her or go out of his way to help her with her car or something. He always eased my nerves and blew it off, but now Cane had piqued my curiosity.
What was it?
Isa was telling a story when we got back to the table and had everyone cracking up. I gave Brielle, who had taken the chair next to Cane, her drink. She gave me a half smile and turned back to Isa. I walked around Samantha and Max and took my seat on the other side of him. He grabbed my hand and squeezed it, sitting it on top of the table.
“Max, are you still living in Guadalupe Estates?” Samantha asked sweetly.
“Yeah,” he said, taking a drink of his beer. “Why?”
“I was looking at a house over there. It’s the perfect location being so close to everything, but it’s so expensive! You don’t need a roommate, do you?” She laughed as if she were joking, but she wasn’t.
I took a deep breath and looked at our hands, trying desperately to not lunge across him and knock that blue eye shadow off her face.
It’s my hand locked with his. It’s my palm he’s running his thumb across. Stay calm.
I turned my head to look at Max, before Isa caught my eye. She just winked and pressed her lips together. I knew she wanted me to mark my territory but I was too angry at Sam’s blatant come on that I couldn’t think straight.
Max chuckled. “I do need a roommate, actually.”
Sam looked delighted and my blood singed my veins.
“But I can’t seem to get Kari to agree to move in,” he said, turning to look at me with a lopsided grin. “I even promised to sleep naked and not watch The Discovery Channel in bed.”
“You probably scared her off with the sleeping naked bullshit,” Cane offered.
“Fuck you, Alexander,” Max laughed and squeezed my hand again.
“There’s nothing Max can do to get you to say yes?” Isa asked, a glimmer in her eye.
I pretended to think about it. I needed to look amendable to the offer so Samantha wouldn’t smell an opening, but I didn’t want to agree on the spot because that would be obvious. All the while, I needed to avoid the alarm going off in my head about how jealous I was.
Jealousy means you have something to be jealous over.
I shook my head, trying to focus.
“Well, if Max really wants me to move in with him, he’ll sing karaoke tonight,” I smirked, knowing good and well he wouldn’t. He’d said so himself a few minutes earlier.
Max returned my smirk and pushed away from the table in one effortless movement. He stood and twisted his Saints cap backwards on his head.
“What are you doing?” I asked in disbelief. My eyes bulged, my throat going dry. I glanced quickly at Samantha and the look on her face mirrored mine.
We were both struck with fear for the very same reason.
Sam caught herself quickly and smiled before bending down and pretending to rummage through her purse.
“Seriously, Max. Sit down,” I said softly, tugging at his hand.
“I gotta pick out a song. Any suggestions?” He asked the table.
“You’re really going to do this?” Pierce asked in disbelief. “Isa, make sure you get it on video this time!”
“Don’t even think about it,” he warned her with a grin. He bent down and kissed me loudly on the lips. “Better make hay while the sun shines,” he laughed, heading towards the stage. He paused and turned to me. “Be thinkin’ which side of the closet you want, sweetheart.”
I couldn’t even respond. I couldn’t formulate a “Don’t do this!” or an “Are you crazy?” or a “Wait a second!” because, for one, I had been rendered completely speechless. I never, ever dreamed he’d actually do it. And for two, I didn’t know which response I wanted to go with. A part of me was terrified of the idea and another part of me felt like a salve was being applied to my wounds as he walked to the stage.
Max stuck his hands in his pockets and made his way through the crowd. A bachelorette party was finishing up, murdering one of Ariana Grande’s hits.
“You know you have to go through with this now, right?” Cane asked, glancing quickly at Samantha with a huge smirk on his face. “You’ve finally agreed. He’s not going to let you out of this.”
“I’m sure he’s kidding,” Sam said, giving Cane her best innocent look. “He’s too much of a gentleman to hold her to this.”
“Of course he’s kidding,” Brielle laughed, rolling her eyes. “Don’t be dumb.”
Their banter was broken by the emcee taking back the mic. The final beats to the song pounded through the speakers, as the man on stage began to speak. “The ladies out there are going to love this one! Keep your panties off the stage, please!”
I couldn’t hide my satisfaction at Samantha’s reaction when Max took the stage. He looked downright edible in his dark denim jeans that hugged his thighs in a way that made me want to remove them. He had a black t-shirt with a motor company logo stretched across his chest and his black Saints cap on.
The bachelorette party, now seated in the front row, began to cheer and yell at him to take off his shirt. He ignored them, fiddling with the mic instead. He looked nervous, completely out of his comfort zone.
As the beat to We Rode In Trucks by Luke Bryan started to play, Max raised his head towards the crowd. I laughed out loud at his song of choice, the tune he sang constantly. He held his hand over his eyes, shading them from the bright lights, until he found me. He pointed at himself and then at me, before raising the mic to his mouth, the equipment catching the last bit of a rough chuckle. He watched the screen as he began the words to the song.
“I can’t believe he’s doing this,” I said to no one in particular. My eyes were focused on my man, who kept chuckling instead of singing, like he was in as much disbelief as the rest of us.
The first chorus ended and the second began and he settled down. His southern drawl was pronounced, his voice low and sexy. Encouraged by the cheers, he began to sing a little louder and laugh a little less. As his confidence grew, his voice evened out. I’d heard him sing a number of times to himself in the truck or while he was building a bookcase or something, but I had no idea he could really sing. Not like that.
The song ended and everyone clapped, the bachelorettes asking for an encore without clothes. Max looked across the crowd and smiled.
“One more! Throw me your shirt, baby!” someone yelled from the front of the room.
“Sorry, but there’ll be no encore tonight. I gotta go help my lady pack her stuff.”
KARI
I looked at her face and it told me everything I needed to know. Her lips were pushed down, her eyes sorrowful.
I tried to simultaneously sit up and push her hands away, my throat tightening as the panic set in. I didn’t want her touching me, didn’t want to hear her voice tell me what I already knew. I wanted her to leave! To get out of the room! To leave me alone!
Alone . . .
Hot, golf ball-sized tears welled up in my eyes, spilling over my lids in a spectacular fashion.
She scooted back in her little round, wheeled chair and away from the examination table as I scrambled to sit upright. The sound of the chair rolling across the floor amplified the emptiness of the room.
The emptiness of me.
“No! No!” I shouted, trying to force myself to breathe but failing. My throat was too tight, my chest too constricted.
“I’m sorry, Kari . . .”
<
br /> My eyes flew open. I scanned the room, my heart pounding in my chest. I gulped a breath of air and batted back the tears and fears, not necessarily in that order.
The sound of the ceiling fan. Max’s boots by the door. My purse on the chair in the corner, right next to Max’s belt. Titus’ pillow empty against the wall.
I inhaled deeply, letting the air hold in my chest before blowing it back out. I lay back, putting my hands on my stomach, and tried to relax.
Everything is fine. It was a dream. I’m at Max’s and he’ll be walking in through the doorway in a minute and my world will be right. Breathe, Kari. Breathe.
I remembered Max on stage the night before, singing about trucks and telling me to pack my stuff. I held onto those thoughts and summoned the happiness I had felt as he walked off the stage. As he whisked me out of the bar. As he brought me to his house and made me forget everything but him for hours on end.
But is he going to hold me to that little deal we struck? Do I want him to? I needed to stake a claim in front of Samantha, but could it work if I moved here? What would be the point?
I looked around the room.
Could this be home?
It already felt like home in so many ways and it had absolutely nothing to do with possessions or belongings or locations.
The door to the bedroom burst open. Max walked through, giving me a brilliant smile while Titus licked his cheek.
That’s home.
I rolled over onto my side to face him and he sat the puppy down.
“Mornin,’ sweetheart.”
“Good morning. Where have you been?”
“I took him outside and then he got to chasin’ the neighbor’s dog around.” Max shrugged. “She’s a cute little poodle, I’ll give him that.”
I laughed. “Did he learn that from you? Chasing the neighborhood ladies?”
He sat beside me. “Nah, he learned that shit from Cane.” He bent down and kissed my forehead. “What do you want to do today?” He gave me a curious look and I knew what he was getting at—he wanted to see what I’d say. But I didn’t know. Hell, I wasn’t even sure how I got in this quandary.
Damn Samantha.
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