by Emily Bowie
I laugh at her ridiculousness. “What do you know about love and losing the one person who gets you?”
Patronizingly, she pats my shoulder. “Men really are stupid, huh?” She says it so sweet and caring I can’t even get mad. I’ve known Haven my whole life; she is the nicest person you’ll ever meet. I know she’s not saying it to be mean. “How is drinking yourself stupid going to get the girl back or make Epic realize he shouldn’t be an ass?”
I hate that she has a point. “I should have kicked his ass. I still can.” My words slur together even to my own ears.
She hits me behind the head, making me lose balance and outstretch my arms to steady myself. “That’s not my point.”
Rubbing at my head, I complain, “You could have just told me that.”
“I know you boys. Unless something hits you over the head, you ignore it.”
She takes my arm, leading me back to the fire. I had walked off, needing to get away. No one takes much notice I’ve returned except for my brother, who has this smirk that I want to punch off his face. Piper sits with the group of girls, laughing and smiling like we haven’t been fighting.
I’ve always run with the code that your brother’s girl is off-limits. I hate that fact, and that I unknowingly broke my code. Not that he ever went by the bro code. My brother always looked out for number one, himself.
“Crash, you never mentioned Epic here is divorced,” Ruben, Oakport’s baker, says.
“I’m shocked Jackson even realized he was married,” Piper inserts, gaining everyone’s attention.
“Jackson, huh?” Danger prompts, looking from me to Epic. No one in Oakport Beach has ever called him that. I’m not sure if people realize it’s his real fucking name.
At least it looks like she’s madder at him than me. Small victories, even if my heart hardly takes it as a win.
Taking a seat, I watch the flames flicker across everyone’s faces. They’re in their own little conversations around the bonfire. Having these fires used to be one of my favorite things.
“Let’s do a drinking game,” Danger announces, as he almost falls out of his chair. Looks like it’s not only me who’s had too much.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” Haven cuts in, only for him to cut her off in return.
“No girls allowed. They’re the judges.” He smiles at Haven like he just solved everyone’s problems. I watch her roll her eyes, crossing her arms and trying to ignore him. He does love to rile her up. She and Danger have been fighting an attraction for years, covering it up with this love/hate relationship. I’m looking forward to the day they figure it out.
“Rules?” Ruben chimes in.
“Each one of us will be given a dare. Either you accept, passing one drink on to the dare-giver, or you pass and take three drinks.” He looks around the fire, gaining everyone’s attention. As much as the girls pretend to hate when we get like this, they sure seem to enjoy the entertainment portion of it.
“Girls aren’t judging. Count us in too,” Piper announces for the girls, who all look to be backing her on this.
“The goal is to drink less. You want to make the dare so over the top that they have to pass and take three drinks versus your one if they accept.”
I stand, thinking all of the ways I can put my brother under the table. “Other rules include—nothing illegal, must be able to be done at this fire, and cannot involve another person. You can pick anyone, but each person at the fire must be picked before another person can be called a second time. Lastly, if you call a dare that is against the rules, you drink.”
“I’ll go first.” Haven stands. “Danger!” she calls out. “Go get me a drink, and kneel at my feet as you hand it to me.”
“Haven, I can do so much more while kneeling.” He winks at her. “But as per the rules, the dare cannot involve another person. Drink up.”
She scrunches her nose but takes a drink.
Danger stands then. “Epic. Sing the National Anthem in a Donald Duck voice.”
He begins singing horribly off-key. I watch everyone laugh, but it still doesn’t settle me. Maybe Haven is right. I need to man up and talk to Piper.
“You missed a line,” Piper calls out, making everyone laugh.
At the same time Epic finishes, I stand, heading to Piper to finally talk to her.
“Crash.”
I turn to look at my brother.
“Make your ass sing the alphabet while it’s facing the fire.” I get hoots and hollers. Sadly, this is one of my party tricks. But I’ve never done it in front of a girl I’m trying to keep.
“Look, he’s going to pass. What happened to you, man? You’ve turned into a pussy.”
I shouldn’t let Epic’s words bother me. He’s taunting me like he always has. Fuck it, I decide. This is me and my party trick. It was bound to come out sometime.
Bending over, I wiggle my ass at the boys, being sure to face the girls, giving them all winks as I do.
“This is a bad idea,” Piper begins at the same time I start with my letter A. I get to B before a real fart is let out, and I can feel the heat on my ass. My eyes open wide, feeling that unique burning sensation, making me unable to react as fast as I should. As if in slow motion, I swear each tiny hair follicle leaves its own little burn mark on me, each piece hurting more than the last. My ass feels like it’s on fire as I stand, my hands trying to pat anything off, as others start to stand and do the same for me. Holy shit, I’m on fire!
CHAPTER 23
Crash’s eyes widen as he stands, and I know all too well what just happened. I go straight into nurse mode, allowing my instincts to take over. I don’t think twice as I go to him, taking a look at the damage. His pants and underwear are singed, his ass red from the burn left behind. A bucket is tossed at him, soaking his backside and me all at the same time. I hope that was clean water. In my head, I’m already thinking about the infection he could be getting as we speak.
People are yelling, laughing, and running around trying to help. I pause, assessing the situation. I’ve been nursing my one drink all night.
“Everyone, stop,” I call out. Everyone freezes midaction at my loud voice.
“Haven, go into the barn. I have an old blue chest on the bench. Bring it to me.” She runs off as I continue with my directions. “Danger and Ruben, help Crash into the house.” I watch them get up and start helping a limping Crash. His face screams that he’s in pain.
“Epic.” He stands at attention, all fun and games gone from his face. “You’re an asshole.”
With that, I jog up to the house, opening the door before the boys get there. “Lean his stomach over the kitchen table.”
Haven runs in with my medical chest I always keep with me. The silver lock springs open as I unlatch it, and a tray of medical goodies faces me. Going to the sink, I get a clean cloth and soak it, not bothering with the excess water that pours on the ground, and soak his backside while I push his boxers and pants down under his ass cheeks. His poor ass. What once was a sexy globe is now red and looking ready to blister.
I point to my burn gel and have Haven pass one packet to me. I pour the contents out one package at a time, covering as much of his burn as possible. I almost don’t have enough, not expecting this big of a burn at one time.
“Is there a hospital nearby?” I ask, already knowing the answer. All three heads turn slowly to me, telling me no.
“It’s an hour away at best,” I’m told.
I’ve got this. Nothing I haven’t seen before. I keep nodding as I focus on my next steps. Part of me kind of wants to flick Crash on his sensitive skin, because I’m still mad at him. When I look at his face though, I can see the pain etched into his forehead, making my heart unthaw for him slightly before I turn it off.
I’m all in my head as I bandage and fix Crash to the best of my abilities, and when I look up, it’s only him and me in the house.
“They said goodbye, but you couldn’t hear them.”
Look
ing out the window, I see the fire has been put out and everyone has left for the night. “When you concentrate, you stick out your tongue and look pretty fucking sexy.”
“You didn’t have to burn your ass to get some alone time with me,” I mutter.
Now he’s talking to me.
“I thought I needed some big plan. It worked. It stopped you glaring, and I can see you feel bad for me.”
I try to ignore him, because he is right. I have stopped glaring at him, but I’m not over it yet. “We should take off your pants.” They’re soaked, and I don’t want them to get his bandage dirty. Otherwise, he’s looking at infections.
“You’re the doctor.” He looks behind me, as I’m already helping him step out of them. I have to laugh. I’m still in full-on nurse mode when he’s here trying to flirt up a storm. I don’t get how guys can gloss over the bad stuff and pretend it didn’t happen.
“I’m sure there are a few things you can do to make me feel more comfortable in the state I’m in.” He winks at me.
“Your flirting needs improvement.” I lightly whip the end of the wet cloth to his upper back. It hits, but he doesn’t flinch or look discouraged, disappointing me.
He gives me another wink. “I better get my shirt off too. It’s pretty dirty.” I watch as his stomach muscles flex, showing his perfect six-pack. Even with his ass bandaged like a diaper, he’s damn sexy, and the way he’s looking at me, he knows it.
I make a show of my eye roll, hating that I feel myself already being pulled to him. I refuse to allow him to see it though. I’m not a girl who can be walked over. “You need to stop, Crash. I’m not going to pretend you didn’t accuse me of sleeping with you while being with your brother. You stood there and did nothing when he was talking about sharing a room with me.”
He stands naked in front of me, his cock bobbing up and down in all its hardened glory. I can’t help but sneer because he’s not taking this as seriously, all while ignoring my feelings and trying to get with me. “You’re disgusting,” I say, looking from his hard dick to his eyes.
“I’m sorry. Honestly,” he apologizes while I pop up a brow, not believing him. “I can’t help what he does.” He clarifies by gesturing to his hard-on before continuing. “My brother and I have always had this unhealthy competition with each other. It shocked me to hear that you two used to be together. And I hate to say it, but I was disappointed I didn’t have you all to myself. I like you, and I felt that, because of your past with Epic, you wouldn’t be interested in me anymore.”
I can feel my lips press together, and my forehead creases as I consider his words. His blue eyes look somber, his face twisted with worry in how I’ll react over his words. Either way, I plan on making him work for my forgiveness.
My phone starts ringing, breaking up whatever Piper and I had. My finger presses Ignore, wanting us to get back to where we were, but the damn thing starts to ring all over again.
“Crash, answer your phone.” I can tell she’s deflecting, and I refuse to let it happen.
“It’s not important.” To my irritation, it rings again, and I toss it away, trying to show her I don’t care about it.
“We just had people who were drinking leave your house. This could be important.” She’s still in nurse mode, and it’s sexier than hell.
She walks over to it. “Haven’s calling.”
“Turn it off. If anyone is safe, she is. She’s probably calling to say everyone is home safe now. That’s just who she is.”
“Hello?” Piper answers against my advice. “It’s Danger, and he sounds off.”
This town and their theatrics. Never a dull moment, because we make it that way with the drama we cause.
She tosses me the phone, and I place it to my ear. “What’s up?” I want this short and sweet.
“Epic’s on the church roof and is threatening to jump.”
My mouth goes all cotton-like immediately. I may not like my brother very often, but I don’t wish him dead. I can hear Haven in the background yelling about Epic driving after she told him not to. This is a shit show.
Piper has gray sweatpants in her hand and my keys in the other. Not like I would have been able to sweet-talk her with this diaper on anyway. This will give me more time to make a plan to get her back.
CHAPTER 24
Piper’s driving like a madwoman. She’s crazier than Danger and me when we used to race. I’m forced to lie in the back seat, watching the dust fly from the way my tires aggressively move down the road. Each of her turns is hair-raising as the tires try to stay in control, and my body is jolted side to side without any regard for my wellbeing. I’m thrown from the cushion into the hard-plastic back of the front seats, my knees hitting the floor as I try to brace myself. Looking up, I’m able to see the sun is starting to crawl over the horizon, giving us a little bit of light that starts to poke through the black sky.
“Thanks for taking it easy on me back here.” My sarcasm drips from my words as I pick myself up.
“Any time.” She smiles sweetly before we start to hear yelling coming from the back of the church. She looks at me with worry etched into her features, and we both take off running toward it.
“What the hell are you doing?” I call upward as I see Epic on the roof. As kids, we used to sneak up there near the bell until one day Haven slipped. It scared the shit out of all of us, and we never went up there again. We made a pact that no one would ever try alone, because that roof is dangerous as shit.
“I lost it all. I’ve fucked up my whole life!” Epic yells down, taking another step closer to the edge. The roof is slanted pretty steeply. If he gets off-balance in the slightest, he’ll fall right off. Watching my brother makes it hard to breathe.
“Stop being dramatic. All you’re doing is landing yourself in a wheelchair if you jump from there.”
I can hear the girls gasp at me. They don’t understand Epic like I do. He’s not up there for a “poor me” speech. He needs to understand all his options. Him in a wheelchair won’t sit well.
“You’re not even going to get a hot nurse. It’s going to be Danger and me wiping your ass for you. Is this what you want?” I pray my tactic works. My muscles are stiff as we all watch him on the roof.
“I lost it all, man.”
“What are you talking about? You still have the yellow bee.”
“No, man, they want to repossess it. That’s why I came here. Thought I would hide, to save me some time.” My brother’s eyes are rimmed red and glossy. I’ve never seen him like this before. He’s like a stone in the sense that he doesn’t show his emotions. Epic has always been good with his status quo, even gloating about his life compared to ours. This isn’t the emotional response I was expecting from my brother.
“You’re a lawyer. You can make it all back.”
“They fired me with a warning I’d never work in Charleston again. I was evicted, and all my stuff was taken right in front of me. That’s why I held off from signing the divorce papers. I knew I would have nothing as soon as I did. Colleen has been fighting for me to sign the papers for a few months now. It wasn’t until Piper left that I agreed. I only have the clothes on my back. I’m a failure. I can’t move back here and prove everyone right about me.”
“The town would welcome you back. No one cares whether you believe you made it or not. We don’t give a shit about things like that. Only you do.”
“It’s my identity, man.” He’s getting dangerously close to the edge now, and I start to believe he is meaning to jump off and this isn’t an attention grab. Which means he wants to jump, and that scares me to the core.
I can feel myself begin to sweat for him. I wish I could fix people like I fix businesses. I’ve always felt helpless in the way I have no control in relationships, whether it be my family, friends, or girlfriends. I need everyone to be happy to fully enjoy myself.
“Not even my brother wants me around. I’ve fucked up your life so many times you tell me to stay away. Then when I
do return, I mess shit up again for you.” The pain is like razor blades being run through my throat as I swallow, listening to my brother. We don’t see eye-to-eye, and we have disagreements, but he’s family, and I still love him. He turns to look at Piper, his feet appearing unstable on the roof.
“Piper, I’m sorry you got caught in the middle of my divorce. I honestly was trying to get on with my life with you, but everything spiraled out of control. I’m sorry. I knew you worked at the same hospital with Colleen, but I never realized you were on the same shift.”
“She was my boss. And you never told me you were still married or even the fact that you were going through a divorce. Maybe you need to own up to your mistakes and set them right. This is the first step. Please come down the way you came,” Piper interjects.
“You know, this town doesn’t have a lawyer and needs one anyway.” I grasp at straws.
This has Epic pausing. He looks deflated. I’m not used to this side of him. He normally bulldozes his way through life. It’s just his way.
“I have some free space available you can use for an office.” He’s so close to the edge my heart leaps. “Man, it would be nice to have you back in town.” I don’t even know this is true until I say it out loud.
He’s looking down at me like he wants to believe me, but something is holding him back.
“Who’s going to steer the crane when we water ski on land?” Danger asks, referring to our water skiing we do when the water’s too rough but it’s still nice out. Epic used to be the one to always control it.
This gets a half-smirk from Epic. “How can you say you want me here, when all I have been is an asshole since the day I left?”
“Because you’re family,” Danger and I say in unison.
He should be taking a step back, but instead, he moves and sits on the edge, his feet dangling off.
“I’m sorry, guys.” He shakes his head. “When I drove up here, I even told myself that I wouldn’t be a jerk, but then I saw you with Piper and I got jealous. You have it all here, Crash. Success, a fantastic girl, and I’m some deadbeat divorced guy who has nothing left of himself.”