Bonus Scene
BECAUSE WHAT ABOUT NOVA’S DATE!?
Trent
Drew and I walked through the sliders and into the kitchen to find Braeden and Romeo at the island.
Based on the sour and sulking expression on B’s face, no wonder Romeo texted.
“What’s going on?” I asked, looking between the pair.
Romeo didn’t look quite as perturbed as B, but he wasn’t exactly carefree either.
“I’ll tell you what’s going on,” Braeden grumped. “That kid hasn’t had enough brain injuries on the field. His memory still works too well.”
I glanced at Drew, and we shared a look.
Romeo grunted. “If you were him, would you forget a date with the most popular girl at school?”
“That kid is still sniffing around Nova?” Drew asked, going to the fridge for a soda. “Maybe his brain is damaged if he’s still dogging at her heels for a date even after that debacle at Travis’s birthday party.”
“No one said he was smart,” Braeden remarked.
“There’s not smart, and then there’s just stupid.” Drew went on. “Someone came onto the property, tried to kidnap one of us, and then Trent charged a four-wheeler to take her down. He physically sat on her until the cops came.”
“He’s thinking with his dick,” Romeo declared, and we all nodded.
Dude was definitely thinking with his dick.
Braeden lurched up from the stool. “I’ll kill him.”
“I know you four aren’t in here having some kind of man meeting about Nova going to the movies tonight,” Ivy said, walking into the kitchen with a pair of UGG slippers on her feet.
Shaking her blond head, she continued to the kettle to put some water on to boil.
“How can you be so calm about this, blondie?”
“Because it’s the movies, not some rave. You can’t expect a beautiful girl like her to just sit at home forever.”
“This is what I get for marrying a bombshell. Should have found someone without a face card,” Braeden mourned.
We all laughed.
Except for Ivy.
Rimmel strolled in, dark hair in two braids and her usual oversized sweats hanging on her hips. “What’s going on in here?” She glanced around. “Oh geez, are you having a man meeting about Nova’s date?”
“Yeah, so no girls allowed,” Braeden retorted.
Rimmel ignored him and went to the cupboard. “We’re making apple cider.” She stretched up on her tiptoes for a mug, fingers still not reaching. With a sound, she lowered and was about to climb on the counter when Romeo stepped in.
“Hold your horses there, smalls. We don’t have time for an ER visit tonight,” he told her, grabbing her around the waist and lifting her off her feet.
Rim looked over her shoulder at him and smiled. “It would be a good distraction for Nova.”
“I won’t have it,” he said, holding her with one arm and reaching into the cabinet for two mugs.
“Thank you,” she said sweetly.
He made a gruff sound. “Make your cider and stay out of trouble.”
“Us!” Ivy declared. “You four are the ones in here talking about brain injury and murder!”
Rimmel gasped. “What?”
“Were you listening at the door?” Drew asked.
“This is my house.” Ivy sniffed and then turned to B. “I’m telling you right now, Braeden. You let our daughter have her first date. Do not try and intimidate that boy when he comes to pick her up.”
“This is my house,” he said, using her words against her.
The kettle started whistling, but Ivy ignored it to stroll forward with a spoon in her hand. “Braeden James, do not interfere with her date,” Ivy warned, poking him in the center of his chest with the spoon.
Rimmel came over with a spoon of her own and poked him too. “Or. Else.”
“You better get your girl, Rome.”
Both girls turned to Romeo, brandishing the spoons.
He laughed.
They went about making mugs of steaming cider, and Rimmel opened another cabinet before turning to bat her eyes at Romeo.
He shook his head and reached in, pulling out a jar of cinnamon sticks. When she moved to take them, he held them just out of reach. Rimmel rolled her eyes but then pursed her lips. Only after she kissed him did he hand over the jar.
“Mom! I have nothing to wear!” Nova yelled down the stairs like it was an actual national emergency.
“Now, I know that’s a lie,” Braeden quipped. “That girl has more clothes than some small countries.”
“Aunt Rimmel!”
“She must really be desperate if she’s asking for Rimmel’s help with an outfit,” I teased.
Rimmel planted her hands on her hips and glared at me. “I’ve learned a lot from Ivy over the years.”
“Yet you’re still standing there in Rome’s old sweats,” Drew teased.
“And whose shirt are you wearing right now, Drew?” Rimmel asked.
I glanced at what he was wearing—a shirt she’d bought me for Christmas last year—and laughed.
“Mom!”
“We’re coming!” Ivy hollered to Nova. Then to Rimmel, “We’d better get up there before she does something drastic.”
“Like pick her own outfit?” Romeo wondered.
“Maybe she’ll cancel her date.” Braeden hoped.
“This is our punishment for having kids with them,” Ivy lamented.
Rimmel nodded emphatically.
“We’re going upstairs. When he comes to the door, let him inside. Do not pretend we aren’t home,” Ivy told us.
“Do not intimidate him either.”
“Are we intimidating, or is he just intimidated?” Romeo wondered.
“Neither. He’s horny.” Drew decided.
Ivy and Rimmel both turned to stare at us over their still-steaming mugs. It made them both look kinda creepy.
“This includes both of you. We’re watching,” Ivy intoned.
Rimmel pointed to her eyes and then at us with two fingers. It wasn’t scary. Her hands were the size of Andi’s.
“Yes, ma’am,” Drew and I replied in unison, and the girls left.
When they were gone, the four of us looked at each other for a long, silent minute.
“So we’re following them, right?” Braeden finally decided.
“Of course.” Drew agreed.
“I’ll drive,” Romeo added.
I had to contribute something. “We’ll wear hats.”
Everyone nodded.
About fifteen minutes later, the doorbell rang. All the dogs barked and raced into the entryway. Braeden wound through all the chaos and wrapped his hand around the door handle.
“Sick him!” B told the dogs and then opened the door.
Night air spilled in from the front porch, met with a gaggle of barking dogs. Jordan jumped back a step at the burst of anarchy as dogs swarmed around him, yapping and sniffing the newcomer.
“Oh, my bad, Falls,” Braeden said. “These dogs are just hard to control.”
“It’s okay, Coach Walker,” Jordan said, holding his hand out to Rocket. “Hey, Rocket, remember me from practices?”
Rocket stopped barking and licked his hand.
“Traitor,” Braeden hissed.
The wind blew a few leaves across the driveway, and the dogs went bounding into the yard after them.
“That your car?” Drew asked.
Jordan turned to glance at the Nissan parked nearby. “Yes, sir.”
“You should have bought a Ford,” Drew replied, going down the steps to open the passenger door and look inside. “You got a full tank of gas?”
“Y-yeah…?”
“You don’t sound sure. A good driver always knows how much gas he has in his tank.”
“It’s like three-quarters,” Jordan said.
“And the theater is, what, twenty minutes away?” I surmised. “That means you have plenty to get there and back. We don’t want to hear the I ran out of gas line.”
“Okay.” Jordan agreed.
Braeden crossed his arms over his chest. “I want her home by eleven.”
“Eleven-oh-two is late,” Romeo told him.
“Yes, sir,” Jordan agreed.
Uncrossing his arms, Braeden stepped closer to Jordan. “I’m not your coach tonight, Falls. Tonight, I’m the father of a girl you’re taking out. You know what that means?”
“Uh, no…”
“It means you will keep your hands above the waist all night, your dick stays in your pants, and that tongue stays in your mouth. You got me?”
“Y-yes, sir.”
“Dad!” Nova said, appearing through the open front door. “What did you say to him?”
“Nothing. We were just talking football,” Braeden said, plastering on a smile. “Right, Jordan?”
“Yeah, football.” He agreed, then turned his full attention to her.
My niece was dressed in a pair of light-wash jeans and a tight camel-colored top with a square neckline. Her long dark hair was down around her shoulders and curled in loose waves. In her hand was a cream-colored bag with an oversized braided texture.
“You look great,” Jordan told her. “Really pretty.”
“Really?” Nova asked, batting her eyes at him.
Ah, young love.
He nodded.
“Thanks. I love your jacket.” She complimented his varsity jacket.
Braeden made a sound, and Ivy elbowed him.
“You two have a good time,” Ivy said, shooing us all into the house. “What movie are you going to see?”
“Clara,” Nova answered. “You know, the new one about that AI doll that like goes crazy and kills everyone.”
“A horror movie!” Braeden roared from inside the house. “Oh, hells no!”
“Come on. Let’s go.” Nova pulled Jordan off the porch and toward his Nissan.
“Eleven o’clock!” Braeden reminded, reappearing on the porch.
“Braeden,” Ivy hissed.
“You’d better open that door for her,” I called.
“Trent, get in the house,” Rimmel demanded from the doorway.
Braeden and I were the last inside. The second the door shut, Braeden erupted.
“A horror movie, Blondie,” Braeden exclaimed. “That little shit.”
“What’s wrong with a horror movie?” Rimmel asked.
Braeden made a rude sound. “The only reason a guy takes a girl to a scary movie is so she’ll get scared and cling to him.”
“It’s true,” I echoed.
“So they hold hands, or he puts his arm around her,” Ivy said. “Let her have fun tonight.”
“How about we have a movie night of our own?” Rimmel suggested. “It will help pass the time until Nova gets home and can tell us about her date.”
“Ooh, love that.” Ivy agreed.
“That’s a good idea,” Romeo said, and B whipped around to glare at him like he’d lost his mind. But he kept talking. “I’ll go grab some pizza at the shop we like in town.”
“We can just order it,” Ivy said.
“No point in making them drive all the way out here to the compound. It just interrupts their delivery schedule,” he said, and Braeden nodded.
“We’ll give them a big tip,” Rimmel reasoned.
“It’s Friday night. They’re probably busy,” Braeden refuted. “I’ll go too.”
“Why do you need to go?” Ivy asked, suspicious.
“Because it’s a lot of pizza. He needs help.”
“You know what goes good with pizza? Ice cream,” Drew said.
I nodded. “We’ll come too. Get the dessert.”
“Wait a minute.” Ivy started, but all four of us were already up and moving to the door.
“You pick a movie, baby. We’ll be back with the food,” Romeo said, kissing Rimmel on the head on his way out the door.
“We’ll be right back!” Braeden called, diving into the back of Romeo’s SUV. (The Hellcat was parked inside the garage.)
“Drive!” Drew said.
Romeo took off down the road. “Think they were on to us?”
“Definitely,” I mused.
“Keep driving, Rome,” Braeden ordered.
Twenty-five minutes later, we had tickets in hand and were walking into theater number eight. The large space was dark and cool, and the previews had already started.
We stood off to the side, against the wall in the shadows, peering through the rows of people in search of Nova and her date.
“Where the hell are they?” Braeden muttered. “I swear, if he didn’t bring her where he said, I will feed his balls to the dogs.”
“There,” Drew said, gesturing with his chin. “In the middle row.”
“They got good seats,” I remarked.
“Right?” Drew replied.
“Focus,” Braeden demanded.
“Go up that way and around the top,” Romeo directed. “Then come down to that empty row a few up from them.”
“You see his hands?” Braeden asked, staring hard.
“They’re eating popcorn,” I said, watching him shovel it in.
“There’s only one drink,” Romeo observed.
“Ew, are they sharing?” Braeden panicked. “No telling where that kid’s mouth has been.”
“Let’s go,” Drew whispered, and we made our way to the row Romeo chose and sank into the chairs about four rows behind Nova and Jordan.
Another preview came on, one about some kind of creature under someone’s bed, and frankly, it was unsettling. Seconds later, Drew jolted when the creature shot out from the darkness.
“Shit,” he swore beneath his breath.
I draped my arm around him, pulling him close. “I’ll protect you, baby.”
“See, that right there,” B said, pointing at us accusingly.
We turned toward the kids just as Jordan put his arm around Nova who was covering her eyes. She leaned in, and the little shit went as far as pushing up the armrest between them so he could move closer.
Braeden leaned over to the couple next to him. “You mind?”
Before they could reply, he grabbed a fistful of their popcorn and tossed it a few rows down so it hit Jordan in the head.
The kids pulled apart to look behind them, and Braeden dropped into his chair.
The four of us did our best to shrink into the seats, but Nova was like her mother. “You have got to be kidding,” she exclaimed.
People turned to look.
Another preview started playing.
“You made the movie sound good, Critter. We decided to come watch too,” Braeden hollered.
“Shhh!” the people behind us hissed.
Jordan and Nova turned back in their seats and sank down, heads together.
About five minutes later, Jordan slid his arm around Nova again. All four of us coughed, and he pulled it back.
Nova turned to glare over the seats but turned back as the movie started to play.
“Hey, this looks pretty good,” Drew murmured, pushing the armrest up to lean farther into my side. I laughed under my breath.
We made it ten more minutes before movement at the end of the aisle had me turning my head.
I jolted, and Drew laughed. “It got you too,” he said.
Grabbing his chin, I pulled his face around.
“Oh shit,” he swore.
“Hey,” I called to Romeo and B.
They turned, eyes seeing the same thing Drew just had.
Ivy and Rimmel stood at the end of the row. Hands on hips. Glaring fiercely.
“Ah, baby, what are you doing here?” Braeden asked.
“Really, Braeden?” she intoned.
“I thought you were getting pizza,” Rimmel deadpanned.
“Well…”
Both of them shook their heads and pointed.
Someone onscreen let out a blood-curdling scream.
The four of us exchanged looks and then filed out of the row.
“I cannot believe you,” Ivy chastised.
“You’ve gone too far,” Rimmel lectured.
I looked over at Nova and her date as we passed. They waved.
“I hope they enjoy the rest of their night,” Drew murmured. “Because we sure as hell won’t.”