Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
WEST
My brother’s voice made my shoulders tense.
He walked toward me with measured steps, looking like he was about to have the time of his life giving me shit for all the “rumors” he’d probably heard around town.
Rumors I only made worse when I faced down the guy who thought he could take Blue home tonight.
Judging by the smirk on Easton’s face, my night was about to equal the level of chaos only a tornado could create.
I was hoping I could deal with my family at Sunday dinner, but I guess my time was up when it came to Easton. So I leaned my forearms against the bar and waited.
“Well, well, well…” he said, resting his elbows on the other side of the counter. “If it isn’t Mr. High-Rise, Low-Profile himself. Slumming it in a dive bar again, and do my eyes deceive me? Where is your jacket? Geez West, if I blink too fast, I might mistake you for a real person.”
“You left your beautiful family at home just to drive me crazy?”
“I normally know when you’re in town. But this is the second time in a week, and this time I had to hear about this,” he motioned toward me and then the bar around us, “from the cashier at Piggly Wiggly. What the hell are you doing?”
“Serving drinks. Tossing bottles. Charming the locals.”
“Yeah, okay, but why?”
I glanced toward Tuffy and Blue at the other end of the bar. Blue caught my eye, then raised her brows. She had gracefully walked away as Easton approached, but she seemed to be ready to jump back in if I needed her.
I just shook my head slightly, then sighed as I pushed off the bar.
“Come on.”
Easton followed me down the narrow hallway toward the office. I held the door open, waited for him to step in, then dropped myself onto the couch with the dramatic energy of someone already emotionally exhausted.
Easton leaned against the wall, arms crossed. “You gonna explain, or just sit there looking like a busted Rolex?”
I rubbed my hands over my face and exhaled. “You already knew I thought she was attractive. So let’s not act like it’s a complete shock that I'm with her.”
“With her?” His eyebrows shot up. “West, I thought you were just tending bar at your new business venture. What do you mean, with her?”
Oh yeah, shit. He hadn’t shown up asking me about Blue, he was there because he heard I was bartending.
“Well…” I trailed off, scratching my scruff and trying to think of how I could tell him that I was married. It wasn’t like I was going to keep it a secret forever, I just hoped to be able to tell everyone at Sunday dinner.
“What the fuck?” Easton yelled, pushing off the wall. I looked around, wondering what had him stirred up again, only to realize he was staring at my hand. “Are you married?”
“Well…” I said again. I was never at a loss for words when it came to doing what I wanted, when I wanted, but ever since the day I told Mr. McConnell that I was engaged, I had been a completely different person.
“You married Blue,” Easton whispered slowly, as if I’d told him I was joining the circus. “You. The guy who schedules his dentist appointments a year in advance so no one surprises him with a drill. You got married?”
“Surprise.”
“Do Grams and Gramps know?”
“No. I was going to tell them at Sunday dinner when I told you and Jesse. So much for that plan.”
Easton barked a laugh. “That was a shitty plan anyway. There is no Sunday dinner.”
That made me sit up straighter. “What?”
“Miles sent tickets. For all of us. Loxley’s got a show in Virginia Beach and everyone’s going. Remember? Grams, Gramps, me, Jesse. He sent one for Max but he’s staying with Ms. Ellison. So I guess that is Blue’s ticket now because you wouldn’t want not to bring your wife.”
“I didn’t agree to that,” I muttered.
“You said you were in, that you’d book us a charter and even pay for the hotel. Sure, it was a mere two weeks ago and apparently a lot has changed since then. But when I confirmed in the group text the other night, you gave a thumbs-up emoji.”
“Jesus.” I must have been completely out of it to have missed an entire group chat exchange with my family. Not to mention I never use emojis and apparently I was using them like punctuation these days. My brain was short-circuiting.
Virginia Beach? My whole family? With Blue?
“I’ll take care of the travel stuff,” Easton continued. “You want me to book the same hotel they’re staying in? The suites are taken by the event team, but the other rooms are nice.”
“Yes,” I muttered, already regretting it, but too panicked to refuse.
“And you still want to do a charter? I know you don’t fly coach.”
“Yeah,” I sighed, fishing my wallet out and handing Easton my credit card. “Just tell us where to be.”
“Damn,” Easton laughed, “You’re so fucked.”
“I hate you.”
“No, you don’t.” He looked down at the card, then back at me. “You’re freaking out because this wasn’t your plan and it's out of your control.”
I didn’t answer.
“Seriously, West. What is really going on? Because you getting married to Blue? You would never do something that spontaneous.”
“What can I say…” I was barely able to get the words out. My heart was racing. “it was a crazy impulse and we are just trying to figure out how to blend our lives.”
He whistled. “You’re really in deep.”
“We will figure it out.”
Easton pushed off the wall and walked to where I had my head hung as I sat on the couch. His hand landed on my shoulder and he squeezed, making me feel worse for not telling him it was all temporary.
“We leave Sunday morning, the show is Sunday night, and we will be back Monday.”
“Sounds good.”
“Want to discuss it with Blue before I use this?” He waved my card around.
“She’ll be fine. She already planned on heading back to Atlanta with me after Sunday dinner.”
The door cracked open and I stood up, not wanting whoever it was to see me feeling so weak and confused. Only my brothers got to see that side of me.
Blue stepped in, her hair a little wild, her eyes lit up from laughing. She took one look at Easton and smiled, but when she looked at me, she froze mid-step.
“Everything okay?”
Easton grinned and opened his arms. I almost forgot that he knew Blue, probably better than I did. “Welcome to the family.”
“Oh,” Blue laughed quietly, “So he told ya, huh?”
“I saw the ring,” he mentioned as he gave her a hug. “I came to get the scoop, and boy did I.” He backed away and then looked between us before grabbing the door handle to leave. “I will see you lovebirds on Sunday. Virginia Beach, here we come.”
He left and Blue looked over at me, one hand on her hip and her eyes wide. “Virginia Beach?”
I rubbed my face. “Apparently.”
“I can’t–” she started to say, but I cut her off.
“If I can make Pina Coladas all night, you can join my family and me at a fucking concert.”
“Concert?”
I quickly explained, and to my surprise, she perked up and looked kind of excited.
“I’ve never been on a plane. I’ve never been to a concert.”
“You’ll have fun,” I nudged her. I’ll make sure of it, I thought to myself.
“What if your family doesn't like me? There will be nowhere to run.”
They would. My brothers already knew her and loved her, Gramps and Grams would adore her, I had no doubt about that. Jesse and Loxley were amazing women that would make her feel welcome and part of the family. There was nothing to worry about.
Except for it being one more real experience, one more thing that could risk the entire lie unraveling and taking whatever fragile thing we’d planned down with it.