9. Logan
9
***Logan***
I settled in my chair in the living room with Colt and Noah taking the couch across from me. They looked as exhausted as I felt. Thankfully Brooke had disappeared upstairs as soon as we got home. I didn’t have a clue where she was going or if one of us would find her passed out in our bed but I didn’t care. I needed a fucking break from her. After watching her long legs strut around the bar for hours I was nearing a breaking point.
Not wanting to be sober yet, I took a long pull of my beer and sighed. “Shit.”
Noah rubbed his face and let out a humorless laugh. “Yep. We’re fucked.”
Just when I thought we were going to get a break, the sound of Brooke’s bare feet padding down the stairs made my body tighten. I glanced up and watched as she came into the living room, dressed in Colt’s clothes again, and sat on the couch between Noah and Colt.
She pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her chin on them. She looked melancholy but when she opened her mouth, she shocked me again. “Do you think roaches have families? I can’t stop thinking about it. Is there a roach breadwinner who goes out and works? Or do you think their economy is shitty, too, and they can’t afford to have a singular breadwinner? What about roach school?”
Noah reached over and put his hand over her mouth. “Stop talking about roaches, Brooke.”
She sighed and pushed his hand away. “Okay. That’s fair.”
“So tonight was a bust.” I wanted to change the subject but when her face fell, I wanted to take the words back. “It’s fine. It was just one night.”
“We all know it’s not just one night. It’s my entire life. I’ve only ever known three good men and look what I did there… Maybe I just need to start over.”
A wave of panic left me feeling unmoored at the idea of her leaving already. “What do you mean?”
“I mean maybe I go back to the beginning of my dating life and do it all over again, but with the things I know now. I wouldn’t give my first kiss to AJ Commack behind a dumpster just to have him push me down right after.. I wouldn’t give Mike Colvin a handjob behind that same dumpster just to have him pretend he didn’t know me the next day. I’d relearn everything. I think somewhere along the way, my brain got all mixed up.”
“And losing your virginity? Would you change that?” Noah had grown more serious than I’d seen him in a long time. The look on his face made me think Brooke’s answer would determine how we all moved forward.
Her face lifted in a soft smile. “Never. You guys are the only good thing I’ve ever done.”
The air in the room grew thicker and I avoided looking at Colt or Noah, terrified of what I’d see in their faces. Hearing those soft words from her mouth felt like I’d been holding my breath, waiting on them for a decade.
“Okay, you think starting over will reprogram your brain to find good men?” Noah cleared his throat. “Explain your logic for me.”
“I can’t explain my logic, Noah. I’m a little drunk and it’s my wedding day.” She smirked up at him. “That means I don’t need to use logic.”
“Are we still your coaches?” I almost didn’t recognize my own voice. What was I doing?
“I don’t know. You guys weren’t very good at it.” She laughed and then shrugged. “Sure. Do you think I need coaches for starting over? I mean, how does that work? My logic and my planning aren’t up to par tonight. I need to redo my first kiss with a good man, I think. None of us know how to find a good man, though.”
Noah grunted. “We’re good men.”
Something embarrassingly close to butterflies erupted in my stomach. I sat forward. “Noah.”
Brooke rolled her eyes and patted his leg. “You guys don’t want to kiss me.”
“No one said anything about wanting to or not wanting to. You want to redo your first kiss with a good man and you just said yourself that we’re good men.” He flexed his fingers and leaned closer to her. “I’m just drunk enough to think this is a good idea, Brooke.”
“But… But…you don’t want-”
“Fuck it.” Colt grabbed her and tugged her into his lap so he could lower his mouth to hers. Brooke was limp in his arms for a few seconds and then she erupted like a fucking volcano. Her arms wrapped around his neck and she tilted her mouth to kiss him deeper. She came to life in his arms and I watched Colt struggle to keep his hands still on her hips.
It ended as soon as it started with Colt putting her back down on the couch next to him. Brooke sank back in the cushions and touched her lips. She looked shocked.
“Now we don’t have to talk about it for the next two hours.” Colt stood up and stomped off, leaving the three of us to sit in silence.
Brooke finally looked from Noah to me and then she giggled. “Well, that was something.”
Noah growled, his frustration clear. “I’d already made up my mind that I was going to kiss you. That ass.”
“You can still do it, if you want.” She said it so sweetly and the way she looked up at him would’ve made any man crumble.
Noah motioned for her to move closer and I watched as she went up on her knees and scooted as close as she could get. He took his time looking at her before wrapping his hand around the back of her head and pulling her mouth down to his. Their kiss was slower but no less intense than Colt’s. Noah only pulled back when her hand was clutching his shirt and his chest was heaving.
My legs moved without my control and they didn’t stop until I was in front of Brooke, pulling her to her feet. I cupped her face in my hands and searched her face for any sign that she wanted me to stop. Instead she wrapped her arms around my waist and pressed her chest into mine. Dropping my mouth to hers I kissed her hard, breathing in her tequila soaked scent until I couldn’t wait another second to taste her. Stroking my tongue over her lips, I groaned when she opened and let me in. Her hands tightened on my back and she let out a small whimper as I kissed her like it was my last kiss instead of her pretend first. Her lips were soft against mine and I had to force myself to let go of her.
When we pulled apart, we were both breathing hard. I took a few steps back, letting my hands fall to my sides. “Better yet?”
Her cheeks darkened with a pretty blush before she moved around to the back of the couch. “Well. If that didn’t fix me, I don’t think there’s any hope for me. I think I’d better go to bed now. Alone, I mean. Definitely alone. Just me, myself, and I. Where should I sleep? The couch? The floor? Outside?”
I threw back my head and laughed. “There’s an extra room you can use. Do you want me to show you the way?”
“Nope! That’s probably not a good idea… I mean, you’ve done enough. You all have. You’re all great. So, I’ll just go up to the room now.” She inched away. “And if you could just tell me which room it is…”
“Last room to the right.” I moved closer to her and grinned when she squeaked and practically sprinted up the stairs. Looking back at Noah, I shook my head. “Well, shit.”
He grunted. “Can you point that thing somewhere else?”
I glanced down at my erection and sighed. Flipping him off, I headed towards the stairs myself. “I’m going to bed. I’m not sure if I’m hoping to wake up and find that this was all a dream or not.”
“We’ve never been that lucky. We just walked right back into this clusterfuck.”
I didn’t bother answering him because we both knew he was right. There was never going to be a point in our lives with Brooke when things weren’t a clusterfuck. There was too much history between us and enough fucking tension to start a forest fire. Too bad none of us could handle a forest fire.