Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE
~JOSIE~
“ S o, let me get this straight,” my cousin, Olivia, says as she pours herself a lemon drop martini.
All of the cousins are here. The guys are out back by the pool, playing beer pong since it’s not raining for a change. And the girls are in the living room, listening to my ongoing drama with Brax.
“You’re seeing Brax again,” Olivia continues, “after he was a complete idiot to you two years ago?”
“That about sums it up,” I agree with a nod and eat the olive from my regular dirty martini. “But I’m also being smart about it. I’m being careful.”
“Using protection is important,” Stella says with a nod and then laughs when I glare at her. “What? It is.”
“That’s not what I meant. And it doesn’t matter because we’re not having sex yet.”
“Which is a world record for those two,” Maddie interjects. “They used to fuck like rabbits. It was disgusting.”
“He was in a bad accident,” I remind them all. “He’s hurt. Otherwise, he probably would have come with me tonight, but I made him stay home and rest.”
“It could have been interesting if you’d brought him and the guys saw him,” Sophie adds. “It’s good to warn us all first to avoid any accidental beatings.”
“You know,” I say and eat another olive, “we always talk a big game about the cousins and uncles beating the crap out of people, but to my knowledge, none of them has ever done that.”
“But they could ,” Liv stresses. “If we needed them to.”
“Good point,” I concede. “Anyway, he’s probably sleeping. He felt worse today than yesterday, which I figured he would.”
“Vaughn and I saw him a few weeks ago,” Olivia says, surprising me.
“You did?”
“Yeah, we went to a party downtown with the Seattle football team, and Brax’s band was playing. I didn’t talk to him. I may not like him a lot, but he sure can sing. We danced our asses off that night.”
“Yeah,” I say with a sigh. “He can sing.”
“I heard the song he wrote about you,” Sophie says and nudges me with her shoulder. “It’s super-romantic. No one’s ever written a song about me before.”
He’s written dozens.
The memories fill my mind: intimate nights spent with Brax as he sang to me, songs he wrote for me, and ones I love by other artists.
He’s so damn talented.
“We don’t have to keep talking about Brax,” I suggest and point at Liv. “How are things with you and Vaughn? I have to get over to your new place.”
Olivia recently moved in with her new boyfriend, the super-famous and ridiculously handsome Vaughn Barrymore. I love seeing my cousin so happy.
She smiles behind her martini glass and takes a sip. “Good. Things are really good. We’re planning to have a big party for everyone soon. Maybe the next cousins’ night will be at our place.”
“It’s weird that you don’t live here anymore,” Lucy says with a frown. “I like Vaughn a lot, but change is hard.”
“It sucks,” Stella agrees. “I don’t get to rope her into midnight ice cream feasts anymore.”
“But I get to move in,” Haley reminds us all. Haley is Olivia’s sister. “I’ll have midnight ice cream with you.”
“I knew I could count on you.” Stella high-fives Haley.
Suddenly, we hear a huge splash from the backyard.
“The pool is covered,” Stella says as we all hurry through the kitchen and the back door to find Liam treading water. “What the fuck are you doing?”
“They dared me,” Liam says simply.
“We shouldn’t be surprised.” Olivia shakes her head. “This is the kid who went streaking through the neighborhood and got arrested on a dare.”
“New rule,” Stella announces. “No more daring Liam to do stupid shit.”
“You guys are no fun,” Liam says as he climbs out of the pool, buck-ass naked.
“Dude! Put your clothes on,” Maddie says, blocking her view of his dick with her hand. “Ew.”
“It’s not a dare if it doesn’t include nudity,” Drew says with a laugh and then shrieks as Liam pushes him into the pool.
“It’s not heated,” Stella reminds everyone. “And it’s, like, forty-five degrees outside.”
“I’m too sober for this,” I decide and walk back in to refresh my drink. “No one is going to toss my ass in that pool.”
“Is that a dare?” Keaton asks and runs after me.
“Don’t you do it!” I point at him and run around the kitchen island. “I will shave your head in your sleep, you big jerk.”
“I’m a light sleeper.” He catches me and carries me, kicking and screaming, out to the back patio.
“Don’t let him!” I yell. “Shit, I don’t want to be cold all night.”
He carries me to the edge of the pool but sets me on my feet.
“You’re a baby,” he says with laughter in his eyes.
“Oh, yeah?” I surprise him and push him into the pool, much to everyone’s delight. “You deserved that.”
Keaton comes to the surface, sputtering. “You’ll pay for that.”
“Sure. You scare me.” I walk away once more. “I really do need that drink.”
“Someone sent you flowers.”
I glance up at Beth’s announcement, but instead of her face, I see a bouquet of orange roses.
“Wow. They sent a lot of them.”
“These are heavy,” she agrees as she sets them on the counter. I’m at the nurses’ station in the ER, and it’s my first night back after Brax’s accident.
I didn’t get to see him yesterday. I ended up sleeping off a hangover, and then I had to get ready for work this week.
I snag the note from the clear holder and open it.
I miss you. Have a great night. Love, B.
“Okay, that’s sweet. Who’s B?” Beth asks.
Instead of answering her, I stand and pick up the flowers. “I’d better put these in the back in case someone’s allergic.”
I wink at her and walk away. Once the flowers are tucked safely in the break room, I open my phone and shoot him a text.
Me: The flowers are lovely. Thank you.
I bite my lip and wait as I watch the bubbles dance on the screen.
Brax: Come over in the morning when you’re off shift.
Me: I’ll be boring. I’ll just sleep.
Brax : Come over.
I sigh. I don’t have to think about it too hard before I reply.
Me: See you around 6:30.
It’s another busy night in the emergency room with several car accidents, a child who hit their head on a coffee table and busted open their scalp, and a woman who had a colony of bees set up residence in her hair.
I couldn’t make this shit up if I tried.
By shift-change time, I’m dead on my feet.
I manage to shoot Maddie a text to let her know that I won’t be home, and then I drive over to Brax’s place with the flowers in the front seat next to me.
There was no way I’d leave them at the hospital.
I see a new Audi SUV in Brax’s driveway. Did he already replace his car?
I knock on the front door and then walk inside, following my nose to the kitchen where Brax is at the stove, making what looks like pasta.
I set my bouquet in the middle of the kitchen table.
“I hope you’re hungry,” he says with a cocky grin and walks over to kiss me. “I made you dinner.”
“I’m starving,” I reply. “Thank you for the flowers. You’re full of surprises. You don’t like to cook.”
“I like you being hungry even less,” he says and tosses a strand of hot spaghetti onto the wall, nodding in satisfaction when it sticks. “It’s ready.”
“I’m sorry, who are you and what have you done with my—with Brax?”
“With your what?” he asks after turning off the burner and walking to me.
“It was a slip of the tongue.”
He raises a brow, slides his hands around my ribs to my back, and pulls me against his hard body.
“I’ll show you a slip of the tongue.”
Before I can reply, his lips are on mine, and he’s kissing me, long and deep. His tongue does, indeed, slip against mine, and those magical hands of his roam down my back to my ass.
“Is something burning?” I ask when I can catch my breath.
“Shit! The bread.” He hurries away and opens the oven, pulling out a pan of garlic bread with a grin. “Just caught it. A little toasty but still edible.”
“What can I do to help?”
“Sit,” he instructs and points to a chair at the nearby table. “I’ve got this. It’s easy.”
“You don’t need to have dinner for breakfast.”
“I stayed up all night, so this is dinner for me, too.”
I blink at him as he plates our food and carries it over to the table, setting a plate in front of me.
“This smells amazing.”
“ Bon appétit ,” he says with a wink.
“You must be feeling better.”
“Yeah, I definitely turned the corner. Bruises are still dark and pretty nasty, but it looks worse than it feels now.”
“Good,” I reply with a nod and take a bite of the bread. “Oh, God, this is delicious. Have you been hiding cooking skills from me all these years?”
“No.” He laughs and takes a bite of his own bread. “I actually got the bread and sauce from that Italian place we like downtown. I only made the pasta. Even I can’t screw that up.”
“You already got a new car?”
He nods and slurps up some spaghetti. “Same as the last one. I know it looks like a soccer mom car, but it carries all my sound equipment. And it’s cool.”
“I like it.”
“I got a call today from the other guy’s family.” Brax stops eating and takes a drink of water. “They wanted to apologize and asked if I planned to sue them.”
I reach for his hand. “What did you tell them?”
“Fuck, no. I’m not suing them. They’re going through enough as it is. My insurance will take care of the car and the medical bills. I don’t need or want anything from them.”
“Wow. A lot of people would be looking for compensation.”
“You should have heard her,” he says, shaking his head. “It was his wife. She just retired and lost her husband. She has enough on her plate. I have some bumps and bruises. I’ll be okay.”
“And, knowing you, you asked her if there was anything you could do for her.”
He shovels some more food into his mouth and shrugs. “It’s no big deal to help her out now and then if she needs it. They didn’t have any kids.”
I stand and cross to him, kissing his forehead. “You’re a good man, Braxton Adler.”
“I like it when you use my full name when it’s because you’re happy with me.”
I grin and kiss him again, then return to my seat.
“My mom asked about you when I talked to her,” he continues.
“You’re just full of news today.” I reach for more bread. “How is your mom?”
“She’s taken up knitting. I told her that she could knit me scarves, but I won’t wear them on stage.”
“You could start a new fad.”
“No, not gonna happen. She’s also happy that I’m seeing you again. And she wants us to come over sometime to say hi.”
“Okay.” I finish my food and pick up the plate to set it in the sink. “I need a shower. I don’t have any clean clothes with me because I used my spare car stash the other day when I was here with you and haven’t replaced them.”
“I’m sure I have something you can sleep in.”
“Are you sure you want to sleep all day with me?”
“Honey, there’s nothing in the world I want more right now than to get you in my fucking bed.”
“You really are feeling better.”
“Come on. I’ll show you just how good I feel.”