Chapter 12
The best version of me you’ll ever see is the me when I’m at Texas Roadhouse eating rolls.
— Brecken to JJ
brECKEN
As you wish.
Those words were the first thing that popped into my head the moment I woke up in the morning. They’d been there for the last four days.
I’d asked someone who was dangerous to make a man pay for what he’d done to my friend, and I didn’t even feel guilty about it.
What did that say about me?
My phone pinged, and I blearily glanced at it.
The first thing I noticed was the time, which on a normal day would be fine.
But today, when I was supposed to be meeting JJ for coffee before school, was not.
I threw myself off the bed, landed on one foot off balanced, and nearly tripped over my shoes that I’d left there the night before.
“Shit, shit, fuck,” I howled as I went teetering sideways and landed on the ground.
I lay there on the floor for a few seconds while I allowed my equilibrium to come back to me, then rolled over, did a push-up, then a burpee to get off the floor.
Hurriedly I rushed through my morning routine, grabbing my workout bag, my partial lunch that I didn’t have time to finish, and my school bag.
I all but ran out the door and to my car, then rushed toward the coffee shop.
I only broke seven laws on the way, and I was thankful to find that I was only a few minutes later than I’d intended to be.
Even still, JJ was waiting on me at the door, her foot tapping impatiently.
If you were late, you were really late. If you were on time, you were late. If you were early, you were on time.
At least, that was how it worked in JJ’s world.
Too bad she had a family of perpetually late individuals.
She hated it.
And a lot of that had stemmed from our parents and their inability to get anywhere on time.
They’d passed that habit down to all of their children but one—JJ.
Which was good, because she was the only one that really needed to be anywhere on time.
I mean, technically, I did, too. But I lucked out for the last four years and have had an off-period first period for me to have a little cushion. Now I had class first period, so I was still adjusting.
“You’re late,” she said when I came flying out of my Jeep.
“I’m late,” I admitted. “I did the update on my iPhone last night, and apparently, the stupid phone has a setting that I wasn’t aware of—i.e., if your phone is on silent, your alarm is on silent, too.”
“That’s ridiculous.” She sighed. “You should use that old-fashioned alarm clock I got you for Christmas last year.”
The one that was still in the box in my closet.
Though, I wouldn’t be admitting that part.
“I might very well do it after today,” I admitted.
“Come on,” she said as she held the door open for me. “I’ve been up since four this morning dealing with a new calf thanks to McCoy begging and pleading for me to give her a night off, and I’m in desperate need of a coffee.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Shut up,” she snapped.
I hid my smile and followed her into the coffee shop.
We had a little over thirty minutes to chat before I was needed at school, and that meant that I also had time to order one of their freshly baked scones.
I surreptitiously looked for a certain mobster, but found him nowhere, which I then had to admit was greatly disappointing.
I hadn’t seen him in days.
I’d gotten the answer to the question that I needed—the baby was safe.
Sure, I wanted to know all the answers to my questions, but my main one was satisfied, so I’d stayed away from his place.
I’d also realized that it was only a matter of time before one of my brothers caught me at the construction site, and then I’d have to admit to having an infatuation with a certain someone.
Which wouldn’t go over well with my brothers, because they were insanely overprotective of their sisters. And I just knew that they’d have more than a little to say about me having an obsession with someone they’d already warned me away from.
“Do you want to come out to the farm and help me possibly deliver four calves this weekend?” she asked as we took our seats at the table in the very corner of the room. “I told McCoy I was on duty until she got over a head cold that she’s pretending isn’t bothering her.”
“Um, no can do,” I said. “I won’t be here. I’ll be in Houston.”
She sighed.
“What are you doing in Houston for two days?” she asked.
“I have a teacher work conference,” I explained, already dreading it because it was inevitable that it’d be boring, long, and drawn out. “I’ll be there Thursday through Sunday, actually.”
“Are any other teachers going from your school?” she asked, though she wasn’t asking if I was going to have friends, but if there was a certain ex-fiancé that was going.
“They won’t be there. There are about ten of us going, but none of us together,” I admitted. “But I don’t know any of them well, so don’t bother asking me what you’re going to ask me next.”
JJ snickered. “I just don’t like you being alone in the big city of Houston, sissy.”
I rolled my eyes.
“I’ll be just fine,” I said. “We’re staying in The Highlands, anyway.”
The Highlands was the richest part of Houston, and the lowest in crime.
At least, that was what I’d been told when I’d researched hotels and decided on where to stay.
“Good,” she said, taking a healthy sip of her latte. “Let me know if you need anything, okay?”
“Will do,” I said, taking my own sip of heaven.
There were hundreds of coffee shops in Dallas, but this one was by far my favorite.
It was literally the best of the best. There was never an instance that my coffee wasn’t perfectly flavored. And, if there was an issue, it was fixed right away. But issues were few and far between.
The bell on the door jingled, and heart pounding, I glanced toward the sound and was immediately disappointed.
Not Shasha.
But he did look a little bit like him, as well as younger.
Though, even younger, he was still attractive.
There was no way this guy wasn’t related in some way to Shasha.
I had that suspicion confirmed when Milena squealed and darted around the counter toward the man.
“Dima! You’re home!” she screeched.
I smiled at the two, loving the way they were so happy to see each other.
I also noticed that the man wasn’t in dark clothing like I thought. The moment he stepped into the bright light that the coffee shop was producing, I realized that he was in blue camo. Fatigues.
“Yum,” JJ whispered as she watched the two swing around in a circle.
“You can say that again,” I whispered.
The door opened again, and this time, a woman looking a whole lot like Milena ran through the door, squealing. “You’re home!”
“Nasty!”
I assumed he was calling her that because of the kisses she was smothering on his face, but it turns out it was short for Nastya.
How did I know that?
Because the man I’d been desperate to see came through the door and said, “Nasty, calm down. Nastya. You’re scaring away Milena’s customers.”
I looked around for a short second, trying to find out who the customers were that this ‘Nasty’ was scaring away, but couldn’t find any of them.
“Shut up, Shasha,” Nastya replied.
“I thought you weren’t coming home until next month?” Milena asked.
Both women peeled away from their brother, leaving enough room for Shasha to get in there and pull his brother into the hardest back-slapping hug I’d ever witnessed.
Jesus.
That looked like it hurt.
Dima pulled away with a laugh as he said, “Got my marching orders. I deploy to the Pacific next month, so they let me get out a bit early for leave before I have to report back.”
“Fuck.” Milena sighed. “I was hoping you’d get shore duty.”
Dima snorted.
I took an absent drink of my coffee when JJ said quietly, “There’s one more.”
I glanced toward her, then toward where they were looking, to find yet another sister at the door.
Though, this one didn’t appear to be anywhere near as excited to see Dima as the rest of them.
And, as if they’d realized that there was one more, Dima and Shasha turned.
It was Shasha who said, “Maven. Come on in.”
Maven came carefully, and when she was close enough, both brothers drew her into a hug.
It was soft and sweet, and nowhere near as boisterous as the ones that the sisters had just given.
“How are you, Maven?” Dima asked.
“Good. How about you?” she replied back.
“Would be better if you’d have dinner with me this weekend.” Dima smiled and let her go, but not too far. Still close enough that she could touch him or hug him if she wanted. “My brother here seems to think that this is the perfect weekend to go see to some business down south.”
That had me curious, but I was trying to disappear into the background so I could witness it all.
I’d never seen Shasha look so…happy.
He was always so stoic and hard to read.
“I have to go,” JJ whispered. “But they’re so pretty I don’t want to leave.”
I giggled.
And that sound seemed to draw Shasha’s attention like a beacon.
One second his gaze was on his sister, and the next he was staring at me with an intensity that had me squirming in my chair.
“Is that the guy?” she whispered. “The one McCoy was talking about a few days ago?”
I swallowed hard, unable to break the eye contact with the man across the room, and said, “Yes.”
“He’s gorgeous,” she whispered again. “The red tie with the black suit is…wow. I thought I only liked a man in cowboy boots and Wranglers. This is a definite positive.”
I’d only ever dated men that were a bit more rugged.
And I wasn’t saying that Shasha wasn’t rugged, because he was. I’d felt his hands on me, and they definitely weren’t smooth, baby-face hands. They were rough and callused, denoting a level of work ethic that you didn’t get from not working with your hands.
But he cleaned up really, really well.
“I feel like I need a fan,” she whispered. “He’s looking at you like you’re his personal kryptonite.”
I snorted. “He wants nothing to do with me. Every time I’m near him, he’s warning me away.”
“Well,” she said as she stood up, forcing us to break eye contact with her body. “I’d love to stay and chat, but there is a bottle calf that needs to be fed here in a bit. McCoy is running ragged, and I promised her I would help. Check in when you get to Houston. If you stop, text. When you go anywhere, text.”
I smiled at my sister and stood up, too.
It was time for me to leave as well.
Even if the last thing I wanted to do was leave the coffee shop where Shasha was.
“I’ll call or text,” I promised as I turned my back on Shasha. “And if you and McCoy still need help Tuesday when I get home, let me know. I don’t go back to work until Wednesday of next week.”
“Aces.” She smiled. “You know she can always put you to work. I have to go to work Monday, so I won’t be there.”
We said our goodbyes and the two of us walked out of the coffee shop.
I was very much aware of the eyes on me the entire time, though.
I only looked back once, and when I did, it was to see the woman who was standoffish with her family staring hard. But not in a bad way. In a way that had me thinking she was very much aware of something that was between her brother and me, she just didn’t know what.
Yet.
I had a feeling she would find out what it was that Shasha and I shared, even if it was a whole bunch of nothing.