6.
C OREY
“Do you need another beer?” Jonas asked as he started to stand.
“Zane went to get us another bucket,” I told him as I nodded toward the bar.
“He’s got sidetracked, so there’s no telling when he’ll come back.”
“Who is he talking to?” Lawson, Jonas’ twin, asked as he leaned forward and rested his arms on the table as he stared at the woman who had caught Zane’s attention. When Lawson tilted his head and narrowed his eyes in confusion, I turned around to find Zane in the crowd. My thoughts were almost as amazed as Lawson’s voice when he asked, “Who is that ?”
“It’s gotta be someone who works for the record company or . . . No, we know all of them, don’t we?” Jonas asked.
“I’m sure they have friends we don’t know,” I said, just as confused as the twins. “Zane looks . . . shocked.”
“Yeah. That’s what I was thinkin’,” Jonas agreed.
“There’s no way she’s from Rojo,” Lawson said firmly. “I’d remember a woman like that.”
He was right. I would, too, and all I’d seen so far was her back.
And that was spectacular. She was wearing black leggings that made her muscular legs look like they went on for miles and showed off the most spectacular ass I’d ever seen.
Breathtaking, needs to be on the cover of Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition kind of ass. Glutes that any gym rat would envy set atop thighs that made my mouth water. The shirt she was wearing was a little long but draped perfectly over her ass like it was resting on a shelf. Her clothes showed off her thick but healthy frame perfectly. The light purple color of her top highlighted the golden curls that hung almost to her waist. In the dim light of the bar, her hair seemed to glow with a myriad of colors, from bright blonde to dark honey, and I wondered what it would look like spread over my pillow in the morning light.
Her shirt didn’t go all the way over her shoulders. Instead, it folded down to show off her shoulders and the long column of her neck. As I watched, she reached up and ran her perfectly manicured fingers through the lock of hair that had fallen over her bare shoulder and then swept it back.
No. There was no way I’d ever seen that woman before. If I had, I would definitely never forget her.
When she turned her head to look toward the dance floor, something about her seemed familiar. I shook my head to clear it because what I’d seen couldn’t be. No. There’s no way that could be her .
“I need her to turn around so I can see her face because she looks like everything I’ve ever dreamed of from the back. If the front looks just as good and she’s got even a moderate amount of sense, I’m going to marry that woman,” Jonas announced.
“Not a chance. I don’t know who she is, but there’s something about her that I just . . . I don’t know. I want to go over there and punch Zane in the face and then take her out on the dance floor just so I can get my hands on her.”
My cousins Crow and Phoenix walked up next to me and said something, but I was too mesmerized by the woman with Zane to pay attention. They realized that I was hyper-focused on someone across the room and turned to look, but when they did, Crow blocked my view, so I got out of my chair and stood up beside him just so I could see her again.
“Who is that ?” Phoenix asked.
“That’s the future mother of my children,” Crow answered.
“I already called it!” Jonas said loudly as he came to stand beside me.
“Absolutely fucking not,” I said as I took off toward my friend and the woman.
I had to play this carefully because no matter what I thought about her or how drawn to her I felt, Zane had met her first. I couldn’t break that code.
But the second he gave me any indication that she wasn’t the one for him, I would walk through that door and slam it shut behind me, locking out every other man who was watching her right now.
I had a feeling that Zane wasn’t going to be a problem, although the woman he was talking to might. If the look on his face was any indication, he was not interested in her at all and might be considering actually walking away.
“Fuck,” I muttered to myself. “She’s probably a horrid bitch with the IQ of a cactus. That’s the only reason he’d ever . . .”
When Zane saw me coming, the look of horror on his face was almost comical. It would have been if it didn’t scare me so badly. I had the sudden thought that maybe this woman came here to see him specifically. Could she be someone from his past that he had a rocky relationship with? If that was the case, then I was going to leave with a broken heart because even though it was almost impossible for the threads of relationships and exes not to cross in our small town, I was the kind of man who learned from others’ mistakes so I was less likely to make my own.
“Corey, brother, you’re never gonna believe this,” Zane said mysteriously before he looked at the woman.
“Are you going to ask her to dance, or can I?”
Zane started laughing, but it wasn’t the happy-go-lucky laugh I heard often. No, it was the ‘I’m planning something nefarious, and somebody is not going to like it’ laugh that told me something big was going on and I should tread carefully before I walked right into the middle of it.
Just as I stepped up beside the woman, she turned her head and looked at me with a bright smile. I had a second to wonder if the myth that everyone had a twin somewhere in the world might be true, and if that was the case, did it mean that there was a good twin and an evil one? Because I knew evil, and even though the shape of their face and eye color was the same, this wasn’t Janis.
It couldn’t be.
Janis didn’t smile, especially at me, but this woman was doing just that when she grabbed my hand and started walking toward the dance floor. I went with her, glancing over my shoulder to get reassurance from Zane that this was okay and I wasn’t poaching on his turf, but all I got was a surprised smile before he laughed villainously again.
I understood why when we hit the edge of the dance floor. The woman stopped walking and stepped close enough for me to smell a hint of vanilla and sugar. I knew exactly what Zane thought was so funny the second Janis Grissom’s voice said, “Thanks for asking me to dance, Donut. I love this song.”
“Who the fuck are you, and how did you get Janis’ face?” I asked in horror.
“Corey,” Janis paused for a few seconds and got a pained look on her face before she swallowed hard. Finally, she said, “I think it’s time we let the mistakes and anger of the past go and start fresh. The perfect way to do that is with a nice slow dance and then a drink or two.”
“Holy shit. I’ve been dropped into the middle of one of those horror films about body snatchers, and any second now, the alien is going to burst out of your chest and attach itself to my face.”
I saw a glimmer of the real Janis in her eyes before she laughed and shook her head. “There’s no alien. I promise.”
Janis ran her hands up the front of my shirt and wrapped them around my neck, and my hands developed a mind of their own and went around her waist to rest on her lower back, right above that ass I’d been admiring a few minutes ago.
“What’s happening right now?” I asked warily. I looked around but didn’t see anyone with a camera out to take a video, but I wouldn’t put it past Janis and her gang of crazy ass women, which included my sister, to have hidden cameras set up just so they could watch the show.
Any second now, whatever spell had been cast that turned Janis from the Wicked Witch of West Texas into fucking Cinderella was going to drop away and I’d get a glimpse of her right before she used her bare hands to reach into my chest and pull out my still-beating heart.
Knowing Janis, she’d probably fucking squeeze the last few beats out while she watched the light fade from my eyes.
That’s what was happening right now. I was having an out-of-body experience. I had always wondered if there would be a light - that mystical thing that people who had near-death experiences talked about. In this case, there was a light, but it was attached to the oncoming train that was Janis Grissom and I was about to fucking die.
“You’re a good dancer, Donut. I mean, Corey.”
I cleared my throat before I asked, “So, what’s with the disguise?”
“No disguise. I just thought it was time for a change.”
“And part of that change includes scaring the shit out of me?”
“Why are you scared of little ol’ me?”
“You’ve threatened to kill me more times than I can count . . .”
She waited a few seconds and then asked, “And?”
“You’re not gonna do it?”
“Do what?”
“Make a comment about me trying to count? Tell me that you’re amazed I can count? Threaten me for putting my hands on you, even though you asked me to dance?”
“Technically, you asked me to dance,” she reminded me pleasantly.
“You’re going to engrave that on my tombstone, aren’t you?”
“Are you ill? What makes you think you’ll need a tombstone anytime soon?”
“I’m so confused right now,” I admitted weakly. My vision was starting to swim, and I felt lightheaded. It didn’t seem to be getting any better, so I looked around for that light I’d heard about and then turned back to Janis before I asked, “If you’re part of my coma dream and you can somehow send a message to my family, will you tell them that I love them and I’m sorry I had to go so soon?”
“I think you’re being a little dramatic, don’t you?”
“Up is down. Down is up. Suddenly, your ass is fantastic, your thighs look like the perfect earmuffs, I want to bite that freckle on your collarbone, and the thought of your raspy voice screaming my name in passion rather than anger actually sounds . . . nice.”
“Nice?”
“Okay, better than nice. I know what this is. I know exactly what this is.”
“Two people starting fresh and sharing a dance, even though they’re the only ones on the dance floor standing still?”
“You’ve got some sort of praying mantis mojo going on right now.”
“Excuse me?”
“This is why the praying mantis gets freaky with the female, even though he knows she’s going to rip his head off when they’re done.”
“I’m trying very hard not to be offended that you just called me a bug, and not just any bug, but one of the creepiest I’ve ever seen. They’re one of the few bugs that can’t kill me, and I’m still truly terrified of it. But you knew that, right?” Janis pulled her arms from around my neck and took a step back. My hands slid from around her waist and fell to my sides. I immediately missed the warmth of her body touching mine, which was almost as crazy as this entire situation. “I guess I can’t . . . I’m sorry I even . . .” She shook her head, and I could swear I saw tears in her eyes before she blinked a few times to push them away. “Have a good night, Donut.”
I watched Janis walk toward the door, her shoulders back and her head held high. I had the sudden urge to chase after her to apologize, but terror shriveled that into a ball when I saw the women who were waiting for her at the edge of the dance floor. Every single one of them was looking at me like I was the supervillain who had just kicked Santa Claus in the balls in front of a line of happy children, shot the Easter bunny while he was hiding eggs in my front yard, and choked the life out of Betty White.
Suddenly, Hank Grissom, Janis’ dad, appeared out of nowhere like an apparition and reached for her hand. He smiled as he spun her a few times, making her curls fly out around her as she laughed happily, before he pulled her into his arms and danced away.
Which left me staring at the wall of angry women. I now knew that the light I’d seen earlier was Janis. She was the train barreling my way to flatten me like a pancake. Now the other cars, who always had her back, were lined up and ready to take their turn.
◆◆◆
JANIS
I managed to walk away from Corey without spewing profanities at him, which I had promised myself that I wasn’t going to do again.
Well, maybe not ever again, but at least not for a while.
It took everything I had to keep my shoulders back and my head up as I walked to the edge of the dance floor. My friends were there, my cheering section ready to watch me wow Corey Forrester with my looks and my brains while managing not to rip him to shreds with what I considered my witty charm.
And then my father was there. My white knight, swooping in to save his princess from her dragon, even if it just happened to be one she’d created herself.
He grabbed my hand and spun me around and around until I was dizzy and laughing, and then he put one arm around me while he held my hand close to his chest and danced me away from Corey and everyone that was watching our interaction.
“I don’t know what you’re up to, sweetheart, but I’m loving it.”
“What makes you think I’m up to something?” I asked.
Dad gave me a bored look before he said, “You’re the perfect mixture of me and your mother. Her beauty and brains, along with my vindictive nature and knife-like wit. Of course you’re up to something.”
The song changed to a slower one, and I started to pull away - thinking this was the perfect opportunity to escape my dad’s question, but he had other ideas. He held me in his arms and slowed our steps until we were barely moving at all.
He didn’t have to ask me again or even say anything at all. He just stared down at me with that curious expression that made my mom nuclear for some reason, but acted like a truth serum on me.
I caved and blurted, “I’m sick of being alone. I want someone to love me like you love Mom. I want to make coffee in the mornings and leave a cute note next to it telling them to have a good day. I want to look up from what I’m doing when the bell rings over the front door and see him smiling at me, there to give me a kiss because he was asleep when I left. I want someone who will squeeze my knee under the table so I shut my damn mouth before I say something I might regret and who can agree with me about the stupidity about whoever it is that’s talking just by giving me a look. I want to get butterflies in my stomach when I realize I’m pregnant and then have him release them into the wind when his eyes fill up with tears as he tells me he can’t wait to be a dad. I want to have children so I can argue with you about the horribly inappropriate things you teach them and then laugh with their father when they turn whatever you taught them around and use it on you. I want the whole chocolate waffle with all the melty peanut butter and sliced bananas. And when I die, I want to do it with memories of all the years of love I felt with him, knowing that I’ll see him again in heaven because we were meant to be together for always.”
“Shit, Janis. There is not another soul on this planet that can break my heart and fill it up at the same time like you do.” Dad cleared his throat and blinked away the tears in his eyes before he asked, “Do you think that changing yourself is going to help you find a man to share all that with?”
“The real me isn’t working, so I thought I should try something new.”
“You’re beautiful when you’re fresh out of bed and growling at anyone who is between you and coffee, when you’re homicidal because of PMS and period cramps, when you’re resisting the urge to tell a stupid person just how stupid they really are, and when you try to pretend that your body isn’t betraying you at every turn and leaving you in so much pain that it aches to do more than breathe.”
“You have to say shit like that because you’re my dad.”
“You know me better than that, sweetheart. When you fuck up, I tell you how bad you’ve fucked up, just like when you do something awesome and I tell you just how amazing you are. I’ve never pulled any punches with you or your siblings, and I’m not going to start.”
“That’s part of your charm.”
“That’s part of your charm, too, and if people can’t see that, then fuck ‘em. Their opinion doesn't count.”
“I’m afraid that everything you listed and the million other things I do that make me me are going to stand in the way of someone seeing that I’m maybe a bit of a softie down in the very hidden depths of the deepest crevices of my wicked, twisted soul.”
“The people that know you have already figured out that the softie part is right beneath the surface. It’s just got some spikes over it to keep the pussies away.”
I burst out laughing and said, “You know how much weak-minded people irritate me.”
“Another trait you inherited from me and your mom.”
“The thing about it, Dad, is that I kind of liked what I saw when I looked in the mirror before I came in tonight. I feel pretty and . . .”
“You’re fucking beautiful on the inside and out, princess. Clothes and makeup just add a little shimmer to the beauty that you’ve always had.”
“Like I said before, you’re biased.”
“What gives with the whole dancing with Corey thing? What are you trying to prove?”
“You picked up on that, huh?”
“Corey Forrester was the first boy I ever saw you look at twice. I guessed he would be the first young man I ended up traumatizing into a sobbing ball of snot when I warned him that he better treat you right, but you suddenly hated him with every fiber of your being.” Dad lifted his hand and snapped his fingers before he said, “Just like that, you went from thinking he hung the moon and stars to thinking he was the devil incarnate. I tried to get you to open up about whatever it was that happened so many times, but you never would. Every time his name came up, you got so mad that even I worried, and there’s not much in this world that can make me do that.”
“He hurt my feelings and made me doubt myself in a way that still makes me want to cry.”
“I don’t know what happened, sweetheart, but I do know that y’all were just kids, and kids can be ruthless fucking assholes without even trying. There were countless times when you were that age that I looked at you and wondered what the fuck I’d done to make you such a shit, but then you’d spin the wheel and another personality would pop up and make me remember why I loved you in the first place.”
I burst out laughing and admitted, “Those teenage hormones did make me a little erratic.”
Dad raised an eyebrow and tilted his head before he asked, “You think?”
“I have hated Corey for so long that it’s kind of become a habit, so I thought that if I could make myself be nice to him, I could be nice to anyone. If I’m nice, people might want to date me, and that could lead to the happily ever after I was talking about earlier.”
“Corey’s a good man, but you’ve been mean to him for fucking years, so I can’t really blame him for being confused at the about-face.”
“I don’t like what I’m feeling, Dad. I’ve never been affected by it before because you and Mom made sure I always had anything I needed and taught me to work for things that I wanted.”
“What are you feeling, babe?”
“Envy.Jealousy.Longing.”
“I don’t follow.”
“I want what they have, Dad. Lark’s entire life was turned upside down when she finally met a man who appreciated her incredible qualities. When Rain and Lucky finally started paying attention to how good they were together, there was no looking back. Bella fell in love with a man that is almost nothing like any man she’s ever met and uprooted her entire life to be with him. Squid is living the dream in a penthouse with a hot biker and a baby that’s so fucking cute, it makes my ovaries twitch. I want to be happy for them, and I really am, but I’m so fucking jealous that it makes me feel like a horrible friend.”
“Honey, envy isn’t one of the seven deadly sins because it’s a good thing, but it’s a perfectly normal emotion. You’ve just gotta make sure it doesn’t cloud your decision making and cause you to do something that will just make you sad in the end. Is that why you’re not acting like yourself . . . because you’ve let it take over?”
“I believed that if I changed, something big would happen. Not everything about my true self, though. You taught me better than that. I just wanted to make a few improvements. I thought that if I worked on myself enough to make someone like Corey see that I’m not a total monster, then maybe everyone else would see it too.”
“You’re not a monster, you’re just you - a wonderful young woman with a heart of gold who also has a mouth like a viper and a temper to match.”
I rolled my eyes at that description before I laughed and agreed. “Possibly.”
“And I think that changing things up might just be good for you, and the fact that you’ve got this entire room full of people you love wondering when the other shoe is gonna drop is an added bonus.”
“They’re all staring at us, aren’t they?”
“Every one of them.”
“Shit.”
“There’s one in particular that I think you might be interested to know looks like he’s rethinking every life choice he’s ever made and wondering if there’s a possibility that he might have been wrong about you all these years.”
“Doubtful,” I scoffed.
“Honey, I’ve seen that look of contemplation before.”
“On who?”
“Me. For a while, I got pissed off every time I thought about your mom, but then she shocked the shit out of me. I remember thinking, ‘This is how it ends, man. Life as you know it is over.’”
“I’m not trying to get the man to fall in love with me, Dad. I just wanted to learn from him by using the fact that we can’t stand each other as a gauge to see if being nicer really could make life easier. Then, once I got that shit figured out, I could turn it loose on the world and see what comes of it.”
“You’re diabolical, but I sure do love you.”
“I love you too. Is anyone else as shocked as Corey, or are they mostly taking it in stride?”
“There’s two men over there who look a little green around the gills. I’m guessing they said some things before they realized the hot new thing in the clubhouse just happened to be the woman who was like a sister to them, and now they’re regretting everything they'd even considered since you caught their eye.”
I burst out laughing and said, “Maybe I should take my new clothes, new hair, and made-up self over and start flirting with Lawson and Jonas just to see how long it takes to make them start cowering in the corner, wondering about their life choices.”
“There’s my girl. I’ve got ten that says Lawson will fold first.”
“I’ll take that bet. Everyone knows that Jonas is an easier mark.”
“I guess we’ll see.” Dad’s face transformed with his slow smile, and he kissed me on the end of my nose before he said, “Remember, sweetie, you are perfect just the way you are, and whether that’s the way you’ve always been or the way you want to be, I’ll love you more than life itself until the day I die.”
“I love you, too, Dad.”
He pulled me closer for a hug and whispered in my ear, “Knock ’em dead, slugger.”
I didn’t have time to ask him what he meant before he pushed me away and spun me around again, but this time, he let my hand go while I was turned away from him. I lost my balance, and before I could get it back, I was in Corey Forrester’s arms.
I started to pull away, but he held onto me as he asked, “Will you dance with me, Janis?”