Chapter 5 #2
William chuckled. “Thank you for coming. Your daughter has helped our family so much throughout the years, and she did a lot to make today as seamless as possible.”
Mom smiled appreciatively. “She’s a good girl.”
“Yes, a very good girl. ” William looked over at me and winked when no one was looking.
What the hell did that mean?
Mom turned back to Elspeth and me. “We’re going to head out. Let us know if you need anything, Elspeth.”
Elspeth nodded, and Mom pulled me aside as William shook hands with my dad. “Let us know if you need help moving back in. You should let Elspeth’s brother take care of her now that he’s here.”
I reluctantly nodded to avoid a confrontation at the funeral. I hadn’t told my parents about not wanting to move back, and I dreaded their reaction.
William caught the exchange between us and lifted an inquisitive brow, but I avoided him to help Elspeth serve drinks.
The wake went smoothly, with only a few cucumber sandwiches left over and the sun waning in the far-off distance. After everyone left, William locked the doors to the pub and joined us at the bar. Elspeth started pouring tequila shots into three small glasses.
I groaned. “You know I don’t do shots.”
Elspeth looked at me in shock. “You’re going to deny me on the day of my mother’s funeral?”
“Jesus, okay.”
Elspeth raised her glass. “To, Mom. Thank you for my excellent rack, the fond memories, and leaving me the pub.”
I laughed and William shook his head as we downed the drinks.
Elspeth poured another round, and I cleared my throat. “Lindsey, you were like a second mom to me. Thank you for creating my best friend and for always sending me home with an extra slice of your black forest cake whenever it was your birthday.”
We clinked glasses and drank. Elspeth poured another round for William’s toast.
He gripped the shot glass with his large hand as he raised it. “Lindsey, thank you for treating me like a son, for raising the best sister a brother could ask for, and for always pairing me with Nairie on board game nights.”
Elspeth and William shot their drinks back, but I paused. “I thought you hated being my partner.”
“I hated losing, but watching you get angry was kind of worth it.” He smiled mischievously.
“What do you mean I’d get angry?”
“You’d scrunch your face and storm off in a fury. It was cute in an angry bunny sort of way.” William winked and licked the alcohol from his lips.
“There’s that wink again! You keep winking at me.”
“It’s involuntary. Just a twitch.”
I squinted at him and finished my shot. The tequila burned a line down my throat, and I hacked until my throat was clear.
Elspeth snorted and poured more shots for us, but I lifted my hands in protest. “Elle, you drink. I’ll stay sober so I can drive us back.”
William snorted. “That’s right, you’re a good girl.”
I swiveled to face him. “What’s that?”
William threw back his shot, and I did the same out of annoyance.
He lifted his hands and laughed. “I just meant that you always do the right thing.”
I drank another shot. Wait, how many had I had? “That’s not true.”
He raised his eyebrows and sipped the whisky Elspeth put in front of him.
“I . . .” It took a minute to muddle through my fuzzy thoughts. “I don’t live with my parents anymore.”
“But you’re moving back in with them now, right? And you’re still over there twice a week,” he quipped.
Elspeth deposited a mixed drink in my open hand. I looked at her, confused but appreciative. “Thank you,” I said before turning back to William. “I do things they don’t approve of.”
Elspeth chimed in. “Like your art class.”
“Yes and . . .”
“You got a tattoo,” Elspeth added.
“Aha! Yeah, my tattoo.”
William muttered, “I’ll believe it when I see it.”
“You don’t believe me?”
He shrugged. “Could be fake.”
I was truly offended. “That thing took five hours. I’ll show you when I’m not wearing a dress.”
“Oh, really?” he said with his eyebrows raised.
Damn, the alcohol was already making me say things I was going to regret. “I just mean that it’s in an area where I’d have to lift my dress and . . .”
Elspeth started chanting, “Unzip, unzip!”
“Elle! Why are you condoning this?”
“Come on, you don’t have to get naked for him to see all of it. It goes up to your middle back.”
I looked at William’s smug face and, with the help of the tequila, found some bravery to call him on his bluff. I turned my back toward him. “Fine. Unzip me.”
I gathered my long hair over my shoulder and waited. I never thought this was the circumstance where William would be undressing me, but I’d take what I could get.
He dragged the zipper down halfway, and I closed my arms forward to open the dress wider. I turned to look at William’s reaction and took in his heated gaze.
My delicate but intricate tattoo had vine-like leaves and branches twining around my spine with dainty pomegranates and flowers stemming from the ends.
I cleared my throat. “See.”
He squinted and took the pad of his thumb, dragging it on his tongue.
Then he smudged his finger against my ink, and I couldn’t control my shiver.
Feeling his saliva on my skin made a pool of wetness gather in my panties.
His calloused thumb was rough, and it was so foreign and new.
If Elspeth wasn’t here, I’m pretty sure I’d be humping her brother into the floor like a feral animal.
Seemingly satisfied that it didn’t smudge, William shrugged and held onto my waist to keep my dress taut as he zipped it back up. His hand lingered on my waist as I straightened, and I sat back down in a haze.
Elspeth cleared her throat. “Pretty, huh?”
William grunted and took another swig from his drink as I silently sipped mine. My tongue felt heavy in my mouth, and my mind was swimming.
“What made you get it?” William’s voice was gruff.
“I just wanted something that was mine,” I said in almost a whisper.
He looked at me like he saw me, like he knew the feeling.
He was always so good at that growing up.
I never felt like he would judge me, and I didn’t have to say much for him to understand what was going on in my head.
After all these years apart, it seemed like the unspoken bond we had still tethered us to one another.
I never had this feeling with anyone else.
It always confused me how I could find so much comfort and understanding from someone I only saw a few months at a time.
Elspeth started drying glasses. “She drew it herself. That’s why she’s going to kill it in that art competition.”
“How is that art competition going? All signed up?” William looked at me knowingly.
I took a sip to avoid the question and Elspeth’s waiting gaze before she yelled, “Nairie!”
William chuckled darkly. “She won’t do it.”
I bristled. “Don’t reverse psychology me, William Nathaniel Adair.”
He paused with his drink hovering by his mouth. “Wow, she’s serious.”
Elspeth nodded her head. “She means business.”
In a huff, I pulled up the competition’s website on my phone and went to the sign-up page. After submitting my details, I showed them both the confirmation page as proof.
Elspeth and William silently clapped, and I attempted to bow in my stool but immediately slipped off. Luckily, William’s big arm banded across my stomach before I could collide with the floor.
William lifted me upright. “Alright, time to go.”
I clutched at his arms still wrapped around my waist. “No, wait! We have to play one game of beer pong. It was Lindsey’s favorite.”
Elspeth made her way out from behind the bar. “It’s true. We gotta.”
I stumbled my way to the Ping-Pong table on the patio while William and Elspeth followed. Call it a hunch, but I might play better drunk.