Chapter 7
Who Pissed in Your Cereal?
Ryan
Me: Hey. Can I see you tonight?
Charlie: And miss togetherness time with my family?
Charlie: Yes, please! What time?
Me: I get off at 5 so 6:30?
Charlie: Awesome! I’ll meet you at your place.
Me: I can come pick you up.
Charlie: That’s okay. I don’t mind.
I set my phone down and rub my eyes. She obviously doesn’t want me to meet her family, which irks. Though if I’m being honest, I probably wouldn’t want a guy like me meeting my family either, if I were Charlie.
“Everything alright?” Catching me unprepared, Trey pats me on the back so hard, I almost faceplant on the counter. The guy really does not understand his own strength.
“Yeah,” I reply with what must be a little too much enthusiasm because Trey pauses searching through work orders to eye me suspiciously.
He can squint at me all he wants. There’s no way I’m going to tell him I don’t think Charlie wants me to meet her family.
He’d assume she was a stuck-up bitch and immediately dislike her.
It’d be tenth grade all over again—though in hindsight Chelsea was kind of a bitch.
Still, I like Charlie a lot and the last thing I need is my brothers hating her right off the bat.
I do not need that kind of grief in my life.
Trey huffs but doesn’t press any further before returning to his search. “Was that your new girl?” he asks after a few minutes.
“Yeah. Her name’s Charlie.”
“Charlie?”
“Short for Charlotte.”
“Cute.” Finally finding whatever it was he needed, Trey turns his full attention to me.
“Is this the one you’ve been hung up on forever?
” The corner of his lip ticks up for a split second, which means he’s giving me shit on purpose just to get a rise out of me.
Knowing that, you’d think I wouldn’t play into his game, but my mouth has a tendency to run off before my brain has a chance to catch up.
“Nine months,” I say, plainly irritated. “And yes. It’s her.”
“She hot?” He bumps my shoulder, and I stumble.
“Sure, apart from the lazy eye and warts. Oh, and she’s a little hunchbacked, but it’s barely noticeable under her burlap sack,” I deadpan.
Trey draws back. “Damn. Who pissed in your cereal?”
“It’s a stupid question,” I reply and start flipping through the stacks of receipts lying next to the computer, just to give my hands something to do.
“Let me guess, you made a move on her and she shot you down,” he says with a quirk of his brow. Seems he’s moved on from subtle to being an outright ass.
Talk about getting it wrong. I scoff. “No.”
I instantly realize my mistake when Trey’s eyes light up like a laser light show. “Wait a second…” He grabs my shoulders and shakes me so hard, I’m certain something fell out. “Did baby brother get lucky?”
I shove him away. “Okay. You can stop now,” I say, but Trey’s not listening. Instead, he’s opening the door to the shop and screaming for Garrett to “Come out here now, bro.” And Garrett, being the supreme pain in the ass he is, comes running.
I groan and drag a hand down my face. This is going to suck so hard. Gossiping old ladies have nothing on my brothers.
“What’s up?” He just got here and already Garrett’s grinning like a jackass.
Trey crosses his arms and smirks. “Ry-ry’s been holding out on us.”
“Whaaaat?” Garrett says with a stupidly surprised face. Sometimes I really hate them.
“Yep. Looks like he’s been getting freaky with this new girl of his.”
“Oh yeah?” Garrett slaps me on the shoulder. “Way to go, bro. Wait.” He points a finger at me. “You use protection?”
“Ha-ha.” I cross my arms, imitating Trey’s pose. “Why are you two assholes so interested in my sex life? Your hands not doing it for you anymore? I’ve got a couple girls I could introduce you to, but they’ll expect you to bathe—”
Trey lets out a whoop and starts cracking up. Garrett only grins and shakes his head.
“What’s this girl look like again? Cute?
Shoulder-length brown hair? Super short?
” It takes me a minute to process what he is saying.
Meanwhile, Garrett’s waggling his brows and bobbing his head toward the front of the shop.
I spin around and there’s Charlie, looking through the glass door. She sees me and waves.
“Cu-u-tie!” Garrett does a wolf whistle, and I slap him in the chest.
“Shut up.”
Leaving my brothers behind the counter, I cross the showroom, unlock the door and step outside. “Hey.”
“Hey,” she repeats. She’s smiling, but it’s strained, and her eyes keep flitting toward the showroom door.
They’re probably watching us. I glance over my shoulder, and yes, they are totally watching us.
“Come over here,” I say, leading her toward the side of the building where we’ll be out of sight and pull her into a soft kiss.
It’s probably a billion degrees out here, and I’m already sweating balls, but hell if I’m going to pull her inside to be harassed by my shithead brothers.
We pull apart and she gives me a sheepish smile. “This was stupid, huh?”
“That depends. Are you looking for a quicky? Cause I could take you into the trees over there. The ticks are pretty relentless right now, and I’m not a big fan of Lyme disease, but if you’re really dead set on it…” I let out an exaggerated sigh and pretend like I’m starting to take my shirt off.
Charlie swats my shoulder. “You’re such a dork,” she says, but her smile’s grown warmer, more confident.
Score one for Ryan.
“I brought you something. Come on.” She takes my hand and leads me back to where she’s parked a white minivan, I’m assuming, belongs to her mom.
“Sweet ride,” I say.
She gives me the evil eye. “Keep it up and I won’t give you your surprise.”
“What kind of surprise?” I bob my eyebrows suggestively.
She swats me again. “Perv.”
“Okay. Okay.” I raise my hands in surrender. “What is it?”
Biting her lip, Charlie opens the passenger-side door and pulls out a brown bag. “A thank you,” she says, holding the bag out to me. “For dinner.”
Now I’m intrigued. I take the bag and peek inside, but all I see is aluminum foil.
She’s acting all shy, eyes averted, toe sweeping back and forth. It’s cute as hell. “You’d mentioned that you were tired of sandwiches, so I brought you something for lunch.”
“Yeah?” is all I can think of to say because—damn, that was sweet. I open the bag and peek in again.
“Don’t worry, I didn’t cook it. My mom did.”
I’m probably smiling like a goof, but nobody’s ever done something like this for me before. “This is awesome, Charlie. Seriously.”
Her face breaks out in a huge smile that hits me like an electrical shock to my bloodstream.
Holy shit, Charlie really likes me. She went through all this trouble for me and was worried I wouldn’t like it.
I can’t even wrap my head around that, so I just lean in and plant a kiss on her lips.
Charlie doesn’t hesitate or hold back. She gets up on her tiptoes, wraps her arms around my neck, and kisses me like I’m the air she needs to breathe.
It’s desperate and sloppy and vastly inappropriate for my work parking lot, but I couldn’t give a half a shit right now.
I grip her body tight against mine, and Christ, she feels so good.
I want to take her into the back of that van and fuck her brains out right here and now. My rapidly thickening cock agrees.
Reluctantly, I pull back and rest my forehead against hers as we both catch our breath. “Thank you,” I say between huffs of air.
“I should go,” she says, smiling, “before you get in trouble.”
I nod. She’s right, but I really don’t want to let go of her right now. “I’ll see you tonight.”
She bites her lip, and I know she’s doing it unconsciously, but it might kill me all the same. “Yep.”
We say our goodbyes and I give her another quick kiss before she leaves. I have to take a few breaths and adjust myself because if I walk back into the shop with a boner, I will never hear the end of it.
Inside, my brothers are exactly where I left them behind the counter with big shit-eating grins on their faces, and dammit if my face isn’t getting hot. If I looked in a mirror right now, I’d probably be beet red.
“Oh, my goodness,” Garrett starts, drying phony tears with the back of his hand. “Our boy has become a man.”
Trey’s right behind him, of course, drying nonexistent tears with the hem of his shirt. “It’s just so beautiful.”
They lean against each other and start wailing like a couple of idiots.
“Fuck you both,” I say, setting the bag on the counter and pulling out an aluminum-covered container.
Clutching his chest like an old lady having a coronary, Trey says, “But we’re just”—sniff, sniff—“so happy for you.”
I remove the foil, my mouth watering as the delicious scent of homemade mac and cheese assaults my senses and sets my mouth watering. “Laugh it up, shitheads. You won’t be laughing so hard when lunchtime rolls around.”
“Whoa. You telling me you’re not going to share?” Garrett asks, lips twitching as he attempts, and fails, to appear serious.
“Hell no.”
The guys share a knowing glance, then turn back to me, Cheshire grins splitting their faces.
I grab my food and run.
This is a terrible idea. Yet, here I am, about to knock on Charlie’s front door.
I should have at least texted her first, to tell her I got let out early.
But she dropped by my work to surprise me, so I’m using that as an excuse to drop by her house.
I’m not stupid. I’m aware she’s not bringing me by because she doesn’t think her parents will approve.
And I get it, but I’m not going to hide from her family like some dirty little secret, either.
Since she never actually told me she didn’t want me coming over, I’ve decided to play stupid and drop by.
It’s three in the afternoon, so her folks probably aren’t even here, but I tied my hair back and put on a long-sleeved shirt to cover my tats, just in case.
Sweat is rolling down my back and my hands are all clammy.
How much of that is from nerves and how much is a result of walking in the atmospheric soup that is Florida in the summertime, is anybody’s guess.
I scrub my hands dry on my jeans and knock on the door.
I don’t hear anyone coming, but I don’t want to be too obnoxious by knocking again, so I shove my hands into my pockets and work out some of my nervous energy rocking back and forth on the balls of my feet.
Finally, I hear footsteps approaching—heavy footsteps—which means this isn’t going to be Charlie answering. Fuck. This was such a bad idea.
The door swings open, and I’m greeted by a balding, middle-aged man who’s dressed like he’s fresh from a round of golf and is scowling at me like I’m the devil incarnate. “Who are you?” he asks, the words clipped. I’m not sure what I expected, but this obvious asshole wasn’t it.
I refuse to let it bother me. His bullshit can just roll off my back with the two tons of sweat I’m currently expelling.
Keeping my metaphorical cool, I extend my hand in greeting and introduce myself.
“Hi. I’m Ryan,” I say. Whoever said money can’t buy class, must have been talking about this guy.
The bastard’s mousy little face scrunches up like he just smelled a fart, and he eyes my hand like it’s festering with bubonic plague.
I stuff my hand back into my pocket. Clearly, this guy is a bigger asshole than I anticipated. Time to cut my losses and move on. “Is Charlie here?”
The old man looks me up and down, with obvious distaste, like I’m some bum who just walked up off the street. “What do you want with my daughter?” he asks.
Jesus, fuck. What’s wrong with this guy? “Uh… D-dinner.”
Great, now I’m stuttering.
“Let me explain something to you, boy,” he says, wagging a finger in my face. “My Charlotte is a nice girl and too good for someone like you. You stay away from this house and stay away from her. Do you understand?”
Who the hell is he to talk to me like I’m some piece of shit, not good enough for his precious daughter?
I’m so pissed, I’m shaking. “With all due respect, sir,” I barely get the words out around the angry knot in my throat, but this is Charlie’s dad, and I’m trying to be the bigger fucking man here.
“Charlie’s an adult and can make her own decisions as far as who she will and will not see. ”
As if someone flipped a switch in him, Charlie’s father’s expression smooths into a cold, sly grin.
“Not when I’m paying for her housing and tuition; she doesn’t.
And if you honestly think she’s going to give up all of this,” he gestures to the house, “and her college education for you, you’re even dumber than you look. ”
Then he steps back inside and slams the door in my face.