CHAPTER 25 DANNY
When Anna excuses herself shortly after the ice cream dessert to put the boys down, the boys request a special guest at bedtime—a song from their favorite singer, naturally.
Since my mom is still chatting up Alexis’s security guard, I use the opportunity to corner Rush.
He’s on the couch in the family room, and my mother and Gregory are still at the kitchen table.
“Are you still interested?” I ask quietly. I don’t want to tip my mom off to anything even though I’m certain she and Anna have been sharing the kinds of looks moms and daughters share, whatever those are.
He sighs. “I told you, man. I like her, and I want to see how this goes.”
“Even though she has kids? You do realize what that means, don’t you?” I press. I’m trying to protect Anna, though I’m sure that’s not what it sounds like.
“I get it. It’s a different lifestyle than what we’re used to…but I have to be honest, man. It’s what I want.” His eyes won’t quite meet mine.
“What is?” I ask.
He finally glances over at me then leans forward, folding his hands between his legs as his elbows rest on his knees. “Stability. Home. Family.” He shrugs. “It feels like everyone around me has all that, and I’m still living with three other guys like a fucking kid, you know?”
“You want to get out of the house you’re living in, so you’re cozying up to my sister?” I ask.
He shakes his head. “It’s not like that at all. I’ve wanted that family feeling for some time now, and I thought the team was enough. I thought having brothers around me all the time would quiet the loneliness. Turns out...it doesn’t.”
“And my sister, who you’ve spoken to for all of a few hours…does?”
He shrugs. “I don’t know. But I do know whatever it is I feel when I’m around her is a different ballpark from what I feel when I’m around anyone else, and it seems to me that both you and Coop said the same goddamn thing when you met the women you’re with now.
I get that she’s your sister, and whatever happens, I promise it won’t affect you and me.
But what if it does work, man? Don’t I deserve that chance, too? ”
I study his profile before he glances at me to gauge my reaction, and I see it in him. The way his shoulders are slumped as he awaits my answer.
I’m not her keeper. It’s not fair of me to pretend like I’m going to keep her from being happy—like I have any say in who she dates.
She deserves to be happy. We all do.
And Rush may be a dickwad sometimes, but he’s also proven to be one hell of a good guy.
“Don’t hurt her,” I say quietly. “She’s been through enough.”
He nods as his eyes meet mine. “I’ll do my best.”
I clap him on the shoulder and head into the kitchen to bust out the alcohol.
Anna and Alexis come back down a short while later, and my mom suggests a card game.
All the adults gathered join in, including Gregory, and it feels very oddly like the start of some new tradition, as if there’s some alternate future where the six of us will gather together to play cards, drink, and laugh.
I hope it’s in the future for us all.
It’s got me feeling optimistic, anyway.
My mom heads out first. “I’ve got a big day of cooking tomorrow, so if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to head to bed. Goodnight, everyone.”
Gregory stays down with us a while longer, but then he checks with Alexis and determines she’s fine before he heads upstairs, too.
And whether or not he knocks on my mother’s door is their business, though they just met tonight, and somehow I doubt he works that quickly.
“Your mom and the watchdog, huh?” Rush teases both Anna and me once we hear his bedroom door click shut upstairs. The four of us are still sitting at the kitchen table, and I’m curious where the night will lead us next.
I roll my eyes, but Anna laughs.
“She deserves to be happy, too. Alexis, what are your thoughts on that?” Anna asks.
Alexis averts her eyes to the ground for a minute. “I want him to be happy. He’s a really, really good man. He’s been through some stuff. But I’m conflicted because I don’t want to lose him. Sometimes I think he’s the only one on my team who’s on my side.”
“You’ve got someone else on your side now,” I say softly.
She looks across the table at me, and her eyes soften.
“Who’s up for a round of truth or dare?” Anna asks.
“We’re not teenagers anymore, Anna,” I say, sure she just wants to find a way to kiss Rush. But if she wants to kiss Rush…well, then she should just fucking kiss Rush. I don’t care.
Except she thinks I do, and maybe Rush still thinks I do, but all I really want to do is get Alexis upstairs so I can start corrupting her some more.
And on that note…
I stand and walk over to the cabinet where I keep my stash on the top shelf when kids are in the house. “How about instead of truth or dare, we get high?” I suggest, pulling down a joint.
“Oh, I don’t smoke,” Alexis says, pointing to her throat. “I can’t.”
I pull down the bottle of weed gummies and toss it to her. “This takes a little longer to hit, but the effects are much stronger,” I say the words as she catches and subsequently inspects the bottle.
She catches her lip between her teeth.
“You don’t have to,” I say. “No pressure here either way.”
“I will,” Rush says.
“Me too,” Anna chimes in.
I glance over at her, and she holds up both hands as if to ask, what?
“Mom’s here. The boys will be fine,” she protests.
I laugh and hold up my hands placatingly. “I wasn’t suggesting anything. You deserve a night off.”
“No kidding,” she says as Alexis passes the bottle over to her. She takes one, chews it up, and offers the bottle to Rush next. He shakes one out for himself and passes it over to me.
I glance at Alexis. “I won’t if you don’t want to.”
“I want to,” she says quietly.
“I’m right here.” I lean in a little closer to her and lower my voice. “And it’ll make you horny.”
Her face turns the color of a tomato, and I laugh.
“It’s true,” Rush says, not hiding that he totally heard what I said while completely ignoring her embarrassment.
I see him glance at my sister, and I shake out a gummy for myself and Alexis. I cut hers in half and hand it over. I hold mine up to bump it against hers in a cheers, and she chews it before swallowing it.
“How long until I’m baked?” she asks.
I laugh. “It usually takes around a half hour, but these pack a pretty good punch.” I pick up the deck of cards. “Another round?”
Everyone’s in, and we play Oh Hell, my mother’s preferred game.
We’re all laughing and relaxed as we wait for it to hit, and it’s only fifteen minutes or so before Alexis leans in and whispers, “I think I’m starting to feel it.” Her breath is warm against my ear, sending shockwaves of need down my spine.
It hasn’t hit me yet, but the need for her sure as hell has.
I feel like I need to stay down here until Rush leaves, but as we play another round of the game, the relaxation starts to wash over me, and I find that I don’t really care.
Anna can walk him out.
I need to get my girl upstairs. Right the fuck now.
It hits me like a freight train, and I glance at my guests. “I think Lex and I are going to call it a night. Right, Lex?”
“Liar! They’re going upstairs to fuck,” Rush whispers loudly to my sister.
“Oh my God,” Alexis groans.
“She’ll be moaning that momentarily,” I say. I flash a smile at my sister and Rush, and the weed is strong enough that Alexis isn’t mortified, and my sister doesn’t even react. “Can you walk him out?” I ask Anna.
She nods. “Sure thing, pal.”
“Pal?” I ask, and all four of us burst into laughter.
It would probably be really fun to sit down here with the two of them shooting the shit as we all laugh at the dumbest things, but clearly, the weed has given me superpowers, and my cock is ready to leap out of my pants right into the warm, tight home Alexis’s sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet cunt offers.
Okay, so the gummy hit me hard.
And now I’m going to tap that ass hard.