Chapter Twenty-Three
Trent
Declan picked Evan and me up from my apartment for the birthday party, and when we got to his car, I wasn’t surprised to find Kade and Lindsay in the back seat together. Evan squeezed into the back seat—complaining the whole time like a baby—and I sat up front with my… date? When I’d said it to Dec, I’d been joking. Well, kind of joking. Maybe I’d been hoping that he’d take it seriously, but I certainly hadn’t expected it. And I honestly still wasn’t sure if he had taken it seriously, or if he’d just been playing along. So I was maybe on a date with the man I’d been fantasizing about dating for months.
“Are you okay?” Declan asked me as we drove.
“I’m fine.” My voice came out in a very unmanly squeak that made me snap my mouth shut and clear my throat.
Dec shot me a strange look before he looked back to the road. “What’s going on, Jalapeno?”
“Nothing,” I muttered as I sunk down in my seat a little. I so wasn’t talking about this in a car full of people. Hell, I probably wouldn’t be able to say anything even if it was only Dec in the car with me. Not that I had a problem talking to him. Normally. But this was different. If I asked if he’d been serious, if this was a real date, and he said no, well, I’m pretty sure I would die of a broken heart. So better to just wait it out and see what happens.
Dec shot me another look but didn’t reply. He did, however, reach over the console and place his hand on my thigh. After giving my thigh a squeeze, he turned his hand over and left it there, open, like his palm was freaking looking up at me. It took me way longer than I’d ever admit to realize that he was waiting for my hand. Luckily, he was patient and waited until I slid my hand into his. He laced our fingers together and sent me a gentle smile. There was a flutter in my chest at the sweet gesture, and his touch on my hand helped settle my nerves about the day.
“You look amazing,” Dec said after a while.
I looked down at my outfit. I’d gone all out for the black and white themed party and bought myself a new outfit. I had on a sheer black collared shirt—not exactly modest, but hey, it was hot out—white shorts, and black toms. Even my sunglasses matched with white rims. “Thank you,” I said before looking over at Dec. He had on black shorts and a black polo that looked like it was made from jersey material. “I like your shirt.”
He grinned at me.
Kade said, “I made him borrow that from me because, like a moron, he was gonna come in a black t-shirt that had a ton of red writing on it.”
I smiled and shook my head at Dec. “You’re lucky your brother had that or you would’ve ruined the whole party.”
“We wouldn’t want that now, would we?” He grinned and squeezed my hand.
After he parked the car and everyone got out, Dec walked to his trunk, so I followed while the others headed inside. It seemed like our brothers were friends or something now. Who knew? As long as they weren’t trying to beat each other up anymore.
When Dec opened the trunk revealing two cases of beer, I frowned and said, “Shit. I didn’t think we were supposed to bring anything other than the gift.”
“I figured it would be nice to contribute.”
“Yeah, but now I look like an asshole for not bringing anything. I mean, his present fits in my pocket—money and a card—and here you are with all of that. You should’ve told me. Now I have to walk in empty handed with you, the hero of the party.”
Declan grinned, looking like he was holding in a laugh. “Wow, you’re on the overly dramatic side today.”
“Am not.” Because I was an awesome adult, I stuck my tongue out at him.
His grin grew. “I’m pretty sure when you go to a party with a date, you only need one thing between the two of you.”
I sucked in a breath at that. Did he just say what I think he said? “Date?”
He furrowed his brow at me. “Yes?” He frowned and suddenly looked insecure.
Shit. I smiled at him. “I guess I didn’t think about it that way. I’m not used to having a date at these things.” His frown turned into a hesitant smile, so I scooted closer to him, shoulder-bumped him and said, “Thanks for bringing me with you, Cupcake.”
He finally smiled wide. “I only brought you so you can carry the beer.”
I snorted out a laugh. “Asshat.”
“Mmhmm. You love it.”
“You wish.”
He chuckled and grabbed a case. “You wanna put the other case on top?”
“No, I’ll carry it so it looks like I helped with this plan.” I reached in and grabbed it as he laughed, then shut the trunk and we headed into Mrs. Ann and Mr. Derek’s back yard.
As soon as we walked through the gate, Caleb came running over. “Ohmygosh, you guys didn’t have to bring that. Thank you.”
“Hey, Caleb,” I said as he grabbed the case from me and kissed my cheek—apparently a cheek kiss greeting was a family trait.
Caleb leaned toward Dec and said in a mock-whisper, “Your date is adorable.”
My eyes widened, but Declan laughed and said, “He is.”
My eyes widened further. Am I dreaming right now?
Caleb chuckled. “Follow me, lovebirds!” I expected Declan to get weird about that comment, but he didn’t even flinch. I guess he is used to Caleb and his big mouth. He’s almost as bad as Levi… sometimes it’s so obvious they’re brothers.
Declan shook his head, but followed behind his friend. It took me a few seconds to gain my composure before I followed behind them, even though I was no longer carrying anything. After they both set the cases down beside the coolers on the patio, Caleb picked up a disposable camera from the nearest table and handed it to Declan. “So obviously you guys already know my mother is insane.” That was true. The back yard looked like it’d exploded with black and white decorations; piñatas, streamers, balloons, a photobooth, masks—and freaking everything was black and white. So over the top, but also so freaking awesome.
Caleb continued as I looked over the decorations, “She had these left over from Levi and Andy’s wedding, so she wants everyone to use them up today since Sammy’s into photography. We’ll give you any good pictures you take. You guys can share that one.” He pointed to the disposable camera. I wrinkled my nose at it because those cameras sucked. I should’ve brought one of mine.
“Sure,” Declan said, stuffing the camera in his pocket and sending me the tiniest one-shoulder shrug ever, as if he didn’t want Caleb to see that he had no intention of using the camera. How I understood what that miniscule movement meant, I really didn’t know. I sent a soft smile back.
Caleb started adding the beers to the cooler, ignoring our exchange. “Run along, kiddos. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
Dec just shook his head at him, then looked at me with a little smile. “Want to check out the food table? I know that’s the only reason you come to parties.”
“You know me so well.” Point, Dec. Not that I kept track anymore. I chuckled and followed him into the first floor of the house where most of the food was because it was so hot and humid outside in August.
“The way to your heart is through your stomach, obviously.”
I laughed and pushed him. “You better feed me, then.”
“Oh my god.” Declan suddenly started laughing.
“What?” I looked around and didn’t see anything funny or anyone else laughing. “What the hell are you laughing at?”
Declan turned around knocking my hands off him—I ignored the fact that I missed the contact immediately—but when I went to backup, he stopped me by grabbing my forearm. I bit back the smile that such a simple touch was forcing out. He was still laughing and had his other hand behind his back. “Close your eyes.”
“What? No way Jose.”
“Come on. You like to eat weird shit all the time, and I know for a fact that you like this.”
I tried to look behind him, but he held on to my arm and expertly blocked me. “Ugh. What is it?”
“Close your eyes.”
I narrowed my eyes at him.
He laughed. “Close your eyes.”
I sighed and closed my eyes.
“Open your mouth.”
“Dude, I swear to god if you put something other than food in my mouth I will kick your ass.”
He chuckled. “I promise it’s food. I won’t do anything gross, I swear. Trust me.”
I sighed again because he had me with the whole trust thing. He was probably the person I trusted the most, if I really thought about it. I reluctantly opened my mouth.
He moved so close to me that I could feel his breath brush across my cheek. “Don’t suck in a bunch of air when you eat this, it’s spicy.”
Before I could respond to that cryptic message, he shoved something weird in my mouth. I held it on my tongue for a moment trying to figure out what the hell it was. It felt… crusty. Ew. I wrinkled my nose as I hesitantly bit into it. A burst of flavor hit my mouth, and I tried—and fucking failed at trying—not to suck in a huge breath. Unfortunately, I breathed in and the spice got caught in my throat making me cough, although, I was laughing too. “Ath-ole.” I could hear Declan cracking up as I chewed up the goddamn jalapeno popper and swallowed it once I stopped coughing.
My eyes were watering, so I wiped them, careful not to smear my eyeliner, before punching Declan’s arm. “You asshole!” I couldn’t help the laughter bubbling out of me.
Declan was laughing, too. “I’m sorry, I didn’t think you’d choke.”
“I didn’t know it’d be that fucking spicy, you asshat. Not enough warning.”
He grabbed my arm and pulled me to the side because we were officially blocking the food table. “I’m sorry,” he said again, though he couldn’t seem to wipe the huge-ass smirk off his face.
“You’re lucky you’re cute, otherwise, I would have to punch that pretty face of yours.”
“You say the sweetest things.”
I chuckled. “Shut up.”
He smiled. “Are you okay?”
I waved him off. “You know that I get to do that to you now, right?”
His eyes went wide. “No, that wasn’t part of the deal.”
“It’s implied. Check the Best Friends Handbook.”
“I don’t remember that rule being in there.”
“It’s in section D, number 3-A, paragraph 5.”
He bit his lips together, clearly trying to hold back a laugh.
“You could always enact the clause in there that states you can trade one bet for a dare… but I would get to pick the dare.”
He chuckled. “You’re ridiculous.”
“You came up with the handbook, so I think that makes you ridiculous-er. Obviously.”
He laughed and grabbed my hand. “Let’s get a plate and something to drink.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
I smiled as he led me back over to the table, then proceeded to pile food on my plate for me, even making sure to leave room on his plate for my overflow. We headed back outside and found a table with an umbrella for shade. Dec grabbed us each a beer from one of the coolers before sitting beside me. Our brothers, Lindsay, Jax, Alex, and his girlfriend, Adeline, ended up joining us at the table, and after we finished eating, I got up to throw away our trash and get us more beers. When I came back to the table, I stopped in my tracks and frowned. Tristan was sitting in my seat. Tristan was this tall, thin artist guy with red hair and freckles that was friends with all the Mahers and all their friends. I didn’t know him well, although he seemed like a nice guy. But since he was friends with the Mahers, it meant that he knew Declan. And from the looks of it, he knew Declan well. Very well.
I narrowed my eyes as I set Declan’s beer in front of him and stood awkwardly beside the table. Tristan looked up at me and said, “Hey, Trent. Shit, I’m in your seat, aren’t I?” He hopped up without waiting for an answer. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay, you didn’t have to get up,” I said.
He waved me off and grabbed another chair from the table beside ours. As I sat down in my chair, Tristan set his chair right beside me. In. Between. Me. And. Declan. I frowned, but didn’t say anything, because what could I say? You’re between me and my date? I mean, yeah, maybe I could’ve said that, but he and Dec were friends. I didn’t want to sound like an asshole. And Tristan was a cool guy.
Or I thought he was cool until he started hanging all over my Declan. My Declan… yeah, that’s right. My freaking Declan, Tristan! I glanced over at Declan with a frown. If I could really, actually, make him my Declan, I would in a heartbeat. Right now, I’d settle for him being my date, though. I mean, I knew we hadn’t even gone on a real date and that I’d been partially joking when I’d said he’d be my date for the party, mostly because I thought he’d freak out, but then he didn’t. And now all I wanted was to just spend time with him… as my date.
Declan leaned forward, past Tristan, and mouthed I’m sorry to me and shot me an apologetic smile before listening to Tristan talk. I watched them for a minute and couldn’t help but notice that Dec was kinda standoffish and tense. He wasn’t normally like that. I mean, we were just goofing off a few minutes ago, and here he was looking like that asshole guy I’d thought he was before we were friends. My frown deepened.
Kade was on the other side of me, and he leaned in and poked my temple. “What’s with the deep scowl?”
I shrugged.
Kade followed my line of sight and sighed. “You should just tell Tristan that you guys are together. He’ll back off, he just doesn’t know any better.”
Before I could say anything, Tristan gasped and said, “Shit, he’s coming over here.”
I looked around for the culprit of Tristan’s sudden panic and saw Hunter making his way over to our table. I didn’t know Hunter very well, but he was Andy’s cousin and he looked so much like Levi’s hubby that it was freaky, except, Hunter was more muscular than Andy. But they shared the same hazel eyes, brown hair, and I was pretty sure they were the exact same height—just a little taller than me. The only thing I knew about Hunter was that he was a dancer, and he played nerdy board games with Andy every week. Other than that, not much except the fact that he was hot, and I totally groped his arm muscles once. And I think I poked his eyebrow ring later that same night, if I remembered correctly. Okay, obviously I’d flirted with the guy, but that was a long time ago.
I looked back at Tristan and how he’d scooted even closer to Declan, and I finally realized what he was doing. He was trying to either protect himself and show Hunter that he was with someone, or he was just trying to make Hunter jealous. I didn’t know if it was working on Hunter or not, but my little green monster was definitely front and center every time Tristan grabbed Declan’s biceps.
I crossed my arms over my chest and scowled at them. Declan was so very clearly uncomfortable. He was stiff and tense and kept trying to subtly remove Tristan’s hands, but the guy seemed totally oblivious. I was so close to getting up and just sitting on Declan’s lap to claim my territory like some kind of caveman. Whatever. At least I was only thinking about it. Although, after this weird thing with Hunter passed, all bets were off. Until then, I was trying not to hate on Tristan too much because he clearly needed help dealing with whatever the hell was going on between him and Hunter. I don’t hate Tristan. He’s a good guy. He’s Declan’s friend. You don’t wanna murder Declan’s friend, you don’t wanna murder Declan’s friend!
Hunter stopped at our table and pulled on his collar. “Hey, guys.” He nodded at Tristan. “Tris.”
Everyone said their hellos, except Tristan, who seemed to be freezing under pressure. And of course, he’d have to freeze with his hands still on Declan’s biceps. I clenched my teeth at the sight.
Hunter turned and said something to Alex’s girlfriend that I couldn’t hear. It looked like he knew Adeline, maybe they danced together or something. Who knew? The whole time, Hunter kept shooting Tristan looks I couldn’t decipher, and the tension between them was palpable. I wasn’t too sure it was the good kind of tension, either.
After Hunter and Adeline fell silent, there was an awkward minute that I couldn’t take, so I said, “So, Hunter, how’s performing going?” Hunter performed with a dance company, but he also taught classes at a local studio.
He smiled shyly and pulled on his collar again. “It’s really great. We’ve had shows booked every weekend this summer, and we’re still booked into next month.”
“That’s awesome. You should give your schedule to Andy for me. Maybe I can make it to one of your shows.” I smiled at him. He was not the enemy. Tristan was. Okay, neither one of them were but, damn, get off Declan.
Hunter’s eyes lit up, but he still stood there timidly. He was so incredibly shy, but Levi had told me that he was like a completely different person when he was dancing. Hunter said, “I’ll make sure to get it to him.”
“Thanks, man. I love stuff like that. I don’t think I’ve ever been to a dance-only show, though. I think it would be awesome.”
He smiled at me, then looked around the table again, his eyes settling on Tristan. He frowned, but then looked at me with a forced smile. “Well, I just wanted to come say hi. I’ll see ya later.”
“See ya,” I said as the others said bye.
After he walked away, I sighed and looked over at Declan, who shot me pleading eyes. I didn’t know why he hadn’t just said something to Tristan or, I dunno, just got out of his damn seat and moved away, but the poor guy looked like he was truly stuck. Time for drastic measures.
I got out of my seat and walked around to the other side of Declan. Tristan was still clinging to his biceps, but he looked like he was in another world. I grabbed Declan’s other hand and said, “You don’t mind if I steal my date back, do you, Tristan?” I made sure to emphasize date.
Tristan snapped his gaze to me. “Huh? Date?”
I smiled at him as kindly as I could muster, so it probably looked like a sneer. “Yes, Declan is my date.”
Tristan sat up straight and released Dec like he’d been burned as he looked between the two of us before settling on Dec. “But… you don’t date.”
Declan shrugged. “I guess I do now.”
“Are you being serious?”
Both of us nodded.
Tristan gasped and covered his mouth with his hands. “Oh my god, I’m so fucking sorry! I had no idea. I only came over here because I actually know you, and I figured you’d be my safest bet to shield me from,” he waved in the direction Hunter had gone, “since you never bring a date anywhere. I’m so, so sorry.” He looked at me with wide eyes. “You must hate me.”
I laughed, a little relieved. “Seriously, it’s fine. It’s not like you were groping him.”
Tristan covered his whole face with his hands. “I’m so embarrassed.”
I leaned over and patted his shoulder. “It’s really okay, Tristan. Stop worrying.”
“This has been the worst day ever.”
I looked over at my brother, who’d been awfully quiet today, and nodded my head in Tristan’s direction. Evan nodded back, then got up and moved to my empty seat, saying, “Do you wanna go grab a beer with me?”
Tristan turned toward him and said, “God, yes.” Then the two of them walked toward the deck.
I sat in the seat Tristan had vacated, then leaned into Declan and whispered, “You okay, Cupcake?”
Dec sent me a soft smile, then grabbed my hand and twined our fingers together, sending a flutter through my stomach. “I’m good, Jalapeno.” He surprised me by lifting our joined hands and kissing my knuckles—more flutters invaded my whole torso.
We chatted with everyone at our table for a while, though Declan and I kept laughing at stupid shit and gaining looks from everyone else. Not that I cared. I was having fun. I was having fun with Declan. I didn’t really care about anyone else at the moment. It’d be kinda awesome to be able to hang out with just him.
“I sorta wish we could just ditch and go home to watch a movie or something,” Declan suddenly whispered to me, echoing my thoughts.
I groaned. “No teasing. That sounds amazeballs.” I checked my phone. “Damn, we still have, like, three hours before the fireworks start.” Because of course, Mrs. Ann got fireworks for her grandson’s birthday party… since that was such a normal thing to have for a fourteen-year-old’s party. I accidentally snorted out loud at the thought.
“What?”
I smiled. “Nothing. Just thinking about how ridiculous it is to have fireworks for a kid’s birthday.”
“You know Mrs. Ann doesn’t half-ass anything,” Dec said. “I haven’t even seen Sammy yet. Have you?”
“I’ve literally only been apart from you for like thirty seconds so, no, I haven’t.”
He rolled his eyes but was still smiling. “Let’s go find the birthday boy. He’s probably hiding out in one of the bedrooms or something. He hates all this attention, but I want to wish him a happy birthday. Wanna go check on him?”
“Sure.” As I followed him, I couldn’t help but smile at the fact that he was worried about his pseudo-nephew. Declan had such a bigger heart than anyone gave him credit for.