Chapter Twelve
Dominic
I put my head down in my hands and basically pouted like a two-year-old. It was killing me to not have my best friend. I thought by now we would've made up, but I couldn't let go of everything. I had Talia, and Brooke seemed happy with Austin, so I should’ve been okay, but there was something off with them, more specifically him. I couldn't put my finger on it.
I glanced over the stove at the clock. It was four forty-five in the morning. I'd been awake for over two hours, sitting in the dark, contemplating what an asshole I was. Talia and I were great together. We really were, but I felt like something was missing. It could be the fact I hadn't actually spoken to my best friend in over a month, and it was starting to get to me.
Guilt ate at me as I thought about the missed opportunity to spend even a few minutes talking with Brooke. She seemed shaken when she first walked into the kitchen. Instead of sitting there like an idiot, I should've asked her what was going on, but I didn’t want to push. My brain apparently didn’t work that way. No, I let her push me away. I banged my head on the table. Why was I damned dense sometimes?
My head was all messed up because of Talia. Earlier she’d dropped the bomb on me that she wanted me to visit her family in New England after our vacation in Padre. She'd gone as far as looking at prices for plane tickets to Boston. As much as I liked her it seemed a little premature. If we'd known each other longer, maybe I'd be ready for that step, but this was moving at breakneck speed. It was out of my comfort zone when Brooke invited Talia along to Padre.
Now I found myself sitting in the dark, trying to decide if I was holding back because I was still hung up on Brooke, or if I was acting like a normal twenty-one-year-old guy who wasn't ready to be on the fast track toward marriage.
Hopefully, I was misreading the situation.
I jumped when a hand brushed against my shoulder softly. A kiss brushed against my temple and I glanced over my shoulder to see Talia standing behind me.
"Is everything okay?"
I ran a hand over my face trying to brush away the feeling that I was betraying Talia when I thought about Brooke. "Yeah, it's fine. I just couldn't sleep."
"Do you want me to get you a drink or something?"
I smiled tightly at her. "No, I'm okay. I didn't want to wake you up, so I came down here. I'm sorry if I did."
"You didn't. I woke up when I realized you weren't in bed." She sat down next to me at the table and started picking at her fingernails. "Dom, I want to ask you something. Did I send you into panic mode when I mentioned going to visit my family?"
I shook my head, but she arched her brows as she studied me.
She was already so damned good at reading me.
"Me? No, I’m fine."
She smirked and rested her hands next to mine on the table top. "It's okay if you aren't ready. When we were talking earlier, I was excited about seeing my family. Remember I told you my big sister is getting married at the end of the summer?"
I nodded and she continued.
"I was excited to have a date so I didn't have to go and see my asshole ex by myself. Maybe I should’ve led with that."
The blush covering her cheeks was adorable.
"You think?” I teased. “If you had told me that, maybe I wouldn’t be freaking out. Here I was thinking you had us on the fast track to marriage."
She looked at me with wide eyes. "No, absolutely not. Don't even kid about that."
I burst out laughing at her expression. "Good to know that marrying me is terrifying."
She slapped at my shoulder. "You think you're so damned funny. I'm not ready to get married or have kids. Nor do I want to rush you into anything super serious. We're having fun—exclusive fun—but I don't want a ring any time soon."
Teasing her was easy. Normally she didn't get so flustered, but seeing her turning fourteen shades of red and stammering through her explanations was fun. I'd have to work hard to get her like this again.
I took her hands in mine. "Noted. I'm sorry I freaked out without talking to you about it first."
"I don't get how you can be so alpha one minute and incredibly sensitive the next."
I grinned. "It's a talent of mine." I waggled my eyebrows. "One of many."
Her eyes flashed with interest. "Are you ready to go back to bed?"
We rushed back upstairs to our bedroom. Within minutes I wasn’t thinking about Brooke or trips to New England. Talia had a way of bringing out the carefree side of me like Brooke used to.
Before things got way too complicated.
***
"Aren't you drinking tonight?" Josh asked as he grabbed his bottle from the bartender.
I shook my head. "I think my liver is starting to die a little."
He grinned. "That's why we do this when we're young. Our bodies will have time to heal when we're old. Plus, the hangovers aren't so bad now."
I chuckled. "What was Riley doing tonight? You two are normally glued to one another."
"She's hanging out with Brooke. They were going out to dinner and then a movie. There's some new rom-com that I'll have to go see if B doesn't go with her."
It hurt to hear her name, but not as bad as it had a month ago. "I hope they have fun."
We started walking toward the table we’d managed to snag since it was fairly early in the evening. At least going out until three in the morning was short-lived. I wasn’t a clubbing, bar-hopping type of guy. Plus, with a beautiful woman at my disposal, I wasn’t exactly anxious to leave the bedroom. It had been way too long since I’d gotten laid on a regular basis anyway.
“What’s Talia up to tonight?” he asked as he slid onto his barstool.
“I’m not sure. She was talking to her sister about wedding stuff when we left. I’m sure they’ll be on the phone for a few hours.”
“Aren’t you the least bit worried that this wedding shit will wear off on Talia?” Austin asked.
I suddenly regretted my choice not to drink.
“Not really. She’s levelheaded and gets that we haven’t been together for long. She was actually hesitant to come here, so I’m not too concerned about her planning our wedding after two months.” Thank goodness no one knew about my minor freak-out from the night before to call bullshit. “What about Brooke? Is she planning your June wedding already?”
He was either too stupid to realize I was being sarcastic, or he vastly overestimated his value to Brooke.
“She’s probably got it planned already. I’m sure I’ll start hearing about a ring soon.”
Josh crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back in his chair. “Probably not, asshole. She said she’ll never get married before she graduates college. Once Brooke makes her mind up on something like that, she doesn’t change it. If she even gets engaged before she has her diploma, I’ll be shocked as hell.”
“I’ll be planning my wedding before any of you assholes,” Drew said seriously.
I snorted. “Seems to me you need to stop using Grindr then if you’re going to do that.”
He flipped me off. “I enjoy a casual, mutually enjoyable escape from reality every once in a while.”
“A hookup.” I grinned. “Have you been on an actual date in the past year? Not a one-night thing—like an actual date—going to dinner and then some activity afterward that wasn’t sex?”
He tried to think back.
“There’s your answer,” Jared said. “I can always dress up the pineapple and hold its frond.”
“A fucking pineapple does not count as a girlfriend. Let it go.” Josh rolled his eyes. “You guys are all stupid. I don’t know why I put up with any of you.”
“When are you going to man up and ask Riley? You two have been together for a few years now,” Jared pointed out. “If anything, that makes you the first of us to go down for the count.”
Josh covered his grin behind his beer. “Wouldn’t you guys like to know?”
I studied him for a minute. He was too calm for this question. Normally he’d be all over the place, freaking out about the idea of marriage.
“You’re going to ask her. By the level of calm you’ve got going on, I’d say soon.”
The rest of the guys looked at him questioningly. He took a drink of his beer, but he didn’t answer. Although I had phrased it as a statement, not a question.
“I am,” he finally answered. “And if any of you assholes say a word, I’m going to kill you.”
I grinned, but it seemed surreal. Josh was twenty-two, and he was going to ask his girlfriend to marry him. The only person I could see myself doing that with was—
I stopped the thought, only to realize the name I was thinking wasn’t Talia’s.
God, I really did need a drink.
“We should all be worried now. Maybe I’ll just keep Brooke on her back after you ask Riley, so she doesn’t get any ideas,” Austin said.
I shoved out of my chair and it clattered behind me. It took me a second to realize Josh had done the same.
“Chill out, guys, it was a joke.” He held up his hands and laughed. “You two are strung too tight.”
Jared and Drew looked between us, wondering if it would be me or Josh who’d throw the first punch.
“Dom, I didn’t think you’d jump up to beat my ass down with how you two have been going at it. Are you sure Talia’s—”
“He has a death wish,” Drew muttered under his breath.
Jared shoved Austin toward the door, explaining to him why he was being a dick. I don’t know why he thought it was so funny to push my buttons, but one day he was going to find himself on the end of a punch that no one else was going to stop.
My heart was pounding in my chest, and I was still seeing red.
Josh put a hand on my shoulder. “You okay?”
I sucked in a breath, trying not to jerk away. “You?”
“Yeah, but I don’t think we’re welcome here anymore.”
I looked around the bar and saw the bouncers waiting for us to clear out. They could see we’d calmed down, but when something like that happened for the night, you were out. Drew was closing our tabs and grabbing everyone’s cards. At least someone was being levelheaded.
I grabbed the barstool and stood it back up. I had to quit letting Austin get to me, especially when it was things about Brooke. If Talia saw that, she’d get the wrong idea.
“Let’s head back to the condo. I think we need a night in after that shit show.”
I gave him a look. “Obviously. And when we get there, you’re going to tell me all about how you plan to pop the question.”
***
I didn't want to corner Brooke so she was forced to talk to me, but I did want to talk. More importantly, I wanted her to want to talk to me. We’d been putting if off for too long. God, I sounded like such a girl. My opportunity came when Riley, Quinn, and Caroline decided they were going out to a wine bar not far from where we were staying. Brooke said she didn't feel good and wanted to stay in, but I had a feeling it had more to do with the fact Talia was going. The guys were planning to go to a movie. I begged off saying I wanted to stay home and sketch.
I paced the house slowly, finding that stupid pineapple sitting in the front entryway. Jared and Drew had made it a game to hide that damned thing everywhere. It turned out it was exactly like one of Jared’s girlfriends. It avoided him at all costs. I shook my head and laughed as I went in search of Brooke. She was curled up with a book on the couch downstairs when I found her.
“Hey, B.”
She jumped and whipped her head to where I was standing in the doorway. "You scared the hell out of me. I thought you’d left.”
"I decided to stay here instead."
She smiled tightly and looked back down at her book. God, I had royally fucked this up.
"Hey, Brooke?"
She glanced back up at me.
"Can we...talk?"
Her expression was guarded, but she set her book down in her lap. "Sure."
I sat down on the couch on the opposite end, leaving miles of room between us. "I never should've let it get this far, and I'm sorry for that. I've been such a jerk—"
"Asshole," she corrected.
I arched a brow.
"I'm just being honest."
I shook my head and fought back a smile. "Okay, I was an asshole. I didn't mean for it to get this out of control."
"I'm sorry too. Dom, I truly never realized how you felt. If I did..." she trailed off. "Things might have been different."
"What do you mean—"
She held up her hand. "Don't, Dom. It's not fair to either of us to play the what-if game. I have Austin and you have Talia." She struggled to find the right words. I could see the indecision written all over her face. "I let something Josh said mess with my head and I shouldn't have."
"What did Josh say to you?"
Her gaze dropped. "Nothing, it was stupid."
I scooted closer to her and took her hand in mine. "It's not stupid. Tell me. Please."
"Not long after we met, Josh was teasing me about how I couldn't ever just be friends with a guy. He was pretty relentless. It's like he knew I had a crush on you or something."
My hands clenched into fists and I fought back the urge to go deck my best friend. He'd cock blocked me in the worst way possible. For years, I’d wanted Brooke, and he’d kept that from me with one stupid conversation. He really needed to learn to shut his fucking mouth sometimes. I tried to calm my anger, but Brooke knew me well enough to tell I was pissed.
I fidgeted with her hand. "Why did you let it bother you so much?"
"I guess because I hadn't ever really had friends who were guys. I did always end up dating them." The blush rushed up her cheeks, and I wanted to reach out and cup her face. "I wanted to prove him wrong."
"I wish you hadn't chosen me to do it," I murmured.
"Me too," she whispered. "But you never said anything. I didn't even suspect how you felt until everyone started telling me I'd put you into the friend zone. I didn't believe them, so I just kept pushing it into the back of my mind. You were my best friend."
"Were?" I asked softly.
She squeezed my fingers. "I miss you more than anything, Dom. How do we fix this?”
Tears spilled over, and I reached up to brush them away. "I'll try really hard not to make it awkward, but we all know you're one of the most awkward people I know."
She laughed and smacked at my shoulder. "You're such a dick. How about this? Can we ease back into hanging out and see how it goes?"
I studied her for a minute. That wasn’t what I wanted, but I would take anything she was willing to give me. "I'd really like that, Brooke."
She wiped at her eyes. "Let's start now. TV?"
"As long as it's not The Real Housewives, I'm in."
She grinned, and it was like a vice released my heart for the first time in weeks. "You know that's my favorite, though."
I leaned back into the couch and tugged her over next to me. It made sense for us to fall right back into how we were before everything, but I wasn't sure how much our friendship could handle. We were right to take things slow. Honestly, we talked around our issues more than anything. Neither of us came right out and admitted anything. She handed me the remote, and I pulled up Netflix. There would definitely be no ‘chill’ tonight, but at least we were getting back on even footing.