Isaiah
Nearly spitting out his water, Isaiah stared at his brother, wiping the few droplets of water that escaped the corners of his lips. “I thought you said you weren’t seeing her anymore.”
“I’m not”—Nathan shrugged, still staring ahead at the road—“well, not romantically anyway. She says she’s got too much going on right now for that. But I did tell her if she and I were going to do stuff like this weekend, all I asked is that she wasn’t doing this kind of stuff with anyone else. If she’s so damn busy, she shouldn’t have time to. Not too much to ask, right?”
An unreasonable jealousy mixed with rage consumed Isaiah. Hearing Nathan speak in terms of spending the weekend with Kelli, given how she’d assured him that she hadn’t slept with or had plans to sleep with Nathan, was infuriating. But then she’d also lied about not seeing him again. Not two weeks after Manny’s thing, she’d showed up again at the backyard gathering they always had when his big-league-playing brother was leaving for weeks on the road. She’d attempted to talk to Isaiah then: started off with something about how the only reason she was there was because he wasn’t returning her texts and she really wanted to explain herself. Only they’d been interrupted and she’d never gotten a chance to finish. Isaiah was close to just telling Nathan until he mentioned he wasn’t seeing her anymore. Now she was spending the weekend with him?
“I mean she’d already said she couldn’t,” Nathan continued as they exited the ramp toward Dodger Stadium where they were headed to watch their brother’s away game in Los Angeles. “When I first invited her to this last week, she said she couldn’t. I ran into her last night, and she asked if I’d been able to find someone to come with me. I told her you got the weekend off at the last minute. This morning she called to let me know she’d be able to meet me out here in Los Angeles. She also mentioned her brother lives out here and he’s having a gathering of some kind tomorrow, so she could kill two birds with one stone on this trip. I’m pretty sure that means she’s staying with her brother. So it’s not nearly as serious as you’re thinking.”
Isaiah hated to admit it even to himself, but it was a relief. Not just because he’d be able to hold off on that conversation with Nathan, but he really hated to admit he was glad she wasn’t spending the weekend with his brother. Regardless of how this turned out he was going to tell Nathan for sure now—only he wouldn’t ruin the weekend and make things incredibly uncomfortable when she showed up. So he’d hold off and tell him when they were back home.
Isaiah found out fast that she wouldn’t be meeting them at the game. She couldn’t make it out until afterward, but she’d meet them for lunch, which made no sense. Which two birds would she be killing? When Nathan first told him, it sounded as if she meant she’d go to the game with him today and see her brother tomorrow. So which other bird was she killing? Just hanging out with Nathan for a couple of hours? Maybe she did have feelings for Nathan. The very thought had him glaring out his passenger window because he didn’t want to chance Nathan noticing just how fucking tense he suddenly was.
AJ, Isaiah’s youngest brother and star catcher for the San Diego Padres, was now dating his coach’s daughter, Addison. He’d asked Nathan if Kelli wouldn’t mind picking up Addison at her hotel so they could all meet at the steak house AJ had raved about. Isaiah hadn’t been able to figure a way out of what he was sure would be an awkward lunch. Thankfully, no one knew of his weekend with Kelli, so it would only be awkward for the two of them.
It was a pisser that she was still doing this, and if he had a moment with her, he’d be telling her exactly where she could go. Admittedly, he’d already spent too much time during his brother’s game distracted by thoughts of what she might be up to and why she suddenly seemed to care so much about explaining herself, when she hadn’t before seeing him at Uncle Manny’s. But the moment he had the chance, he was getting to the bottom of it. Isaiah would be damned if she were toying with Nathan, who was obviously feeling more for her than she did for him.
AJ and Nathan stood over the rail of the private patio they’d been seated at, which overlooked the front of the restaurant. Apparently, both were equally anxious to see their girls. Isaiah sat at the table, reading the menu, and remained motionless when his brothers started the catcalls and whistling. Taking a deep breath, Isaiah sipped his drink. He’d get through this, just as he had when she showed up the last time. Only this time, if he got the chance, he’d make sure this was the last time she pulled one of these fucking stunts.
A few minutes later, the girls walked into the patio. AJ was quickly all over Addison. The guy had it bad, and as expected, he wouldn’t be toning anything down for the sake of modesty. Thankfully, Nathan and Kelli were nowhere near as affectionate. Maybe they were holding hands under the table, but Isaiah wasn’t about to make a move to verify that.
He did his best to appear indifferent about Kelli’s presence. It was exasperating that every time he saw her she looked better than the last. After his initial hello, Isaiah barely acknowledged her as the group made small talk. All through ordering their appetizers and lunch and waiting on their food, he managed to not even make eye contact with her again.
Instead, he focused on AJ and his new girl, teasing his brother about not having touched any of the appetizers because his lips had been too busy with Addison. As if Isaiah didn’t know the very feeling.
“Don’t hate just ’cause you’re solo today, Sai.” AJ smirked. “Why didn’t you bring Lola?”
Isaiah felt Kelli’s eyes on him but again refused to even glance her way. Instead, he smirked, explaining what he was beginning to think was the reason why Kelli had changed her mind and made it out to Los Angeles with them after all. “’Cause I didn’t even know I was coming this weekend until someone traded shifts with me last minute.”
He’d already decided he wouldn’t give her the pleasure of looking her way even once, no matter how long this damn lunch took. But he hadn’t counted on her addressing him directly.
“I hope I didn’t interrupt your brother-bonding weekend.”
She hadn’t said his name, but Nathan was sitting right next to her, and Isaiah could see from the corner of his eye she was peering directly at him. Still refusing to look at her, he picked up his glass and took a long drink. The frustration mounted because just one sentence from her had him needing to leave the room.
“Nope,” he said simply then stood up.
Isaiah didn’t understand it. Never had someone he’d known for such a short time had such an effect on him, but he was certain it had more to do with the fact that she was sitting there with his brother than anything else. He had to get out of there, even if it was only for a few minutes to gather himself.
“Where you going?” Nathan asked.
“The bathroom,” he said, pushing his chair back.
AJ explained it was downstairs. After AJ’s annoyed comments about how dumb it was that there wasn’t an upstairs bathroom, Kelli stood up, grabbing her purse, and announced she needed to go too. It was all Isaiah could do to keep himself from growling in utter annoyance, but then he remembered he could use this moment to tell her to fuck off once and for all.
Unfortunately, in the next second, it seemed he might not get the chance to because Addison stood up, saying she might as well go too. All three walked out together, and Kelli wasted no time as they walked down the stairs. “Is Lola your girlfriend?”
Again Isaiah stared straight ahead, clearing his throat. “Nope,” he said then gave a brief explanation. Lola was just someone he happened to mention to AJ not long ago. But he made it a point to keep his response curt and then didn’t say another word.
The bathrooms were the single-stall kind. Only one person could enter at a time. He and Kelli were first in, and he was out before Kelli, so he made small talk with Addison, preparing to be alone with Kelli as soon as she was out and Addison went in. The moment the door closed behind Addison after Kelli had stepped out, Isaiah turned to Kelli, and for the first time that day their eyes met. Only she beat him to the punch, speaking first.
“This isn’t what you think it is. I’m not spending the weekend with—”
“I don’t give a shit if you are or aren’t. I hadn’t told him anything because you said you were ending things, but I will now—”
“There was never anything to end.” She glanced around. “I’m only here now because I want to . . .” She paused, taking a deep breath. “I need to make this right. It’s been killing me, and I wanted you to understand something.”
A waiter walked in from one of the back doors Isaiah had assumed was either the kitchen or an employee lounge, but he could see now it led outside. When he turned back to Kelli, he saw the tears in her eyes.
Panicked that Addison would come out and see or, worse, Nathan might come down, he grabbed her hand and headed out the back door. Despite what he felt having her soft hand in his again, he dropped it the moment they were outside and turned to her. Again she spoke before he did.
“I hate that you think I didn’t feel anything that weekend we shared together when you have no idea how hard it’s been for me to go even a day without thinking about you.”
“Kel—” he began, but she shook her head adamantly.
“Please, let me finish. I don’t know if you’ve read any of the texts I’ve sent you—”
“I haven’t.”
She stared at him, her brows pinching in a way that made him feel like a total dick because, even though he knew so little about her, he couldn’t help but feel her sincerity. Her pain.
“Well, if you had, you’d know a little bit more about why I hadn’t returned your calls or texts. It’s complicated, but my life really is a mess right now, a mess I didn’t want you involved in.”
“But Nathan you did,” he said, his jaw locking in anger for two reasons: one for caring and two for letting it slip that he did.
“I’m not dating him.” She shook her head. “I never even considered what we’d done going out until he used the term at your uncles’ gathering.”
She explained how Nathan’s station was the one that responded to an emergency call at her salon, days after their weekend together. That Nathan had flirted with her and asked her for her number, but she told him she had too much going on to get involved in anything. He later called the salon and left her his number, in case she changed her mind.
She hadn’t.
But then a week later he showed up, requesting a haircut from her specifically just before closing, and she obliged. Since it was a Friday night and there was a bar just a few doors down from her salon, she’d agreed to have a drink with him.
“Did you tell him you normally don’t do stuff like that too?’
Again he could kick himself for showing just how much it actually bothered him. What the hell happened to playing the indifferent card?
She lifted her chin as her brow rose also in response. “I did nothing but have a drink with him that night. He happened to point out how cool one of the photos on the wall was. I told Nathan about my friend being the photographer who took the photo. Since the bar owner is one of my clients, he bought it after seeing one in my salon. I mentioned to Nathan that my friend was having his first photo exhibition in the coming weeks, and he said he’d never been to one. As far as I was concerned, Nathan was just a very good-looking guy who, I assumed, was thrown by my lack of interest. A guy like him—like you—like any of you Romeros is likely not used to rejection. But I figured it wouldn’t hurt to invite him to the exhibition as long as he knew I wasn’t looking for any sort of relationship.”
“That night,” Isaiah said, still hung up on that part of her explanation and beyond annoyed with himself for even mentioning it, but he needed to know.
As expected, she seemed confused, so he clarified. “You said you did nothing with him that night. Nathan wouldn’t be calling you his girl unless you two had done more than just hang out.”
Why the hell was he asking? Why did it even matter? Regardless if she had or hadn’t done more than just have a drink with Nathan, anything between her and Isaiah was out of the question now. So why ask?
“I let him peck me goodnight.” She shrugged and hung her head.
Feeling the utter jolt of jealousy he knew he shouldn’t be, Isaiah turned back to the door, considering walking back in. He couldn’t stomach hearing another word of this.
“It was a mistake,” she said quickly. “He’d tried more than once before I let him. I was beginning to feel like a bitch.” Isaiah rolled his eyes, and she continued with even more conviction. “I won’t lie, Isaiah. It wasn’t exactly a sacrifice to let him. I mean look at you guys—”
“Is there a point to this?” Isaiah asked, beyond annoyed with himself for what he was suddenly feeling.
That he’d feel nearly sick listening to this shit—her explain that kissing Nathan was no sacrifice—was one thing, but he hated that being around her again almost hurt. Standing there staring into those beautiful eyes and having all the memories of that weekend come back to him, he knew he would’ve easily accepted her explanation under any other circumstances. If it were anyone but his brother who was waiting for his girl upstairs, he might be willing to hear the rest of what she needed him to know. He might even be able to enjoy the fact that she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about him for even a day since their weekend together.
But he couldn’t.
There was no way. It didn’t matter what she said now. He could never consider so much as a friendship with her, and he had no choice now but to come clean with Nathan about his weekend with her.
“Is there a reason why you’re here again, giving my brother hope that maybe you do want more with him?”
“Yes,” she said as her eyes pleaded. “From the beginning, I made things very clear to Nathan that I’d have no time for anything more than occasionally getting together. I’ve never led him on.”
“So why are you here?” he asked, losing his patience and knowing it was just a matter of time before Nathan came searching for them.
“I thought it was a fluke,” she said, shaking her head. “Or at least it’s what I kept telling myself. What I was feeling for you after just one weekend . . . And then I saw you again and . . .”
The tears were back and Isaiah swallowed hard. Unlike earlier when he refused to look at her, he couldn’t tear his eyes away from her now. Her brows furrowed again, and her pained eyes finally glanced away as she swatted at her tears.
“I feel like an idiot being here and giving you the impression that I’m a crazy person. This isn’t me. I don’t chase men who clearly want nothing to do with me, but I just needed you to know it was nothing personal. If my life were less complicated, you’d be exactly the type of man I’d fall hard for. You’ll probably think me crazy, but I think I already have. My heart . . .”
Those last two words were a broken whisper. She shook her head, the anguish in her pained eyes a living thing. “No one has ever touched my heart the way you have. I’ve never felt for anyone what I feel for you. I just hope that maybe someday—”
“Never,” he whispered and this time it didn’t almost hurt. It did. Like hell.
He’d since chalked up what he still felt for her as a fluke too. There was no way he could feel so much for someone he’d spent a little over a weekend with. It really did feel insane, but hearing her say she did, too, validated what he kept telling himself was insane.
“Did you not feel anything?” she asked, swatting even more tears away.
“It doesn’t matter if I did or didn’t. My brother is up there waiting for you—his girl. There’s no way—”
“I’m not his girl, and you’re crazy if you think I’m going back up there now.”
“What? You can’t just leave.”
She started walking toward the side of the building with a purpose, and Isaiah followed, more than panicked now. What the hell was he supposed to tell Nathan?
As if she’d read his mind, she sped up. “Tell him I had an emergency. That I got a call. Say anything. That someone in my family got in an accident. It doesn’t matter. I’ll likely never talk to him again anyway. The only reason I came here today was for you. I knew it was a risk. I just needed you to know. It was killing me.”
“A risk of what?” he asked, confused.
She stopped and turned to him. “Of getting my heart crushed. That you wouldn’t feel the same and there was no hope of anything ever happening between you and me.”
“It was,” he said, feeling that familiar sting to his heart he’d been feeling all these weeks. “And there isn’t any hope. Doesn’t matter that you never considered it a relationship. He called you his girl. That’s all it takes for anything more between us to be impossible now.”
She started walking again, and neither said a word as they reached the end of the building where Isaiah wouldn’t turn because he feared someone might be looking down from the balcony rail again. “Kelli?” he said, and she slowed but didn’t turn to face him. “It’s not that I didn’t feel anything; it’s just that I can’t—not anymore.”
Standing still for a moment, she said nothing. Then finally she nodded and continued to walk around the building and out of sight.
Isaiah took the long walk to the back entrance of the restaurant. He’d been out there with her for at least fifteen minutes, and he knew his brother would have questions. The moment he walked back into the private patio where his brothers and Addison were, he wasn’t too surprised to see Nathan already on his feet and headed for the doorway.
“Where’s Kelli?” Nathan asked when she didn’t walk in with Isaiah.
On his way back, he thought about who’d be so important to her that she’d leave in the middle of a date without saying good-bye. So he gave Nathan his spiel about Kelli having gotten a call about her mother being in an accident—that she’d been very upset and had to leave immediately.
It sounded about right until Nathan pulled his phone out. “Her mom’s dead.”
Isaiah nearly felt faint as all eyes were on him now, and he thought quickly. “I don’t know, man. Step-mom maybe?”
Of course, Nathan would counter that her dad had a new girlfriend every few months and she hated every single one of them. “And she was upset?”
Isaiah had already walked back to his seat and downed his entire drink before responding. “Yeah, she was.” At least he didn’t have to lie about that.
A few minutes later it seemed this issue was finally going to be done with. Nathan left her a message asking her to call him and canceled her food. She called him back, and he took the call outside. When he walked back in he peered at Isaiah.
“Did she say anything else to you before she left?
Isaiah stared at him for a moment, wondering if he should just come clean, but he didn’t want to get into this here in front of AJ and Addison, so he shook his head. “Just to tell you she’d explain later. Why?”
“She broke things off.”
It was tough to see his brother looking hurt—confused. But then he had to remember, according to Kelli, there wasn’t much to break off. Nathan likely meant she’d broken off the exclusivity his brother had talked about demanding on their way there. As hard as it was to know he was the reason his brother just got dumped, he was glad it was over. He even took a couple of shots with his brother in seeming solidarity to his getting dumped. Only he needed to calm his own aching heart.
It just didn’t seem fair. He’d finally met a girl who made him feel the things he’d only heard about in love songs and movies. Now because of this fucked detail she was off limits forever. But at least they could move on. The nightmare was over.
Nathan’s phone rang again and he stood up. AJ, who’d already expressed his dislike for Kelli ever since the last time Nathan had brought her around because he’d picked up on something “shady” about her, regarded Nathan with a soured expression. “That her?”
Nathan nodded and rushed out. Of course, his short-tempered youngest brother had plenty to say about Nathan’s annoying girlfriend the moment he was out of the room. But Isaiah knew he’d have plenty to say once Nathan was back too. AJ had never been one to hold anything back. Isaiah warned him to keep to himself what he might be thinking or he might be swallowing his words if Kelli was suddenly back in Nathan’s life.
“I ain’t swallowing shit,” AJ said, and Isaiah expected no less from the guy, just another reason why anything between him and Kelli would be beyond uncomfortable, even if things never got any more serious between Nathan and Kelli. Then Nathan walked back in with a smile.
“Don’t tell me?” AJ asked, as disgusted as he’d been earlier. “You’re back together.”
“No,” Nathan said. “But she did say she made a hasty decision because she was upset about her mom.”
“I thought her mom was dead?” AJ countered.
“It’s her grandma, but she’s always called her mom.” Nathan turned to Isaiah and picked up the shot the waitress had brought in while he was on the phone. “I didn’t know that.”
Nathan proceeded to explain that Kelli had said she’d been under a lot of stress lately and had a lot to deal with right now. Just as Isaiah was considering telling him the truth before this went on any longer, he read the text that came through from Kelli.
I only called him back because I felt bad about the previous call ending so abruptly. But you can rest assured this nicer call, now that I’ve calmed, will be the last time you and him hear from me. I promise.
Isaiah read it again before picking up his shot and interrupting the argument that’d begun to erupt between his brothers, since, as usual, AJ was incapable of keeping his thoughts to himself. AJ even grilled Nathan about a guy who’d called her the last time she’d been over at their place. Nathan had called her on it, asking who he was and they’d all heard. Only they’d walked away and no one had heard the rest of their conversation.
“Raymond’s one of her brothers,” Nathan said, his face souring further. “I didn’t know you were taking notes. She has two others, Ron and Rick. Write that shit down so you don’t forget.”
Of course, even that didn’t make AJ back off. He started to go on about Kelli being wishy-washy.
“How about a toast?” Isaiah lifted his shot glass in the air before AJ could finish.
Thankfully, Addison, who’d obviously begun to feel uncomfortable with the heated discussion between AJ and Nathan, picked up her glass immediately. Outwardly, he toasted to them getting together for the weekend, something they didn’t do often anymore. Inwardly, it was a bittersweet toast to Kelli’s final good-bye.