Chapter Fourteen
Dominic
I will not let myself be alone with Brooke.
I will not let myself be alone with Brooke.
I will not let myself be alone with Brooke.
Fuck.
I missed my friend, but the sexual tension between us was thick enough to clear a room. Thank goodness Talia hadn’t caught on, otherwise my balls would probably be in a world of hurt. Talia was everything I should want in a woman. She was strong, independent, sexy, and willing to let herself be vulnerable with me.
We were all sitting around the massive living room, watching a movie. That stupid pineapple was sitting on the mantle, taunting me to make it into fruit salad. But that would ruin Jared and Drew’s fun, so I left it.
“Anyone else hate that stupid pineapple?” Quinn asked from across the room. She was draped over one of the loveseats, almost melted into the leather.
A number of hands shot up into the air.
“Come on, guys, Matilda needs our support,” Drew said.
“You named the fucking pineapple?” Josh said, disbelief tingeing his voice.
Jared shrugged. “I got drunk and decided we needed to name her.”
I chuckled. “How did you decide it was a she?”
Austin groaned. “Don’t encourage them. We should just eat the damned thing and call it good.”
Drew sat up suddenly. “You will not murder Jared’s girlfriend.”
Talia snorted a laugh, then dug her face into my chest. Her shoulders shook with laughter, making it harder for me to hold mine in.
“You guys are insane,” Brooke said, shaking her head. “How did this even start?”
“You see, what happened was—”
Drew cut off Austin. “Don’t you dare.”
“Why? It’s a pretty funny story.” He gently moved Brooke so she wasn’t leaning on him anymore. “Drew cock blocked Jared by unintentionally hitting on the girls Jared had chosen for the night. Because Drew only knows how to flirt with everyone.” The room went quiet as everyone who wasn’t there listened to the story. It was bound to be good. He pushed off the couch, preparing to run. “When Drew realized what happened, he overcompensated, and then they thought the two of them were a couple. It was quite comical to watch them in action. Drew and Jared do make a cute couple, though.” He choked back his laughter. “In their drunken state, we ended up at a grocery store. Jared started carrying on a conversation with the pineapple. Apparently it understood him.”
Jared pushed off his chair and ran after Austin, tracking him through the house. He had a head start and made it to the deck before Jared even made it to the kitchen. The remainder of us looked at each other and then followed to the kitchen so we could watch him throw Austin into the water. We all stood there for a few minutes, watching the chaos commence. Drew watched from the doorway, laughing his ass off as Jared threw Austin into the water. Jared made his way back up the house looking satisfied. In the distance Austin stood up in the water, looking like a drowned rat covered in sand.
“Just for the record, Jared isn’t my type,” Drew said as he passed by.
I laughed. “Believe me, I know.”
He grinned and walked back into the living room. One by one we peeled off to finish the movie or get drinks so we could sit out on the deck. Brooke leaned against the doorframe, her arms crossed over her chest, with a small smile playing on her lips. Eventually we were the only two standing in the kitchen. Against my better judgment, I took a few steps closer, allowing her soft vanilla scent to fill my senses. She looked at me and her lips parted.
“Hey.”
“Hey,” she answered softly. Her body angled toward mine.
“You seem—”
Austin’s voice came in through the open door, cutting me off. “Babe, can you grab me a towel? I’m soaked, and I don’t want to track sand everywhere through the house.”
“Coming,” she called back. “Just give me a second to go upstairs and grab one.”
She reached out and patted my arm as she went by. The smile on her face hid the sad look in her eyes. No one else would probably notice, but I did. Once upon a time, I would’ve held her there and made her tell me what was going on in that pretty head of hers. Now I felt like I couldn’t. It wasn’t my right. Just standing there with her for those few seconds made me want things I shouldn’t.
I watched her go up the stairs toward the room she shared with Austin, and the familiar anger rose up in my chest. It pissed me off that she was with him, but if she was happy—which I highly doubted—I wouldn’t say a word. I didn’t have the right to say anything.
Talia was my girlfriend. Not Brooke.
And my girlfriend was amazing. She really was. We really were happy together, but God did I missed my friend. It didn’t matter how hard I tried, my thoughts kept roaming back to Brooke. Every time I felt like I was moving past my feelings for her, something like the pull from the kitchen happened, and I was back at square one.
Josh came up and clapped his hand down on my shoulder, distracting me from my wayward thoughts. Dangerous thoughts I had no right to be having.
“Want to go hang out tonight? Just you and me?”
I tamped down the anger I felt at watching Brooke dry off Austin outside the window and focused on Josh. “Sounds good. I’ve got an idea of something I’d like to do if you’re game.”
He grinned. “Is that a challenge?”
I chuckled. “Not really, but if you want some ink, sure, we can make it a challenge.”
He blanched, and I laughed.
“Don’t worry, pretty boy, I won’t make you get any black on your skin. I’ll bring you back home to Riley in perfect condition.”
Josh wasn’t afraid of much, but if you even started to get a needle near his skin, he freaked out. Our freshman year, he decided he wanted a tattoo, and we made it all the way to the shop before he started panicking. I thought he was going to pass out when he sat down in the chair. The artist never even got the placement of the small piece he wanted down. Instead, I sat in the chair. That was the start of my obsession. Now I had an entire sleeve up one arm and a forest on the other forearm with more planned for the future.
Thirty minutes later we were standing in the waiting area of a shop that came recommended by some guys I’d met on the beach. They had stopped to comment on my sleeve, asking where I got my work done, and it gave me a good idea of where to go tonight. I’d already planned on making Josh go with me at some point, but he gave me the perfect opening.
“Tell me again why you want this done now?” Josh asked as he nervously paced. “You can’t get back in the water the rest of the trip if you do this tonight.”
I shrugged. “I know, but I just—there are reasons.”
His gaze locked with mine. “Does this have to do with Brooke?”
I swallowed hard. “What are you talking about?”
“I know things are still rough between you two right now. This is kind of your form of therapy. I just put two and two together.”
He wasn’t wrong—not completely.
“Something like that,” I mumbled.
I had no clue how he hadn’t guessed my feelings during the past few years. Josh was my best friend, but he was blind when it came to how I felt about his little sister.
A young guy, maybe mid-thirties, came out and introduced himself as Dizzy. Josh gave me a funny look, but I followed the guy back to his station. Who was I to judge a name if his ink looked good?
“What are you thinking?” he asked.
I pulled up an image on my phone of a compass surrounded by hydrangea and we discussed a few particulars. The guy gave me a look like he understood everything about this sketch. I needed to find north again, follow the straight and narrow. I never said it out loud, but the meaning was loud and clear. Even the hydrangeas in the background were Brooke’s favorite flower.
Twenty minutes later, I felt the first sting of the needle and the tension that had been building for the past month and a half disappeared. Josh was right; this was my version of therapy. At least I’d walk away with a visible piece of art across my ribs instead of trying to work things out in my head one week at a time. I didn’t have an issue with people who found value in it, but it didn’t work for me.
The design only took about an hour, but the process left me feeling relief.
I handed my phone over to Josh. “Take a picture so I can send it to Raquel.”
“You’re just going to make her want to get one as soon as she turns eighteen.”
I grinned. “I already promised her I’d take her for her first one.”
My little sister was probably going to have an addiction like her older brother. As I looked in the mirror at the simple design, I grinned. It was what I needed to keep myself grounded. I shook Dizzy’s hand and thanked him. The guy was talented, and if I was ever came back to Padre, I’d probably visit him again. He gave the basic aftercare rundown that was required—basically keep my ass out of the ocean or I’d screw up his work and risk killing myself with an infection—and sent us on our way.
The streets were practically empty since it was too early for the bar crawlers and late enough after dinner that everyone was either at home or headed that way. It didn’t take long for Josh to pull into one of our favorite bars we’d found a few days after arriving on the island. More beer and liquor had crossed my lips over the past three weeks than had in my entire college career. It was a wonder we weren’t all dying of alcohol poisoning.
We ordered our food and settled in across from one of the huge televisions. There was a baseball game on, but we didn’t care for either team playing, and it was too early to even think about playoffs.
“You want to tell me what that was about?”
I shook my head and took a drink of my beer. “Not really.”
“Do you at least feel better?”
I considered his question. Did I feel better? While I was in the chair, definitely. But now? I felt calmer, more in control.
“Yeah.”
“You’re such a good conversationalist, Dom.” Sarcasm dripped from his words and he rolled his eyes. “I hate it when you get all bitchy like this.”
I ran a hand over my face. “I just have shit going on in my head. It’s hard not being able to talk to Brooke like I used to, and things get pent up.”
He frowned. “I know it’s not the same, but you can talk to me.”
Yeah, sure, let me explain how I’ve been in love with your sister for years and kept it from you.
“I know.”
We sat in silence, eating and finishing our beers. I hated that I shut him out because he was perceptive about why I got the fucking tattoo. It wasn’t fair that I’d been in love with his little sister since her freshman year and never said a word.
I ran a hand over the back of my neck. “One day I’ll tell you everything, Josh. Just not right now.”
He nodded once. “Okay.”
We moved on to safer topics. He told me how he planned to propose to Riley, and I gave him a few suggestions. It was the same as it always was, but I felt guilty. When we got back to the house, the girls were sitting downstairs, watching some reality show and drinking wine. Talia knew I was getting the tattoo, but I hadn’t mentioned what it was going to be. She’d obviously mentioned it because they all wanted to see it.
I tugged off my shirt and pulled off the dressing carefully. Brooke’s eyes met mine as she glanced up from the colorful design. I expected her to be mad, but what I saw there was hurt. I watched her turn without a word and go upstairs. If I called after her, I’d have to explain why I got something we’d talked about in depth in the past. Brooke knew the meaning behind the piece and she hated me for it. Talia’s eyes bounced from me to Brooke’s retreating back. Therapy is supposed to make you feel better in the long run.
***
I stared at Talia from over the table, completely dumbfounded.
“Where is this coming from?”
She pursed her lips. “We’re not on the same page here, Dom. Your feelings are perfectly clear, especially after last night.”
My fingers grasped the coffee cup in my hand, and it suddenly made a lot more sense why she wanted to come here. At least she wasn’t picking a fight at the house.
She wasn’t wrong, though.
“But why now? Why did you all of a sudden decide we should just be friends? Is it because you don’t trust me?”
She rolled her eyes. “In the past few months, have you ever once looked at me the way you looked at Brooke? Have you ever stopped loving her for one second and considered moving on with me?” She sighed. “Or am I just her replacement?”
“I’ve barely spoken to Brooke in months,” I hissed.
Her eyes narrowed into tiny slits as she glared at me. Clearly I’d pissed her off.
Well, so what? She wasn’t exactly my favorite person right this second.
“You have got to be kidding me,” she said under her breath. “Dominic, you’re in love with her—currently, not past tense. There’s no reason for us to keep pretending there’s a snowball’s chance in hell of you ever choosing me over her. Brooke is always going to be the one you want to be with. I can’t continue being with you and hurting myself in the process.”
I ran a frustrated hand down my face. “Talia, I know things look bad, but Brooke and I are friends. Right now we’re not even good friends. She did something I’m having a really hard time forgiving.”
“That you won’t talk about.”
I shook my head and tears streamed down her beautiful cheekbones, over her full plump lips and to the floor. God, I hated making her cry.
“That’s where you’re wrong, Dom. Do you or do you not have a sketch of Brooke in your wallet right now? Not just a photograph, but something you spent your time, talent, and effort on?”
My mouth dropped open. How did Talia even know about that sketch? I hadn’t let anyone see it, ever. She studied me for a few seconds and when I didn’t respond, she nodded.
“I thought so.”
She grabbed her purse and slung it over her shoulder. As she started to walk away, I snapped out of it and reached for her arm. My hand rested gently on her soft skin. Her eyes were unreadable as she looked down at me.
“I’m so sorry.”
A sad smile covered her gorgeous face—the face of the woman I should’ve loved, but didn’t. Nothing about this was okay. I’d created a huge fucking mess, hurting someone I really cared about in the process.
“It’s okay, Dom. But for God’s sake, don’t let her get away again.”