Chapter Six:
Braxton
I wasn’t sure we were going to make it, but we lived through Hurricane Emerson. Honestly, I wasn’t sure we would. She put us through hell that night in Washington, and most of yesterday, but she finally recovered.
I don’t know what her problem was that day and why she went to such an extreme to piss Cade and me off, but she’s calmed down since. Aiden has still been sniffing around her, and now that I know about his little arrangement with his wife, I don’t want Em anywhere near him. He’s no good for her. God, she’s so fucking innocent, it’d crush her if she actually started liking the guy. Cade’s been doing a decent job of his brotherly cock-blocking, but I think I may actually have to step in soon because he can’t watch her all the time.
We played Cleveland last night, and our next stop isn’t until tomorrow night, so we drove to the next city late last night so we could spend our day off in Chicago. Hands down, Chicago is one of my favorite cities to visit. I’m never bored; the pussy is grade-A prime and constant, and the city is just alive.
We splurged for a cheap enough place to stay for the night that it’s not considered a hotel, but expensive enough to have a gated entrance, so our van and equipment will be semi-safe. It’s a place made for kings and queens – The Motor Vu Inn. Fancy. It’s so fancy that I’ve opted to sleep on top of the bed covers just in case there might be any creepy crawlies inside the sheets. But, the coffee is black and strong and free, the most important part.
It’s a little past nine fifteen in the morning, and I’m just finishing up my shower when I hear a knock at my door. I throw a towel around my waist and head toward the sound. Tossing the door open, I find a surprised Emerson staring down at the small towel draped around my lower half. “Good morning to you, too,” I say with a smirk. Her eyes travel slow and steady up my body to finally meet mine, but by that time her face is two shades of red.
“Hey,” she says, seemingly contemplating her next words. “I just wanted to say thank you for taking care of me the other day; I know I’m not your responsibility and I’m just Cade’s annoying little sister, but I appreciate it.”
I cock my head to the side. “You’re never just going to be Cade’s annoying little sister, you’ve been in my life nearly as long as you’ve been in his. You’re like my own blood. So yeah, in a way, you are my responsibility, just like I expect you to hold my hair back when I puke,” I joke, winking at her.
She pushes me in the shoulder lightly. “Thank you, Brax, and I mean that, but sometimes, I just need you guys to back off a little bit. Let me live my life. I’m twenty-two, I don’t want to be single for the rest of my life. You guys just need to loosen the reigns a bit. Even Mischa isn’t as overbearing as the two of you, and she’s our guardian.” She sighs, leaning on the doorframe.
“Does this have anything to do with Aiden and all of the attention he’s been showing you lately?” I ask, my gaze lowering protectively.
She shakes her head. “No. This doesn’t have anything to do with Aiden. This has to do with the fact that when I was sixteen and Terrence Young asked me out; my brother threatened him for a week to leave me alone. This has to do with the fact that when I was seventeen, David Carrington asked me to prom and then a few days later, he miraculously had a change of heart. I had to go to prom alone while he took Tara Forner; do you know how much that sucked?” she pauses, gathering her thoughts.
“This has to do with the fact that when I finally turned eighteen, I thought Cade was going to lighten up. I thought for once in my life, he was going to let me experience something, anything, and that was shattered when he gave my date a black eye on our first date just for kissing me. Or wait, do you remember the time when I was twenty, and it wasn’t just Cade but the whole band who ruined my relationship with Evan Driscoll?”
I can’t help but glower back at her. Hearing his name always makes me rage. “He wasn’t a good guy, Em.”
Emerson scoffs. “That was for me to find out, not for you guys to decide for me. So maybe he wasn’t a good guy…maybe he would have hurt me…but you know what, it would have been a hell of a lot better for me to figure that out on my own rather than being heartbroken about what could have been for weeks, even months. I didn’t forgive you guys for the entire summer.”
I nod slowly. “I know.” I remember that summer vividly. We tried everything to get her to forgive us. Nothing worked. And then one day she just walked in and grabbed one of the controls to the Wii and began playing without saying a word. None of us ever brought it up after that, until now.
“Look,” she says, her gaze softening, “I know you guys are only trying to help. I know you mean well, but look at me, do I look like a little girl to you?”
My eyes drag up her body from her feet to her head. Those hips, those perky breasts, nope she’s all woman. She’s wearing a set of overalls that look like they are straight out of the ‘90s, with one side open, the white shirt underneath clinging to her lacy nude bra. I don’t normally look at Emerson like she’s some piece of meat, but when she asks the question, I take the liberty of dragging my eyes up and down her body. Cade would have my head if he saw me looking at her like this, or even had an ounce of an idea that I was checking her out. I think overprotective is the understatement of the year. Emerson is right, in Cade’s eyes no one is good enough for his sister, and they never will be.
“No, you look like Emerson to me,” I say simply. I glance down at the damp towel around my waist. “I’m going to get dressed. You want to stay and watch? I’ll give you a nice show.” I wink at her, making her squirm under my heated gaze. I love messing with her. She’s so timid and shy; I can only imagine how inexperienced she is. I don’t mean any harm by messing with her; I just love to see how uncomfortable I can make her and just how quick.
She pushes off the doorframe, standing straight. “I’m headed to meet Cade; we are going to get some breakfast if you want to join. I think the rest of the band is going to sleep in.”
I nod. Typical. Cade and I can’t seem to let a day go to waste. No matter what we are doing, we are always both in the similar mindset that every day needs to be a new experience. It’s part of the reason we are so close. I’ve done more crazy shit with that guy than anyone else in my life. Walk on glass? Check. Jump out of a plane? Check. Ride an elephant? Check. It’s sick to think, but if Cade were female, he’d probably be my soulmate. I shake the nasty thought from my head and then say goodbye to Emerson, making sure to get the name of the restaurant to meet them at once I’m dressed.
When I arrive, Cade and Emerson are already seated with ice waters and coffees in front of them. “What beverage can I get for ya, sweetheart?” the elderly waitress asks me.
“Can I get an iced tea?” I ask, sliding into the booth next to Cade. He grunts good morning to me, handing me one of the plastic menus.
“You sure can. Be right back.”
“Mischa called this morning,” Emerson says from behind her menu to Cade.
“What did she say?” he asks from behind his menu.
“She was just making sure I was alive after the vomit heard ‘round the world. Apparently, I butt-dialed her multiple times that night, so she knew everything.”
This is not surprising of Emerson, the clumsy-queen; in fact, I can almost imagine it. A grin begins pulling at my lips.
“She been staying with Zach?” Cade asks.
Emerson doesn’t even bother lowering the menu so she can see her brother before replying, “Where else?”
“I worry about Puss and Boots,” Cade says. If I were a girl, I might have melted right then and there. Puss and Boots are their cats. They got them when they were only seven weeks old and they are brother and sister, just like Cade and Emerson.
“Oh, come on,” Emerson replies, finally dropping her menu and rolling her eyes. “Mischa is not going to let Puss and Boots starve to death. She’s going to go home to check on them. Plus, she has to check the mail sometime. Plus, Breigh has a spare key to the house, so worse comes to worse, she can go rescue them.”
“Breigh has a spare key to the house? Since when?” Cade asks, dropping his menu, his eyes widening at the thought.
“Since forever,” Emerson says. “It’s not that big of a deal; it’s from when she house sat for us that summer we stayed with Grandpa and Grandma because Mischa couldn’t handle us.”
Cade still seems unsatisfied, but he drops it.
“I’m hungry, where’s the steaks at?” I ask more to myself than anyone else as I flip my menu to the last page, busying myself in the descriptions and pictures.