“Don’t go that way,” Cade said.
“What?” she asked after she buckled in and started her car.
“I said don’t go the way Jessica told you. It’s confusing, even if it is faster.”
“Okay. Tell me where to go, or I’ll just backtrack to your parents.”
“Take a right out of the driveway. I’ll give you directions so that you see where the turn was as if you were going home from my parents.”
“Sounds good. Are you okay?” she asked. He was breathing in and out slowly.
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
He didn’t look it to her. “I figured you could hold your beer better owning a brewery,” she said, laughing.
“It’s not that,” he said. “I’m not drunk.”
His tone was clearly indignant. “I can see that. I’m just busting. I heard your mother say that she has a rule that none of you guys are to drive if you’ve had more than two beers in a three-hour period of time.”
“It wouldn’t look good if any of us got a DWI. Not only that, we’ve always been very careful about our alcohol intake in public. It’s a reputation that we try to uphold.”
“So that’s why the parties were at your homes?”
“Yes. For something like this. I mean we have no need to go elsewhere for beer and food. I had Brody’s at my condo and we all put away a lot more beer than today. But then again, we all planned on spending the night there too, so there were no worries. Everyone wanted to go home today. Or more like they wanted Jessica to not have to deal with us in the house.”
“She looks so uncomfortable. Kind of like you right now.”
“I’ll be fine,” he said quickly, his eyes staring straight ahead. “Take a left at that light and you’re back on the main road.”
“Yep, I know where I am right now.”
She looked over and saw him squirming in the seat. He didn’t seem like he wanted to talk much either, even if he said more today than the last time he was riding in her car. “Do you not like being a passenger?”
“Not really,” he said.
“I didn’t think I was that bad of a driver.”
“You’re not,” he said, breathing in and out now.
She shrugged her shoulders and figured she’d just ignore him now. It was only ten minutes to his house at this point and then she’d drop him off and go home. No skin off her shoulders. Just because the rest of the girls seemed like they were all getting lucky with their men, she’d be on her own.
“Pull over,” he said fast.
“What?” she asked, turning her head at his urgent tone. She swung the car to the side of the road just in time for him to open the door and empty his stomach.
Holy cow, she didn’t realize he was sick. Damn, it sounded like he was emptying his intestines out right now too.
She sat there not knowing what to do. Guess he had more to drink than he let on. When he seemed to have stopped, she asked, “Can we go now?”
He leaned back in the seat and put his head on the headrest. “I don’t suppose you’ve got any water in the car?”
“No, but there is a gas station around the corner up there. I can run in and get you something.”
“Please,” he said.
He looked like hell. She pulled the car back on the road, keeping her eye on him, then parked in the gas station and went inside. When she came back out, he had the window down and was just laying his head on the doorframe getting some air.
He looked so pathetic that she bit back the laugh. “Here you go. I got you the biggest one and a package of crackers too. Sometimes they say salt helps.”
“Water is good,” he said, opening the cap and drinking it fast.
“We can sit here for a few minutes until you feel better. I guess you drank more than you let on.”
He snorted. “No. I get car sick.”
“Oh. So the last time I drove you...that was the problem too?”
“Yeah,” he said. “I don’t like to talk about it. I normally take stuff and I’m fine. That’s why I was okay on the ride back to my parents over a month ago. I took something before I got in the shower.”
“Then you dragged it out showing me around your house for it to take effect?” she asked grinning. Wow, she’d had no clue.
“Yeah.”
“Do you have anything you can take now?”
“I have something in my wallet. I carry it with me all the time, but I’ve been drinking more than normal, so it’s a no go. Once I get out of the car I’ll be okay.”
“Do you want to walk home?”
“I hope you’re kidding.”
“I am. So if you were driving you wouldn’t get sick?” she asked, trying to take his mind off of it.
“Pretty much.”
“It’s only ten minutes until we get home. Just tell me when you’re ready and we’ll leave.”
“We can go. I’m as good as I’m going to get for now. Hopefully I can hold it in until we get back.”
“I’ll start carrying barf bags in the car from now on.”
“Cute, Alex.”
She thought it was. “Okay. I’ll try to take it easy for you until we get home. How about we talk about sex? Will that take your mind off of it?”
He turned his head sharply. “Seriously?”
“Just trying to help. I had all these plans for the night, but I think you might not be up for it.”
He laughed. Or at least he tried to. “I could be up for it physically, but I’m still going to be feeling ill for a bit. You’re going to have to give me a little time.”
“I can hold off. Sometimes it’s more fun to just talk about it. You know how you were kissing and licking every part of my body the other day?”
“Yeah,” he said.
“I had planned on returning the favor tonight.”
“I could be game for that.”
“I figured you would be.”
But he really wasn’t. By the time they got back to his condo, he was a lovely shade of green and barely holding it back. He went right to the stairs and she fought back the laugh, understanding he was avoiding the movement of the elevator. She didn’t even try to keep up with him and just let him go.
When she walked through his front door, he was already slamming the door to his bathroom. She shook her head and went into the kitchen, looking around in his cabinets, trying to find something she could make for him.
As much as she thought it was kind of funny and ironic that his family urged her to go to Jessica’s tonight, he looked horrible. The thought of being that sick every time she got in a car was sad.
It had to be hard for him. Not just being a man, but that she was guessing everyone in his family knew about this and they set him up tonight as a form of payback.
When she heard the water turn on in the bathroom, she figured he was taking a shower. Hopefully he was on the mend now, but just in case, she grabbed some bread and threw it in the toaster, then took a frying pan and scrambled up some eggs. Once the water was off, she filled a cup with water and stuck a tea bag in it, then popped it in the microwave.
“Hey,” he said walking out a few minutes later. “Sorry about that.”
“Don’t apologize. I doubt you’re hungry, but I know toast always helped me. That and something warm. I made some eggs and tea. Maybe it will soothe your stomach.”
“Thanks,” he said, sitting at the table. “I’ll pass on the eggs, but the toast and tea will help. My mother always made it for me too.”
“Sounds like she made it a lot.”
He looked up and cracked a grin. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.”
“I was being sarcastic,” he said.
“I know. But I wasn’t.”
He picked the toast up and took a nibble. “I hope it stays down.”
“How long does it last once you aren’t moving?”
“Depends. I had more to drink and eat tonight than normal. It’s kind of making it worse; otherwise the drive here would have made me queasy but not gotten me ill.”
“So you could get sick again? Just sitting here?” That was bad.
“Maybe. I hope not, but it’s been known to happen.”
“Would it be better if I left you alone tonight?”
“I want to say yes, but I really don’t want you to go. What if I feel better later and you aren’t around to fulfill all that talk in the car?”
“I’m surprised you remembered it with the way you fought back the urge to toss your cookies.”
He gagged and she felt rotten saying that. He put the toast down and picked the tea up. “Maybe I’ll stick with this for a bit.”
She reached her hand over and laid it on his. “I’m sorry, Cade. That was bad of me. I bet your siblings just love this weakness of yours.”
“Let’s not talk about it. I think Jessica did this on purpose for the clowns in the nursery issue.”
“You might be right. What am I missing with the clown thing?”
“I’d rather not say. It’s best it doesn’t come from me. If Mason won’t tell Jessica, then I can’t tell you. My mother would kill me. My other brothers don’t even know. Ella was so upset and embarrassed. It’s just one of those things between the three of us and my mother, and I paid the price for it.”
“How’s that?”
“My mother lectured me for thirty minutes straight in the car.”
She burst out laughing. “Oh my God, that is horrible.”
“My mother is good at finding all our weaknesses and pushing them.”
“I love your mother.”
“It seems to me she likes you quite a bit.”
“Really?” she asked. Jolene had been overly sweet to her tonight.
“Yeah. I’m hearing she feels you might be the only one that could put up with me.”
“I doubt that,” she said. “You’re not that bad.”
“Tell my family that.”
“I did tonight.”
“What?”
She hadn’t meant to say that. “Nothing more than defending you when they talked about how you were the prankster of the family.”
“You defended me?” he asked, his eyes growing all soft. “Guess someone has to.”
“Well, that someone was me.”