Chapter
Twenty-One
“Due to the moms’ visit and everything after, I forgot to ask what exactly happened with your ex?” Vice queried through the phone. I was sitting in the living room while Drew did his homework close by at the kitchen table.
“Ah, Drew is doing his homework right now.”
“Shit, sorry. I didn’t think.”
“That’s okay. I’ll tell you about it tomorrow.” I’d been surprised when Vice had called. Usually we stuck to texts, and then I’d see him at work. So when I saw his name flash up on the screen, my whole body quivered in excitement. He was moving up that step, straight into our relationship, right along with me, and knowing it made me dizzy with all the right feelings. “By the way, Molly rang me before and mentioned what her mom said about a get-together. I think we’re looking at it for the following weekend.”
“Sounds good. Just… don’t listen to the moms too much. I know they’ll say some embarrassing shit about me.”
Laughing, I admitted, “I’m looking forward to hearing what they have to say.”
“Damn,” he muttered, amusement in his voice. “There was something else I forgot to mention. Grayson and Kenzie are coming over Saturday afternoon. I’ve invited Molly and Clint also. So I’d like you and Drew there as well. I know Drew has an early game that day… but that is if you can make it?”
“I’d like that. Can I bring Mom? Oh, maybe Kenzie can get Trent to come as well.”
He groaned. “You and Kenzie are terrible, but I’ll mention it to her.”
“Actually, don’t worry, I’ll text her later. We have to talk about jewelry anyway.”
“How is the business going?”
That right there, Vice calling my jewelry a business, and not a hobby, was something amazing. Just like the man himself.
“Good,” I whispered, my voice shaking with emotion.
And he knew it. “And there’s your sweet,” Vice growled deeply into the phone. “You’re voice does things to me, Addy.”
My heart jumped in my chest. “Now isn’t the time to be…” I lowered my voice and looked behind me to see Drew concentrating on his work, “hot, Vice Salvatore.”
“So there will be a time for it? Say, when you’re alone in bed?” he teased.
“Maybe.” I grinned.
“Christ, woman, you surprise me all the time. What also surprised me was your reaction to the spanking DVD.”
“You remember that?”
“Couldn’t forget your cheeks heating or the sound of your voice when you cried spanking. It was like you were asking me to spank you.”
“Um.”
I did very much like a little rough in the bedroom. It was something John hated and would never do. But the way Vice was talking about it made it sound he wouldn’t mind trying it out. Which of course thrilled me.
“Adalyn.” His tone was rough. “Would you like that?”
“One day,” I admitted quietly.
“Fuck. That pleases me greatly, baby.”
“Vice,” I whispered, getting hot all over.
“Mom,” Drew called, as he came into the living room. “Is that Vice? Can I talk to him? He’ll know how to help with this math problem.”
Clearing my throat a few times, I said, “Ah, yes, it is, but I could probably help you.” Drew just stared at me. “I could.” Another stare and without blinking, which was kind of freaky.
“Vice—”
“Baby, any other time I would gladly help Drew out, but not while I have an erection.”
“You do?”
He chuckled. “Yes, Addy. Tell him I’ll call him in half an hour to help.”
“You will?” I asked, surprised. It seemed Vice wasn’t the only one getting surprised all the time.
“Baby, with you comes Drew. Half an hour,” he said, and then ended the call.
Looking to Drew, I said, “He just has to do something, but he’s going to call back in half an hour to help you.”
Drew showered me with a bright smile before skipping back to the table.
Vice had turned my world upside down, and I wouldn’t want it any other way. Heck, I still couldn’t comprehend why he liked me, but I was going to go with it. Life was about chances, and Vice was a chance I was willing to take, even when it didn’t make sense.
“Drew, do you need help with anything other than math?”
“No, I’m good, Mom.”
“We’ll read later. You wanted to start Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, right?”
“Yes!”
“Great. I’m just going to call Molly from my room, and Nana should be home soon. She said she was going to bring takeout.”
“Awesome. Will you bring your phone out when Vice calls?”
“Of course, honey.”
“Thanks.”
It was great to see Drew so taken with Vice, nearly as much as I was. In fact, it warmed me all over. I’d been scared to see how Drew would react when I finally introduced him to a man I liked. I was sure it had just been luck Drew liked Vice before I even admitted to myself I did too.
Closing my door behind me, I pressed Molly’s name and placed my phone against my ear. I hadn’t actually spoken to Molly about Vice and me. I felt it was time to do so. It had been on the tip of my tongue earlier when she’d called about a get-together, but I’d chickened out for some reason. Maybe fear she wouldn’t like my dating her brother.
“What’s up, buttercup?” she answered.
“Molly, there’s something I need to talk to you about.”
“Finally!” she cried.
“W-what do you mean?” My pulse quickened as I paced the room.
“You’re calling me about Vice, right? My brother who you’re dating…”
“How? When? Who?”
She giggled. “Vice called me a while ago and asked if I would be okay if he dated my best friend. I was down for it, but I knew things were new and fresh, so I let it go and waited for you to come to me. There’s only one thing that sucks about this though.”
Vice had asked Molly if he could date me.
Oh my God. Swoon and sigh happily.
“What?”
“I can’t ask for any deets if he’s good in the sack because that’d be just gross, him being my brother and all.”
My whole body sagged in relief, right before I burst out laughing.
“This isn’t a laughing matter, girlfriend. I need to know my friend is satisfied in every department, and every time I think I could ask you, I get hives.”
“Stop. Please stop. You’re killing me.”
“I’m killing you?” she grumbled. “You’re my friend. I’m supposed to live vicariously through you since I’ll nearly be an old married couple.”
“Babe, it’s not like you ain’t getting any,” Clint shouted. “She may need to live through you because your brother’s a dud in bed.”
“Clint, shut the hell up. I do not want to think about my brother and a bed. That’s so wrong,” Molly screamed, while Clint laughed in the background.
“So you don’t want to know anything?” I queried.
“Nope. Nothing, well except if he makes you happy.”
“We haven’t slept together yet, but—”
“I meant in a general happy sense, you bitch, not in bed happy.”
I snorted. “Yes, Molly. He makes me happy, and even Drew thinks the world of him. Though, it is only new,” I finished in a quieter tone.
“Don’t go there, Addy. When it’s the one, it’ll be forever, and nothing nor no one will be able to come between the two of you. And, honey, my brother has never, and I seriously mean never, acted the way he does with you. He’s smiling more, he texts me, calls me, and the moms. They see it as I do. He’s taken with you in a big way.”
My ears started to ring because my blood was coursing through my body in a rapid speed. I liked that a lot. No, more than liked, I loved hearing Molly say that because it made me feel special.
Vice made me feel special.
“Adalyn? Addy? Clint, I’ve lost her. Adalyn Sage, you talk to me right now.”
“Here,” I muttered.
“Honey, I see good, no… grand things for you and Vice. Take it, hold onto it, and make sure you enjoy it all. Even the bad time because let’s face it, my brother can be a dick sometimes, but the good times will make up for it. Now, I’ll see you this weekend. Can’t wait to see you and Vice around each other. Even though I’ll be barfing in my mouth the whole time.”
“Love you, Molly.”
“Love you, Addy.”
Some days life could give you lemons when all you wanted was lemonade. It was what you did with those lemons, how you dealt with them that could make or break you. I wouldn’t say I’d done well with those lemons, but I wasn’t perfect, no one was. I let them beat me sometimes. But I also did the best I could and, if the lemons I had to deal with were what led me to my lemonade, I would do them all over again.
Great, now I want a lemon meringue pie with all the lemon thinking.
Seriously, why am I swapping lemons for life choices? What am I even talking about?
I even worried about myself some days.
My phone in my hand rang. I fumbled with it a few times, nearly dropping it, and then finally I managed to place it against my ear. “Hello?”
“Baby” was all Vice said, and I smiled like a fool.
“Hi,” I whispered, and then I heard a herd of elephants running down the hall right before my bedroom door was thrown open.
“I was just coming to see if Vice rang when I heard it ring. Is it him? Is it? Can he help me now?” Drew puffed.
Vice chuckled in my ear. “I’ll talk to you soon, Adalyn.”
“You will.” I grinned and then handed the phone out to Drew. He stepped forward quickly and snapped the phone out of my hand.
“Hey, Vice?” Pause. “Yes, I had a good day, but Mickey at school called me a douche. Do you know what that means?”
It was the first I’d heard of it, and I wondered why he hadn’t shared it with me. Although, hearing him confide in Vice about it tickled me pink.
It was times like those I felt the need to break out into song.
As I hit the living room, the front door opened, and Mom stepped in. “I have food.”
I placed a finger to my lips and scooted over to her. “Drew’s on the phone to Vice. Since my son thinks I’m no good with math, he’s asked for Vice’s help.”
“Oh my.” Mom’s eyes filled with tears. “And Vice was willing?”
Seeing the same emotions I felt mirrored in Mom’s eyes, my bottom lip trembled. I nodded. “He said with me comes Drew. He wants us both.”
Goose bumps spread all over my body at voicing what Vice had said. I honestly wasn’t sure it had sunk in until then.
“That man.” Mom wiped her eyes. “I knew he’d be the one.”
“Well, I’m not sure—”
“Shut up. He is. Now, help me with these bags.”
Smiling, I took some bags out of her hand. “By the way, all of us are going to Vice’s on Saturday after basketball.”
“Drew’s told me so much about Vice’s place, I look forward to seeing it.”
“Good.”
“Adalyn, what’s that smile about?”
“What smile? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Adalyn Sage, you get back here and—”
“Shh, Drew’s on the phone, and I have to get dinner on our plates.”
“If you’re up to something, I will kick your ass.”
I only grinned back.