Luke and Jackson said hi to me and gave me hugs when they came up for air before Brandon introduced T.J. to me. “This is Chloe, Jackson’s sister. Chloe, this is T.J., the guy I met at the convention in L.A.”

I held out my hand and he took it in his, holding it as he murmured, “Nice to meet you.”

His eyes never left my face as I nodded and replied, “You, too.”

He winked in response and dropped my hand as Brandon suddenly moved, slinging an arm around my shoulder and squeezing me tight as he quipped, “She’s our little Cali-girl.”

It sounded like a conversation opening, what with T.J. being from California, as well, but it clearly wasn’t as Brandon maneuvered me around toward the kitchen. I sent an apologetic smile over my shoulder at T.J., because I’m not a rude person and that, frankly, struck me as rude on Brandon’s behalf. So wait. Was he jealous? No…that couldn’t be it.

T.J. just gave me an enigmatic half-smile and turned his attention back to Jackson, who’d asked him something as he tucked Allie into his side once more.

Brandon let me go as we got to the kitchen table and looked at Emma who was waddling around gathering paper plates and napkins. The doorbell rang, causing the dogs to go crazy again and Luke hollered at them to stop while he went to answer the door.

Twenty minutes later found us all stuffing our faces with pizza and making grossed out faces at Allie who had a pizza to herself because she wanted pickles on it. Even Jackson looked mildly repulsed as she devoured piece after piece like a starving woman.

At one point she looked up, noticing that everyone was staring at her with varying expressions of disgust on their faces and said, “What? Like I’m the only one in the world who eats pickles? I don’t think so. Emma, you eat pickles all the time, and Chloe, you just ate pickles wrapped in a piece of cheese the other day, so…” She cocked her head in a little ‘what now’ move and took another huge bite of pizza.

Emma laughed and inclined her head, acknowledging Allie’s point, but then qualified it a little. “True, and Chloe, that sounds a little disturbing in itself, but Allie, you’re eating pickles on pizza. Pickles are not a normal pizza topping and you’ve never eaten them like that before.”

Allie just shrugged and said, “I’m pregnant, bitches. Get over it.”

We all laughed at her and dinner wore on, full of smiles and the easy camaraderie I’ve come to expect from this group. It warmed my heart to be included in it and I felt so blessed that they took me in with open arms, making me a part of it like I’d always been there. I think it said even more about the depth of love they had for each other, as friends and family, that this group had been born out of one little trip to a tattoo shop almost two years ago. It’s a beautiful thing, I promise.

I noticed T.J. out of the corner of my eye, sitting there sort of quietly. It’s not that he wasn’t participating, or that he was excluded, because that’s not it. In fact, everyone had embraced him just as readily. It was more of him just being…watchful. He’d taken off his glasses earlier and I’d finally gotten a look at his eyes. They were honeyed brown, like warm whiskey with the sunlight shining through. Breathtaking.

He caught me looking and I flushed, smiling and quickly looking away. I heard a huff beside me and realized that Brandon had witnessed the interaction and, if I wasn’t mistaken, I’d almost swear he was jealous. But, as I’d told myself earlier, that couldn’t possibly be true. Could it?

Perplexed, I grabbed my pizza off my plate and took a big bite, getting even more flustered when a piece of pepperoni flew off and dropped into my lap. I dropped my pizza back on my plate and grabbed my napkin to wipe my hands and face before I went to grab for the wayward slice. But…I never got to grab it.

“WHOA!” I yelled as, suddenly, a hundred pounds plus of yellow fur and a wet pointy nose shoved into my lap under the table, snuffling and snorting to reach the dropped pepperoni. I tried and tried to push him back but couldn’t, scrambling at the same time to shove back my chair and stand, but I only succeeded in somehow falling off the side of my chair onto the floor where I was bombarded with exuberant doggy kisses.

I heard everyone laughing and Luke hollering at the dogs to leave me alone, which they finally did, trotting off happily, Doug smacking his lips with satisfaction at having retrieved his unexpected treat.

Me? I just laid there on the floor. I really would have just stayed down there, but then Brandon’s face appeared over mine, fighting a smile as he tried to look concerned.

“You alright down there?”

Chapter 6

Dinner wound down eventually with everyone still laughing at my unfortunate floor dive. Leah had shown up late and they had quickly filled her in, allowing her to join in their glee at my expense.

Allie and Jackson were the first ones to leave the get together, grabbing Grady and heading out the door with a brief wave, the looks on their faces making it clear exactly what their intentions were. I didn’t know how they were going to survive the six weeks after she had the baby. Or Luke and Emma, either, for that matter.

They were giving each other that look, too, which made Leah give her grossed out face and take off, beeping her horn and setting Doug to howling, DJ yipping along with him. Brandon had stepped out on the porch with T.J., after T.J. had said his goodbyes. He’d only been able to quickly shake my hand again before Brandon had called him away to walk outside, leaving me the only one in the house with the love birds.

I heard Luke murmur something to Emma, making her giggle and slap at him, telling him to behave and that was definitely my cue to leave. I told them goodbye, accepting hugs and more good natured ribbing from them before I gave goodbye rubs to Doug and DJ and headed out the door, making my way toward my car where Brandon was standing, having just waved as T.J. pulled out of the drive.

He turned to me and asked, “You heading out?”

I nodded, trying not to laugh at his wistful expression. He glanced back at the house, roughed his hands over his head and face and muttered something about going to the shop for a while.

I took pity on him. “You can come stay at my place tonight, if you want.”

“Yeah?” He asked, looking hopeful.

“Yup. I’m thinking you’re not gonna wanna be here,” I said ruefully.

“I’ll just grab some clothes and meet you there, okay?” he said as he turned to go inside. He paused, hesitation clearly written across his features before he asked, “Uh, so…um, you cool if I just stay for a while?”

Surprise flashed through me and I struggled to hide it as I stammered, “Y-uh-yeah, th-that’s fine.”

He smiled and jogged inside. I stood there staring after him for a moment in a daze before I shook it off and made the drive home.

I paced through the house, waiting on him to show up, berating myself the whole time. ‘Why the HELL would you agree to this? Geez, you’re a dumbass Chloe Jane Matthews. Can’t keep your fucking head together around him, want to do nothing but jump his damn bones and you tell him he can LIVE WITH YOU?’

“Well, what the hell was I supposed to do?” I yelled out loud at myself, immediately feeling stupid for actually carrying on a conversation with myself like a crazyass.

I speared my fingers through my hair and gave a quick tug, hoping the slight sting would help bring me back from the edge.