Best Friend's Brother #5 (Best Friend's Brother Romance Series - Book #5) (2 page)

“So it showed up in your pee?” I asked him.

“Eventually.
But first, my teammates were noticing my weight gain and how I was finally able
to build muscle. They asked me about it and since I still thought I was all
that, I told them. They all started ordering it. A parent from a different
school saw how different we looked from the year before and raised his
suspicions. The school gave in and tested
us and “Boom,” I
was caught “cheating.”
My whole life changed after that. I was a good
student and my parents had high hopes for me going to college. I’d actually
gotten noticed by MIT and they were talking full-ride. I was pretty smart in
some ways.
Pretty stupid in others.
I keep that
picture up to remind me of the “good Ian.” That was actually Emma’s idea too.
She told me to find a picture from the last time I really felt good about
myself. That was it.”

“You were just a kid. You couldn’t have really known
what the fallout would be.”

“No, I didn’t, really. It was probably a year later
before I finally decided to get my shit together. I got arrested for shoplifting,
the cops brought me home drunk from more than one party…I gave my parents hell
for that entire year…and they never gave up on me. I’m lucky as hell to have
them.”

“You are,” I said, “But you know what I think?”

“What?”

“I think they’re lucky to have you too.
Especially now.
You take such good care of them.”

“I don’t really do anything….”

“I saw the chalkboard. I tasted the cookies. I see
the look in your mother’s eyes when she talks about you. You’re doing a great
job and it has to be so hard because you’re dealing with your own grief at the
same time. I think you’re pretty amazing, and thank you for telling me about
all of this.”

“Thanks,” he said. “It’s nice to know someone thinks
I’m amazing.”

He looked like he was joking. I wanted him to know
how serious I was. I leaned in and put my mouth close to his and said, “I’m
serious, you’re amazing. I like this, you sharing with me. Please don’t think
you have to hold things back or lie to me, okay?”

He kissed me softly on the lips. He tasted like
butter and salt. “Okay, baby. No lies. I promise. But now you have to tell me
something about you that I don’t know.”

I kissed him again and said, “How about I do that
next time? I really should head home. I want to catch Dad before he goes to bed
so we can talk.”

Ian made a wince face. “Are you going to yell at
him?”

“No,” I told him with a smile. “But I am going to be
firm. It’s high time he realized I’m a grown-up.”

Ian raked his eyes over me so slowly that I actually
shuddered. “Yes you are,” he said with a grin.

It took me another fifteen minutes to convince him
to let me up so I could get dressed. Once I was dressed I brushed my hair and
touched up my make-up enough that it didn’t look like I’d been having wild sex
all day. I got another long, deep, hot kiss before I left and when we broke it
I said, “I know that we have gotten off to a really rough start, but I would
love it if this works out for us. I have so much fun hanging out with you.”

He smiled and traced the outline of my lips with his
fingers. It was one of those intimate gestures that I was coming to love so
much.

“I really want us to work out too. I’m going to do
my best.”

“So am I.” I told him. He gave me another amazing
kiss before I left. I love the way he makes me feel and I really believe that even
if it doesn’t last forever between us, my life will be better for having met
and spent time with him.

As I was driving home, I passed the Fox theatre.
It’s a really old, historical theatre and the only thing they do there anymore
is show old black and white movies…some of them were made even before there was
sound. Emma and I used to hang out there in the days before we were old enough
to date or drive. After we got old enough to do other things, we made a
standing date with each other on the tenth of every month no matter what…we
went and watched a movie together. Dates or any other tag- a-longs were not
allowed. Once we started college that kind of went by the wayside. We talked
about how much we missed doing it…but neither of us ever seemed to find the
time. It dawned on me suddenly that it was the tenth of the month.

Without giving it any more thought than that, I
pulled into the almost empty lot. It was always almost empty, even when it
wasn’t late evening and in the middle of the week. I think the city owns it now
and they don’t care if they made money off of it or not. It was just one of
those historical icons that they left in place to keep the historical societies
from raining heat down on them. I parked in the lot and went up to the
ticket-booth. I had to smile when I saw what was playing. Sometimes I had to
believe that Emma was still around, leading me places. The movie was the
Prisoner of
Zenda
. It was a movie made in 1937…long
before our parents were born even. But for some reason, it was Emma’s favorite.
She used to say it was the most romantic movie ever made. My vote went out to
Gone
With
the Wind, but this one was perfect for
tonight. I asked the kid in the booth for a ticket.

“It’s almost over.”

“That’s okay. I’ve seen it a bunch of times. The
ending is my favorite part.”

He raised an eyebrow
like
he thought I was a little weird, but he took my money and gave me a ticket. I
bought a box of
Junior
mints, Emma’s other favorite
and I went inside the dark theater and found a seat near the back. I was one of
only four people in the whole place. An elderly couple sat near the front. She
had her head on his shoulder and I couldn’t help but wonder if she was
remembering back to when they were young. There was a middle aged man sitting
not too far from them. He was all alone…like me.

I looked up at the screen at Douglas Fairbanks. Emma
always found him so appealing. It was hard for me to look at a man from the
thirties and find him attractive. Today as I looked at him instead of seeing
him, I saw my best friend’s smiling face. It was what I needed to top off an
already wonderful day with Ian. While the movie played, my thoughts switched to
Ian and what it would be like to be in a real relationship with him. I was sure
that was what I wanted and he seemed to want it to. Maybe our “rough start” got
all the kinks worked out already and it would be smooth sailing from here on
out.

I was dragging my feet about going home and talking
to dad. I had to talk to
him,
there would be no
getting out of it. I was too happy when I was with Ian to let my dad’s
unsolicited opinions get in the way. I know that he loves me, but he needed to
learn how to love me differently as an adult than he had as a child. I popped a
junior mint in my mouth and thought about the last time he did this to me. I
was a senior in high school and there was a guy named Rob that I really liked.
He was gorgeous and funny and smart and we had a bunch of classes together.
After about a month of flirting, he finally asked me out. He showed up that
Friday night to pick me up and Dad was polite to him as he could manage. It
wasn’t warm politeness…but it was friendly enough. When we left, I was
breathing a sigh of relief that he hadn’t done anything to ruin it.

We went out to dinner and then a movie. He was sweet
and respectful and he made me feel good about myself. We took a walk through
the park after the movie and he held my hand. He didn’t try to get into my
pants
like
other guys always did at that age. He was
perfect. He took me home and gave me a sweet kiss at the door. He told me he
would call and maybe we could go to lunch or something on Sunday. I thought
about him every second the rest of the weekend…but when lunch time on Sunday
came and went and he hadn’t called, I started feeling horrible…about myself. I
started going over everything I said and did, wondering where I’d gone wrong. I
picked up the phone to call him at least a dozen times, but I didn’t have that
kind of confidence. I finally called Emma…who I’d talked to about how amazing he
was for an hour the day before and I broke down in tears.

Emma was at my house in fifteen minutes and we sat
in the back yard and talked. Her advice to me was that he wasn’t worth my time
if he couldn’t even be bothered to call and cancel. “You’re better than that
Alexa. You deserve more respect than that. Don’t sell yourself short, honey.”

“If I’m as good as you tell me I am, why does this
keep happening to me?”

“If I remember correctly, last time you found out
that your dad scared him off. That wasn’t your fault. Your dad was nice this
time though, you said, right?”

“Yeah, I mean…as nice as Dad can force himself to be
to one of my dates.”

“You don’t think he ran into him or called him or
something, do you?” She had a point. The last guy had run into my dad at the
supermarket. Dad had promptly told him that he wasn’t good enough for me and he
shouldn’t come back around. He didn’t, but he did tell me at school one day
finally why he was avoiding me. Feeling fired up, I jumped up and ran in the
house, calling for my dad. He came out of the bedroom and said, “What’s wrong?”

“You tell me, Daddy. Have you talked to Rob?”

“Oh pumpkin, I’m sorry. He called last night while
you were in the shower. You’d left your phone on the counter so I…”

“Oh my God!”
I grabbed my phone and started looking through it. Sure enough, Rob had called
the night before. “What did you do?”

“I didn’t do anything. Why are you yelling at me?”

“Daddy!
I’m going to ask him so you may as well come clean. What did you do?”

“I just asked him where he planned on going to
school and about his parents….”

Oh God! Rob told me his dad left them when he was
little. His Mom remarried twice since then. In my father’s eyes, that would be
an “unstable” influence. “What did you say to him, Daddy?” I was in tears.

“I just told him I worried about where he came from
and that I wanted better for you than that.” Poor Emma had been a silent
witness to my wrath.

“You have to stop trying to control my life or the
second I turn eighteen I will leave and never come back! He was the nicest boy
I’ve ever been out
with
. Would you prefer I went out
with the ones who try and attack me on the first date?”

“I just think maybe you should just concentrate on
your studies for now. There will be plenty of time for you to meet boys in
college…..”

Frustrated, I’d turned to Emma and said, “Please get
me out of here.” She’d taken me to her house and I’d cried most of the night.
The next day at school, Rob wouldn’t even look at me. The worst part was that
he told all of his friends about my Dad. I didn’t have another date my entire
senior year.

I looked up at the screen and realized the movie had
stopped. With a sigh I pushed myself up. I had to go home and talk to him. I
didn’t want to fight with him, but I had to do this. I wasn’t going to lose Ian
too.

CHAPTER
THREE

IAN

After Alexa left I was antsy. I was really glad that
she wasn’t mad at me anymore. I was afraid I’d blown it again when I told her
about her dad at first. I couldn’t help but wonder how that conversation was
going to go. I couldn’t help but worry about how her dad was going to react
when she told him that not only did she know what he’d told me…
but
that she wanted to keep seeing me. I believed what she
said about him being this way because of her mom…but I also worried that maybe
some of it was that he really didn’t like me either. I wouldn’t win first prize
in an “I’d love for you to date my daughter” contest. What I’d told her was
true too…I didn’t meet many dads. I wasn’t a dater. Every so often I’d be
seeing a girl like Kristy who would attach themselves to me and insist they
were my girlfriend, but the truth was
,
I didn’t do
girlfriends or dates….until Alexa. I suddenly wanted her to be my girlfriend.
And I suddenly wanted to be good enough for her and her father. Maybe after my
championship fight tomorrow. If I win that one, endorsements and offers from
UFC were sure to follow. Maybe if I was in a “legitimate” occupation, albeit
still using my fists that would
be
at least one
redeeming quality.

I tried to finish the movie, but I couldn’t sit
still. I finally ended up getting dressed and heading out to the gym. I didn’t
usually go the night before a fight. The last thing I wanted was an injury that
would prevent me from fighting.
Especially this fight.
It was too important. I had to get out of the apartment though. I would make
sure not to overdo it, but I had to do something to work off some of this
nervous energy or I’d never get any sleep tonight. There weren’t many people
around at the gym at this time of night, so that was good. I liked when it was
quiet and I could focus. Too many “Strongmen” and “Gym bunnies” gave it a bar
atmosphere that pissed me off when I was trying to seriously work out.

I started out with some stretches and lunges and
then I took out a rope and jumped for about fifteen minutes. I rested for five,
got some water and then I moved over to the speed bag.