Beyond Reason (17 page)

“Christy was the girl in the rumors and now he has a son,” Gabby repeated.

“Do you believe him? That he didn’t get with her until after you left?” Brandy asked out of the blue.

“Yeah. I felt he was being genuine. I think. Why’d you have to ask that?” I laughed. “But whatever. We’re just getting to know each other and who knows what’ll happen. Besides, I don’t think now is the time for either of our past dating escapades to be outed.”

Gabby’s gaze flashed to the steps where Jason hopped to the floor from the loft. Gripping his phone tightly, he walked through the great room toward their bedroom, avoiding Gabby.

“Everything okay?” Gabby asked, standing up quickly to follow.

“Everything’s fine,” Jason called behind him, as he shut the door to the bedroom.

“What the hell was that all about?” I asked, as she sat back down, almost embarrassed.

Gabby’s gaze fell to the floor and she circled her fingers on the couch before raising her eyes to meet mine. “I don’t know, but I’m starting to get really worried about things.”

Brandy and I hopped out of our chairs to sit next to Gabby. “What do you mean?” I whispered. “What kinds of things? Where’d this come from?”

“I didn’t want to bring it up during the holidays or on the trip but…” Gabby’s voice broke.

“What’s going on?” Brandy asked, her hand on Gabby’s knees. “Do my brothers need to kick his ass?”

That got a laugh out of Gabby, but when her eyes met mine again, tears lined the edges. “I don’t know what’s going on. Ever since he got in touch with his aunt and found out about his sister, things haven’t felt right.”

“You should have told us,” I said, giving her a hug. “But I’m sure it’s okay. He’s probably just trying to digest everything. Has he mentioned more about his family?”

She shook her head. “No. That’s part of the problem. Anytime, I try to ask him about what he’s found out or how I can help or anything…he just clams up.”

“I’m even beginning to wonder if it really is about his family or if everything has been too good to be true and...” The sound of the door opening down the hall, made us all still and Gabby quickly wiped away her tears.

Jason grabbed a few beers out of the fridge to take upstairs for the guys. “What’s up with the silence? Shouldn’t you guys be pestering poor Lily about her date?” Jason teased.

“It wasn’t a date,” I corrected.

“That’s not what Ayden said,” Jason laughed.

I wondered what he did say…

“So what was so important that you had to take a
Call of Duty
break?” Brandy asked, staring straight at him. She was never one to dance around a topic…that was for sure.

“There was a problem at the shop,” he said, walking over to where we were sitting. He looked relaxed, too relaxed, and gave Gabby a quick kiss on the cheek.

“At this time of night?” Brandy dug. “Seems highly unlikely.”

Jason just shrugged and walked up the steps, carefully balancing all of the bottles for the players waiting upstairs.

“See?” Gabby asked, defeated.

“I’ll pester Aaron and see if I can find anything out,” Brandy said softly. “You’re right. Something feels off.”

I glared at Brandy as Gabby’s eyes filled with worry. She didn’t need to make Gabby feel worse.

“I’m sure it’s nothing bad. It’s probably just family stuff that maybe embarrasses him or maybe he doesn’t even know what’s going on yet and doesn’t want to burden you,” I offered. “I mean I wasn’t the greatest at telling you guys everything about my past and look where we are now. And you’re my best friends of how many years?”

“I think I’m going to go with Lily’s assumptions right now. They make me feel better,” Gabby laughed.

“Well, we’re here for you, girl. No matter what,” Brandy said. “And I’ll let you know what I find out.”

“This is exactly what I didn’t want to have happen. Now come on, tell us more about Austin,” Gabby said, smiling. “Tell me this. Did you feel
it
?”

“Umm. I think so. I mean I don’t know,” I stumbled over my words.

“You don’t know?” Brandy asked, her gaze quizzical.

“I think there was too much stuff that needed to be sorted before I could even let my mind go there.”

Gabby pressed her lips together, and I could tell she was wondering the same thing as me. What if
it
didn’t come?

“So are there any enchiladas left?” I asked, switching the subject.

“I thought you had dinner?” They both asked at the same time.

“I did. But—”

“Oh, no. Not again,” Brandy laughed as she stood up slowly. “You’re in really rough shape if you need two dinners.”

“It’s a two-alarm emergency,” Gabby laughed.

I watched Brandy slowly make her way to the kitchen, and I wondered if she was hurting. I hoped she wasn’t, but there was something about the way she moved that told me things weren’t painless.

“Do I smell enchiladas?” Ayden called from the loft as she set a plate of enchiladas in front of me. “If I do, heat me up one too.”

“Heat it up yourself,” Brandy hollered back. Regardless of what she hollered, she grabbed an empty plate for her brother, and I thought about how nice it must be to have that kind of connection to a sibling.

Ayden was already in the kitchen by the time Brandy grabbed the steaming plate out of the microwave and placed it on the counter.

“Another rough night with the two-dinner thing?” Ayden laughed as he grabbed the plate from Brandy.

Oh my God! He didn’t just say that, did he?

Brandy gripped the plate tightly, not releasing it to Ayden. He didn’t even realize what he’d just implied as he continued to pull on the plate.

“What do you mean another two-dinner night?” Brandy asked, her brow arched. “How would you know about that?”

Ayden’s expression turned completely playful while mine turned beet red. It felt like my cheeks were on fire.

“Can I have the plate?” he asked, tugging both the plate and Brandy toward him.

“Not until you tell me what other time you’ve experienced Lily’s two-dinner number?” Brandy scowled, and I just stared at my own plate of enchiladas, refusing to look at her.

“I didn’t experience it,” he laughed. “I just heard about it.”

“Liar.” I felt Brandy’s eyes on me, and then the next thing I knew I was giggling uncontrollably.

Ayden let go of the plate Brandy was gripping and sauntered over to where I was laughing and sat next to me, picking up my fork and digging in.

“You were the one who told her?” Brandy asked, setting the plate on the counter. “Traitor. An absolute traitor. And I thought you were the trustworthy brother. I never guessed it was you. Never thought for a moment.”

I could see the mischief in her eyes as she reprimanded her brother, and all I could think about was my vanishing enchilada.

“When did this happen?” Her lips were puckered, trying not to laugh as she pestered her brother for answers.

“I’m pleading the fifth,” he said, finally relinquishing my fork.

“You owe me at least half of your enchilada,” I said, watching him move swiftly into the kitchen to steal the plate from his sister who was now far too curious to care.

“That weekend I was in Portland,” Ayden said.

“One of those better be for me. These are to die for,” I said, smiling, avoiding the topic of conversation at all costs.

“I feel out of the loop, and I hate feeling out of the loop,” Brandy said, turning to face her brother.

“There’s no loop. There’s no story. I learned two things that night about Lily. One, if she’s having a bad day, she’s a two dinner girl. And two, wine and whisky is an interesting combo for her. That’s it. End of story.”

I froze at his admission and Brandy slowly turned toward me. Ayden couldn’t hide his smile, and I suddenly saw why Brandy always had the urge to slug him.

“You needed a two-dinner night when you found out about our plan to hook you up with Austin?” Gabby asked, her voice completely sympathetic.

“No. I needed it before then,” I assured her. “Ayden showed up the night I had my awful date with Rob.”

“Well, that makes me feel a hundred percent better. I didn’t want to be responsible for one of those,” Brandy laughed.

“No. You were responsible for the two-breakfast morning the next day. Ayden had to go all over town to find eggs benedict for me,” I teased.

Brandy’s eyes looked like they were about to fall out of her head when Gabby started cracking up. It was Ayden’s turn to be frozen in position and I loved every second of it.

“Kidding,” I chided.

“I don’t think you deserve one of these,” Ayden joked, moving his plate away.

“I think she deserves as many as she wants after that one,” Gabby said, applauding my work. “It’s hard to make Brandy hyperventilate like that.”

I glanced at Ayden and noticed his gaze was on me, and there was something behind it that I recognized from that night. He walked over to where I was sitting, and I felt a current between us again. I shifted away slightly at the thought of what it could mean or what I wanted it to mean.

But then my mouth betrayed me.

“By the way, your observation about me and whisky and wine is incorrect. It did diddley tonight,” I whispered, as Brandy and Gabby started hauling out the chips and dip.

His eyes fastened on mine and a charge ran down my spine. “What were you expecting the combo to do tonight, Lily?” His voice rumbled its way through me and I had to catch my breath.

“I wanted it to do that,” I mumbled.

“What?”

“You know what,” I breathed.

“No. I really don’t.”

Brandy turned around and plopped a bowl of chips on the island as Jason, Aaron, and Mason came into the kitchen.

“What was the hoopla about?” Mason asked, leaning in between Ayden and me.

“I found out who can’t keep a secret,” Brandy said.

“So who’s your favorite brother now?” Mason grabbed a chip and crunched right next to my ear.

“Obviously you are,” Brandy teased.

“Then my work here is done,” Mason said.

“When’s Sammie getting in tomorrow?” Gabby asked. Her eyes steadied on mine, and I flashed her a return smile.

“Can’t remember,” Ayden said, shrugging his shoulders.

“You can’t remember?” I asked.

“Afternoon or something,” he replied, avoiding my gaze.

Mason placed his hand on my shoulder and started to speak, “I thought—”

“So are we ready for Operation Ice Cube?” Ayden asked, interrupting his brother.

I looked at Brandy and Gabby just as Aaron and Jason scooped them both up. I started laughing, but the next thing I knew, Ayden had me locked in his arms as Mason ran to the sliding glass doors and opened them up.

“Where are you taking us?” Gabby squealed, pounding on Jason.

“Let me go,” Brandy seconded.

I was wriggling and shifting so violently in Ayden’s clutch, I wasn’t even sure how I remained secured so tightly in his arms.

“You better not,” I screamed, as I watched Mason peel back the hot tub cover.

“Or what,” Ayden murmured.

My head and hands rested on his chest as I felt everything go into slow motion. First Jason plopped Gabby into the steaming hot tub, and then Aaron did the same. Just as Ayden dangled me over the water, I reached my arms around his neck and held on tightly, bringing the front of him into the hot tub too. As soon as my body hit the warm water, I let go. But it was too late, Mason, Jason and Aaron had already pushed him in and we were all dying of laughter.

“Is that all you’ve got?” I shouted.

Brandy, Gabby and I huddled in the far corner, splashing water on the fully clothed men, drenching them completely.

“I do declare, we are the winners,” Brandy feigned, placing her hand against her forehead.

Ayden stood up in the hot tub, and his clothes clung to his body as he crawled out of the water. My heart literally skipped a beat as his eyes met mine, and all I could do was look away as the guys delivered our towels.