Love and Chaos: A Growing Pains Novel (16 page)

“Yeah. It does. Especially since I know exactly who I am now. I’m happy with me. I don’t want to change. But…”

“You also don’t want to face persecution from your family.” Cassie rubbed his arm as he nodded, tears coming to his eyes.

He took a big breath to clear the emotional cobwebs and waved animate
dly. “Now go get ready. Hurry! The limo is going to be here soon.”

Cassie squealed like a little girl. “Wine tasting! How exciting!”

“You’d think this was your first time. Oh honey—this isn’t your first time, right? I don’t have to police you?”

She sent him a scathing look. “I am not an amateur. That said, yes, you should probably police me, because I am feeling
feisty.
”

He laughed in delight and peeked out the door. “Hurry, coast is clear.”

She glanced around hurriedly to make sure she had everything ready for after the shower.

“Go, go—“ he
waved her through. “I’ll get your outfit ready. And we are going shopping for panties, because that thong is absolutely disgusting.”

“It’s fine. I don’t wear the cute ones running.”

“Why do you have anything but cute ones? They are too cheap to wear past their prime. Replace them, darling. I shouldn’t have to tell you this.”

She scoffed
with a smile as she darted across the hallway to the bathroom. “How would you know?” she threw over her shoulder. Then, “Never mind, don’t answer that. I don’t want to know.”

She showered and washed her hair in record time, probably still half dirty but not bothering to worry about it. She found her outfit hanging on the door, and for once, nothing had been replaced or changed—but then, she’d always known
how
to look good, she just hardly ever cared to bother.

On
the dot of ten o’clock, she dove into her makeup bag. No time to spare!

***

Jace stood patiently in front of the limo with Nick and Demetri, the three of them waiting for the women and Peter to come out of the house.

“What the hell is keeping Peter? He was ready, wasn’t he?” Nick asked, staring
toward the valley.

“Helping Cassie, maybe?”
Demetri said, deleting a bunch of pictures so he would be photo bomb-ready for the rest of the day.

“Do you get the feeling…” Nick shook his head and shrugged at the same time.
“I mean… he’s…”

“He doesn’t really seem into his girlfriend.” Demetri glanced up at his brother.

Nick squinted in thought. “He doesn’t really, no. Jenn said something…”

Jace looked at Nick’s face, trying to figure out where he was going with all this. The other man’s expression
was uncertain, right before he dropped his head and kicked at the ground. “I don’t know. I never really got him, I guess.”

“I’ve never really gotten
you
.” Demetri raised his eyebrows but continued staring down at his phone.

“That’s because you’re about as smart as a box of hair.” Nick gave Demetri a shove.

“Cut it out,
man
, I’m doing important stuff. Besides, we’re from the same genes, and rocket science runs in the family. Jason, though…” Demetri glanced up with twinkling eyes. “Adopted.”

Nick’s head snapped up, waiting to see what Jace would do.

That had always been the big cut-down. Usually, if three of them were together, two would join together and tease the third mercilessly about being adopted. The myth was that their mother found a kid on the street and felt bad, so she wanted to raise him as her own. That myth hadn’t formed until the later years, though. Kids never had to have a reason to tell their sibling they were adopted.

Jace smirked, stepped forward, and gave Demetri a hard shove. Demetri went skittering across the side of the limo, clutching his phone.

“You deserved that, bro.” Nick bent over laughing. “What’d you think he would do?”

“I suddenly remember why we rarely taunted you with that line.” Demetri stepped away and went back to his phone.

“Bet you didn’t think he could still shove you, what with you adding enough weight to equal your twin combined into one.”

“That barely made sense.” Demetri glanced up at the door, and did a double take.

Jace and Nick followed his gaze. The world dropped away. Jace felt his balls tighten at the same time a burst of sweat erupted on his forehead. Cassie stood in the doorway, her curvy but athletic frame dressed in light tan, form-fitting slacks, and a loose silk blouse. Feathery sheets of white-blond hair cascaded around her face, accentuating her high cheekbones and lush lips. A small amount of makeup dusted her vivid blue eyes, heightening their color and making them look almost otherworldly. The way she stood, tall and regal, elegant and poised, bespoke money and prestige. It also bespoke excellent pedigree. But her easy smile and athletic grace grounded her.

An earth-bound angel.

“Hey guys. Where is everyone?” she asked.

Nick muttered something and shuffled away. Demetri glanced at Jace with a tight mouth. Jace just stared. He couldn’t help it.

She raised her eyebrows at him, probably wondering what the problem was.

“They’re coming
,” he managed with a thick tongue. He half expected Nick or Demetri to make fun of him, loose limbed and dense as he was. She was like looking at the sun, and yet, the singeing sensation was oh-so-pleasant.

“Oh. Should I
go and get them?” She turned toward the door and peeked back inside.

“We’re coming, we’re coming!” Rachel’s voice drifted out of the house. “Look at you! Don’t you look pretty
?”

Cassie smiled beautifully and stepped
away, joined a moment later by Peter.

Jace’s
heart sank. It made a lot more sense now, the two of them. While Jace could dress up and try to look the part, his shoulders never fit right in a businessman’s uniform. If he got a shirt or suit big enough for the top half of his torso, it hung limply at the bottom, making him look like a clown. Put him in a breezy golfing man’s leisure wear and his tattoos gave him away. Put him in around-the-town preppy-man’s wear and his intense demeanor and unwillingness to take shit had people scurrying out of the way.

In contrast, Peter stood next to a woman beautiful enough to make any man drool, and
he wasn’t even awed at her splendor. He didn’t need to; he complimented her perfectly. His stylish slacks and collared shirt didn’t have a crease out of place. His erect poise and unerring comfort in fashionable clothes suggested a man at the top of the social order. His smooth face and manicured features enhanced his already good looks. 

They stood there, the two of them, smiling and laughing with Rachel as they waited for
Jenn. Sun highlighted their features and sparkled in their eyes. The breeze ruffled their hair. Two pretty people at the top of the world.

Jace blew out a breath and dug his hands into his pockets.

“What’s she doing?” Nick asked Rachel as the driver came around to open the limo door for everyone.

“She’s giving your mother instructions.” Rachel turned to Peter. “Are you buying today, or just drinking?”

“Did she forget that my mother has four kids of her own?” Nick muttered. He turned to Demetri. “Did we bring some wine for the road?”

“Champagne and OJ,” Demetri said, dropping his phone to his side. “We need a picture before we mount up.”

“Regulators,
mount up!”
Nick whooped.

“This is a car, Nick, not a horse.” Rachel slapped him through the air.

“How does she not know that song?” Nick asked Demetri, stunned.

“She doesn’t have bad taste?” Smiling in jest, Cassie slipped her hand under Peter’s arm. Jace watched with a tingling body as her
skin affectionately touched Peter’s.

A white-hot jolt of
pure rage shot through his sternum. His muscles tensed and his heart started to hammer. He wanted to sprint up those stairs, grab Peter by the throat, and throw his body over the roof of the car. He’d never been jealous before Marlene, but seeing the woman you were trying to pledge your life to bed another man… Liquid fire shot through his body as he watched Cassie lean easily against Peter, joking about something and laughing.

Jace
yanked his hands out of his pockets, clenching and unclenching his fists.
She isn’t yours. This reaction isn’t logical. You have no claim on her.

Rage pumped his adrenaline. His furious heartbeat pounded in his ears, blocking out sound.
His gaze tracked her free hand, light and playful, bouncing off Peter’s chest as she gently mocked him.

It took everything Jace had in the world not to take those few steps and rip his brother’s arms off.
To drag Cassie away and secure her firmly at his side. For him. Only.

“Hey man, you all right?” Demetri stepped closer, turning his back to the porch. His brother surveyed him for a second before a knowing look crossed his face. “Take a walk, bro. Walk it off.”

Blood flash boiling him, Jace fisted his hands and turned from the scene. He needed to punch something. To destroy something. To tear something apart.

To beg Cassie to get out of his heart where she’d stuck herself from their first meeting.

“Hey, man.” Nick caught up with him quickly, pounding him on the back as they went around the limo. “Where you living these days, anyway? You can come to our house after this so you don’t have to live with the parents…”

Jace forced deep breaths out through his mouth.

“I am going to buy the
shit
out of the vineyards today,” Nick said into Jace’s silence. “What about you, man? Buy yourself drunk, am I right?” Nick pounded on Jace’s back again, thick, heady slaps to beat the anger out.

It was helping. Violence. He needed more violence.

Demetri appeared around the limo, phone disappearing to his pocket. He jerked his head at Nick. “Jenn needs you for something.”

Without a word, Demetri took Nick’s spot beside Jace and slapped a hard hand to his shoulder. “Your Giants picked on my A’s this year, bro. Don’t think I didn’t notice.”

Jace walked a few paces, hot prickles of rage piercing his skin. He rolled his shoulders and swung his arms, trying to work it out of his system. Trying to simmer down the adrenaline.

“You boxing lately, buddy?” Demetri asked, now facing down the driveway right beside Jace.

“No.”

“You should probably get into that again. You need something to do. Get some aggression out, know what I mean?”

Jace rolled his neck.

“Yo
u want to stay with Rachel and me for a while?” Demetri went on, rocking back and forth on his toes and heels. “It’d sure beat staying under mom’s eye, huh? Although, we won’t do your laundry.”

Jace blew out a forceful breath. “We about ready?”

Demetri turned to look back toward the house. “Yup, it’s
go
time.”

Demetri gave Jace another hard pat before they turned toward the house.

Jace came around the limo, trying to work his jaw free from the clench he couldn’t help, as Cassie came down the steps. She gave him a lovely smile that set butterflies loose in his rib cage. Refusing to look at Peter, who was coming down behind her, Jace stopped so she could go into the limo first.

Her eyebrows dipped as she met his gaze. “You okay?”

He jerked his head downward for a stiff nod.

“You don’t look okay.” She hesitated, her concerned expression
made him want to reach forward and stroke a thumb down her face to reassure her.

He meant to say, “I’m fine.” Or even, “Get in.” Instead,
what fell out of his mouth was, “You’re beautiful.”

A light blush crept up her neck and colored her face. Even embarrassed, she was the most beautiful thing. God couldn’t have made better.

“Well, we all know
I’m
beautiful,” Nick said jovially, shuffling passed Peter and steering Cassie into the door of the limo.

“I tried to tell her that, too, Jace,” Rachel said, slipping in front of Peter. “But she waved me away and said, ‘Meh.’ Who responds with
meh?
I usually have to trick people into saying I’m pretty.”

“You’re pretty,”
Jenn helped, also slipping in front of Peter.

“Excuse me, ladies, but there is a
line!”
Demetri pushed in front of Peter also, flashing Jace a warning stare as he waited to get into the limo.

It didn’t need to be said.
Jace’s behavior didn’t need to be analyzed. He wasn’t acting like he should, nor was he giving his brother the respect and support he always had before now. The only problem was, he wanted Cassie so bad it physically hurt. It had crawled into him, into the very root, and lodged there, eating away at him. It wasn’t logical, anymore. It wasn’t something he could understand, and he certainly couldn’t control it. The best he could do was ignore it. Not act on it. That was the absolute best he could hope for, and it was killing him.