Love Me to Death (13 page)

Me: Are you going home, too?

Ned: No.

Me: Then neither am I.

Ned: I’m not in the mood for this, Cole.

Me: Babe, neither am I so I suggest you just enjoy your little date and stop stressing about things that don’t concern you.

Ned: Seriously?!

“You are incredibly anti-social tonight, bro. You talking to a girl?” Layla is smiling at me.

“I might be,” I tease.

“Then I shall not interrupt but please tell her that I want my brother all to myself soon so she’ll have to go in a minute. We have a lot of catching up to do. I still haven’t heard a thing about this new job of yours.”

I’m about to answer Layla when I glimpse a sight of green in my peripheral. I turn to see Ned stalking toward me angrily and stand up in shock. Gosh, she does look better standing up.
Angry is very sexy on my girl.

I’m about to tell her that Layla is my sister before she blows her cover when she smashes her lips into mine.

I. Did. Not. Expect. This.

She’s kissing me with a mix of anger and passion. I know that pushing her away and explaining that she doesn’t need to keep proving a point because Layla is my sister would be the right thing to do, but damn she tastes good. Her lips feel good. The tongue that just plunged into my mouth feels good and I’ll be damned if I or anyone else for that matter interrupts this kiss. I slip my hand around her waist and pull her just that little bit closer, ignoring the fact that we’re standing in the middle of a crowded restaurant. I hear her groan into my mouth and then she pulls away with a look of satisfaction. Her expression says “I told you I was in control and I will do anything to prove it” but I’m almost certain that her expression is about to do a complete three-sixty in about ten seconds.

Turning her head away from me with a triumphant smile on her face, she holds her hand in Layla’s direction. “Hi, I’m Ned, Cole’s girlfriend and you are?”

And the end of the ten seconds has arrived.

“Layla. Brennan’s sister,” Layla replies, shaking Ned’s hand with a look of complete bewilderment on her face. I watch as the triumphant smile on Ned’s face turns to confusion and then sheer embarrassment. She slowly turns her head toward me and looks into my eyes.

“Your sister?” she barely whispers.

Trying desperately to hold back the laugh that is longing to come out, I reply, “Yes, baby, my
sister
.”

Ned’s eyes dart from mine to Layla’s before I feel her knees buckle a little. I hold her up with the arm that is still around her waist, bury my head in the dip of her neck, and chuckle.

“If it’s any consolation that was hot, even hotter than those floss panties of yours,” I whisper in her ear.

This night just got ten times more interesting.

“So let me get this right, you’ve got a girlfriend?” Layla says for the third time.

“Yes,” I answer.

“And this is your sister, not a date?” Ned asks, looking mortified.

“Yes,” I answer again. I feel like I’m dealing with a pair of parrots.

“I am
so
sorry. I thought he was … that you were just some girl he was … oh gosh this sounds awful, doesn’t it?” I’ve never seen Ned so disorientated.

“Honestly, it’s fine,” Layla says. “My brother doesn’t exactly have the greatest track record and in all honesty, I would have done the same thing if I’d seen my husband here with some girl that I didn’t know.”

“I am still here you know,” I interject. They both ignore me.

“I’m so embarrassed,” Ned says.

“There’s no need, seriously. It’s nice to officially meet you even though I’ve heard nothing about you,” Layla says throwing me a chastising look.

“It’s early days,” I defend.

“It’s true, it is,” Ned adds. “But I’ve heard a lot about you so it’s nice to finally meet you. I just wish the circumstances had been a little better.”

“It’s forgotten, I’m not even worrying about it anymore so neither should you.”

“Thanks.”

“At least now I know why you’ve been so distracted all night and why you wanted to come here.” Layla drops me in it.

“You came here on purpose?” Ned asks in shock.

“Thanks, Layla,” I say sarcastically.

“Anytime, Bro.”

I turn back to Ned. “I may have.”

“You were listening to my conversation yesterday at the restaurant, weren’t you? You are such a jerk, Cole!”

“Can’t disagree with you there.”
Thanks again, Layla.

“Well, you are here with
Jackson.”
I squint my eyes at Ned.

“
Relationships
are about trust, you moron. Besides, you knew I was coming here with Jackson, so it wasn’t a secret. Not quite like when I had to drag your ass out of the bar with the twins the other night, is it?”

“We’re really bringing this up right now?”

“Yes, we are.”

“Well then let’s talk about trust because now that I come to think of it, how did you even know that I was there?”

“I didn’t, bumping into you was an accident. I own half of the club, and I was attending a meeting with my partner, Jonathon,” she says exasperated.

She owns a club with Bobby’s cousin …
Full of surprises.

“She got you there, little Bro.” Layla looks way too amused.

“Yeah, well … I’ve got nothing else to say other than if you’d have come over here like an adult, and asked a couple of questions, then we could have avoided all of this.”

“I texted you, all you had to do was say that it was your sister but you wanted to make me jealous, let’s be honest.”

“You were jealous?” I smirk.

“No, that’s not what I meant.”

“Really? Because I’m pretty sure that meant you were jealous. Wouldn’t you agree, Lay?”

“Sorry, Ned but you sound a teeny bit jealous,” Layla says holding her index finger and thumb up in the air with a tiny gap between them.

“I thought us girls were supposed to be sticking together right now?” Ned says to her.

“Sorry,” Layla says with a little smile.

“The point is that you should not even be here,” Ned says, looking at me.

“No, the point is that you say that you and Jackson are just friends but look at you, who shows up to meet a
friend
in a dress like that?”

“I do!”

“Gosh, you two have got it bad,” Layla says, watching in amusement.

Ned turns a deep shade of red before rushing to defend herself. “I have not got it ba—”

“I’m sorry but would you mind keeping your voices down, you’re disturbing some of the other customers,” a formally dressed man interjects. He appears to be the manager. That’s when I take a moment to look around the restaurant and see all of the disapproving eyes that are staring at us, including Jackson’s.

“Great, another restaurant I can never step foot in again because of you,” Ned mumbles. I laugh.

“Sorry,” Layla says to the man.

“Now, if you’d like to continue this conversation amicably then I can have you moved to one of our booths where you can all sit together?” The man adds.

“Perfect,” Layla beams with a mischievous smile on her face. “We can take out some time to really get to know each other.”

I look at Ned’s face and I’m pretty sure that it mirrors my expression.
We are not ready for this.
My sister can sometimes ask a lot of questions and I am not sure that we can answer them all. Unfortunately, the manager has already left to prepare our booth and Layla is jumping for joy.

“This is going to be so much fun,” she says.

“I’m just going to let Jackson know what’s going on,” Ned says in defeat as she walks toward him.

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me that you have a girlfriend! I like her,” Layla says with a smile. “And, she’s pretty. I hope you don’t screw this up.”

“I won’t and yeah, she’s great isn’t she,” I say flatly.

Layla ignores my tone. “But why does she keep calling you Cole?” She looks perplexed.

“She just prefers it so it’s kind of our thing.”

“So cute, you have a ‘thing’ already. You’ve never had an
actual
girlfriend before; you have no idea how excited I am.”

I just smile.
Oh, I think I can tell.

The manager walks over at that point and leads us to the booth.

“I’ll notify your waitress that you have switched tables so there isn’t a delay getting your food.”

“Thanks,” I say, “And sorry for any problems we caused.”

“Already forgotten, my friend.” He smiles before walking away.

Just as the manager leaves, Ned and Jackson arrive. Ned glares at me before sliding into the booth next to me. I do a mental victory dance when Jackson has to sit next to Layla. He doesn’t look too impressed to be here and that makes me very happy. I slip my arm around Ned’s waist and pull her until she is flush against me. I press my lips against her cheek and feel her shiver.

“Hey, babe,” I say joyfully. I can feel her tense up as though she wants to fight me but she doesn’t. Instead, she grins and bears it to keep up appearances. I’ll pay for that move later but for now, I will enjoy every minute of it. Jackson looks uncomfortable.
Perfect.

“Aww,” Layla coos as she watches us.

I keep my hand around Ned’s waist and look up at my sister.

“Jackson, this is my sister, Layla. Layla, this is Jackson, Ned’s
ex-
lover.”

I see Ned’s jaw tighten. I honestly want to laugh and jump her since she looks so damn hot right now. No wonder green is her favorite color if it looks this good on her.

“Oh, you know about us?” Jackson asks me but keeps his eyes on Ned.

“Of course, Ned and I tell each other everything. Isn’t that right, babe?” I smile.

“Yes. He knows every detail of our three-year relationship,” she says smugly.
Why does that comment make me want to break his neck?
The thought of him taking
three
years of her life makes me mad.
She’s mine.
I ignore the voice in my head.

“Yeah, no secrets in this relationship,
contract
bound we are.” I try to hide the anger and sarcasm in my voice.

“You guys are pretty cute. I can’t believe Brennan didn’t tell me about you two.”
Nice attempt at a save, Lay.

“Brennan? I thought your name was Cole?” Jackson asks.

“
Only
Ned calls me Cole,” I say. His look tells me that he hates me.
The feeling’s mutual.

“Ned, that ring is stunning, I have never seen anything like it. Where did you get it?” Layla interrupts.
Another “save” attempt.

“I design rings, it’s from my new collection,” Ned beams.

“You design rings? That is awesome. It’s beautiful, I can’t wait to see the rest of the collection,” Layla says.

“It
is
beautiful,” I agree as I take Ned’s hand in mine and look at the ring a little closer. When you look closely it’s actually a peacock but the head is very small and sits on the part of her hand closest to her knuckles. It’s the feathers that really make the ring stand out. They fan out up the length of her fingers and the green stones sparkle so much in the light. “She’s incredibly talented,” I say genuinely. Ned smiles at me and it feels pretty good despite the tension at the table.

“Thanks,” she whispers as I keep my eyes on her face. Gosh, she looks beautiful tonight. I keep her hand in mine and thread my fingers through hers, which isn’t the easiest with the size of this ring. I feel her relax against my touch.

“Where’s the food you ordered?” I ask her.

“That was just our starters. Our mains are coming here.”

I nod.