The Beginning of Us (253 page)

“What are you doing baby?” I ask, laughing as he spins me around.
It didn’t even hurt!
Thank God, my body is back to normal. My bruises are still there, but fading away.

He puts me down and spins me around. “With us?” He cocks a dark eyebrow.

“Yeah...” I answer slowly. “Did you not want to go? You don’t have to if you don’t want to. I just assumed you’d want to go with me.” I wanted to spend as much time with his as possible. I never stopped to think if he felt the same way.

“You think I would let you go without me? No way! Just so you know, I’m going to every game with you. And I’m paying you for all the tickets.” He lets go of me and turns to walk out of the closet.

“Oh no. I bought those tickets. I’m giving them to you.” I enter the bedroom, and he’s not in there. Guess he thought that was the end of the discussion.
Not quite!
As I finish getting ready, he comes back.

“Come on. We’ve got to go, or we’ll be late meeting Josh.”

As we enter the garage, I look over at the far end of his six car garage and notice a Chevy truck. It’s a black four door lifted Chevy with blacked out windows and monstrous tires and pretty chrome wheels.
How did he even get that truck in this garage?

“Has that truck always been there?” I point to it as I stand by his car.

“Yes,” he chuckles softly. “It’s always been there. You’ve never seen it because you were either extremely drunk, or already passed out by the time we arrived.”

Hmm.

He helps me in his car. “Do you not drive it much? Every time I’ve seen you, you’ve been in your car.”

“I do every now and then.” He backs out of the garage, then reaches for his visor to close it. “Do you like trucks?” He slides a glance my way.

“I learned how to drive in a truck.” I smile, looking out the window. “My dad had a sixty nine fire engine red Chevy. He used to let me drive it around his property. I spent a lot of time in that truck.” I look up at the sky, thinking of how much I miss him. “Well, actually, I still have it.”

“What do you mean you still have it?” he asks slowly.

“He left me everything when he passed. The only thing I got rid of was his company. I still own his house and a couple of his cars. They are all back in Tulsa. I couldn’t get rid of it.”

I look over to Slade, and his eyes are on mine as we sit at a stop light. I know my dad would have loved him. Their looks remind me a lot of one another.

He’s still staring at me, and the light has turned green. “The light is green, Slade.” I nod my head to the road. He doesn’t say anything as he pushes on the gas. As we get out on the highway, his cell rings. He answers it through his Bluetooth.

“Hey, Micah,” he says in greeting.
Micah always calls when we are in the car.

“Hey, Slade. Is Sam with you?”

“Yes, you’re on speaker if you want to talk to her. Go ahead.”

“Awesome! I actually want to talk to both of you.’’ He takes a deep breath “Will you two come to Mom and Dad’s tomorrow night for dinner?’’

Slade looks over to me for a quick second, giving me a curious look before returning his eyes to the road.

“Yes,” Slade says, turning on his blinker to change lanes.

“Great! Listen I want both of you there...” he takes a deep breath, “because I’m going to ask Holly to marry me tomorrow night at dinner.” He said it so fast that I almost missed what he said.

“That’s fantastic!” Slade says excitedly.

“Congratulations!” I can’t hold back my excitement.

“That is wonderful. I’m so happy for you guys. And thank you for wanting me to be there.” I can’t wait to see the look on Holly’s face when Micah proposes.

Slade slides me another look, only he has that breathtaking smile on his face this time; the one that makes my heart stop and my breath catch. I can’t help but stare a few extra seconds after he looks away from me to watch the road.

“Thanks. I’m so nervous she’s going to say no. I mean, what if it’s too fast? What if she thinks I’m rushing her? What if she gets mad and moves out? I can’t lose her. I love her so much.”

Slade and I both laugh.

“Micah, she is going to say yes. She loves you more than anything. And it’s not too fast. You guys have been together for three years,” I reassure him.

“Yeah, you’re right. See, this is why I need you there. And also you’re her best friend. I know she would much rather have you there, than to have to call and explain everything afterwards.”

We all laugh.

“So true.” Slade looks over at me and grabs my hand, holding onto it as he rests them on the center console.

“Hey, Sam, Mom wanted me to ask you if you could make your triple chocolate caramel cake since it’s Holly’s favorite. If not, it’s ok,” he reassures me.

“Yes, it’s no problem.” My face is starting to hurt from smiling so wide.

“Okay, I’ll let you guys go. Call me later, Slade.” He hangs up.

Slade brings our hands up to his lips and kisses the back of my hand before setting them back down. “So you bake a mean chocolate cake, huh?” he asks, smiling.

“I’m not one to brag,” I laugh. “Yeah, I love to cook and bake. I’ll pretty much try to make anything.” I shrug my shoulders. “Not saying that it all turns out well, but I’ll give it a try.’’

“Lemon bars.”

“Huh?”

“Lemon bars. They are my favorite thing to eat.” He shrugs his shoulders. “In case you decide to make me something.” He looks over at me, smiling, and wiggles his eyebrows.

We pull into Dulany’s Grille & Pub. I’ve never been here, but have heard a lot about it. As we walk in, we see Josh already at a table, drinking a Bud Light and looking lost. My heart breaks for him. He looks up and plasters a fake smile on his face when he sees us.

“Hey guys. Hope I didn’t interrupt any plans today.”

“Nope,” I shake my head.

He turns to ask Slade if he wants a beer before he turns to ask me the same.

“No, thanks,” I say before he turns his attention back over to Slade. I clear my throat to get their attention. “Josh, do you have any plans on the seventeenth of this month?”

“I don’t think so. Why? What’s up? Are you guys thinking a weekend trip to Vegas or something?” His eyes go wide like a little boy on Christmas morning. “You know you can’t just go for a weekend, though. You got to go for like four days. At least!”

Slade laughs. “No, although that does sound like fun. Hmmm. We will have to plan a trip. All of us to Vegas, even Holly and Micah.”

“Yeah, yeah! We could stay at—”

I don’t let Josh finish. “Okay, we are off topic here.” They both look at me, and I smile. “Anyway, the seventeenth. Slade and I want you to come to the Rams game with us.”

Josh face lights up and that lost look is a distant memory. “Really?” His smile drops. “That’s a great offer, but I don’t want to be the third wheel. You guys go and enjoy the game. Alone. But together, ya know?”

“We want you to go. You can bring someone if you’d like?” I look away from Josh to look at Slade, and he’s just staring at me. His head tilted to the side and resting in his hand as his elbow is on the table. His beautiful blue eyes bore into mine while his lips are in a soft smile. Just staring, I get a warming feeling in my chest and have to look away.

“I don’t have anyone to bring,” he shakes his head lightly.

“How about this? I’ve wanted my best friend from Tulsa to come visit. How about she comes down and goes with us?” I hold up my hand. “I’m not trying to set you up or anything. Just four friends going to a game and drinking some beer. It will be fun. She’s loves football just as much as I do.” I give him a confident smile.

“Yeah, that sounds like fun.” He nods his head, and he looks like he’s trying to reassure himself.

“I’m just going to warn you two now...we girls can get pretty rowdy and loud. We scream and yell at the other team, throw food, cuss...we can be some crazy fans.” I shrug my shoulders, looking down at my menu.

I feel eyes staring at me, and I start to feel uncomfortable. I’m trying to look over the menu, but I’m not seeing the words I’m looking at. I’m about to break and look up, when my phone rings. I dig it out of my purse. Courtney. I swear she has ESP.

“I’m going to take this real quick. I’ll be right back.” I get up from the table, keeping my eyes on my phone. They still haven’t said anything to me, and I hope I didn’t say something wrong, or make Josh feel uncomfortable. That was not my intention.

I step outside and answer my phone.

Chapter Thirteen

Slade

“She’s amazing, isn’t she?”

Josh laughs and shakes his head.

“What?”

“I told you she was different.” He puts a hand on my shoulder, lightly shaking it. “And you, my friend, are falling in love with her if you haven’t already.”

Is this love? Wanting to be with someone twenty-four seven? Fuck, if it was up to me she would never leave my house.

“Holly told me to be careful. What do you think she meant? That I’ll hurt her?”

Josh picks the label off his beer and laughs. “No,” is all he says.

“Want to give me y
our
opinion then?” I place my forearms flat on the table.

He looks up at me, no longer laughing. “She was telling
you
to be careful. We all knew you would fall for her.”

I raise an eyebrow.

“We never thought she would fall for you.”

I frown.

“I mean, Jax was a fucking pussy. Whereas you...” he shrugs, “you’re the town’s bad boy. We figured she would never give you the time of day. I don’t mean that in a bad way. Like I told you, she’s special. She actually cares for people and their feelings. And she doesn’t do second chances, so if you have one moment of weakness and fuck around on her, she
will
leave you, and that will leave you missing the best thing you ever had.” He shakes his head. “That, my friend, is something a man can never recover from. No matter how many different women you get with.’’ He lifts his beer and downs the rest of it, leaving me staring at him speechless.

“Hey, sorry about that.” Angel joins us back at the table and sits down. “That was Courtney, my friend in Tulsa.” She laughs. “What are the odds? Anyway, she’s going to come up and go to the game.” She smiles as we remain silent. I watch the smile drop off her face and she turns to Josh. “I’m sorry if I upset you. I didn’t mean to pressure you. I just thought it would be fun.”

She looks down and picks her menu back up. Josh is giving me his, ‘
I told you she cared about other people’s feelings’
look, then he turns his head to her and smiles.

“I think it sounds great. I want to pay you for the tickets, though.”

That gets Angel to snap her head up. “No,” she shakes her head. “It’s my treat.”

“Okay, then. Wait, how about we rent a few hotel rooms downtown the Saturday night before? We can have dinner at the hotel restaurant, then go for a drink at the bar. Kind of like a mini vacation, but we’ll still be in town. It will also save us from sitting in traffic, trying to get to the game.”

“That sounds perfect.” I look over to see Angel smile.

Our waitress comes over to take our orders. Honestly, I don’t even know what I ordered. All I can think about is the realization that I’ve fallen in love with Angel. I start to ask the same questions that my brother had asked earlier. Is it too soon? If I show or tell her how I feel, will she turn and run the other way?

I hear Josh and Sam talking about my brother proposing to Holly tomorrow, but I’m not paying attention to the conversation. My phone vibrates in my pocket, getting my attention.

Jessica:
Are we going to meet tomorrow or what?