“I’ve only got a few left.” He pats his heart with a wink. “Do me a favor and don’t tell anybody about this little meeting. I’d like to keep our get-togethers just between you and me, if you don’tmind.”
“Not even my sister?” My heart aches a bit for Colby. She fights to be the apple of every eye, so already I know she’d behurt.
“Is she any good at keeping asecret?”
I offer a sorrowful shake of the head, a light smile dancing on my lips because it happens to be true. Colby no sooner wraps a gift for you than she tells you what’s init.
“Then it’s no can do. You keep it zipped, Brody. You got that?” He pinches my nose and twists it. God, I used to hate that as a kid, and now I find it strangely endearing. “Check that phone of yours once in a while, would you? I’ll be calling soon.” He hobbles on out the door like a far more fragile version of my father, and my heart sinks at the thought of keeping this from myparents.
Secrets suck. I should know. I’ve been harboring one foryears.
The Pelican is pumping,and my head is consequently thumping, over and over again like some demonic conga drum gone wild, and I suddenly want to be anywhere but The Sloppy Pelican. Then I spot her sitting alone at the bar, head sunk in a drink, that long river of ebony hair draped over one shoulder like a scarf. That soft, fuzzy sweater she’s wearing looks vaguely familiar, and it’s quickly apparent Raven hasn’t had the luxury of two showers like Idid.
Colby waves to me from the dance floor, and I give a meager wave back. She’s out there cutting a hole in the floor with Teagan, letting loose, a little too loose according to that skintight dress and heels, and I can’t help but frown. I don’t think I have the energy to deal with both Colby and Raven on the same night, but I do my best toconquer.
“Hey, Mrs. Wolf.” I fall into the seat beside her, and Raven grunts in lieu of aresponse.
“Don’t call me that.” She blinks over to me with bloodshoteyes.
“Geez, did you get a nap intoday?”
“I tried, but my Range Rover isn’t quite meant for goinghorizontal.”
“How about yourbed?”
Mojo comes over and slides a cup of coffee her way. “She’s been pounding them all night.” He nods at me. Mojo is an ex-biker who looks like he is still very much in the club, built like a solid mass of muscle. He shaves his head daily just to show off that snake tatted onto his scalp with its slithering tongue running down his forehead. He’s tatted from head to foot, and he’s one mean mother I wouldn’t want to meet at the end of a darkalley.
“Rough night.” I give a slight shrug until he disappears at the other end of the bar again. “Raven, what’s going on? Why didn’t you head home? Is something going on?” For a minute, I’m fearful she’s sustained a head injury and a trip to the ER might be inorder.
“No, nothing.” She shakes her head in a fevered rush, and I can tell she’s trying to change the subject. “Hey, did we, uh—you know?” She motions down toward my crotch. “Consummate thenuptials?”
“What?No. I’m pretty sure we didn’t.” Thoughts of Raven sitting on my lap naked, my body over hers, her hair dripping over my skin like silk, burn through my mind, and my boxers tick to life. “When I’m that jacked up, I’m pretty much useless.” I glance down to my jeans, and I feel my balls pinching tight as if giving me the big FU for ratting themout.
“Oh, thank God!” She spins in her seat, and her hair fans out like a carnival ride. “I never thought I’d be so thrilled over erectile dysfunction,” she says the words a touch too loud, and about three different customers look myway.
Great.
“I never said that,” I protest with my hands in the air. “I do not have that. Trust me, all of my parts function just fine.” The last thing I need is for Raven to come up with some mocking nickname that involves my limp dick that I will never livedown.
“Whatever you say,Limp—”
I hold up a finger in protest. “Don’t even think about it. I’ve got about a dozen different nicknames percolating from last night, and all of them have to do with a hairlesscat.”
She wrinkles her nose in disdain. “You got methere.”
Colby and Teagan pop up, breathless, just as Raven hops off her stool and heads over to Axel. He’s been hit-and-miss ever since he and Lex got engaged. But I know they’ve been busy celebrating, and I’ll be the last person to stand in theirway.
“Hey, big bro.” Colby hops onto the newly empty seat. “How about two Long Island Iced Teas?” She gives a little wink, and I frown at the two of them as they giggle up astorm.
“Two iced teas coming right up.” I head over and make the innocent libations before sliding them over. “What are you two up to? Other than kicking off your heels and dancing up astorm?”
Teagan looks uneasily to my sister, but neither of them says aword.
“You guessed it.” Colby shoots me with her finger, and I’m taken right back to that meeting with our grandfather. As much as I need to keep my meeting with him quiet, it’s killing me to do so. “Hey, Mom says to stop by sometime and say hello. A phone call won’t hurt either.” She rolls her eyes because Colby wishes she had the power to irritate them this way. Colby still lives at home, which has lit a fire in her to attend Whitney Briggs nextyear.
“Will do.” I make a habit of calling my parents regularly. Mostly we talk about the wild shenanigans Colby has gotten herself into lately. “You sure you’re staying put for thenight?”
“Oh yeah,” Colby says in that fake high-pitched voice that assures me she’s not. “Then we’re headed straight to bed with our footy pajamas and teddy bears. Face it, we’re good girls onacid.”
