I sigh, exasperated. "Fine. Have a talk with Braylynn for chrissake. God, I gotta go."
"No, you don't." Her voice is stern, motherly. "You sit there and eat your supper. I'll go give Braylynn a call. We'll talk about this later."
"What's this supposed to be? An interrogation?" Shelly asks, smelling the rat about dinner.
"No. And I can call it off if you want. It's just with my brother Nash and his fiancé Braylynn."
She's unimpressed. Her voice is cutting. "This the one with the head injury?"
"Yeah. She's better now. She's up for meeting at a restaurant, too."
Her purse is on the console table. She slings it over her shoulder, as if to say, 'hold my beer'. "My truck or yours."
"It doesn't matter."
"Fine. We'll take mine. That way if things go south, I've got a ride home."
Not crazy about the sound of that, but Shelly's not delicate, so I go with it. Letting her out the door first, like a gentleman, I follow her to her truck and get inside. The second that I arrive at the restaurant, I grab a beer from the bar and guzzle it down, even though I'm not one to drink by any means. Shelly gives me a satisfied look.
"Levi, hey." Nash says, coming behind me.
"Hey, Nash, Braylynn." I say by way of introduction. "This is Shelly."
Braylynn gives Shelly an evaluating glance before shaking her hand. No way there will be any hugs exchanged with her, like when Braylynn met Piper for the first time. That, my friends, isnot happening. The hostess shows us to the table and hands us our menus. Before I can say a word, Braylynn starts. "So, Shelly. What do you do for a living?"
"Well, I think y'all know the answer to that, don't you? After all, that's how Levi and I met."
Braylynn lifts her brows in judgment. "You're a student? Y'all don't work part-time?"
Shelly gets this sly look on her face, like she's got the biggest secret, but before she can answer, the waitress comes to take our drink orders. Both me and Nash exchange a look and order a beer. Braylynn orders a white wine, but Shelly hesitates as she orders, and then she asks for a fruit smoothie.
As the waitress walks away, Braylynn sits higher in her seat and speaks on exhale, thumbing at her menu, eyes averted from Shelly and asks. "A smoothie?"
Sucking her teeth, my girl sets down her menu and responds in a way that makes me shit my pants.
"I'm pregnant."
Chapter 2
Shelly
The giggle inside my head is almost too good. I'd love to punch the look of distaste off the bitch's face, but I'll wait until she has something spicier to say. I'd hate for it to go down in history that I lost my shit over a mild comment. The look on Nash's face is priceless, but the best one, of course, is on poor Levi's face. God love him. He's so sweet and innocent, and I hate to do this to him, but I can't resist. Being devilish is in my blood, especially under the circumstances. I'll get into thecircumstances later, but for now, I think I'll just let this ride. Let them all sweat.
"You're pregnant." Braylynn confirms. It's not a question. It's a confirmation. I see the contempt in her eyes.
"You got something in your ears?" I volley back, not hiding the snark in my voice.
Levi looks like he's going to puke, and Nash has this lovely snarl. I can't remember ever being this happy.
"Hey, watch the attitude, okay?" Nash states.
"What attitude?" I scoff. "She's the one making me repeat myself when I spoke loud and clear."
Braylynn exhales and starts fanning herself with the menu. "Fine. But you and Levi haven't been dating long enough for this, am I right?"
I look at Levi. He scrapes a hand down his face. "A couple of months."
"Let's not forget about the first time we met." I tell him, using a suggestive voice, so there's no guesswork for anyone.
