“Sorry.”
There was a long pause, and just when I realized that I hadn’t said anything else, he asked, “You okay?”
“Of course!” I shook off the sick feeling and straightened in my seat. “I’m sorry, it was a long day, and then I got caught up at the end . . . I’m just a little out of it. But what do you want for dinner?”
“I already ordered Chinese so you wouldn’t have to cook or anything since you had to go in on your day off.”
A smile pulled at my lips. “Sounds perfect, I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
After ending the call, I knew I was right in helping his mom and in not telling Jagger. She was right. Even though Mrs. Easton had always been a little flighty, Jagger would do anything to take care of his mom. Just as he had always done for Charlie and me.
I KNOCKED ON Graham’s door a few hours later after spending time with Jagger, and jumped back a little when it immediately opened and a big mass of a guy bear-hugged me.
“Where’ve you been all my life, girl?”
“Can’t breathe,” I choked out, and hit him as hard as I could. “God, Deacon!” I hissed when he released me, and hunched over to pull in quick and uneven breaths as I tried to fill my lungs.
“Don’t be so dramatic, Grey. You’re fine.”
I glared up at him like he’d lost his mind. “Fine? Do you know that it feels like being slammed into a brick wall when you do that?” I tried to hold my anger, but the face he was making made it impossible, and by the time I finished talking, I was smiling.
“See? You’re not even mad at me.”
Pushing at his chest to walk into the house, I shook my head. “I am mad at you, you just make it hard to stay mad.”
“When are you going to stop breaking my heart and realize you’re in love with me?” he asked as he slung an arm around my neck, pulling me in close to his side.
I barked out a laugh, then pulled away and skipped ahead of him. “Hmm . . . let me think.”
“Never,” Graham answered for me, and I turned around just in time to be engulfed in his hug.
“Come on, dude,” Deacon complained. “She’s breaking my f**king heart.”
“She’s my f**king sister!”
“And I’m also taken,” I chimed in, and Deacon did a dramatic move like I’d just wounded him. “Don’t act like you’re hurt, how many different girls have you been with this week alone, Deacon?”
“Three,” he responded immediately, and a wry smile crossed his face when the doorbell rang. “And that would be number two coming back again.”
“You’re gross, and obviously not brokenhearted.”
Grabbing the back of my head, he landed a loud kiss on my forehead before dodging Graham’s fist and backing up toward the entryway. “I’ll always be brokenhearted when it comes to you, Grey LaRue,” he teased.
“I f**king hate my roommates,” Graham growled once Deacon had disappeared.
Turning to look at him, I raised one eyebrow and walked over to plop down on one of the couches. “No you don’t, and I don’t know why you had me come here when you know they’re going to act the way they do.” I looked around for a second before asking, “Speaking of, where’s Knox?”
“Gone. Thank God. I don’t think I’d be able to stop from punching one of them if they were both here.”
“Once again: I don’t know why you had me come here when you know how they always act.”
Knox and Deacon had been Graham’s best friends since middle school, and after years of partying together in a fraternity, they all decided they weren’t ready to settle down or give up the party. They bought a large house in Thatch, and continued to live like frat boys.
Both were handsome in a way that had women of all ages turning to look at them, and they knew it. Their egos as well as Graham’s added up to a recipe for destruction for any girl who entered their lives, and many did. I’d grown up with Knox and Deacon and viewed them as two more obnoxious brothers to deal with, but Graham never seemed to get the memo that we all viewed each other as siblings. Knowing his annoyance at my involvement with Ben and Jagger, both Knox and Deacon had been declaring their “love” for me since I was sixteen just to piss him off, and six years later, it still worked.
Deacon walked back into the living room with a busty, black-haired girl against his side, and shot me a wink as they continued on to the hallway leading to his room.
I gestured toward the hallway they’d disappeared in and whispered to Graham, “At least he’s starting to go for girls outside of Thatch. The three of you have half the female population simultaneously hating you and waiting for another chance to be with you.” Graham laughed, and I slapped at his arm. “It’s not funny. Do you know how often I get asked about one of you, or receive phone numbers from women wanting you to call them again ‘just in case you lost it’? It’s annoying.”
“Come on, you haven’t even been back in Thatch for a total of a month and a half when you take out your trip to Seattle. It can’t be that bad yet.”
I didn’t respond to that, I just gave him a look telling him he was so wrong.
“And I wanted you here because I’m hiding from Mom,” he continued.
“Wait, what? Why?”
“Haven’t you heard her lately? Or have you been too wrapped up in your new relationship.”