Page 9 of Inked Obsession

“Sounds good to me.”

The door opened again, and my gaze shot to it, my pulse racing. I had forgotten to lock it. Fuck. I was way too distracted and exhausted. Annabelle walked through, a smile on her face. Her brows shot up as she saw Brenna sitting on my kitchen counter, eating breakfast, and me standing next to her wearing only sweatpants.

“Well, then, what’s going on?” my sister said, teasing.

I snorted. “Nothing, it’s just Brenna,” I said.

Annabelle winced, and then I heard the words that had just come out of my mouth.

“Fuck, sorry,” I said.

“Oh, no, it’s fine,” Brenna said, beaming. “You’re an asshole, but itisjust me. Nothing going on here,” she said with a laugh. “Seriously.”

I caught the look that Annabelle gave me, but I couldn’t read it. What the fuck was I missing? It was Brenna. My best friend. We sat like this often. She’d seen me drunker than hell and wiped my brow after I vomited everything I’d eaten the night before. I had seenherdrunker than hell and had held her hair back. We had seen each other at our worst and best, but there were no romantic feelings there. They would have come up before now. I would know if she liked me like that, right?

Hell, what was wrong with me?

“I brought donuts,” Brenna said.

Annabelle clapped her hands and came over. “Gimmie, gimmie, gimmie.”

“Are you supposed to have sugar?” I asked as I handed over the box.

“If you dare to take donuts away from a pregnant woman, I will curse you to the fiery hell of a carb-less life,” she growled.

“Well, then, that sounds dangerous. Where is that husband of yours?” I asked.

“He’s at work. Tough case,” she said, cringing. “Let’s just say I’m really glad we’re all a decent family who talks to one another. You know?”

I nodded. “You know we’ve got our problems, though.”

“Not those problems. As much as it might be a little overwhelming that we all hang out, live near one another, and work together, we’re not like that.”

What was unsaid was the fact that we had almost been like that thanks to our parents. Things were better now. It had been a year since the blowup. And it had gotten better.

Brenna dangled her feet and reached for my coffee. “Let me get you some more.”

I shook my head. “No, I need to switch to water. I need to work out soon.”

“That reminds me…” Annabelle began.

“What?” I asked as I helped Brenna down. I ended up pouring the coffee since I was closer, but I had a feeling that Brenna felt a little uncomfortable sitting there while Annabelle and I were standing. Getting a pregnant Annabelle to sit down these days was harder than hell.

“If you have time, can you stop by Eliza’s house later this week? She needs a few things done in her studio, and you’re the construction guy. I figured you’d be the best at it.”

“It’s bookshelves, isn’t it?” I asked, sighing.

“No. Maybe? I don’t really know.” She cringed. “It’s either bookshelves or framing. I’m not sure, but she asked for someone handy to drop by later this week if we had someone available, and the two of you work well together.”

I wasn’t sure how I felt about that statement since I didn’t want to think about Eliza more than I already was. When the hell had that happened? The smart thing to do would be to say I couldn’t help, but that wasn’t me. I wasn’t that much of an asshole. “I can help.”

“Thank you, big brother of mine,” Annabelle said with a smile.

Brenna looked between us. “I need to head to work soon. If I didn’t have to go, I’d help, too. Not that I’d be much help when it comes to doing anything handy.”

“That is true. You can’t put together bookshelves,” I said.

Brenna flipped me off. “I’m okay at it.”

---