Page 9 of The Opposite Effect

Quirking my lips, I glare into her mischief-filled eyes. She tries to use her age as an excuse for her erratic behavior, but I know her better than that. She might have Daniel believing her seventy-eight-year-old brain thought the hydrotherapy pool was a bath, but I’m not at all convinced. Why? Because much to the horror of my neighbors, my grandma skinny-dipped in the pool in my apartment building in January last year. Her excuse was “If the twenty-something-year-old residents of your apartment building can do it, why can’t I?”

“Besides. It wasn’t Mr. Peter’s heart that took two hours to control,” my grandma mumbles under her breath.

Ignoring her snide comment for fear of it giving me nightmares, I say, “Even if you didn’t realize the hydrotherapy pool required a swimsuit, what’s the deal with packing your bags? I thought your escapee days were over?”

Although she’s tried to escape three times previously, those attempts were during her first two weeks ofincarcerationat Caramine Care. For the past two months, she seemed to have settled in nicely, so I’m somewhat surprised by her sudden attempt to flee.

Before my grandma gets the chance to answer my questions,a commotion at the door secures my attention. A pretty nurse in a tight white uniform and sheer black stockings stands in the entryway of my grandmother’s room. She has platinum-blonde hair, peachy painted lips, and an enticingly curvy body.

The more the nurse’s eyes wander over my face, the more her pupils dilate. A smirk tugs at my lips when her eyes lower to assess the entirety of my package.

The routine never alters.

Well, except that one time.

After the nurse finishes her avid assessment of my body, she aligns her green eyes with my grandmother. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Anderson, I didn’t realize you had company. I’ll come back later,” she says before spinning on her heels.

Her quick departure is halted when my grandma says, “No. It’s fine, Penny, come in and meet my grandson, Brax.”

My brow arches, surprised at the chirpiness in my grandma’s voice. She is an entirely different lady compared to the one sparring against the orderly mere minutes ago.

When Penny hesitates for several seconds, unsure if she’s coming or going, my grandma kicks me in the shins and nudges her head Penny’s way.

“Hi, I’m Brax, Grace’s grandson,” I greet before offering her my hand to shake.

Heat creeps across Penny’s cheeks as she accepts my gesture. “Hi, Brax. It’s a pleasure to meet you. Your grandmother has been telling me a lot about you the past two weeks.”

“I’m sure she has.”

I turn my gaze back to my grandma. Her excited eyes are bouncing between Penny and me. Air escapes my nostrils when the reasoning behind my grandma’s sudden interest in escaping smacks into me.

For the past year, she’s made it her mission to see me shackedup and married. I lost count of the number of times I arrived home from a shift at Inked to find a female in my living room lying in wait, ready to pounce.

My grandmother’s tactics were so convincing, most of mydatesbelieved I had personally invited them over.

No matter how often I tell my grandmother that it’s not true in this day and age, she’s convinced if I’m not married by the time I’m thirty, I’ll live the remainder of my life as a childless bachelor.

Although she means well, her matchmaking is driving me crazy. It isn’t her lack of taste that has my appreciation waning. The quality of the women she finds is excellent. It’s the fact she lures my dates into my home with the promise of matrimony and a family. Considering neither of those items are on my agenda anytime soon, my newly acquiredfriendsdon’t hang around for long after the initial greeting.

After a few more minutes of awkward silence, Penny checks my grandmother’s blood pressure and temperature before excusing herself from the room.

The instant she slips into the corridor, I drift my eyes back to my grandma. “Stop trying to set me up with the nurses and doctors.”

“Why? Penny seems lovely, and you need a smart girl in your life,” she replies in the same tone she uses whenever we argue about her poor matchmaking techniques.

I arch my brow. “You’re setting me up to fail.”

“Pfft. I’m doing no such thing. Penny is single. You’re single. How could that turn into failure?”

With a shake of my head to hide my smile, I say, “Grandma, you know as well as I do. Penny might be good for a bit of fun, but even if I were interested in something more than a few nights between the sheets, she willnevertake me home to meet her parents.”

Grandma waves her hand in front of her face like she’s shooing away a fly. “We’re in the twenty-first century, Brax. Parental permission is no longer a necessity.”

I shake my head to loosen the invisible noose she slung around my neck, but since I’m not willing to roll over without a fight, I say, “So when the fun is over with Penny, and she ends up brokenhearted, what do you think will happen to your secret candy stash the nursing staff knows about but ignores?”

Panic floods my grandma’s eyes when she locks them with the top drawer, which is full to the brim with every candy bar you could imagine.

“Is meddling in your grandson’s love life worth the risk of losing your beloved chocolate binge?”

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