Page 9 of My Crush's Brother

I panic. “It’s just the wine. I haven’t eaten all day and I had an argument with that shithead Blake today at work. You know I meant Trevor.” I’m not sure who I’m trying to convince more: her or me.

“Whatever you say. Blake is hot as hell, though. He’s got that older guy, daddy thing going on.”

“Ugh! Pleaseneversay Blake and daddy in the same sentence again, ok?”

“Hey, I’m just saying he’s hot; you can’t deny that. I’d take him over Trevor any day.” She lifts her glass before finishing it.

“Really? He’s so...moody, though.”

“Yeah, and the quiet, moody ones are always the ones that are good in bed. I bet he’s dominant but in a sexy, passionateway. I saw him dance at last year’s Fourth of July party and whew! That man can move his hips.”

I can feel my face on fire; thoughts of his hips moving beneath mine flash into my brain. The way he loosened his hands from my grip before flipping me onto my back. Jade wasn’t wrong about his dominant side. I wonder if we had gone further, how he would have taken me.

“I bet he has a huge co?—”

I sputter wine out my nose before Jade can finish her sentence and thank god because I can’t deal with those thoughts right now. I rush to the bathroom to clean myself up, splashing some cold water on my face and neck. I have to get these thoughts of Blake Winthrop out of my head.

SIX

Blake

“Vampires? That are cyborgs?” I snort. “That’s the dumbest load of shit I’ve ever heard.” Pearl swats me playfully against the arm.

“It is not! Please, it’s no different than your obsession with throwing a ball around a field and pretending like it’s more than just a game.” I can tell she regrets saying it the moment it leaves her mouth.

“Not...not you. I’m sorry, I know that was a big part of your life.” Her words trail off as she nervously glances around.

The last few weeks have been a bit of bittersweet torture. Pearl has insisted on following me around the property on her lunch and even after hours. I can tell her father must have let her help out growing up. It’s a good quality for an independent woman to have, but not when she smells like sweet vanilla and tastes like minty strawberries.

She’s only paid for part-time hours but she spends more and more time out here. I can’t pretend not to notice the way her hips fill out her jeans or how I catch her watching me while pretending to have her nose buried in one of her silly sci-fi books.

“You know, you should just give the book a chance. You never know, you might end up loving it. Here, let me explain. So this warlord sells his soul to a vampire for immortality and then as time progresses from the fourteenth century to thirty thirty, he has to adapt from human form to cyborg form. So now he not only has to worry about bloodborne pathogens but also possible viruses in his computer mainframe!”

“Okay, I gotta stop you right there; I’ve got work to do.” As much as I love to listen to her talk and even love watching how excited she gets over the most ridiculous sci-fi crap, I need to keep my distance.

“Hey, wait,” she hops off the fallen tree she was perched on. “Trevor said he was coming back to town this weekend.” She just stares at me for a moment. I had almost forgotten her eternal flame for him since he’d gone back to Chicago for a week.

“Yeah?”

“Well, I was thinking maybe you could ask him if he’s still single? Or maybe see if he has any interest in m?—”

“Pearl, come on,”

“I promise this is the last time I ask!” She throws both hands up as if to drive home the sincerity of the statement. Part of me wants to tell her the truth...tell her that he has no interest in a life with her. That he’s in love with someone else and will never be in love with her. But I can’t bear to break her heart.

“Okay, I’ll ask him. But I’m not playing matchmaker or whatever hairbrained plan you’ve got brewing in that head of yours.” I motion to her head before turning to walk away, but not before I see her punch a fist triumphantly in the air with excitement ...this is a huge mistake.

“Hey, Mama,” I grab a beer from the fridge in the office and sit down on one of the new couches. I bounce up and down a few times. “These are uncomfortable as hell.”

“They’ll get broken in with all the new tourists we got coming; don’t you worry.” She henpecks at the keyboard while squinting at the giant computer screen in front of her.

“Oh yeah?” I savor the cold, bitter flavor of the beer.

“Didn’t Pearl tell you? We’ve got bookings all the way through September. I have to say, you two make a fantastic team. The cabins are looking amazing, and she’s a whiz at this FaceSpace and Twitter stuff.”

I flipthrough the channels for what feels like the four hundredth time. I can’t focus on anything. The promise I made to Pearl last week is looming in the back of my head. Trevor gets in tonight, and I told him I needed to speak to him. It’s time I tell him what happened between Pearl and me and let him know how she feels about him.

Just dumped my stuff at Mom’s place, be over there in a few?

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