Page 57 of Until You're Mine
“Hey, Liam!” Brooklyn’s voice was forced enthusiasm, to the point that evenIsuspected her of something, and I knew exactly what she was up to. Her brother walked up to the desk and parked himself right next to me. “Shane and I were talking about our weekend plans. Are you doing anything fun?”
Liam glanced from me to her, and speaking of suspicion, he clearly had some of his own. Lately I’d been thinking we should just drop the act and come clean. Undoubtedly, they wouldn’t like it, but I was over caring. It was frustrating when I couldn’t greet her with a good morning kiss, or a good-bye one. Or one to celebrate the middle of the day. The afternoon. When she scrunched her nose in that cute way she did when her figures on screen didn’t cooperate.
Plus, I wanted every other guy in the gym to know that she was mine.
Liam ran a hand through his hair. “Same thing I do every weekend. Try to catch up on work.” We all pushed ourselves hard here, but the tension practically radiated off him in waves, and he looked even more tired than usual.
“So no,” Brooklyn said. “You’re just ignoring your own advice that I threw back at you?”
“Yeah, why don’t you take some time off to paint, bro?” I nudged him with my elbow. “I’d like to see what you come up with.”
He actually cracked a smile. “I’m going to leave the art to Brooklyn.”
Speaking of, I still hadn’t seen any of Brooklyn’s paintings. I couldn’t wait to see what that beautiful brain came up with. I also wanted to get her gorgeous self out of here so that we could squeeze every last drop from the time we got to spend together. I knew training and the stress of an upcoming fight would only get more intense, so there was no time like the present.
Since it didn’t seem like Liam was going to leave his sister and me alone anytime soon, I decided to hit the road. That way I could swing by and check on Tammy. I’d kept her up to date on things over the phone, but I hadn’t stopped by in way too long. Another thing I was going to have to do a better job of balancing.
I hiked my duffel bag higher on my shoulder. “Well, I’ll see everybody later.” I reached up and tapped my ear, hoping that Brooklyn got the message to call me when she could. We hadn’t finalized arrangements, and I’d told Hector I’d be at his place around seven.
Liam said something, and her attention turned to him. My text chime went off as I pushed out the door.
Brooklyn:I’ll try to hurry, I promise. I’ll text you when I’m on my way to your place, and until then, just know you’re in my very inappropriate thoughts.
With messages like that, how the hell wasn’t I supposed to fall for her on the spot?
Chapter Thirty-Two
Brooklyn
My nerves stretched tighter as I scrambled around the apartment, and it wasn’t helping that everything kept taking twice as long as usual. I didn’t know what to expect, and the last time I’d been this anxious was when the gallery had called to interview me about the internship.
I’d attempted to make a pasta salad—wasn’t that what you were supposed to do when you went to a cookout with your boyfriend’s friends? I hoped not, because my idea to do just that totally flopped.
The globby, soggy noodles stuck to the pan and the spoon, so after swearing and ceremoniously dumping the mess in the trash, I raided Finn’s cupboards.
Hi, nice to meet you. I brought…I pushed aside the boxes of brown rice, hoping for treasure in the back.Protein bars.
Um, how about no.I opened the pantry door.No, no, no… Bingo!I squatted down and grabbed the case of beer. Much better than pasta salad, globby or not. I was a few steps from the door when I paused.Did I finish putting on my makeup?
The timer had gone off on the noodles and…nope. I rushed back to the bathroom, applied eyeliner to my left eye so that it matched the right, swiped mascara on both sets of lashes, and then renewed my rush out the door.
Halfway down the stairs I wondered if my flirty summer dress was too dressy. Then I glanced at the time and decided it was too late to change my outfit, over-the-top or not.
My car started with a growl, and I revved my engine to remind myself I was a badass. I pulled onto the street and headed for the freeway.
It’s not a big deal.No matter how many times I’d tried to tell myself that, I couldn’t trick myself into believing it. Shane and I already had so much against us. When I reminded myself that in a little over three weeks I wouldn’t even live here anymore, so it didn’t really matter how much his friends liked me, it didn’t provide any comfort. It opened a hollow pit in my chest that sucked away at my surplus of happiness.
Oh, great. Now I’m getting carried away. That’s going to make this night so much easier.
Within fifteen minutes—I might’ve sped a wee bit—I was pulling into Shane’s apartment complex. I called him and told him I’d arrived, and he said he’d be right out.
The tap on the window made me jump, and it didn’t help that Shane laughed at me, the sound infiltrating the car when I unrolled the window.
“Yes, can I help you?” I asked, as if he were a complete stranger.
“Yeah. I need a date for tonight, and she’s gotta be smoking hot.” He leaned through the window and kissed me, lingering for long enough that the world blurred into swirls of color and sparks of light. “Looks like it’s your lucky night.”
“So fucking cocky.”
