Page 19 of Honey Undone
He recovered quickly. I would give him that.
Is that a threat?
Depends on how roughyou want me to be.
My cheeks turned a new shade of red and I rolled over on my back to stare at the ceiling. I waited like that until I could breath again and when I sat up on my elbows the treadmill had been vacated and Jensen was gone.
SARAH
“Hey Bright! Can I get a cinnamon whiskey and cranberry?” I leaned over the bar to get his attention. He looked over at me and nodded as he flipped a few cups over onto the bar. It was busy tonight but it was the only place my brother would eat in Harbor. So I snuck in early with my laptop and commandeered a table in the back before the dinner crowd flooded in to watch the games.
The Hollow was popular with the first responders and a few of the semi-professional sports teams. Sunday’s brothers, Brighton and Boone Black, owned it. Twins that couldn’t be more different in personality seemed to flawlessly run the bar so smoothly that they had won more than one award for being the place to spend your Fridays in Harbor.
Brighton mixed up the drink, slid out from behind the bar and walked it over to my table. A few tattoos picked out from under the short sleeves of his loose black shirt as he handed it to me and tipped his chin up to look at the TV I was staring at.
“You think they’ll win the series this year?” I asked him.
Brighton was that kind of handsome that if you looked at him for too long you’d find things wrong with his face. A pronounced jaw, combined with high cheekbones and narrowed, judgmental dark blue eyes all highlighted by thick dark waves of hair that regularly fell against his forehead while he worked. The Black family were all like that, painfully beautiful. Boone was tall like his twin brother, drenched in tattoos, but for all of Brighton’s serious nature, Boone was a goofball. He was the life of the Hollow. Him and Sunday were always dancing on the bar and starting shot trains when left alone for more than two minutes.
“They have a decent shot, but that Tucker kid is struggling to keep them together.” Brighton shrugged and looked back at me. “Do you want me to put your dinner order in?” He asked me.
“Sure, Zane and Taylor should be here soon, throw theirs on too?” I asked and he tapped the table with his fingers. “Hey,” I called to him, “will you turn it up?” I pointed to the TV and he nodded before slipping behind the bar again. With the volume up I could hear what they were talking about just barely over the sound of the bar crowd. They were discussing the Hornets’ ability to work as a team. The upcoming series against their biggest rivals in Lorette was going to be tough but in order to get to the finals, they needed to beat them.
They panned across the field showing the team warming up for the game and my heart fluttered funny in my chest when they showed Jensen stretching and laughing with a few other players. Since the day at the gym he had been quiet, too quiet. I missed his texts and that was dangerous. I had so many regrets and they were only amplified when I told Kaia what happened over the phone on the walk home.
She yelled at me for nearly an hour for the “the cardio I want to do” line and how I should have capitalized that instance. And for what it was worth, she was right because every time I thought about him, sweaty, naked and…
“Addy.” Taylor wrapped around the table and pressed a kiss to the top of my head knocking me from my thoughts. He sat at the table as I closed my laptop and squeezed my thighs together in protest to the growing heat at the inappropriate daydream I was having.
Taylor was my oldest brother, and he mirrored my awkward smile back at me. It was a running joke that my fathers genes were too strong because all three of us looked exactly the same just a few years apart. Zane gave a wave to Brighton before slumping down onto the stool next to me with an exhausted groan.
“What’s up your ass?” I asked him, with a gentle kick to his foot under the table. He loosened the tie around his neck as Brighton dropped two beers on the table and left.
“Case today was rough,” he said, downing the first beer and then the second much to Taylor’s annoyance. “I hate when the kids are involved in divorce.”
“Hits too close to home,” Taylor mused, entertaining Zane’s small melt down.
“You talk to Mom today?” He asked me and I nodded. We usually took turns babysitting our parents feelings and expectations. I was nine when they divorced, Dad was military and moved to Japan with the Navy leaving Mom to manage three kids on her own. She did her best and we spent summers overseas but nothing had ever really been normal after that.
“She’s fine, she’s going on a cruise with her new boyfriend so most of our conversation was her talking to her suitcase while I stared at her forehead.” I took a sip of my drink and Taylor laughed.
“Dad’s coming to visit at the end of the month,” Zane said and I choked on the tart cocktail, the cinnamon whiskey hitting the back of my throat in surprise.
“What?” Taylor scowled and waved down a passing waitress for a new beer. “Why?”
“He talked in circles, you know Dad…” Zane shrugged.
“You’re the only one that gets confused when he explains simple details, you jackass, where is he staying? How long is he here for?” Taylor pushed and his oldest sibling nature slipped out in the middle of the Hollow.
“I didn’t ask him any of that,” Zane said with a shitty smirk on his face. “I honestly don’t give a shit, we all know he’s not getting on that plane. He never does.”
Zane had a point.
“He's not wrong. When was the last time he actually followed through? The day before an excuse will come up and we’ll be off the hook,” I said, cleaning up around my glass.
“You better hope so because he’s not staying at my house,” Taylor warned.
“That’s right he still doesn’t know you’re married,” Zane teased, “that would be awkward.”
