Page 5 of If You Could Only Feel
But once Aiden graduated from Blaineview and went to work for BI, the first week there, he met Denise, and every other woman on the planet cease to exist to him. He straight up railroaded her and went after her with all the force of a goddamn freight train. And, even though, Aiden still has a soft spot for women in general, his wife is his biggest treasure and he’s not shy about letting everyone know it.
That left me and Michael. I was older than Mike by three minutes and my father never let him forget it. For some reason, my father loved to abuse Michael more than the rest of us, and even though we all did what we could to protect him, once Mason and Aiden left for college, our father had more freedom to beat, berate and bully.
Michael and I were identical in every way. The only way you could tell us apart is if you paid attention to Michael’s skin. He had small scars decorating his body randomly from some of the more severe beatings he received from dear old Dad. The quickest and easiest way to tell us apart was the faint slash scarred underneath his right eye. Even our tattoos matched.
Now, while I considered myself pretty laid back, Michael could be funny, charming and calming when he wanted to be. He had always been able to keep a level head about him and remain calm when all hell was breaking loose. He was perfect for his role overseeing the Human Resources division of BI.
The only strike against my favorite brother was that, while it didn’t happen often, Michael’s temper was violently out of control when he snapped. It was both terrifying and a beautiful sight to see. There were many times we thought he would actually kill our father when he lost control of those carefully construction binds that held him in place. While Mason was a psychopath in a carefully planned murder kind of way, Michael was all fire and brimstone and would burn a city to the ground in his rage.
He was also a virgin by choice. Michael confided in me once that he was afraid he’d never find a woman who would accept everything he brought to the table, and I didn’t blame him. Whoever ends up with Michael will have to be stronger than he is in order to help keep his demons at bay.
As for me, I could get a good read on people. I could tell you, within five minutes of meeting someone, if they were full of shit or not. That’s why I was overseeing the marketing and client division of BI. I was good with people and what made them tick. If I had a downside, I’d have to agree with Mason, in that it was my loyalty. If a person had that, there wasn’t anything I wouldn’t do for them.
Including burying a body.
I guess that’s why I was so bothered by Justice’s text. It was completely out of character for her and it made me wonder what she had going on that she wasn’t telling me. I let my fingers fly across my phone.
The city?
Her reply had me squeezing the phone so hard, it’s a wonder it didn’t crack.
Girls night out. Dancing, drinking & being 22?
I didn’t text her back because I was trying to work out an explanation for the heat coursing through my body. I was also already making plans in my head to be in her apartment when she got home tonight. I had a key and I’ll be goddamn if I wasn’t going to be there to make sure she came home alone.
Chapter 3
Justice~
Gabriel had never responded to my text about girls’ night out and I was sadly disappointed. He obviously didn’t care that I was going out clubbing in the city, but then, Gabriel could have any woman he wanted…why would he care what I was doing?
I felt Beatrice’s body weight behind her shoulder nudge. “Goodness gracious, Just,” she said over the music. “You are all Grumpy Gertrude tonight.”
I turned my head and cocked it to the side, eyeballing her. “Is that even a thing?” I asked. “I mean, I know Negative Nancy and Debbie Downer, but Grumpy Gertrude? I think you just made her up.”
She smiled her perfect Colgate smile. “I had to invent something,” she explained. “You’re not a negative person and if you were a downer, you’d have stayed home. So, Grumpy Gertrude had to come to life.”
I couldn’t help it. I laughed. It could have been her ridiculous reasoning or the alcohol coursing through my bloodstream, but her nonsense made me laugh. “You’re ridiculous.”
Her shoulders popped up really quickly, and she gave me a sheepish grin. “Maybe,” she conceded. “But don’t judge me just yet. It’s amazing the level of ridiculousness I’m capable of when I’m drinking.” Beatrice raised her glass, and I raised mine so she could clink glasses in a toast to her claim.
We were sitting at the bar, and we were lucky to be doing that much. When we had arrived, Midtown had already been packed with drinking dancing bodies, but we were able to snag these seats when two girls were heading out and did us a solid.
Midtown was the newest downtown club and I could see why. This was my first time here, even though Beatrice’s invited me a million times over the years, and I was actually enjoying the atmosphere of the place. I was kind of bummed that it took me so long to accept her invitation.
Beatrice Easton and I met when Dr. Daughtry had sent me to a medical supply store to buy some supplies directly when we had run out of inventory. Beatrice worked at Medical & More as a salesperson, but she really knew her shit and was a fountain of information and helpful tips.
We had become fast friends, and except for Gabriel, she knew everything about me, and I considered her my best friend, even if I wasn’t hers. Beatrice was friendly and outgoing, so she never had a shortage of friends she could hang out with.
“So, what’s the game plan?” she asked.
I cocked my head again. “Game plan for what?”
Beatrice rolled her eyes. “To get rid of your virginity, you dork,” she stated as a matter of fact. Unfortunately for me, I had chosen that moment to take a sip of my drink and I started choking on it.
Beatrice started pounding me in the middle of my back, trying to help. But she wasn’t. She really wasn’t. Once I got myself under control, I turned to her and yelped, “What do you mean, get rid of my virginity?”
She rolled her eyes again. “Come on, Justice,” she whined. “I’ve known you for four years and I have never seen you with a guy or have heard you talk about a guy.” It’s true. “I just figured you were painfully shy or something and you were scared of boys.”
