Page 34 of Heartbreaker
“I heard Mamá telling Pa about it,” Nash says, lifting his hands in a shrug. “Something about SJ was gone and back by the time everyone got up, told Mamá she went to breakfast with Jaxon.”
The oldest Williams scrubs a hand down his face. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
I think back to this morning, when I walked into the kitchen after a run to find Laine gathering ingredients to prepare another large breakfast, with coffee already brewing. The sight made my heart ache as it had for the past three mornings. The Williams family was what I had hoped my family could be, but my parents were the epitome of people who stayed together for the kids. They finally divorced when my sister Ari turned eighteen, and they didn’t see each other again until she graduated from college. And try as she might, my mother is the opposite of Laine Williams in every sense of the word.
“Good morning, Brooks!” Laine beamed over her shoulder from her place at the stove. “Saw you out there runnin’. I figured you’d still be in bed after last night.”
Last night was the New Year’s Eve festival in town, and the exact reason I needed that run. I had to work through the events of the night—more specifically, the event that transpired moments before the clock struck midnight. Savannah and I were supposed to be friends…Hell, maybe even acquaintances, and people who were acquaintances didnotkiss.
As the clock counted down, I couldn’t get the idea of kissing her out of my head, and with only two minutes left until midnight, my feet moved on their own through the crowd to find her.
“What if they see?” she asked with only seconds remaining, but the question didn’t faze me. I didn’t care if anyone saw us. I didn’t care if someone took a photo and posted it on the internet or sold it to a gossip magazine. Let them. None of it mattered, because in that moment, I only cared about the woman in my arms.
The kiss ignited a spark in my brain, and it screamed at me to hold on to her and never let go. My run only jumbled my thoughts more. Every scenario I came up with ended with telling Savannah I don’t want to be just friends…I want her. We only spent one night together, one fleeting moment, but I still thought about it often. Still thought about the girl from Crimson Valley with the bright eyes and beautiful smile. There was something behind that smile calling out to me, and it made me want to know her. It felt like the universe was giving me the chance to do just that, except there was the issue of her rule: No dating wrestlers. Then there was the issue of her date with Jaxon this morning—okay, so maybe that wasn’t the word she used, but let’s call it what it is—and instead of doing what a goodfriendwould do, I had gone and blurred the lines…again.
Why was this happening? I’d never experienced anything like this before, never felt this…I couldn’t get her out of my fucking head. It was driving me insane.
“You see Savannah out there?” Laine asked, handing me a cup of coffee. “She wasn’t in bed, and she wasn’t in the barn with Crew and Wes, either.”
“No, ma’am. Can’t say I did.”
Her mother hummed in response, tapping the rim of her coffee mug. With a small shake of her head, she cleared her throat. “Well, I have to go round up some more eggs. Breakfast will be done shortly.”
Not a second later, the door swung open to reveal Savannah dressed in blue jeans and a basic white T-shirt hidden underneath a black jacket. Her eyes met mine almost instantly before her mother bombarded her. “Buenos días, Mamá.”
“Where were you this early?” Laine drew out the question.
“Oh, I…I met a friend in town,” Savannah said, pouring a cup of coffee.
“¿Un amigo?” Laine asked and glanced at me briefly. “¿Quién?”
“Jax.” The name came out barely audible over the rim of Savannah’s mug, but it sent her mother into a tizzy. Her eyes looked as if they were about to pop out of their sockets.
“Savannah Josefine! How could you—”
“Mamá, please.”
Laine dropped her voice into a harsh whisper. “You have guests here, and you went out withJaxon?” Savannah stood with her back to me, but I could see the tension mounting in her shoulders as her mother continued to chastise her. While they were both preoccupied, I made a break for the door. “Why would you want to see that boy, huh? He’s nothing but a troublemaker, and you know it.”
“I ran into him in town the other day, and he invited me to catch up. That’s it.”
“Ay, Savannah!” From the door, I saw Laine throw her hands up in the air before she walked away. She shoved her arms into her jacket sleeves, muttering to herself in Spanish the whole way out the door.
Brody’s voice brings me back to the fire pit with the brothers. “What’s the deal with this kid? Jaxon, is it?” Brody asks, and I glare at him. “What? You act like you don’t want to know.”
“It’s none of our business,” I hiss.
Crew scoffs and glances my way. “Oh, please, Brooks. You’re dying to know. Don’t think I haven’t seen the wayyoulook at our sister.”
Brody tries to cover his laugh with a cough.
“I could tell from the second you saw each other the other day.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Nothing is going on.” The words flow off my tongue with a small bite to them. Maybe it’s because of that small bit of jealousy I feel knowing she went on a date with her ex-boyfriend while we’re here…while I’m here. Or maybe it’s because the words are the truth. Nothing is going on. We’re not dating. We’re barely even friends. However, I’m not sure it’s the right time to tell them Ihaveseen the most intimate parts of their sister…
“It’s not like it’s not reciprocal,” Nash says.
“Your sister doesn’t date wrestlers,” Brody answers before I can.
