Ever.
Never. Ever.
“Uh, you okay?” Jason asked¸ his eyebrows arching with what I could only assume was curiosity as to why I looked ready to rip a tree in half and throw it at all men named Max.
“Yeah, why?”
He pointed. “You look like you want to punch the shit out of that table and your hands are balled into such tight fists that I’m a bit concerned you’re going to pass out from blood loss.”
“On edge,” I snapped.
“Shocker,” Jason mouthed, just as Max and Milo came around the corner. Holy shit, I was going to lose my mind.
Her hair was tousled.
Lips bruised.
Well, that was it. Jason was going to have to arrest me. I was going to prison. At night I was going to sneak into Max’s room, beat him senseless, smother him with a pillow, and then dump his body into the pool.
Just kidding . . . the pool wasn’t deep enough.
A pond.
A large pond.
A lake.
The ocean.
“Colt?” Jason waved in front of my face. “I asked you a question.”
“Sorry,” I mumbled. “What was it?”
“Max says he’s terrible with arrangements so he’s going to finish up with the tables and you’re going to go help Milo, okay?”
“Sure. Whatever.” I dropped the table, hard. Unfortunately it landed on Jason’s foot.
“Shit!” He hopped around on one foot cursing a blue streak.
“Sorry?” I winced.
“Ice.” Jason glared. “Get me ice.”
I ran toward the house, Milo close on my heels. “What happened to Jason?”
“I dropped a table on him,” I said calmly, searching for ice. The guy already had a black eye and now he was going to have a broken toe. Yeah, I was the worst best man ever.
“Why would you do that?” Milo grabbed a towel and held it out as I put ice in it.
“Oh, you know, for shits and giggles.”
“Ah, I see—you’re in love with the bride,” she teased.
I rolled my eyes. “Jayne? No thanks.”
Milo’s face fell. Shit. Now she knew for sure her brother was marrying Satan.
“I didn’t mean it like that . . .”
“Yeah.” She shrugged. “You did, but maybe she’s different now, more mature, not as—”
“She’s a whiny bitch,” I said honestly. “But he loves her and that’s all that matters, plus she’s always been a bit spoiled.”
“Yeah.” Milo looked miles away.
“Thanks for helping me with the ice.”
She beamed.
That smile slammed through my body. I used to live for her smiles, used to live for her visits. When she first went away to college, it had felt like a part of me left with her, but it wasn’t like I was able to ever actually say that out loud.
I’d wanted her for years.
But wanting and having were two very different things.
I’d rather never have her—than lose her as a friend. And I’d come so damn close to losing her last night. So yeah, I shoved my foot into my mouth and nearly suffocated to death—but at least we could go back to normal. Right?
“So, Max . . .” I held open the door as we walked out into the brisk morning air. “He’s . . . nice.”
“Liar.” She nudged me in the shoulder. “But I appreciate you trying.”
“Maybe I’d respect him more if he didn’t maul you in front of me.”
“Hmm.” Milo shrugged. “You didn’t seem to mind any mauling last night.”
“Milo—”
“No.” Her smile appeared forced. “It’s fine. Friends, right?”
I knew that look. She was still pissed. But she had a boyfriend! She’d cheated; so if anyone had a right to be pissed it was me—not her.
I grabbed her hand with my free hand and tugged her against me, leaning down so our foreheads almost touched. “Right. Friends.”
Her eyes flashed.
Hell, the pull she had on me was otherworldly. I wanted to close the distance between our mouths. I was desperate to touch her again, even with her boyfriend a few feet away.
“Ice!” Jason yelled. “In pain over here!”
With a chuckle I tossed the ice pack in his direction and turned back to face Milo. But she was already walking into Max’s waiting arms.
I’d done that.
I’d forced her hand, it was the only explanation my pride would allow me to come up with. I’d always felt something between us, and now that something was sizzling into nothing—fast. I’d successfully pushed her back into the arms of her idiot boyfriend because I freaked out over a kiss.
All because I was afraid.
CHAPTER EIGHT
MILO
Max whistled. “Well done.”
“I’m sweating.”
“As you should be with the way he manhandled you.”
We were standing side by side, talking in hushed tones while I waited for Jason to stop hopping around on one foot, and for Colton to come back and join me. It had been Max’s idea to switch jobs.
I had argued.
He’d firmly told me he was going to get me into Colton’s pants if it was the last thing he did.
Guys were confusing. One minute Max was pissed that I didn’t see him as a sexy, available man and minutes later he was plotting ways to get me laid.
“Tell me again,” Max mumbled under his breath.
“No.”
“Milo.” He grinned. “I need to know that you know the instructions I’ve so tirelessly given you over the past few minutes.”
“Smile, act evasive, brush his arm . . .” I coughed into my hand as I mumbled the final point.
“What was the last one?” Max winked. “Come on, Milo, let’s hear it.”
Heat rushed into my face. “Bend over.”
“Atta girl.”
“Not a dog.”
“You have a nice ass.” He shrugged and crossed his arms. “And guys are turned on by sight. It’s a scientific fact. He’s not blind, believe me, he’ll take the bait.”
“If he doesn’t?” I asked in a small voice.
Max leaned over and kissed my temple. “Then you and I can always make out and watch chick flicks while you cry into your ice cream, and then I can beat his ass.”
“I do like kissing you.” It didn’t give me butterflies or anything but he had nice lips, and if I tried really hard I could see what other girls saw, but there wasn’t that pull, just friendship, nothing more.
Max sighed and rolled his eyes as if he’d heard my declaration a million times before. “Everyone likes kissing me.”
“Not a humble bone in your body, is there?”
“Not a one.” He saluted. “Looks like lover boy’s on his way over. Have fun!” He ran off toward Jason, who looked like a gang had just jumped him, and started setting up tables.
“He gonna be okay?” I pointed at Jason.
Colton turned around and winced as Jason fell out of his chair. “Yeah, he’ll be fine, it’s just a bump.”
“Ha, a bump.” I laughed it off and shifted my weight between both feet like a middle schooler during recess. “Kind of like the black eye.”
“All accidental,” Colton snapped. “Okay, how do we do this shit?”
“Wow, weddings just bring out the romance in guys, don’t they?” I pulled out the fake flowers and started grouping them on the table.
“They’re flowers. Do I look like the type of guy who wants to arrange flowers?”
“Yes.”
“Milo,” Colton growled.
“Show me your tattoo and I’ll say no.”
He lifted his shirt.
I gave him a nod. “No, Colton. You’re a muscled badass with a tattoo—you don’t do flowers.”
“Somehow I imagined that compliment feeling better,” he mused, picking up one of the silk roses.
“So.” Ignoring him, I pulled out the instructions
. “Three red roses go in the middle and then we’re supposed to fill the rest of the vases with this . . .” I lifted the white tulle into the air.
“What is that?”
“Err . . . decorations?”
Colton picked a piece up and held it as far away from his body as humanly possible, like he was afraid if it got close to his man parts it would wrap around and squeeze his balls off. His lips curled in disgust as he rolled his eyes and set it on the table.
“Fine.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Stick the pointy things in the green foam thing that looks like SpongeBob and then stuff the white crap into the glass thingy and make sure it’s full.”
Colton’s smile was blinding. “Got it. Why didn’t you just say so?”
We worked in relative silence for the next half hour. I did every single thing Max suggested. I dropped at least ten roses, and bent over trying to pick them up so Colton would notice, but the man was a machine. It was like he couldn’t wait to leave!
With a flourish I dropped another rose and went to retrieve it only to have Colton grab my hand so hard that I winced in pain.
“Leave it.”
“But—”
“I said . . .” He was so close my exhalation tangled with his inhalation. “Leave it.”
His jaw flexed as he pulled my hand closer to his body and then released it as if I’d hurt him.
“I think we’re done.” He cleared his throat. “Yeah?”
“Sure.”
“Jason!” A high-pitched scream broke the cloud of confusion. “Baby! I need you!”
“Speak of the devil,” Colton muttered under his breath.
I hadn’t seen Jayne Harrison in years. But I still hadn’t forgiven her for telling me my Barbie lunchbox was stupid in the first grade. She also said I smelled like tuna.
Sometimes during school I imagined her getting eaten by a giant octopus or falling off the swing set and bruising her perfect little face.
Peering around Colton, I noticed nothing had changed since high school. She had a blonde A-line bob and wore enough makeup on to open up her own Sephora.
Her tight, black leather dress looked more appropriate for a dance club than for during the day—maybe she was one of those daylight vampires or something.
“Where are you?” she wailed, looking around the yard, her eyes finally settling on Colton.
He grabbed me and pushed me in front of him.
“Brave,” I muttered under my breath.
“Self-preservation,” he snapped back. “I’m not sorry. My balls actually retreat back into my body when I hear her voice.”
“Milo!” Jayne’s heavily mascaraed eyes grew wide. “Is that you? Oh, look at you! How cute! You’re still wearing your brother’s clothes!”
I clenched my fist at my side and nearly decked her, but Colton’s light touch on my shoulders calmed me down—enough for me to know that it would be a mistake to give her a black eye to match my brother’s.
“Oh, you know me. I just love boy clothes,” I said through clenched teeth.
“Yes.” She eyed me up and down. “Well.” With a bored look she glanced behind me. “Colton, looking great.”
“There they go,” he whispered, then said louder, “Thanks, J, you too.”
“Where is he?” she demanded loudly enough to make me jump.
“Baby!” Jason limped toward us, followed by Max. “How are you?”
“Jason!” She covered her face. “What happened to your eye? And your leg! Are you okay?”
“Fine.” He grinned. “You know how things get when Milo comes home.”
“I know.” She sent me a glare and then pinched my brother’s cheeks with her talons. “We’ll get you all better.”
Colton started coughing wildly behind me.
All eyes shifted to him.
“Bug,” he wheezed, giving his chest a few strong pats. “Sorry.”
“Hey, what’s going on over here?” Max ran up to the group and then froze, all color draining from his face.
“Max?”
“Jayne?”
“Oh, no,” I muttered, my heart sinking at Max’s wounded expression.
“I thought you were finishing up school.” In a gesture of shyness, she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. The woman didn’t have a shy bone in her body.
Max blushed. He blushed! “Yeah, well, I’m here with Milo.”
“Oh.” Jayne nodded, her voice icy. “Are you like one of her Big Brothers? You know that program for kids?”
“What the—” I lunged for her, but was stopped by Colton’s arms. He was shaking. From laughter. Awesome.
“Actually . . .” Max eyed me. Oh, no, he was going to do something bad, really, really bad, and I was going to want to punch him in the throat.
“I’m here with Milo because . . .”
Here it comes.
“They’re dating,” Colton interjected smoothly, releasing me so I could run into Max’s arms.
He chuckled and whispered in my ear, “Broke my heart, broke my heart, make it better.”
Damn it.
“Small world, huh?” I kissed Max on the cheek, and then the mouth, latching on to him like he was the only man in the world. He responded with a growl low in his throat as he pulled my hair and then lifted me into the air. Okay, now he was getting a bit carried away.
Not that I hated it.
No sane girl would hate it. I don’t care WHO she was crushing on.
Jayne laughed loudly as if trying to take the focus off of us. “Um, excuse me? Can you guys not do that in public?”
“Sorry.” Max placed me on my feet. “I just can’t help myself.”
I looked into his eyes adoringly.
His eyes reflected the same look.
“Max, we should, uh, catch up.” Jayne fidgeted with her purse.
“Sure thing.” I watched the light fade from my friend’s eyes. “We should do that.”
“Great.” Jayne grabbed my brother by the hand, having already forgotten Max. “Let’s go have some coffee and you can tell me all about how you got a black eye.”
They walked away, leaving me clinging to Max and Colton shaking like he’d just gotten drenched in water. “Sorry, man, that woman freaks me out,” he explained, looking down at himself as if he wanted to make sure his body was still intact after a run-in with Jason’s fiancée. He shuddered and then pinched the bridge of his nose. “I have to go . . . shower or something.”
Max and I stayed quiet until we were the only ones outside.
“Spill,” I finally said a few minutes later.
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“I almost just got pregnant with your love child out here on my parents’ lawn—the least you could do is tell me what happened.”
He shrugged and looked down at the ground. “I wasn’t enough.”
“Enough?”
“To keep her.” Max frowned. “I wasn’t enough.”
CHAPTER NINE
MILO
“Sit.” I pointed to one of the chairs by the pool.
Max sat and leaned back in the chair, closing his eyes for a few seconds before cursing and leaning forward on his knees.
“She denied you?”
“For my brother,” Max said sharply.
Shock radiated through my body, making me stagger. “Whoa. Back up, you have a brother?”
“He’s old.” Max looked up and then shrugged. “Graduated like five years ago from NYU. He’s on Broadway.”
“Cool. Have I seen any of his shows?”
Max’s eyes went completely cold.
“Not the time. Got it.” I shook my head. “So Jayne’s a bitch.”
Max burst out laughing. “Yeah, something like that. I was in love with her my senior year of high school.”
“How did you even know her?”
“Summer camp.”
“You’re kidding.”
“Nope.” Max grinned. “I went to one of those really stupi
d theater camps during the summer.”
“Aww.”
“Shut it.”
“And?”
“And she was there, as well as my brother, though he was an instructor. Apparently she led us both on. I fell hard. At the end of camp I told her I wanted to see her again. She strung me along for an entire year. It wasn’t until the following summer when I was making plans to visit her for a week that she told me she’d been screwing my own flesh and blood behind my back, Reid had no idea so it wasn’t like I could be pissed at him.”
Wincing, I reached for his hand and squeezed. “Well, look at the bright side.”
He gave me a doubtful look.
“Now I’m stuck with her and while you dodged the bullet, my brother stood there and let it hit him square in the eyes.”
“He’s probably still bleeding, poor bastard,” Max grumbled.
“Tell me you don’t still like her.” I released his hand and stood. “She’s crazy.”
“Of course I don’t still like her.” Max rolled his eyes. “You know nothing of men.”
“You keep saying that, but—”
“Rejection’s a bitch, okay? It doesn’t matter if the girl goes bat-shit crazy on you—it’s a pride thing. She led me on, and she cheated, then she dumped me. While she was the one to blame, I never got to yell at her, slam a door in her face, call her a bitch, tell her she had lipstick on her teeth . . .”
“Yeah, you’ve thought about this way too much.”
“It just sucks. When you see your ex you want to win.”
“Win?”
Max sighed and patted his knee. “Have a seat while I explain how the world works, Milo.”
I sat on his knee and crossed my arms.
“Boy meets girl. Boy and girl break up. Boy and girl go separate ways. Fast forward ten years. Boy meets girl at supermarket. Boy wants to look like man, have balls of steel, sport a six-pack, and be driving a Ferrari. Now, tell me girl doesn’t want the same thing.”
“I’ve never wanted balls of steel.”
Max pressed his lips together and waited.
“Fine, if I was supermarket girl, I’d want big boobs, a tiny waist, killer outfit, sick car, and one of those credit cards that has no limit.”
“I rest my case.” Max popped his knuckles. “All I’m saying is, I want to win.”
Jayne’s screechy laughter pierced the peaceful morning air. Max and I cringed simultaneously.