NINE: Boyle Heights

  “Hey.” Drew pulled out the empty seat next to Jen. “You saving this seat for anyone?”

  “No, not at all,” Jen said, smiling. “I think, when they start the actual dinner, they’re gonna have us sit the way we will at the wedding. But you’re fine for now.”

  Drew’s insides went even tighter. She hadn’t even thought of that. Even if just for the dinner portion of this, she’d still be sitting next to Nine.

  Just then, Byron pulled the seat out on the other side of Jen and sat down. At least for now, Drew wouldn’t have to be moving. She and Jen engaged in some small talk as they discussed Chelsea’s and Jen’s niece’s extracurricular activities.

  Doing her best to not glance in Nine’s direction, Drew kept her eyes on Jen the whole time as they continued to chat. Even as their chatting went on a bit longer, not once did she give into the temptation of looking his way.

  “You here alone?”

  Nine’s voice so near startled Drew, and her heart sped up as he took the seat next to her. Her eyes glanced at him then just behind him to see if his date would be taking the seat next to him. He’d brought Drew a glass of wine, which he set in front of her, but as far as she could see, his date—if in fact that girl she’d seen him with was a date—was nowhere around.

  Without giving more thought to why this would be his very first question, she answered as casually as he’d asked. “I am for now.” She reached for the glass of wine. “Brad had a meeting but is gonna try to get out of it in time to make the cocktail hour after dinner. Thank you.”

  She lifted the glass of wine to him, and he tapped it with his bottle of beer. Drew gulped harder than normal as she swallowed the sip of wine she took from her glass. His eyes remained on hers the whole time even as he took a swig of his beer, but she refused to give in and be the one to look away. Which she knew was stupid. But she’d been around enough guys like Nine to know she couldn’t let him take the upper hand.

  Clearing her throat and finally glancing around the small banquet room, she asked what she knew she shouldn’t, but also knew there’d be no stopping her from doing so at some point tonight. So she figured she may as well get it over with. “You here alone?”

  “Nah, I drove in with O.” He added something else she didn’t quite catch, but by the time she turned to him, he was taking another sip of his beer.

  “What?”

  “Huh?”

  “I heard that you drove in with O, but didn’t catch the second part.”

  “And Becca,” Nine said as Byron caught his attention, and he stood to tap knuckles with Byron.

  For a moment, he was caught up with Beast’s kid brother, talking about the boy’s new wheels. Drew took advantage of his distraction to take in Becca at the table where she sat across the room. She sat with the young girl Drew had seen Byron hanging with earlier. She thought it cute that he was holding her hand and the girl seemed shy. Since Ali had never mentioned Byron having a girlfriend, Drew wondered if maybe this was the first time he’d brought her around the family.

  Drew remembered Becca from the baby shower. Charlee had been the one who’d pointed out the fitness models—Lila’s friends—as they strolled in. Obviously, they’d all been attractive. While Drew hadn’t paid a whole lot of attention to them at the party, even when skinny Charlee had harrumphed about their washboard abs, Drew could now appreciate Charlee’s indignant comment that day. “I’d like to see those washboard abs after they’ve had a few babies.”

  With Nine still caught up in an exchange with Byron about cars, Drew continued to observe Becca from afar. Maybe it was because Drew had always struggled to stay in shape but still have curves to be proud of that it irked her. But she wouldn’t be inwardly and very unreasonably be hating on this seemingly natural skinny bitch. Sure, the girl was likely in the shape of her life, and she was pretty enough. Drew knew she was probably just being catty and maybe even a tiny bit jealous, but there something about the way the girl carried herself that emanated bitchy.

  “She really a model?” Drew asked with a sweet smile the moment Nine brought his attention back to her.

  The humor in his eyes from whatever he’d just said to Byron seemed to wane, but almost as instantly, he turned on the grin again. “Yeah.” He nodded, glancing in Becca’s direction for just a second before turning back to Drew. “Not full time yet, but she says she’s working on it.”

  “She should,” Drew said casually enough. “She’s very pretty.”

  Nine shrugged indifferently, and Drew had to wonder if maybe his showing up with a date made him feel foolish now. Like he’d completely contradicted himself. Why bring a date to something like this? Even O had come solo. So maybe Nine was getting serious, and this embarrassed him or something silly. Drew was about to let him off the hook and change the subject when he added more to his answer about his date. “I don’t know her too well yet.”

  Drew turned to witness the strangest expression she’d seen on Nine to date. As animated as he was, she thought she’d seen all his expressions.

  “Met her a few weeks before the baby shower, but only seen her less than a handful of times since.”

  Nodding casually, Drew ignored her knotting insides and kept to herself what she was thinking now. “I remember seeing her at the baby shower.”

  At the shower, Ali had explained about Lila’s fitness model friends. Drew and Charlee had bit their tongues. Just moments before Ali had sat next to them to chat, Drew and her bestie had been commenting about the groupies lurking around Sonny’s famous baseball pals. Being the wife of a boxer and around his famous boxer brother and friends, Charlee was no stranger to groupies. This made Drew familiar with them as well, and the way those models flirted so outrageously around those baseball players, Drew and Charlee had been certain they were groupies.

  Her thoughts now weren’t that Nine wasn’t as good-looking as some of the single players there that night. He was far better looking. It just surprised Drew that Becca had opted to hook up with Nine instead of one of the famous, and obviously richer, big league players.

  Chastising herself inwardly, Drew shook her head. She knew better than anyone that attraction, the real kind, the kind that continues to grow even after you’ve gotten past the outer layers of looks and/or financial status quo, is what really mattered. It certainly stood to reason that, despite all the guys Becca may have met the day of the shower, Nine was still the one she’d been most attracted to in every way.

  Becca, who was clearly older than Byron’s girlfriend by quite a bit, seemed to have hit it off with her, despite the age difference. She was giggling so loudly even some of the others at the wedding-party table turned in their direction, including Byron and Nine.

  Stifling what almost felt like a catty grin, Drew sipped her wine, refusing to be that kind of girl. Instead, she pretended not to know who the much younger other girl was. “Good thing she brought a friend with her. I didn’t even think about us having assigned wedding-party seating tonight. I’m glad now Brad couldn’t make it until later. At least at the wedding tomorrow, he’ll have Charlee and the rest of the 5th Street gang he’s so familiar with to hang with during the dinner part of the reception.”

  The smirk on Nine’s face surprised her. A moment ago, he appeared uncomfortable with his date’s laughter, since it’d bordered on inappropriately loud. “They’re not both here with me.” Still grinning, he took a swig of his beer as he glanced at Becca then back at Drew. “You leave events with two chicks, not show up with them. Hell, I rarely show up with even one.”

  This time Drew was forced to refrain from glaring at him too blatantly. But again, the reminder of why she should keep the stupid butterflies in her belly in check whenever he gazed at her in that certain way he did sometimes, was a welcome one.

  Still, she had little power to keep her brow from arching as severely as she could feel it doing. The many different ways she wanted to respond to him swam in her head as she struggled to decide which was the best respon
se. Before she could, he surprised her by leaning into her and taking a deep breath as his heavy lashes draped over his slowly closing eyes. Then he opened them again, staring deep into her eyes. “Damn, you smell good.”

  Chapter 11

  Nine

  Not only did Dee smell damn good, she looked it too. Even better than the last time he’d seen her. How was that even possible? Except for her going back to a sexy cocktail dress tonight like the one she’d worn the night he met her, she didn’t look a whole lot different.

  Same flowing strawberry blond hair.

  Same smoldering baby blue eyes.

  Same milky white skin he’d imagined kissing way too many times now.

  Same smile that could go from sexy as shit to scathing in a split second like it had after his previous remark. Then shoot right back to adorably blank as she was doing at the moment. Though the adorable doe-eyed expression was fleeting. Just like all the other times he thought he might’ve managed to rattle her, she was quick to recover, if he indeed had succeeded in rattling her in the first place.

  “Thank you.” She cleared her throat and then sat up a bit straighter. A perfectly poised smile even made an appearance. “Black Opium. It’s been my favorite for years.”

  Before he could tell her it was his favorite now too, the wedding planner chick started yapping, making Dee turn her attention away from him. Nine pretended to listen, but it was hard to concentrate on anything but the alluring smell of Dee next to him and how confused his feelings about this entire situation made him.

  He knew he shouldn’t be saying things like he had to her. Beast couldn’t have been more adamant about Nine moving in on Brad’s chick The guy never said it, and Nine hadn’t called him on it, but he was pretty damn sure his friend just stopping by the day after the shower because he’d been in the neighborhood was bullshit. He was just surprised he hadn’t mentioned anything about the barbeque. But then between keeping up with the fight, the game after, and then constantly checking on Ali, he had been too preoccupied to worry about Nine and Dee.

  The wedding planner had them all line up to rehearse their entrance at the wedding ceremony. When instructed, Dee slipped her arm into his with a smile, and they went through the rehearsal of walking in slowly along with the music playing on the wedding planner’s phone, which she held up over her head.

  Despite his thoughts still being on feeling Dee’s petite yet so warm and soft frame against him as they’d walked down the aisle, Nine still exchanged smirks with O as he reached the makeshift altar.

  Nine was sure O was thinking the exact same thing he was. That never in either of their wildest dreams did they imagine themselves being part of something so formal like this. Especially not for Beast’s wedding.

  “What’s the world coming to?” Nine whispered to O as Byron walked by to take his place next to him.

  Sabian walked down the aisle with Ali looking as adorable as ever. Nine actually cleared his throat; it was such an unheard of but strangely sweet sight to see his good friend looking so incredibly happy.

  When they were done with that part, the wedding planner chick explained more about their entrance and other formalities.

  As he’d done most of the night, Nine tuned out the wedding planner, opting instead to focus on Dee and what little time he had with her until her man showed up.

  “You chose the chicken over the steak?” Nine asked, cutting into his rib eye.

  “Turkey breast, not chicken,” Dee said, digging into her turkey and steamed veggies. “And, yes, I’ve been limiting my red meat intake for years. So bad for your heart.”

  “Only if you eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day.” Nine bit the piece meat off the end of his fork, closing his eyes and moaning in satisfaction.

  He licked his lips as he opened his eyes. To his surprise, Dee’s eyes were on his lips, but she quickly glanced away. “Well, my dad struggles to keep his high cholesterol down.” Dee stabbed her fork into a piece of broccoli before glancing back at Nine. “I’m not there yet, but it’s in my genes, so I prefer to be cautious.”

  Nine shrugged, adding a generous amount of butter to his baked potato. “My uncle died of a heart attack. So it’s in my genes too. I try to stay fit and eat right, but a steak every now and again ain’t gonna kill me.”

  “So one of your moms is your biological mom.” Nine started to nod until she added the next question. “So this uncle is the brother of the one who carried and gave birth to you?

  “No, Mama Dulce gave birth to me. But my genes come from both of them . . .”

  He stopped when he saw the way she was looking at him. Of course this would confuse her. Normally, he hated having to explain it. Now he was actually grateful this was so convoluted. For once, he wouldn’t be the one with all the questions.

  “But if Dulce birthed you—”

  “Kinda complicated.” Nine reached for his beer and took a swig before deciding where to start.

  “And your last name.” Dee lifted her napkin to wipe her mouth. “Ali said it’s Islander of some kind.”

  Nine nodded. “Samoan. And it’s just Dulce and Tay now. Short for Teuilla. When I was a kid, it was always Mama Dulce and Mama Tay, to avoid confusion. Even they referred to each other that way when they spoke to me. ‘Go tell Mama Tay the show’s starting’ and shit. I didn’t know it then, but that was my grandma’s doing. She was old school and didn’t want to hear me calling either of my moms by her first name alone.”

  Dee had put down her silverware and was staring at him. It was a surprisingly pleasant feeling. Nine liked having her undivided attention. “Okay, but I still don’t get how—”

  “Want me to blow your mind, Dee?” He gazed in her confused eyes, feeling evil for wanting her to squirm.

  Her brows pinched together, and she looked to be stuck between smiling or affronted. “W-What do you mean?”

  “Dulce is my biological mom, but Tay . . .” He paused to stare into those beautifully mesmerized eyes. “Well, Tay, she’s actually my aunt.” Dee’s eyes widened, but Nine could see the heavy confusion in them, so he went on. “Technically, she’s my aunt, I should say because I just see her as mom and always will. I didn’t know the whole background of how they went about having me until I was a teenager. They waited that long because they knew it’d be confusing as hell even then.”

  Nine took a deep breath before explaining the whole convoluted story. First, he explained how he was one eighth Samoan. How one pair of his great-great-grandparents were full-blooded Samoan but after moving here their kids starting pairing off with mostly Hispanics. His grandma Cha Cha, who was second generation Mexican American, ended up with his watered down Samoan Hispanic grandpa and had Tay.

  “My late uncle Rudolfo, Tay’s brother, donated the sperm Dulce used after they saved all their money for in vitro. Took just one try and bam! I was born and they lived happily ever after.”

  “Well, that makes it sound so heartwarming.” Dee smirked as those perfectly imperfect teeth made an appearance. “But yours is so Jerry Springerish. Your mom did your uncle”—her mouth fell open again and she shook her head, laughing—“which makes him both your dad and your uncle, right? Oh my God, I suddenly have this urge to pump my fist and chant, ‘Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!’”

  Normally, he’d be ready to jump all over anyone who dared make fun of his insane family dynamic. But in this case, he couldn’t help laughing with her. “She didn’t do my uncle.”

  This only made Dee laugh more. That laugh did something to Nine he couldn’t even explain, but he could listen to it all day long. “In vitro, remember? He died when I was just a kid. I don’t remember him, but both my moms are even more grateful that they named me after him and that it was him who did the donating because at least his legacy lives on since he didn’t have kids of his own.”

  “Oh, wow. Bittersweet, I’m sure, but I can see why they’re grateful he did.”

  Nine watched as she sipped her wine so gracefully. His eyes
wandered to her once again perfectly groomed nails then to the rock on her ring finger. It was huge. Was it new? Or had he just not noticed it before? How could he not have noticed that huge rock?

  “Nine?” Jerking his eyes up to meet hers, he opened them wide in question. She seemed oddly nervous suddenly. “I said can I ask you something personal?”

  Trying to get his mind off the ring she was wearing, Nine’s head raced from one thought to another. Was there anything about this girl that didn’t spark a blaze of the utter curiosity he was so helpless to squelch?

  “You mean more personal than everything I just shared with you?”

  Yeah, get it out there. Remind her you just shared something very personal with her and now you have a few questions for her too.

  Dee didn’t smile the way he’d expected her to. Instead, that uncertainty in her eyes was even more pronounced, and she lifted and dropped a shoulder. “This is more about you sharing your feelings. Your very personal—very private feelings.”

  He stopped midway into putting his beer bottle to his lips to stare at her. This should have unnerved him, especially given how anxious she still appeared about her request. Instead, like just about everything else she’d ever said to him, this only fanned the flames of that already scorching inferno of curiosity.

  “In case you haven’t noticed yet, Dee”—Nine flashed a grin, trying to calm his own anxious heart—“I’m an open book. What’s on your mind?”

  Chapter 12

  Drew

  Of course, she’d noticed what an open book Nine was. Problem was he seemed to think everyone else was too. At the moment though, she couldn’t be more grateful that she’d be able to ask someone she’d known such a short time something so personal. She just hoped he’d be honest.

  “When you were young, were you ever embarrassed by or . . . ashamed of having lesbian moms?”