Bet Me Something (Something Series Book 3) (36 page)

I nodded. “The
call came in right before you arrived. The band is called Misfit Toys, local guys
out of Los Angeles, but I don’t think I’m supposed to make that common
knowledge, so keep it on the down-low. I didn’t even meet them at the audition,
but hopefully they’re cool.”

Haylee’s eyes
lit up. “I’ve seen them. They played on campus my sophomore year, actually. The
lead singer is gorgeous. Not that I’m normally one for tattoos and piercings,
but they look good on him.”

I took out my
phone and googled them. Huh, the lead singer was hot.

Sasha looked
over and commented. “The, uh, pierced tongue is interesting.”

Haylee quirked a
brow and asked, “Wonder what that would be like?” causing Josh to swallow his
drink down the wrong pipe and cough.

“Really?” he teased,
clearly amused and shocked by his wife’s question.

She gave a
little shrug before kissing him playfully. “Nah, I’m pretty happy with yours.”
Realizing what she’d just said, she turned bright red as the entire table
erupted in laughter.

“So when will
you need to start rehearsing?” Brian inquired.

“Next April
before the tour starts. In the meantime the manager will send me some digital
tracks so I can get to know their songs.”

“I still can’t
believe you’re leaving for Bali tomorrow night. Did you find a roommate for
when you get back?” Sasha queried.

What were they
doing, trying to see if Colby would show interest? “Not yet, but I’m probably staying
in that house with my friends until I find one.” Like I’d told Brian when he’d
visited me only a few days ago.

“Yeah probably
best since you don’t know if you’ll be gone three weeks or more. Are you still
thinking about moving to San Diego?” The twinkle in Brian’s eye let me know
that he and Sasha had a definite agenda with their questioning.

“I’m not sure. Enough
of the twenty questions for me—”

“What the hell
is going on with you?” Colby blurted out, surprising not only me, but also the
entire table with his outburst.

Josh cast him a
pointed look, but his brother wasn’t paying attention. He only had eyes for me.

“With me?” I
asked, feeling my temper rise because of his tone.

“Yes, you. In
the last week—what? You’ve moved out of your apartment, had this big
confrontation with Rebecca, may be looking for a roommate in San Diego, touring
with some band that you’ve never even met before, and tomorrow night you’re
leaving on some trip across the world? What the fuck is that all about, Kenz?”

“What’s going on
with me is I’m moving forward with my life, taking chances. I’m no longer
satisfied with being afraid and allowing other people’s opinions to dictate my
life.”

“Insinuating
that I am.” His jaw clenched with irritation.

I shrugged,
getting my point across, but not willing to continue this fight in front of
others. “I’m not having this conversation right now.”

“Why not? You
said you were no longer afraid.”

Josh looked like
he was torn about whether to intercede, but I held up my hand to keep him from
doing so.

Standing up, I
watched as Colby did the same. “You want to discuss this now? Fine. Unlike some
people, I finally have the—the—
testicular fortitude
to stand up for what
I want and be unapologetic about my decisions.”

Josh and Brian
about spit out their drinks. “Testicular what?” Brian interjected.

“Testicular
fortitude. I got creative because Colby hates when girls say the word
b-a-l-l-s.”

Colby’s lips
twitched, and before I knew it, we were both grinning at one another across the
table like idiots. He raised his glass in a salute. “Good one.”

I tipped my head
in acknowledgement.

“Brian?” Colby
addressed my brother without his eyes leaving mine.

“Yeah, man?”

“I’m completely
and undeniably in love with your sister.”

All the air in
my lungs left me. I stood there staring at him, completely in shock.

You could’ve
heard a pin drop as he continued. “And I understand, given my past, why you’d
have a problem with that, but it’s not going to change the way I feel about
her. I should have manned up weeks ago. All I can do now is demonstrate through
my actions and, hopefully with her happiness, how much I mean it. In other
words, I’m not waiting for your blessing, but considering how we both feel
about you, it would mean a lot if you gave it.” He finally broke eye contact
with me, focusing on Brian and awaiting his response.

My brother
smiled before getting up and doing the guy ritual of slapping one another on
their backs. “You have it.” Even Josh and Mark were all smiles. Only Haylee and
Sasha appeared to clue into my lack of reaction—and my clenched fists.

Even though I’d
challenged him to take this step, watching him celebrate as if we’d already
decided to get back together after he’d broken my heart made me want to scream
in frustration. What did he expect? That I’d smile as if nothing had ever happened
and hope for the best the next time he freaked out? Or ignore that he’d accused
me of making decisions for my future solely based on him?

“Hate to
interrupt this bro-love fest you have going on, but aren’t you forgetting
something important?”

Colby looked stunned,
as did the rest of the guys. “Like what?”

Jesus. Were all
men this clueless? “Like the fact that I might not feel the same way any
longer.”

His face paled.
“If you didn’t, then how do you explain last night?” He winced with the
realization he’d inadvertently outed us in front of my brother. “Sorry, Brian.”

Words flew out
of my mouth without my thinking about them. “It was just sex, Colby.” I cringed
at the look on my brother’s face and mumbled, “Shit. Sorry, Brian.”

“Maybe you two
should take this somewhere more private,” Josh suggested, barely containing a
smile.

“Good idea,”
Colby said and then, to my utter shock, he came around the table, snaked my
wrist, and heaved me up over his shoulder cave-man style.

“Oh, my God, put
me down. What are you doing?” Thank goodness I was wearing shorts instead of a
skirt.

“Do you think
you can accuse me of being testicularly challenged and expect that I wouldn’t
react? You want alpha male, sweetheart, that’s what you’re getting. Brian,
we’ll be outside talking.”

“It was
testicular fortitude, and you’re making a scene.” I was bright red but glad he
couldn’t see the big goofy smile on my face when I should have been yelling at
him for acting this way. As he stalked out of the restaurant, I finally managed
a protest. “Put me down.”

He complied once
we were next to his SUV in the parking lot, but he didn’t let go. “You and I
are hashing this out. Get in.”

“Says you. I’m
catching a cab.”

Since I was
backed up against the side of his car with his hands on my hips, breathing
hard, and staring at him without moving a muscle, my threat was empty. Dammit,
why did I have to be unbelievably aroused by this dominant display?

“And yet you’re
not moving,” he murmured before devouring my lips in a kiss so raw and full of
need that I was sure I’d never recover from it.

Finally coming
up for air, I felt a myriad of conflicting emotions. Hadn’t I challenged him to
declare his feelings and accuse him of not having the balls to do so? The
problem was that admitting something and proving it were two different matters.

His eyes were
stormy and his voice husky. “I should’ve told you before I said it in front of
everyone else. I love you, Kenz. I was trying to get some time to talk to you
today, but you avoided me.”

I was on the
brink of tears. It would be too easy to throw my arms around him and return the
sentiment, but he wasn’t really addressing the issue that had led us here.
“What’s changed?”

“What are you
talking about?”

Despite what I’d
been through the last few days, this by far was the toughest thing I’d done to
date. To look at the man I’d loved for as long as I could remember, who had
just admitted he loved me back, and tell him it wasn’t enough took everything I
had.

“You left that
morning in Vegas because you let your fear over what people thought about your
past completely trump anything you felt about me, not to mention you accused me
of giving up my dreams for you. Then you got angry when you learned I defended
you because you didn’t think you deserved it. So what’s changed?”

He was at a
loss. “I’ve been absolutely miserable these last couple of weeks and I don’t
want to be without you.”

I shook my head
at his attempt. “Although that’s nice to hear because the time apart has been
rough on me too, we could barely stand to be apart before Vegas. Hell, we
didn’t last two nights that weekend, hence
that
hasn’t changed.”

He ran a hand
through his hair, frustrated. “I could tell you every sordid detail from my
past. Put it all out there for you to decide if you can live with it.”

For him to offer
full disclosure showed me how much he wanted this to work, but he was missing
the point. “That’s the complete opposite of what I want. Not because I’m afraid
of what you’ll tell me but because I’ve always meant it when I said it won’t
alter the way I feel about you. What needs to actually change is for you to
trust that. You need to get past this shame over what you can’t change and
believe that you deserve to be happy. It’s not really me you need to convince,
it’s you. And I can’t do that for you, and more importantly, I can’t wonder
when it’ll come up again. You said that you were afraid of me giving up my
dreams for you someday, so I’ll put it out there so we’re clear: I want to get
married and have kids in the future, but I won’t do that with someone who
doesn’t think he’s worthy of that kind of life. I can’t wonder when there will
be a next time you’ll freak out.”

“You say my past
doesn’t bother you, but I heard your gasp and saw your face go pale that
morning in Vegas when you overheard what your brother said to me about my
indiscretions. It gutted me to see your reaction.”

My jaw about
dropped as comprehension dawned. “I wasn’t upset about what was revealed. I was
horrified that my brother would say such things to you. As if he’s some saint
or something to throw in your face your transgressions from when you were
twenty-one years old. I was upset on your behalf, not with the content. Jesus.
You thought that this whole time? That’s what made you leave?”

He nodded. “Partially,
but it was also the fact I didn’t give you enough credit.”

No he hadn’t.

“I’m not sure
how to put this without you attempting to whack-a-mole-me, but over the years
I’ve always kind of liked you having a crush on me. It meant you couldn’t possibly
know all of the things I wasn’t proud of. It’s almost like I got to be the best
version of myself with you, but I didn’t give you enough credit that you’d
already seen the real me.”

I cracked a
smile. “No, you didn’t.”

“You know if I
could erase the past, I would.”

“But then maybe
you wouldn’t be the person you are now, and that would be a shame. The thing is
that I’m not that girl anymore with a crush. Big shocker: you have flaws, but
I’m in love with all parts of the man you are, including the one from the past
that you’d love to see changed. He’s pretty great, and I’m not just talking in
bed.”

He chuckled,
caressing my face. “You’re crazy.”

“Exactly. And
goofy, dirty minded, and even a bit violent with my tendencies, but lucky for
me: you don’t seem to mind.”

“Not only do I
not mind, I find all of it adorable. Well, except for the violent tendencies
because that straight up turns me on, because it so happens I’m crazy, too.
God, the thought of you grabbing Rebecca’s hand and threatening to hit her, then
telling her if she so much as rolled her eyes you’d throw her out—It’s probably
a good thing I wasn’t there. I would’ve wanted to haul you into the nearest
coat closet.”

A giggle erupted
at the image before I turned serious again. “I’m glad we talked, but I’m still
leaving tomorrow night.” I couldn’t have him accuse me of putting my dreams on
hold and then turn around and cancel a trip that I’d been looking forward to
because we were trying to work things out.

A protest died
on his lips, replaced with a heavy sigh. “I think somewhere in the relationship
manual this is where it says absence makes the heart grow fonder, or if you let
someone go and they come back, it’s meant to be?”

“Something like
that. I need this time for myself to focus on what it is I may want to do in my
future. You hurt me, Colby, and I’m not telling you that because I want you to
feel bad, but if we’re to try again, you need to be sure you’re all in, without
reservation.”

His eyes looked
heavy with remorse. “I know I did. What I wanted so badly to tell you today is
that I’ve been working on my shit. I fucked up in Vegas by leaving you there to
stand up for us. I’m sorry Kenz. I should’ve fought for you, fought for us.”