Billy Jeffers: Rockers of Steel (27 page)

“He is my friend.”

I snort. “Oh, hey, do you know Tallia? Yeah, she’s been my best friend from … I don’t know,
birth
!”

“He works with me!”

“Oh, hey, have you met my friend Tallia—”

“It’s not the same, Madison. You’re my sister. My
little
sister. Mine.”

“Well, shit,” I sigh. “Maybe I should just join a convent and become a secret lesbian.”

“Sure, better than you fucking a boy!”

And … I’m done. I hang up.

The phone rings five minutes later. Again, it’s Memphis.

“What?”

“Where the hell are you, Mads? Come on, don’t be like this.”

“Like what? Immature? Insane? Unstable?”

“Well, you fucking can be!”

Click
.

I hang up again and turn the phone off.

Asshole.

I walk around the grocery store, pushing a cart and the fight with my brother in my head, trying to find something to make for dinner tonight.

I end up with a cartful of things to make lasagna, stuffed pork chops, several chicken dishes, way more vegetables than I will ever eat and will go bad, and milk.

In the car, I turn on my phone.

Four voicemails, all from Tales. Yeah, right.

The first one is Memphis, threatening to tell Mom. The next is that, if I don’t answer soon, he’s going to file a missing person’s report, and the next is Tales asking me to please call my brother because she thinks he is losing his mind.

I’m not even done with the messages when he calls again.

“I am seriously not going to fight with you anymore. I am sane, and I am so head-up-my-ass about a boy that I would so choose him over your tyrant ass right now, so you better watch it, Memphis!”

“I will not say what’s on my mind, then,” he snaps.

“Thank God.”

“I will tell you that I hope to God you are happy, because if not, I will kill him with my bare hands, because I love you.”

“I love you, too. And you love him.”

“Not right now I don’t. You two made a fool out of Tales and me.”

Oh, I want to smack him.

“I’m so sorry my personal life is an inconvenience to you.”

“He said something that pissed me off.”

“I bet he did.” I hoot.

“Mads, this isn’t funny. What’s the shoot you were talking about? Because when I asked him, he said I should ask you.”

I can’t help smiling and kind of dancing in my seat.

“Are you asking me about my life, aside from you?”

“You work with me and take classes online and shit. I know about your life, Madison.”

“Google
Sweet Things.
”

“What?”

“Just do it.”

“Tales, you wanna Google
Sweet Things
?”

I wait.

“Okay, it’s bras and stuff. Coming soon.”

“And that’s the business I am starting.”

“That’s cool.” He sounds confused.

“Yes, it is.” I know he doesn’t understand. “And I will be wearing my designs when the app and site launch.”

“It’s like a swimsuit, right?”

“Exactly. What do people not get about that?” I shake my head.

“Well, as long as it’s not with two guys, I’m good with it.”

“It won’t be with two. It will be with one.”

“You think you’re gonna get Billy to do that?” He snickers. He is so damn hard headed, but I wasn’t going to let him dictate who or what I do.

“Yes, I do.” I smile so big it hurts.

“Why didn’t you ask me?” Memphis asks, and I laugh. “Why is that so funny?”

“First, gross. I’m not cuddling up to you in...” I pause, because if I say half-naked, I am screwing myself. “When have we ever snuggled in swimwear type clothes?”

“We haven’t, but maybe Tales and I could do some shots.”

“No,” I hear Tales say in the background.

“Come on, baby. We look sexy as hell together.”

“You want people to see me in my underclothes?”

“On me, under me, beside me? Yeah, I do.”

“Fine,” she says, and I know by the tone in her voice she is seriously saying it to call his bluff, but I know my brother is all about the show, the shock, the awe. She is so screwed.

“Send me the details. We’ll meet you there.”

“I’m not paying you, you know,” I warn him.

“Pay me in pics of my girl and me looking sexier than usual. Love you. Go take care of your boy. He’s gonna have one hell of a black eye. Black. Memphis Black.”

“Will do. And tomorrow, I’m gonna punch you in the nuts.”

“Thanks for the heads up. I’ll wear a cup.”

“He better not have a black—”

“Love ya! Black, out.” He hangs up.

I pace around the apartment, waiting for Billy to come home. I made lasagna, chicken, and a medley of vegetables. I am so nervous to see him. I mean, I told my brother and the entire Forever Four family that “
I think I love him
,” before he said it. Who does that? Me, that’s who.

He hasn’t called, hasn’t sent a message, hasn’t gaw! I grab my hair and pull on it like a lunatic, which of course, is the exact time he walks in.

I stop pulling and start fixing.

He walks by and sets his bags down on the island. “You okay?” he asks as he pushes up his sleeves and starts unpacking the bags.

“Yeah, hi.”

“Hi.” He smiles, still not looking at me.

“Um, I wanna say I’m kind of sorry about … well, what happened.”

“I wanna say I’m kind of okay with it, but I’m not.”

“Well, good, because I’m not sorry.”

In three steps, he is in front of me, grasping my hips and squeezing them a little roughly. His eyes widen, and I see the mark my ass-hat of a brother left on him. His nostrils flare. He looks like he wants to tear me apart, and I want him to. He takes in a deep breath, picks me up, and sets me on the counter next to the bags. Then he steps away and leans on the counter behind him, putting a distance between us that I really don’t like.

His hands clench, and he crosses his arms in front of his chest. “Are you kind of sorry that you cooked when I said I wanted to do that for you?”

I look down at my feet and swing them a bit while shaking my head.

“Okay, well, we have a little problem with communication.”

I peer up and point at him. “Your eye is black and blue.”

“Yeah, then there’s that. Also a result of the issue we have with communication, Madison.”

“I guess.”

“You guess? I had everything under control. I walked in to give them back their money. Then I was going to tell your brother that I may have feelings for you, and everything was going to play out smoothly.”

I don’t respond.

“Guess what happened?”

“You didn’t accept the money,” I say.

“Wrong answer. I didn’t need the damn money. It was all figured out. I had it covered. Try again; guess what happened?”

“Well, in all fairness, you kind of pissed me off.”

“Well, in all fairness, I’m a fucking man—”

I point to his growing bulge. “I see that.”

He shakes his head. “As I was saying, I am a man who can actually take care of himself without needing a twenty-year-old girl to step in and save the day.”

“You said last night—”

“Hold up. I did say last night, and I may have accepted had I really needed it. But without all the fucking crazy that has happened in the past week with my parents and the additional crazy you bring to the table, I wasn’t thinking as clearly as I could have and may have overlooked some things that would remedy my needing my twenty-year-old college sophomore girlfriend to step in and sell her
secret
fucking business to save my ass when my ass didn’t need to be saved. You hearing me, Madison?”

I point to his black eye again. “You probably could have used a little help in there with—”

One lunge and he is eyeball to eyeball with me, and my finger is captured in his big, old hand. I can’t help laughing out of surprise.

“See, if you were that fast in there, you wouldn’t have a black eye, now would you?” Before he can respond, I lean forward and kiss it. “Billy?” I whisper against his eye.

“Hmm?” he asks, pushing into my kiss.

“I’m sorry.”

“Sure you are.”

“Okay, I admit I may have been wrong. But you are sucking the feels out of my sorry,” I say against his boo-boo. “I’m trying.”

“Yeah, so am I.”

“You don’t think this is going to work, do you?” I feel like I am going to push him too hard by trying to do what I do—meddle, attempt to help—and it never comes across as good as the intentions I have. I need him to reassure me just this once.

He steps back. “I’m a problem solver, Madison, and you are certainly a problem for me.”

“Gee, thanks,” I huff but am so relieved.

“Challenge accepted. But you’ve gotta help me out here, Madison. I need a little help, you know.”

“I tried,” I groan jokingly, and he smiles.

“That’s not the kind of help I need. I need you, and I need what you said in that conference room in front of all those people. But I need to be the man I was raised to be, not the man I was shown to be.”

“You mean, when I said I
may
be in love with you?”

He smiles and nods. Then he picks me up and sets me on my feet.

“I am going to make sushi for us. Whatever you have going on in the oven smells delicious, but I would really like to save it for tomorrow night.”

“I can do that.” I take the lasagna out of the oven and grab a glass container out of the cupboard.

“You know there are two of us right?” he comments when he sees the amount of food.

“Yes, but it freezes well. We can have a nice home-cooked meal even when we are busy.” I take a forkful out of the pan and hold it up for him. “Tell me if you like it.”

He smiles as he opens his mouth and wraps it around the fork. Then he slowly drags the food off it, and I swear it is the sexiest bite of food taken since the beginning of time.

“Delicious.”

The way he says it makes me crazy, and I lean in for a kiss, but he turns away and continues making his sushi. This is my punishment and I will take it.

“May I help?”

“No, thank you.” He points to the bags he brought in. “I bought us a couple of movies to watch. Will you pick one out and put it in?”

“But you can’t watch with me.”

He points to the TV. “I can see from here.”

I watch from the corner of my eye as she pulls the Blu-rays out of the bag. Then she smiles and shakes her head.

“I may become jealous of her, you know.”

I wink. “No need.”

“Which one do you want to watch?”

“It’s up to you. Surprise me.”

I watch as she sits down on the floor, unwrapping the plastic from the discs.

She holds both movies up high in the air. “Left or right?”

I see the bruise on her lower back, and it makes me cringe.

She turns around and looks at me oddly. “What?”

“That bruise. It pisses me off.”

“Well, I can sit today, so whatever magic your hands performed last night, I am hoping for an encore. Now, left or right?”

“Surprise me,” I repeat.

The sushi rolls are eaten on the couch while we sit under a blanket, watching Audrey Hepburn play Eliza Doolittle. I can’t help smiling when she repeats lines she has memorized.