Finding Trust (Centre Games) (23 page)

Fuck, he’d just told Rihanna she couldn’t see her best friend and all of his were living with them. Rory was right; he was a grade-A asshole right now.

“Looks like I need to go wave an olive branch and make an invitation.”

“Boy’s learning, Quade. You never know, this might just work out.” Before Quade could respond, Bray cut in.

“Like I said, who needs—”

“Yeah, yeah, heard it before. Go fix it, dickhead.”

Bray shot him the bird and headed out to both Quade and Rory’s soft laughter.

***

Brayden walked into their bedroom and expected to find her on the bed. She wasn’t and he became alarmed when he didn’t immediately see her. He stopped, took a deep breath, closed his eyes and let his senses work. He immediately picked her up on the day bed just through the veranda doors. Shit, he needed to get his head together. If he’d opened his eyes, he would have seen her. All this emotional stuff was messing big time with his ability to use his senses.

He walked silently to the door. She’d clearly been crying. Fresh tears streaked her face, although she seemed to have stopped now. She was sitting sideways with her back against the armrest, her knees pulled to her chest and arms clasped around her shins.

Brayden gently opened the door and stepped through, taking a seat on the end of the day bed.

He looked at her but she refused to meet his eyes.

“Can I talk to you?” he asked gently.

“Sure, you can talk. Doesn’t mean I’m going to listen to or like anything you have to say.” Her tone was despondent.

“Fair enough, I deserved that.”

She turned her head and looked at him for the first time. “Yes, you did. How could you just cut me down like that? And to make it worse, you did it in front of your friends.”

“I handled it all badly.”

“You think? How did you come to this deduction?” He would have been a fool to miss the sarcasm in her voice. What he said next surprised her.

“I know because once my fear disappeared enough that my brain engaged and realised what I said, I also realised I’d just stabbed a hole through my own heart because I’d clearly hurt you by being careless with your feelings.”

She didn’t say anything for a few seconds. She did raise her eyes to him, and he held hers. He hoped, oh he hoped.

“I have a right to see my friends, Brayden. I realise it’s dangerous but I don’t know how long this is going to go on for and I really need to see her. I miss her.”

“I realise that now, baby. I just freaked out at when you mentioned it before. It took me by surprise and all I could think of was something happening to you and how that would rip out my heart.”

She looked at him curiously for a moment. “What are you really trying to say, Brayden?”

He gathered his thoughts and his courage. “Firstly, that I’m sorry for hurting you and disregarding your need to see your friends. Secondly, I’m just realising how much you mean to me. How much I enjoy being with you and it scares me. When I think that anything could change that…” He looked away, and then picked up her hand and looked right into the emotions swirling in her eyes that appeared more green than hazel, wet with unshed tears.

“I think I’m falling in love with you, Rihanna.”

She gasped, clearly not expecting that. “Oh Bray, I don’t know what to say.”

He smiled weakly. “How you’re feeling would be a good start.”

She giggled at his attempt to lighten the moment. “That’s just it.”

He was totally confused. “That’s just what?”

“Why I want to see Jazz.” He still looked totally confused, so she went on. “I need to talk to her about us. I realised earlier that I was in uncharted waters with you, and I wanted to talk it through with Jazz.”

“You want to catch up with Jazz to talk about us?” He was obviously trying to reconcile this news in his mind.

“Yes.”

“Why can’t you talk to me about us?” he asked, perhaps sounding a little hurt.

“Because I need her perspective on this. I’ve never felt like this with anyone before and I want to talk to her.” She was sounding a little defensive again.

“Am I going to like what she says?” he asked, smirking slightly with that little eyebrow raise she loved.

“Probably, because she’s been telling me to go for it all week.”

He laughed at that. “Well, in that case, what are you waiting for? Invite her over for a BBQ tonight.”

“Are you sure?”

“No, but do it anyway. You’ve put up with my friends—only fair I should reciprocate.”

She lunged forward and kissed him hard on the lips.

“How did you get so smart?”

At that, he laughed. “Rory pointed it out to me.”

“Figures,” she said, laughing with him.

“So am I forgiven?”

Rihanna looked at him sideways, dipping her head and tilting her chin at that little angle he loved. “I guess so.”

“I’ll try to be more understanding in the future,” he said, hoping that he wasn’t going to regret having Jazz in his life.

Chapter Eighteen

“Rihanna, where the hell is this place?” she half screamed into the crackling hands-free car kit.

“Where exactly are you?”

“I’ve just gone through a little township and the road is narrowing. There’s a creek on my left,” Jazz said, all the while looking around trying to confirm landmarks.

“Okay, you’re nearly here. It’s about another kilometre along on the left. Slow down when you come to the sharp left turn; the gates are tucked into the hill just past there.”

“I’ll just stay on the line and make sure I get there.” Scepticism was clear in her voice.

“Okay—you should be coming up on it now.”

“Yep.” Jazz reefed the wheel to the left and pulled the car to an abrupt halt, just barely stopping before the bonnet touched the heavy-weathered timber gates. “Oh shit, you’ll never find this unless you knew exactly where the gates were supposed to be. These gates are seriously solid, Rih.”

“I know; I think they’d stop a tank. I’ll get Brayden to buzz you through,” Rihanna said excitedly.

She heard Rihanna call out, “Brayden.”

A few seconds later, the gates started to move open and she edged forward.

“Just follow the driveway up to the house. I’ll meet you out the front. Bye.” The call disconnected.

Shit, what was this place? It was gorgeous. The house was set up on the hill and the driveway curled across the flat over the creek and up the hill. The paddocks were scattered with selective trees and the grass was recently mown. The hedging paralleling the driveway was nothing short of impressive.

She could see Rihanna coming out through an open garage door. The sun was setting behind her, making it difficult to really see how she looked. Rihanna waved to the side, indicating she should park over there beside the garage doors on an area clearly reserved for visiting cars. She pulled in beside the black Jeep and shut off the engine.

Gathering her handbag and a couple bottles of wine she’d brought, she reached for the door but Rihanna beat her to it.

“You made it,” Rihanna half squealed.

“Only because you directed me in. Shit, this takes private to a whole new meaning.” She passed one of the wine bottles to Rihanna, getting out of the car. Rihanna immediately pulled her into a big hug. It felt as if she hadn’t seen her for months, even though it was only a week.

“So, sweetie, you look fantastic,” she said, pulling out of Rihanna’s affectionate hug.

“I’m so glad you’re here. I so need to talk to you.”

“Ha, like you could have kept me away from here much longer. It’s not every day that my best friend hooks up with one of the guys from my favourite band.”

Rihanna just giggled at Jazz’s words. Blushed a little.

“So who else is here?” she asked, smoothing her hair, clearly looking to impress.

Rihanna had moved towards the garage and was shepherding Jazz along.

“Umm, a couple of other guys that Bray works with on something else. Steel isn’t his only business interest.”

“Yeah, I kind of figured that. He only performs very occasionally, seems to stick more to the writing side. So are any other band members here?” Jazz struggled to keep the hope from her voice.

“Don’t be disappointed but, no.”

“You mean to tell me that I’m here and the rest of the band aren’t?” The mock fury in her voice had Rihanna playfully cringing.

“Sorry.” She grimaced. “But Quade and Rory are cool.”

“I wanted Jace and Matt and Dean and Cody, not Rory and someone called Quade,” she whined.

“And I thought you were coming to see me and help me sort out this thing?” Rihanna emphasised, waving her hand around as if she was referring to some sort of foreign object.

“Sure I am but I’d do just about anything to meet the Steel guys,” Jazz whined.

“You are such a groupie.” Rihanna shook her head in lighthearted disgust.

They moved through the garage, into the house and down the long hall, ending up in the living area of the house.

“Rih, this place is incredible,” she whispered to Rihanna.

“I know. I love all the timber and how warm it feels.” She took the other bottle of wine from Jazz and put them both in the fridge.

“What do you want to drink? I’ve just opened a really nice NZ Sav Blanc if you want some.”

“That would be great,” she said, leaning against the bench as Rihanna reached up into a cupboard beside the fridge to retrieve an elegant wine glass. Interesting, the girl already knew her way around the kitchen. She poured the wine and passed it to Jazz. Rihanna came around the bench and started to move towards the French doors, heading to the outside veranda.

“Okay, now you have a drink. Let’s go meet the guys.”

“Shit, Rih, I thought you’d never get around to it,” she said, following along.

Rihanna rolled her eyes. “Well, excuse me for making sure my guest had a drink.”

“Since when have I been a guest? I thought I’m your best friend.”

Rihanna just laughed at that, pushing the door open.

Rihanna had turned to watch her reaction. Jazz immediately picked out Brayden sitting at the large, heavy looking, round timber table, chatting with two other incredibly delectable men. One was dark, oh so dark. Dark hair almost black and skin almost bronzed, and as he turned to look towards them, her heart thumped in her chest.
Look – at – those – eyes
. They were the colour of the ocean in all those tropical paradise brochures, that clear bottomless blue. Wow. The other was blonde—surfer boy blonde—and he had the golden tan to match and the most irresistible set of puppy dog brown eyes she’d ever seen. Both of them were clearly large; it wasn’t until they stood in greeting she realised just how large they were.

The dark one was really tall, maybe six five tall. The blonde a whisker over six feet. But both of them were seriously built—actually just like Brayden, now that she thought about it. These guys were seriously big but didn’t look gym big. Something else. All were definitely drool worthy.

Rihanna motioned to her, bringing her close to her right-hand side. “Jazz, this is Brayden James,” she said, indicating Brayden. He reached forward a large hand for Jazz to take.

“Hi, nice to meet you,” he said, smiling warmly. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“Oh no, and here I was thinking I was going to make a good impression.” Jazz moved her hand to her brow, pretending to cringe from his comments. He laughed lightly at her gag.

“Don’t worry; Rihanna loves you, so that works for me.” She lifted her eyebrows at him. Interesting choice of words, Mr James.

Rihanna motioned towards the others, taking her attention from Brayden. “And this is Quade Roston.” She indicated Mr Tall Dark and oh so Handsome. “And this is Rory Southall.” Blonde Surfer boy hit her with a one thousand-watt smile; it was so powerful she almost stepped back from the impact.

She took the offered hands and felt the tingles run up her arm from both of them. Shit, how did Rihanna stand to be around all this male hotness? Knowing Rihanna, she probably didn’t even notice. Girl didn’t have a clue how lucky she was.

Rihanna sat and motioned for Jazz to take a seat beside her. Quade resumed his seat, now beside Jazz, and Rory took up his as well.

“Wow, how do you stand living with a view like this?”

Brayden laughed at her joke. The outline of the Surfers Paradise skyline was clearly visible from her position at the table. It was simply spectacular.

“I think I said something very similar,” Rihanna agreed.

“Oh, it can be tough sometimes. But someone’s got to do it. Luckily that someone’s me and Rihanna seems to be pretty happy helping me. Hey, Minky.” He smoothed a lock of Rihanna’s heavy hair back from her face. Rihanna squeezed his hand that was resting in her lap.

Jazz’s heartbeat picked up.
Soooooooo cute
. “Minky?” she questioned.

“Oh, that seems to be a new nickname for me,” Rihanna explained.

“Why Minky? I don’t get it. Or don’t I want to know?” Jazz asked, curious.

“Yeah, Stud. Quade and I have been wondering that, too.” Rory gave Brayden the universal “do tell” stare.

“No, totally innocent. Rihanna’s hair reminds me of a mink pelt. All the vivid colours that come through when the light hits it. It was one of the first things I noticed on New Year’s Eve.”

That explanation had both Rory and Quade laughing and shaking their heads.

“See, man,” Rory said, turning to Quade. “I told ya he was totally gone and the reason you can tell is that he’s not the least bit embarrassed about admitting to the sappy shit.”

Quade was slowly shaking his head. “Never thought it would happen. Definitely not happening to me.”

Very interesting. Even his friends thought this was serious.

“I know this guy’s a muso. What about you two? Are you in the music industry as well?” Jazz asked. Innocent enough question surely? So why did Mr Tall Dark and Handsome suddenly look so uncomfortable?

“Oh, we’ve been mates with Brayden for years. We all went to uni together. Now we share some mutual business interests,” Rory smoothly covered the question.

“So what do mutual ‘business interests’ mean?” Jazz felt Rihanna immediately stiffen beside her this time. Now THAT was interesting.

“The three of us are involved in an organic agricultural business,” Rory added some further detail.

“So you’re farmers?”

Rihanna burst out laughing at that.

Something quick passed between the three guys. Did Brayden just nod at Rory? Did Quade twitch his right eye? Weird. Something was up.

Rory moved his head, subtly capturing her attention again. “No, we’re not farmers. Our involvement in the industry is related to the investigation and eradication of noxious diseases and pests.”

“So, what you make is pesticides?”

“No, that’s where the organics comes in. We prefer the natural approach. Therefore, we try to only use totally organic means to help industries eradicate threats.”

“Cool. So you’re Earth Warriors.” At this, everyone burst out laughing. In fact, Rihanna was in the process of taking a sip of wine and it clearly went down the wrong way. Her laughter was more along the lines of hoarse coughing. Bray started gently rubbing her back.

“So what do you do, Jazz?” Quade had settled from the laughter and was pinning her with a direct gaze.

She felt the tiny hairs on her arms and neck stand to attention at his words. “Umm, I’m in the medical field,” she offered.

“What exactly in the medical field?” The question came back so quickly she knew there was no skirting it. Payback was a bitch. But why did she feel as if Quade had turned a thousand-watt spotlight right on her?

“Okay, I’ll admit it. I’m a shrink,” she said a little shyly.

Rory whistled. “Wow, that’s not what I expected.”

Jazz nodded her understanding. “Mental health is the topic no one wants to touch.”

“Oh, I don’t know. I’m always curious why people choose their paths. So why psych?”

Rihanna shot her a worried look and started reaching for her arm.

Jazz took a deep breath. “My sister committed suicide when she was nineteen. I was fourteen at the time. I guess I always wondered if she’d got help whether she’d still be with us today.” She felt Rihanna squeeze her forearm in support. Rory’s question had cut right to the heart of the matter. Normally, she avoided disclosing so much about herself but for some reason she really didn’t understand, she decided to give the total truth.

The table had become very sombre at her words. She didn’t mean to ruin the mood.

“Oh shit, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—” Rory hastily tried to add.

Jazz cut him off and smiled broadly. “Well, that was one of the reasons I took up psych. The other was to deal with my multiple personalities,” she joked, trying to lighten things.

At that, she got the laughter from everyone she expected.

“Yeah, Jazz is the only medical specialist I know who carries on like a teenage groupie over rock bands. The teenage groupie is just one of her personalities.”

“So I should consider myself warned?” Bray put in.

Jazz flashed Brayden her most seductive smile. “Absolutely. The only reason I’m not all over you is because you’re clearly smitten with my best friend.”

“Jazz, shut up,” Rihanna squealed, horrified.

Jazz turned to Rihanna, deadpan. “What? You know it’s the truth; I’d be all over him.” Jazz was purposely missing the point. She could hear the guys laughing but kept her eyes focused on Rihanna.

Rihanna looked even more horrified.

“Jazz….” Rihanna’s voice went higher.

Jazz clicked her fingers like it just dawned on her. “Oh, you mean the bit about him being smitten. Well, as they say, what looks like a duck, quacks like a duck…and he sure looks smitten to me.”

“Jazz, shut up, I’m dying here,” Rihanna hissed.

“What? Even his friends said he was gone,” she said with mock innocence.

Rihanna had paled and just looked horrified, shaking her head.