Forever Together (Forever Love #2) (21 page)

"You wanna treat?" I squeal. So much for not going all gaga. I challenge anyone who comes into contact with Brian not to completely fall for his fluffy coat and big bambi brown eyes though. Nobody would be able to resist. Except maybe Liv.

I look up from the cutest little bundle of fur in my arms and my eyes immediately meet Brady's chocolate pools. Probably the only other eyes that could rival Brian’s in keeping me captured. They look clearer as if he’s suddenly sobered up in the last thirty seconds.

"You look good with him Cinders." His voice is gravelly and deep as if something's caught in his throat. "I bet you'd look amazing with a baby."

"Yeah." I snort in the most unladylike way. He’s definitely drunk.

When I meet his eyes again, I expect to see some kind of humor, I expect the see the corners crinkle up with a restrained smile. They look completely serious though. No, it’s worse than that, way worse. He actually looks as if he’s seriously considering it.

I instinctively take a step back, tempted to kick him in his junk just to get that ridiculous idea out of his head. First Bailey, now Brady. What is it with people and babies? If I didn’t know any better, I’d say they were in cahoots. Actually scratch that, after the things I've learned today it’s entirely possible they are working together. Well they can work together on something else because it will be a good few years before a bun gets planted in this oven.

"Maybe you should come in." I turn quickly away, feeling a little paranoid over the whole baby comment.

Just as I’m about to step away, I feel a pair of arms wrap around my waist before pulling me into a solid wall of muscle. His warm breath rolls over my ear, sending ripples of lust through me.

"Mmm you smell good." He buries his face into my neck and I bite the inside of my cheek to stop myself squealing like a baby pig. "Like strawberries."

"That’s nice." I say weakly. I’m a fool. I’m a stuttering fool. "You smell... interesting." Yeah, interesting like a brewery.

His hands cup my face and turn it round. He looks at me so intensely, his eyes flickering from my mouth to my eyes and back again.
H
h
e’s gonna kiss me and there’s not a single thing I can or want to do about it. Even the smell of beer staining his breath isn’t enough to turn me away from his soft pink lips. They touch against mine in the softest gentlest kiss that has my eyes fluttering closed.

"Am I forgiven?" Brady mumbles, his face pulling away from my own by the tiniest fraction.

I lick my lips and swallow the spit that’s gathered in my mouth. Any chance I had at being Cindy that don’t take no shit flew out the window the moment his lips touched against mine. Damn him and his kissable mouth.

"What happened?" I whisper. I’m not willing to answer the question about forgiveness because then he'll just get even more cocky and I already feel like enough of a walkover.

His body goes rigid, as if the very thought of whatever sent him to drink is too much for his short temper to handle. I place Brian on the ground and he scuttles away towards the kitchen. He’s probably looking for a hiding place from Bailey. Luckily for him, my entire family minus Avery have headed out for dinner. I clutch Brady’s hand in mine and pull him into the den and over to the couch.

The whole baby comment seemed to sober him up some while it nearly sent me to the bottle. He’s more steady on his feet and his eyes aren’t as bloodshot.

"You want some water?" I ask.

He jerks his head in a nod and I leave him sitting on the couch, The Real Housewives of New Jersey on the TV in the background.

I rush around the Kitchen, getting glasses and a jug of water out of the fridge. My stomach rumbles, reminding me that I haven’t eaten since lunch.

"You hungry?" I yell.

"Sure."

"Pizza?"

"Hell yeah."

I giggle at Brady’s answer, knowing he’s got a weakness for Meat Feast pizza. I pour us each a glass of water and pull a pile of pamphlets out of the drawer, thumbing through them until I come to a two for one offer at Papa Rayman’s.

After calling in our order, I take the drinks back into the den, finding Brady’s attention focused on the TV.

"Here you go." I pass him one of the glasses and sit next to him, our arms brushing. "So what happened?" I don’t get an answer, nod or even a shuffle of his body to show that he’s at least listening. "Brady? Brady?"

"Uh sorry. Hey that Teresa’s a bitch huh?"

"What?" I frown.

He jerks his head towards the TV and I roll my eyes. Typical, the entire time we lived together in LA he refused to watch any type of TV with me. I think the exact phrase he used was “It'll be a cold ass day in hell before you catch me watching any pussy ass show.”

"Brady," I tap him on the shoulder continuously until I gain his attention. "What happened today?"

"Oh that." He huffs. "Can’t it wait? I think they’re about to throw down."

I'd think he was trying to avoid the conversation
i
I
f his eyes didn’t look so damn excited.

"No, you were an hour late and turned up on the doorstep drunk."

"I fucked up. I fucked up bad Cinders."

"What did you do?" I ask, my stomach plummeting.

Chapter 15

Brady

The color drains out of her face and her eyes are wide as fuck. She looks like she’s just seen someone get murdered or some shit. The ten beers I had today are seriously messing with my brain so it takes me a few seconds to get where she’s coming from.              

"Oh no, I ain’t done nothing!" I rush out. I don’t miss the breath my dark haired beauty
lets out
takes
. Shit, nearly gave my woman a heart attack then. "I just mean in general."

"Ok." She says warily. Probably scared I’m gonna throw something at her she won’t be able to handle. "Just start with today."

"I got fired but I swear I was gonna fucking quit."

"You work?" She frowns.

What the fuck?

"Yes I fucking work." I bite out.

"Are you sure?"

"I work for Bob. I do... spreadsheets and shit." I think. I know that I copy shit from one page to the other. I don’t think the job has an actual name though. Spreadsheeter? Spreader? Sheeter? I chuckle at that last one. The one before that was pretty funny too.

"Oh you still work for Bob, well not still but you know. So why did he fire you?"

Thinking about it now, that bastard never gave an excuse for why he fired me. That fucker just probably wanted me out the way. He's been wanting it for years, hardly even hid it.

"I don’t know." I shrug. "That bastards always had it out for me, you know that."

"Mmm."

"You look amazing you know." I look
at her from head to toe.
her seated from up and down.

Damn I got lucky with this one. Her hairs all straight and I just know that my hands would glide through it easy as fuck. Her skin looks a little different, more tanned.

"Thank you." She replies, ducking her head as
a
blush starts to spread from her neck upwards. It’s cute as fuck how bashful she is.

"You look..."

"Like shit." I answer for her with a chuckle.

I’m more sober now than I was on leaving the shitty ass bar I've spent most of the day in. Damn, you know you’re really fucking drunk when you can actually admit to it. I practically offered my keys to Pauly Wilcox. The old linebacker for our High School football team’s a cool guy even if he does work in a dive. He'
s
d
saved my ass plenty of times in football practice and he didn’t even ID me when I stepped into the dump. I know he can be trusted to drop my baby back home even in my fucked up state.

Just as I’m thinking about it, I swear Cindy’s got some jedi mind skills by her next question.

"How'd you get here?" She asks, looking round the room as if my truck
would
'd
be parked in it.

"I walked. You remember Pauly, graduated a year before us? He works in that bar just off main street, the one with all those bikes outside. That’s where I was. I left my truck there and he’s gonna drop it off later tonight."

"Oh I’m glad. That’s nice of him. Wait, you actually walked?"

My girl knows me too well. She knows my stance on walking and shit. It’s for pussies. Fact.

"Yeah but I ran some of the way. I swear there was some kind of Doberman wearing a pink bow just up the street. Bitch was giving Brian bedroom eyes. Woulda been like Verne Troyer and Big Momma so I had to get outta there quick."

"Oh." My Cinders giggles, the sound like fucking music to my ears. "That'll be Mr. Donaughue's dog, Betsy."              

"Ain’t that that creepy guy that’s always wearing pink?"

"Uh huh."

"Fuck. He come out the closet yet?" I ask.

"Nope."

Damn if that guys not gay I'll fucking eat my left foot. He’s the only guy in the world that has totally pink fucking Christmas lights. It’s as if he’s hoping Santa will take the hint and fill his stocking for Christmas if you know what I mean. I’m all for free loving, equal rights and other shit but that’s just messed up
.

"Come here." I put an arm around Cindy, trying to get the fucked up thought of pink jumper wearing weirdos and camp Santa’s outta my head,

She’s back where she belongs at least. I don’t think I've ever felt so content until this moment. My girls in my arms, my dog
’
s... somewhere. Shit I hope he’s not peeing in Deena’s kitchen, that woman will have my balls. Where was I? Oh yeah and I've found my new favorite tv show. I've seen my girl get fiery even if she
'll
den
ies
y
it till she’s blue in the face but these Italians take it to a whole other level.

Who knew that overly tanned women with big ass hair could be so fucking vicious. I carry on watching the show, holding Cinders close and fully intending to check Netflix for the housewives of whatever it is later. Not even a knock at the door can convince me to drag my eyes away from the brawling broads.

There’s a
nother
knock at the door and Cindy pulls away. I’d be al
l
disappointed but right now there’s a table about to get flipped.

"Brady." I feel a tap on my shoulder and turn to Cindy holding up a pizza. Mmm pizza.

"Holy shit when did that come and why didn’t you tell me?"

"You seemed a little into your show." She teases. Damn, I’m never gonna hear the end of this.

"I think we should make a deal Cinders. I'll watch this show with you every week or every night or whenever the hell it’s on and we keep it to ourselves. Nobody needs to know that I like... what's it called again?"

"Real Housewives of New Jersey." She replies with a roll of her eyes. "Eat your pizza before it gets cold.

I got her. I know I have. I don’t need her telling this shit to Noah and Tucker, those dudes don’t have good taste in TV and wouldn’t understand. Actually Tucker might, after all the dude watches Pretty Little Liars and that show is fucking ace.

I take a bite of the pizza and groan at the taste of crispy pepperoni. Now this is what I call a pizza. Full of meaty goodness.

I practically demolish the whole thing, grateful that Cindy had the sense to get her own cause I might love the girl but if she gets in between me and my pizza I may have to re
-
evaluate. Actually fuck that shit, I’d say they were about equal in my affections. I haven't eaten all day though and all that beers made me hungry so right now that probably comes slightly ahead.

"This Papa Rayman’s?" I ask with a mouth full. Ain't got time to let this pizza go cold.

"Uh huh, fastest pizza in Georgia."

"Debatable." I grunt.

On finishing my last slice, I look at the empty box longingly, grease staining the brown cardboard where the pizza used to be. I could eat that again. I look over at Cinders and she’s only three slices in.

"You want some?" She asks, poking the box towards me. Damn, she caught me looking.

"I mean if you’re not eating it."

"Have at it."

I swipe up a slice before she can change her mind and wrinkle my nose at the mushrooms. Who has vegetables on a pizza? Oh well, beggars can’t be choosers and I'm hungry as hell. I haven't been this starving since Junior year when me and Tucker got the munchies and ate all his Mom's pies for the bake sale. That was a hell of a good day.

"So what are you gonna do about a job?" Cinders asks, using a napkin to dab the corner of her mouth. She's such a lady, all elegant and neat. Me, I’d just use the bottom of my shirt, it's only gonna be washed anyway.

"I don’t know." I shrug. "I might become a hippy or something. Get one of those trailers on the back of my truck and live with fucking nature for a while. Whatcha think Cinders, wanna live off the land with me?"

"My Dad might have a job for you." She ignores my idea which I thought was a pretty damn good one if I do say so myself. Even as she asks her question I'm still making plans. We could get rid of all our clothes, live like Mogley in Jungle Book. Sure it'd be strictly R rated but I could live with that. "Brady are you even listening to me?"

"Huh? Yeah, yeah course I am Cinders."

"I said my Dad might have a job for you. It's pretty hard I think, all manual labor but you'd be working with Luke and Tucker."

"Tucker?"

"Yeah Tucker works for my Dad." She says it slowly.

"I think I’d know if one of my best pals worked for your Dad
,
Cindy." I scoff. Like I'm falling for that.

"Tuckers worked for my dad since High School finished."

That was two years ago. No, there's no way. I’d know. I'm not that dense.

"If you say so." I’m not convinced. "So a job huh?"

She nods her head, dropping a crust onto her box. I could work with Cindy's Dad; it'd give us some bonding time. Plus, I’d have access to the all the machinery, I’m sure there’s some fuckery I can get up to with that. I can picture the digger races now. Tucker and me, winner takes all. I’d be willing to bet my truck on me beating his ass. Course
i
I'
d want his Pokémon deck. Hey, nobody can judge me, Tucker had the best deck around. He'd have made Pokémon Master five times over with it.

"Anyway," I shake my head, remembering that I'm not here to shoot the breeze with Cindy. I’m trying to woo here. "Enough about digger wars-"

"Digger wars?"

Shit she'll rat me out. Act cool Brady act cool. Hell maybe I’m not as sober as I thought.

***

"Should we wake them?"

"No leave them alone, don’t they look adorable Jim? You remember when we were young and in love and would fall asleep in each other’s arms."

"What do you mean? I am young and in love my beautiful little petal."

Fuck I’m either having some seriously fucked up dream about Cindy’s parents or I'm currently vulnerable and unarmed while Cindy's Dad stands over me while I've got his daughter in my arms. Damn I hope I haven’t got wood. If I have, then I'll fucking help him chop my stupid dick off.

I open my eyes quickly an
d
I’m
am
met with Deena’s soppy smile and Jims glare.

"Uh Morning?" I croak and rub the sleep out of my eyes.

"Not morning Son, it’s eleven at night." Jim says, looking from me to Cindy.

I follow his eyes to see Cindy curled up at my side. I can't help the smile that comes to my face. She fits perfectly, like a piece of jigsaw slotting into place. Her dress has ridden up her thighs, exposing milky flesh that causes the big boy downstairs to stir. Not the time, so not the fucking time.

"We'll leave you to it.” Deena pats her husband’s chest and gives him a warm smile. "Come on Jim." She grabs onto his hand and pulls him along.

His eyes don’t leave mine for a minute.

"Don’t forget the rules." He calls behind him.

"Oh hush honey, don’t you remember what it was like to be young and in love."

"Oh yeah that’s the problem."

He gestures that he's watching me just as she drags him from the room, leaving me and Cinders alone.

"Hey Cinders." I tap her shoulder and she wrinkles her nose before burrowing into my side. Damn if it wasn’t such a pansy ass move I’d melt. "Come on Cinders, time for bed." I say gently, in a voice that’s so high I'm grateful nobody's around to hear it. I sound like a fucking woman.

"Mmm Brady." She sighs. "Love you."

My heart thumps in my chest on hearing the words I haven't heard in six long months. She loves me. She still loves me. Damn who knew those words could bring such relief. I didn’t realize till she'd said it that I’d been waiting for them. Fuck if I don’t feel on top of the world.

"Oh you got no idea how long-" A snore sounds out. She's asleep! This is one of the best moments of my life and my woman is fucking asleep like there’s no
t a
care in the world.

Shit she must have been dreaming. Oh who gives a fuck, she was obviously dreaming about yours truly so it's still all good in the hood. I gently lift her up so I can stand and lay her head on the armrest. She groans and turns, her hair no longer straight but with kinks here and there covering her face. Little strands that are over her mouth
puff
float a little with every breath she blows out.

I kneel down next to her and brush it away, not able to resist the urge to bring it up to my nose. Looks like that’s where the strawberry scent comes from. Shit
,
how after this many years did I not know that? I’m an asshole that’s why. I’m a blind asshole that deserved to be fucking dumped by her. Never again will I neglect her, never will I take her for granted. She’s my whole world.