Foster Siblings 3: Brokedown Hearts (13 page)

“I’ll say it again.” Hitting him in the forearm, Brittany said, “
Ask
.” She poked him in the arm again. “
Him
.” And a third stab to his hand. “
Now
.”

As if invisible people could see him and were rendering judgment, David shook his head. “No. It’s pathetic. It’s too needy.” Although the day was already blistering hot, David wanted to grab a hoodie and cover up. “And like I said, I’m terrified by how much I’m thinking about him. I’m worried it’s going somewhere unhealthy, and that I’m fixating on him too much.”

“Eh.” Brittany picked up a piece of bacon and started in on that. “I might be concerned if you’d fought harder against telling me, or if you’d been at all squirrelly with me since meeting him. But you’re being open, and you’re aware. I think that’s good.”

“That’s what Dr. Fariday says too.”

Brittany beamed. “See? He knows what he’s talking about. You should listen.”

“I know.” After another talk with the doctor last night, David had been able to manage a few hours of sleep. He suddenly grinned, a real smile, and shared, “But he also laid out the idea again that I should move from Coleman to Gainesville.”

“Then I don’t like the guy at all. He’s a quack.” After she gave the die-hard, loyal reaction David had known she would, David smiled even bigger. The redhead flipped the finger to the vast outdoors beyond the restaurant, and an emphatic nod too. “You belong here. You belong with the people who love you.”

“Thank you.” His throat swelling with the best kind of pain, David tipped his head to the strong, petite woman across from him. “I’m grateful to have you.”

“Me too. To have you.” She looked down at David’s uneaten breakfast and grimaced. “Are you done picking at that?” Rubbing her stomach, she burped softly. “Sorry. But I ate too fast, and I feel kind of sick.”

“Let’s go.” Decision quickly made, David eased his plate to the edge of the table, slid some money under a cup, and pushed up from his chair. “I have things I need to do today.”

After leaving cash for her breakfast too, Brittany linked her arm in David’s and led the way out. “Anywhere I can give you a ride to?”

“No. I have a long to-do list, and I’ve gotten pretty good about timing the bus schedules to my day.” David stopped just outside the restaurant entrance, knowing Brittany had her car parked in the lot on the opposite side of the building. He had to go in the other direction. “I’ll be fine.”

“Then I’ll talk to you soon.” On the tiptoes of her high heels, Brittany leaned up and bussed his cheek. “And you talk to this Ben person.” Stepping back, she tapped him on the chest. “Promise me?”

“We’ll see,” David said by way of an answer. He didn’t want to lie to the woman; she was his dearest friend. He winked, waved, and changed the subject. “I hope you feel better.”

“Me too.” With a wave, Brittany blew him a kiss, spun, and walked away.

David stood in place, watching after Brittany until she turned around the side of the building. He couldn’t help smiling, and his heart felt lighter than it had in days. She was good for him, and he was happy he’d followed his impulse this morning to give her a call.

Suddenly someone grabbed him from behind. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” His heart racing, David recognized Travis’s voice just as Travis whipped him around and slammed him against an electrical pole. “I told you to find a way to get my wife out of your life,
not
”—Travis snarled the word and shook David hard—“call her and invite her out for tea.”

His heart thumping straight up into his throat, David grabbed Travis’s hand and tried to untangle it from his shirt. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think. I needed a friend—”

Travis slapped a hand over David’s mouth, silencing him. “I don’t goddamn care what you need. Be a faggot loser with someone else.” He took his hand away from David’s mouth only to jam a finger in his face. “Stay away from my wife, or I swear to God I’ll make you regret that you even still have a miserable life to live in this town.”

A blaze of tiny auburn fury raced up behind Travis and smacked him in the shoulder with her clutch purse. “And if you don’t take your hands off him right now, I’ll make you regret ever marrying me.”

In a shot, his eyes going wider than David had ever seen, Travis let go of David and turned to face his wife. “What are you doing here?”

“I forgot my phone inside,” she barked at him. As David slumped and struggled to get his breath back, Brittany planted her hands on her hips and sneered at her man. “And I guess it was a good thing I did too, or I never would have believed this if I hadn’t seen and heard it myself. I am a grown-ass woman, Travis, and you do not dictate to me or speak for me.”

Travis swore, “Goddamn it, I’m trying to protect you.”

“This isn’t the family member of yours I need protecting from, and if you won’t see that, then we have more problems than you think.” With one shift of her hips, Brittany went from piercing a hole in Travis’s forehead to looking at David. “David, I’ll be seeing you whenever I want, rest assured of that.” She blinked and turned a deadly stare back to her husband. “As for you, I’m not sure when I’ll feel like seeing or speaking to you again.” Then, with a flourish, she pivoted and
click-click-clicked
on her heels into the restaurant.

David tensed to deal with Travis’s wrath, but the guy squeaked, “Baby, wait,” and rushed after Brittany. David didn’t have to run into the restaurant to see if Brittany would be okay. Through the wall of glass fronting the establishment, David needed only a moment to absorb gestures and body language from the two inside and gathered fairly easily that Brittany had full control of the situation. It was as if David were verbally battling Goliath, with David winning.

Brittany is more worthy of the biblical name than I am
. Out on the street, David flushed hot, ashamed of himself.
I hardly live up to the moniker of a giant slayer.

David looked up right then, across the street, into the brown eyes of his ex-wife. She’d clearly witnessed the whole scene, and David’s embarrassment reached all the way into his core. After another heartbeat, where Carrie nailed David to the sidewalk with a cutting glare, she shot him the finger and walked away.

Son of a bitch
. First David had looked the fool in front of Brittany. Then, with how he’d cowed under Travis’s wrath, David sure hadn’t given his brother any indication that he had a spine. To finish that cake off, the icing of Carrie witnessing everything completed the humiliation. Only Ben cruising by could be bad enough to add a cherry on top and make it worse.

But that won’t happen. I don’t even know if he’s still in town. He certainly hasn’t made any attempt to visit again.

A dull throb pounded in David’s middle, but he pried himself out of his statue position and walked to the bus stop. At the very least, he had to get a few things for the kitten. She was the only one in the world who depended on him, and he didn’t want to let her down.

* * * *

Hanging around the shelter, waiting to grab a ride home with Sam, David searched the Internet and frowned. The animal sanctuary had the most basic, pathetic blog site. It consisted of a page chock-full of errors, and it hadn’t seen an update in months.

This isn’t right.

David spun in the desk chair and faced his boss’s back. She had a phone to her ear but fiddled with a file in front of her.

Taking a chance that she was on hold, David whispered, “Erin,” and nudged the woman’s shoulder.

Erin spun in the chair. “Yeah, sweetie?” She abruptly cursed, banged the phone against her desk, and then put it back to her ear. “I swear I think I’ve been on hold for almost an hour. If I hear Muzak for another minute, I might scream. What do you need?”

David wheeled his chair aside so Erin could see the web page he had up on the computer. “Who maintains the shelter blog site?”

“I do.” Before David could respond, she scrunched up her face and added, “But don’t judge. I do the best I can. I despise machines as much as I love animals, but I can’t afford to hire someone to maintain it for me. It’s a miracle I was able to figure out how to post anything at all.”

A funny tickle awakened inside David, and he murmured, “You’re already paying me.”

Erin sat up straighter. “You want to run the blog?”

“You should have a bigger and better presence on the Internet.” His mind spinning with ideas, David became more animated in his explanation. “It’ll be good to show off all the animals, and it’ll bring the shelter more donations.”

“Oh.” Erin’s features fell. “I don’t know how to set any of that up. I’m not—” She perked back up. “Hello.” She clearly spoke to someone on the other end of the line. “Thank you. Finally.” Launching into a diatribe at the person, Erin ignored David’s presence in the room.

His head still too full of ideas, rather than deflating, David grabbed a legal pad and jotted down a question. He then held the paper up to Erin, and it read:
May I look into upgrading some stuff on the Internet for you?

With little more than a glance, Erin gave David a thumbs-up without breaking from her heated phone conversation.

Just about to fist pump in victory, David jammed his hand to the side when Sam popped into the room. “You ready to go?”

As if caught doing something bad, David wadded up the paper and shoved his hand behind his back. “Sure. Let me get my bag.” Thinking about his needs for this blog-update project, though, David frowned. He went back and forth in his head, hating to put himself on display, but the awful blog still glowed on the computer screen, taunting him, and he forced some hard words into his throat. “Hey.” As he slipped his backpack over his shoulder, he looked up at Sam. “Do you know if there are any good deals in that used-computer store next to the car wash on Hudson?”

“Don’t know.” Shrugging, Sam hooked his hands in his backpack straps. “You want to go check it out?”

David instantly breathed easier. “Yes, if you don’t mind.” Normally David wouldn’t ask for a favor, but he feared if he had to figure out the bus transfers to a new location, he wouldn’t make it to the place tonight. “But I don’t want to put you out.”

“I can spare a half hour before I have to get home.”

“It won’t take long to tell if there’s anything worth owning.” Feeling good about the world again—or at least about his job—David smiled at Sam. “Thanks.”

“No problem.” With a nod, Sam jerked his shoulder toward the exit. “Let’s roll.”

David followed, his thoughts on everything he could do with a web presence for the shelter as a thank-you to Erin for giving him a chance.

* * * *

His arms loaded down with stuff from the used-computer store, David called out a thank-you to Sam for driving him all the way to his door rather than dropping him off up the street. Sam waved back, put his truck in reverse, and David wrangled the stuff in his arms in order to get to his key.

Warmth suddenly hit David’s back. “Need some help?” The whiskey-rich voice sank into his ear.

Oh shit
. David jumped and rounded on Ben. Absorbing the wonderful bigness of Ben, his incredible, sharp features, and the raven sheen that made David want to run his fingers through Ben’s hair, David started to melt and lean into Ben’s personal space. “I didn’t see you there.” Then David remembered everything that had happened in the past three days, and he spun back to face the door. Fumbling with his key again, his face turned down, he mumbled, “No, I’m fine.”

“You don’t seem like you’re fine.” With a shift to stand beside David rather than behind him, Ben tried to take some of the packages out of David’s arms. “It looks like you could use a hand.”

David wrenched himself away. “I’ll manage.” He got the key in the lock and opened the door. “Bye.” He pushed at the door with his hip.

Ben slapped his big hand against the door. “Wait.” His mouth going hard, he shoved his way inside. “Are you mad at me?”

“Nope.” Refusing to look at Ben, starting to sweat, David dumped his goodies on the table. “Not a bit.”

In two moves, Ben whipped David around and trapped him against the table. “I think you’re lying.”

Unable to get away, his pulse beginning to race with righteous heat rather than fear, David jutted his chin at a defiant angle and looked up into the yellow fire flashing in Ben’s stare. “I don’t care what you think.”

“And I don’t appreciate the cold shoulder when I haven’t done anything to earn it,” Ben barked back in David’s face.

A bubble of laughter erupted in David, and he snorted and rolled his eyes.

Red mottled Ben’s skin, and he leaned in so greatly he bowed David back over the edge of the table. “Did I say something you find funny?”

The heat inside David simmered by slowly increasing degrees, warming him from his core. “Only that you didn’t think you’d done anything to earn my anger,” he spit, the need for some honestly rippling through his flesh. “I find that funny.”

With a jab of his fingers into the tabletop to emphasize each word, Ben uttered, “I haven’t done anything.”

Ben’s vehement, complete denial of their situation caused the cauldron inside David to erupt. “Oh no? You don’t think so?” He chest bumped Ben out of his personal space. “Well, how about this?
You
came on to me.
You
kissed me.
You
put my dick in your mouth and sucked me off until I came.
You
used my ass to help you get off until you came. And then…” Emotions running too high, David bled pure need faster than he could think and tripped over his tongue. “And then… And then
you
got one phone call, flew out of here like a bat out of hell, and I haven’t seen or heard from you since. But no”—David threw his hands in the air—“go ahead and say again that
you
haven’t done anything to earn some iciness from me.”

Ben stepped away, and his features went slack. “Do you care that much that you haven’t heard from me in three days?” He parted his lips but didn’t say anything for a long moment. His tone soft, he asked, “Did it really matter to you?”

One big, exposed nerve now, David admitted, “Yes, it did,” and cut himself open for this near stranger a little bit more. “I do. I care about you.” David struggled, and he trembled where he stood, but he didn’t know how to stop talking, and his voice kept squeaking higher and higher. “I’m afraid I care too much. But I don’t even hardly know you, so I don’t like that I do, and I don’t know what to do with it.”