Just One Touch: A Black Alcove Novel (The Black Alcove Series Book 3) (17 page)

“And what have you
come up with so far?”

“Well, it involves
you and water and being naked.”

Without a second
thought I roll out of bed, pulling the sheet and Alex with me, and I
lift her over my shoulder and head for the bathroom. The landlord
fixed her shower yesterday. We’re pretending he didn’t.

“Conner, I’m not
done talking yet,” she laughs, wigging in my hold as I step into
the bathroom.

“We can talk later.”
I silence her with my lips. Logan is the last person I want to be
thinking about in my shower. Especially since my focus should be on
how I’m going to convince him that the “never date a sister”
rule can’t apply to me and Alex.

* * *

Logan gets right into
it when the door closes. “The sister rule still applies, you know.”

“You’re positive
this girl is your sister?” I ask, joking with him. Maybe
approaching it with a lighter tone will make the conversation easier
on both of us. There is no way the rule can still be held against me
the same way. Not after I’ve already been with Alex, and he clearly
caught us making out last weekend when Alex told him the truth. This
is one promise I’m going to have to break.

“Dude, did you see
her? She looks like just like me only the female version.” He
clearly didn’t pick up on my joke. “Same blonde hair, our skin
tone is freaking spot on, and we have the same eyes.”

The fuck they do. Her
eyes hypnotize me. They capture me. They are something I’ll never
forget. Logan’s eyes are ... I glance at him.

Damn, that’s weird.
Yeah, those are just Logan’s eyes.

“The rule can’t
apply to us,” I say. “I’m sorry.”

“How can it not
apply?”

“We made that pact
when we were kids, and at the time …”

“I didn’t have a
sister. Yeah, I get it, but she’s here now. The rule should still
apply.”

“Why?”

“Because it should.”

He focuses on the wall
across from us, in good ole Logan fashion. When he knocks his
knuckles against the bar top, it’s a dead giveaway that something
else is bothering him.

“What is it?” I
ask.

“Nothing,” he
snaps.

“Look me in the eye
and tell me the fact that I’m breaking this rule is the only thing
that’s bothering you.”

He opens his mouth to
argue but pauses before asking me, “Did you know she was my sister
this whole time?”

I don’t think that’s
his problem, either.

“No, I didn’t know
she was your sister until a week ago.”

He lets this sink in
for a moment.

“Do you think she
needs help? Like maybe she ran from something and that’s why all of
a sudden she showed up and took so long to tell anyone. Oh, and you
need to get that landlord out to your building stat to fix her
plumbing, or you at least need tell me you have some kind of shower
rule right now.”

It’s all about the
rules with this guy, and yeah, it’s a rule we shower together.

“Shower rule?” I
ask, knowing that isn’t what he wants to hear. I could tell him
that it’s fixed, but this is more fun.

“Dude, there will be
no chance of you running into my sister in her towel. I’ve had that
situation with Sara too many times to know how it ends and to also
know I don’t want that for you. At least, I don’t want to think
about the two of you and whatever thing you have going on right now.”

“Okay…” I begin.
It sounds like I’m going to need to take another approach to this
topic. I can’t leave here today without convincing him that me and
Alexis are right for each other and his support would be nice to
have. “Stepping into the big brother role ASAP, huh?”

“I’ve had a lot of
years to think about what it would be like to see her again and I
really hope she wants the same type of relationship I do,” he says
before he starts to ramble again. “Do you think she is too skinny?”

“She isn’t skinny;
her ass is fucking perfect and if you meant—”

“I said the rule
still applies. You can’t date my sister or even think about
anything that involves my sister as more than just your friend. I saw
you kissing her. That has to end.”

“Logan, come on, this
situation is different.”

“No, it’s not.”

“Yeah, it is.”

“What, because you
met her first? She’s my sister, Conner.”

“This is different.”

“No, no way are you
going to give me that speech.”

“I get it.” I
chuckle. “But-”

“If she’s dating
you, there will be no time for me to get to know her, Conner. And you
already know her better than I do, and that’s not fair.”

And there it is.

“Logan, she wants to
know you more than anyone else in the world, even me. I want to be
there for her while you get to know each other, and I want to be
there to watch as you make memories. Of course, I want to be a part
of some of them. But Logan, I’m so into your sister and want to be
with her so badly, I’m willing to destroy our entire friendship to
make sure I wake up to her smile and her happiness every morning.”

Logan’s hands are on
his hips and his jaw twitches as he grinds his teeth. He keeps his
vision focused on me until I’ve mastered enough of a straight face
to convince him I’m serious.

He blows out a quick
breath.

“Fine. I’ll give it
a shot because she did tell me you arranged for us to meet since she
was nervous, and because if she is happy with you, I’m not going to
take that away. But hear me now: if you do anything, and I mean
anything, to hurt her, I get a free pass to hit you as hard as I can
whenever I feel like it for the rest of our lives.”

“Deal,” I say
because there is no chance of that ever happening.

When Logan enters the
office, leaving me alone, I start rehearsing how I’m going to tell
Alex about Heather wanting us to be a family but that’s not going
to work and it isn’t because of her. If I weren’t so happy with
Alex and distracted by her smile and touch, I’d have told her by
now.

Shit, I’ve got to
stop making excuses.

I have no words to
start and I better find them soon or getting Logan’s approval was
all for nothing and I’ll lose Alex and get a punch in the face
every day until who knows when.

Alexis

“I still can’t
believe you’re Logan’s sister,” Beth comments as she lays on my
couch. She’s drinking a bottle of ginger ale and swinging it by the
cap like a drunken person. “I bet Logan cried the moment he and
Sara got back to their house.”

“Yeah, I doubt that.”
I laugh off her statement.

The last few days have
been … interesting. Logan and I still make things a little awkward
with our lack of communication when we’re together. There have been
a few times where we have done nothing but sit in the same room
together in complete silence. Our past is a hard subject to bring up.

Logan adjusting to the
idea of me and Conner probably has a little something to do with it
as well. He asks me almost every day if Conner’s still treating me
right. I laugh and tell him yes each time.

Sara and I are chatting
about her pregnancy every chance we get, and she’s also
successfully managed to make me feel welcome even with the way Logan
and I act around each other.

“I’m serious. No
one would see it if they were a passerby, but Logan has the softest
man heart of any guy I know.”

She clearly doesn’t
know Conner that well.

“Are you ready to
go?” I ask, opening the door because either way, I’m going to the
barbeque at my brother’s house. Something they do about every other
weekend.

“Eager to see the
fam, huh?” She stands, dragging her feet to the door. “I guess
that makes sense. If I’d spent my whole life without family, I’d
probably want to see them too.”

“Yeah, that’s it.”
But really I’m just as excited to see Conner. It’s been a busy
week and I’ve been spending a lot of time at Logan and Sara’s
house. I didn’t realize how much I liked Conner until I didn’t
get to see him as much as I used to. The fact he’s come in to sleep
next to me the last two nights doesn’t count as actually hanging
out.

The drive goes fast and
before I know it, Beth pulls her car up in front of their house, and
my heartbeat speeds up at the sight of all the cars.

“Is it normal for
this many people to be here?” I ask, unbuckling my belt.

“Nope,” she answers
and gets out.

I thought this was
going to be a small get together, but clearly I’m wrong. I
immediately start looking for Conner. If anyone is going to make me
feel comfortable tonight, it’s going to be him.

* * *

I walk toward the
house, glancing back to see the couple I was just talking to still
watching me, and, like with most of the other people here, I can’t
remember their names. I wave at Skylar, who I’m glad is here, and
consider heading in Conner’s direction. But he looks deep in
conversation with Lucas so I slide the patio door closed behind me
and head down the hallway.

I pass two small rooms
and a bathroom before I find a room that, I assume by the large desk
in the middle, is the den. It has two doors, one that comes from the
hallway I am in and one on the other side of the room that leads to
the front of the house. I close both doors before sitting on the
carpet under the window. Out of sight.

Relationships like the
ones I see outside are the type I’ve wanted my whole life. I came
here with the mindset that I would have to work for it and prove
myself, but everyone has just accepted me, end of story. They haven’t
asked questions or pried into my past. Logan, yeah, I expected him to
hesitate, but the others … I don’t know. Don’t they want to
know? Do I want them to ask me questions? Maybe, a little.

A part of me wants to
ask Logan the questions I wish he’d ask me, but another part of me
is scared to hear his answers. What if he grew up with a horrible
foster family, or what if he grew up with one that was better than
mine? It’s not a competition, but I always felt like a piece of my
life was missing.

A knock at the door
from the hallway takes me from my thoughts. Logan pokes his head
inside, his eyes going wide when he sees me.

“Oh, I thought Sara
was in here,” he says, looking awkwardly around the room. Sorry,
brother, nothing to focus on in this room but me.

“Just me,” I say.

“Everything okay?”

“Yes.”

Now is as good a time
as any to change those weird silent moments between us into a real
conversation.

“Do you want to join
me?” I ask, making the effort we’ve both been nervous to make. He
nods, making his way into the room and looking around, unsure of
where he’s going to sit. He settles on a spot against the same wall
I’m sitting against.

“So, are you doing
okay?” he asks. “I mean, how do you like Wind Valley?”

“I’m fine. I like
it here. You can thank your best friend for that. He’s been amazing
since the day I met him. This afternoon, however, with all the people
here, is a lot to take in.”

Logan tilts his head.

“Yeah, I don’t
think any of us thought about that when we planned this. We should
have though, thought of you.” He shakes his head before resting it
in his hands, clearly dismissing the subject of Conner.

“It’s really okay.
I guess I don’t know what I was expecting.”

“Well, I’ll give
you a minute or however long you need.” He starts to get up.

“No, stay,” I blurt
out. “I know this whole thing has been a little uneasy for us, but
maybe we need baby steps, and staying in a room alone making
conversation for longer than five minutes is a good place to start.”

He laughs nervously.

“I’m sorry. I’ve
wanted this for so long, and I swear I used to rehearse what I’d
say to you, but now that you’re here, I’m not sure what to say,”
he adds, leaning back against the wall.

“I thought about it
too.”

“About me or about
the family we used to have?”

The guilt I used to
feel about missing only Logan hits my heart for a slight moment. Long
enough to fear how he might respond to my answer.

“Just you. I don’t
remember enough about our mother to miss her, and even if I did, she
gave up on us. I can’t allow myself to care for someone who didn’t
care for me.”

Logan turns his head,
and I’m positive I see relief in his eyes.

“Yeah, I feel the
exact same way.”

We don’t say anything
else after that. We just sit here for another few minutes, like
normal, before Logan excuses himself to get back to his guests. I
wait another minute before I come out.

It wasn’t anything
huge, but knowing we had one feeling alike makes me even happier that
I’m here. His opinion means more than it should after not seeing
him my whole life.

Alexis

The next day, I step
into the coffee shop and the entire room smells of fresh, ground
coffee, which makes my mouth water. I’ve been craving a caramel
macchiato since the day Heather and I bumped into each other.

At three in the
afternoon, the place is deserted. I’m the only customer, and after
I order my drink it takes only a minute or two until it’s ready. I
sit by the window, enjoying the view as people walk about the
streets. I take another sip of my coffee and watch as an older,
gray-haired woman enters the diner across the street that looks
similar to the one where I used to work. A mother and her two
children, a boy and a girl, are coming around the corner to enter
behind the old woman.

Their interaction tugs
at my heart. I’ve always felt like a part of me was missing. I’m
not sure if it’s because I never got to know my real mother or
because I went through multiple foster homes before I found one that
accepted me. The one where I met Heather. But I’ll always wonder
what my life would have been like had I not been in a foster home,
and every time I see a little boy and girl, I’ll always have this
moment of not knowing.