Not Just Another Romance Novel (26 page)

Austin chuckled. “You want me to tell Scotty anything for you?”

“Don’t mention we talked about it. But tell him I said Happy Thanksgiving.”

“Will do. Try to have a nice Thanksgiving yourself. You know, some girls don’t even have one man in love with them.”

“Shut up.”

Austin laughed. “Take care of yourself, Piper.”

“You too.”

We hung up, and even though our conversation got me literally nowhere, it helped to know I had a friend in Austin no matter what.

***

I couldn’t stop thinking about the sweet text I’d woken up to from Dax. If I ultimately decided to stay with him, I knew I’d be a lucky girl with the future ahead of me.

Things I’m thankful for: Your mouth. Your bed. Your hands. You. Happy Thanksgiving, sweets.

Dax seemed to be the easier choice in a lot of ways. We’d already started a relationship. We’d already slept together, so I knew I was good there. I wouldn’t have to end things with him only to venture into the unknown. Besides, I’d pretty much already lost Scott.

It was easy to break it down that way, but the loss of Scott meant a big hole in my heart and in my life. I couldn’t imagine going back to campus and having a class with him where we sat on opposite sides of the room. I couldn’t imagine study sessions without him. I couldn’t imagine going to my Starbucks and not thinking of him every time I walked through the doors, reminiscing about the days we’d sit at a table drinking coffee and laughing. I didn’t want to imagine those scenarios.

But that’s what life would be like if I decided to stay with Dax.

On the flipside, if I decided to give things a try with Scott and for some reason it didn’t work out, then I’d be giving up not one but two important relationships.

I kept waiting for one to emerge as the clear frontrunner, but it wasn’t happening.

It didn’t happen after I’d eaten my turkey and confessed all of the sordid details to Jamie, whose advice had been no different from anyone else’s.

It didn’t happen while I did everything in my power to avoid eye contact with Easton.

It didn’t happen when my mom served pumpkin pie and I slathered a tiny piece in cool whip and took a bite. I made a face of disgust.

I was pretty sure I was still doing it wrong.

It didn’t even happen when all of my relatives went home and I helped my mom scrub every last dish until we put the house back in order. I was exhausted after helping host all day, and all I wanted to do was crawl into bed.

But we had Black Friday shopping to do.

The malls opened at midnight, so I took a quick nap and woke up at eleven. My mom and I had gone Black Friday shopping for as long as I could remember.

It was weird thinking I’d be right back here a month later for Christmas. How much would change between now and then? Would I invite Dax home with me for Christmas? Or would I be with Scott?

Or would I be with neither of them?

We stopped at a department store first. I passed by a collection of t-shirts. A bright green one with a dinosaur on it caught my eye. It said in white letters, “Ask Me about My Huge Dino.” I chuckled and picked one up for Dax. It was perfect.

Our second stop was the electronics store. I passed by the DVDs and saw the fifth season of
Jersey Shore
in the sale bin. I reminisced about the night Scott and I had watched an episode and psychoanalyzed every major player on the show. I couldn’t help but pick up the DVD in hopes I’d be exchanging presents with my best friend come Christmastime.

So shopping hadn’t been real helpful in my quest for answers.

I slept through much of Friday after my mom and I had stayed out shopping until the sun came up. In fact, it was dinnertime when I finally forced myself out of bed.

My mom and Heath were in the living room watching television when I padded down the stairs, still in my pajamas.

I plopped on the recliner.

“You want to head to the strip tomorrow?” my mom asked. We had a tradition to head down to Las Vegas Boulevard for a night out when I came home. We’d usually go out for a nice dinner, see a show, and spend a couple of hours in a casino. We always had a blast, especially when my mom treated, but I felt the pressure of heading back to reality in a few days, and I didn’t really feel like going out.

I shrugged.

“Come on, Piper. It’ll be fun,” Heath said, goading me into it.

“Fine,” I said without emotion.

I saw my mom and Heath give each other a meaningful look, but I was too apathetic to care.

Easton skipped down the stairs.

“We’re hitting the strip tomorrow, Easton,” Heath said when Easton hit the bottom step.

“Have fun,” he yelled back as he made his way to the front door. I kept my eyes on the television.

“You’re coming, too,” Heath said.

Normally the exchange would’ve made me laugh, but I dreaded the thought of a night out with my stepbrother.

“I am?” Easton said, stopping his pursuit of the door and walking a few steps into the living room.

“Your sister’s only in town one more night. Can’t we have a family night?”

Easton’s gaze landed on me. I refused to look back.

“Fine. What time?”

“We haven’t booked anything yet. Be ready to go around five,” Heath said.

“Piper, can I talk to you a minute?” Easton asked.

I finally looked in his direction and raised my eyebrows.

“Outside. It’s…uh…about a Christmas present.”

I sighed and stood, a feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach.

I joined Easton on the front porch.

“I’m sorry I’ve been avoiding you,” he started.

I tried to mask my shock as I looked at him.

“Do you remember what happened on Monday?” he asked.

This was my out. I took it. I grasped onto it like a lifeline. “On Monday?” I kept my voice as innocent as possible even though I could feel my heart beating all the way up in my ears.

“When we left the bar?” he prompted.

I shook my head, feigning utter confusion. “I don’t remember a lot of that night.”
Preferred
not to remember may have been more accurate.

“You don’t? I guess you’d had a lot to drink.”

“Way too much. I was so hungover on Tuesday. I figured I’d made an ass of myself in front of your friends and you were annoyed with me.”

He laughed. “No, that’s not what happened.” He blew out a relieved breath. “My friends all liked you a lot. Especially Dallin.”

I cringed when I remembered his friend Dallin. Nice enough guy, really…it was just that I couldn’t possibly take on any more romantic interests.

“Well, I’m sorry for whatever caused you to avoid me.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he said, his voice a little wondrous. “I’ll see you later.” He walked toward his car, and I felt a huge sense of relief.

Now my only question was whether I had enough nerve to actually publish the encounter with my stepbrother in my research essay.

I headed back inside, and Heath and my mom smiled in my direction, like I had some big secret about their Christmas presents. Oh, I had a big secret alright.

I spent the night typing up my notes on my encounter with Easton, rating him against the criteria I’d created.

I was officially done with my research.

I couldn’t handle any more research subjects, anyway. I’d had about enough.

I had to admit, while the one stepbrother book I’d read was hot, it just didn’t seem the same in real life.

Just for kicks, I decided to rate Scott against my criteria. I wasn’t sure how to rate the Romance category. It had been pretty romantic for him to stand on my sidewalk and tell me he’d been in love with me since the day he’d met me.

Physical Attraction? Ten. He was hot, and while I hadn’t noticed it at first, it was more and more apparent to me every time I saw him.

The categories of Mental Stimulation, Conversation, Emotional Connection, Laughter, and Character all received high marks.

He didn’t have any Annoying Traits on the negative side, although Awkwardness was currently at an all-time high for us. It had never been that way before.

And as I stared at the final category—Non-Negotiables—I realized the only non-negotiable when it came to Scott was that I couldn’t live my life without him in it.

I looked back over my notes on Dax. He’d scored very high in all of the positive categories in my criteria. He had no Annoying Traits and no Awkwardness—except for the night I’d sprained my ankle, but I blamed that on my awkwardness, not his. I read through the notes I’d put on the bottom of Dax’s page.

Incredibly sexy. Treats me well. Caught him kissing another woman. Will this be an issue? That could potentially be a Non-Negotiable. He seems perfect, but he could break out as a rock star and become famous. Where would that leave me?

I thought back to our conversation from the other day. He’d told me he would take me with him. Had he meant that?

It was an awful lot to promise someone he’d just started dating.

And really, I didn’t know much about Dax personally. I didn’t know about his family. I didn’t know about his background. I didn’t know why he was spending Thanksgiving with his friends instead of at home. I didn’t even know where home was.

And suddenly I needed those answers.

It was a little after eight. He wouldn’t be on stage yet, so I called him.

“Hey, sweets!” he answered, his voice enthusiastic.

“Hey, Dax. What are you up to?”

“Playing X-Box with Brody. What about you?”

I heard some commotion in the background. Yelling of some kind. Something that sounded an awful lot like Brody saying, “You stupid asshole! Stop killing me!” But I couldn’t be sure.

“Just thinking about you. How was your Thanksgiving?”

“Fine. Ate too much. Oh shit!”

Clearly he wasn’t focused on our conversation, and while I was ready for a long and deep chat with him, he was busy.

And the whole video game thing would definitely go under the Annoying Traits category.

“I’ll let you go,” I said with disappointment.

“No. Just give me ten seconds.”

I waited impatiently while he finished his game, and then he covered the mouthpiece. I heard some muffled talking, and then his voice warmed my ear.

“Hey, baby.” He’d never called me
baby
before. It came off a little…cliché.

“Hey.”

“I miss you.” There was a slight slur to his voice. So drunken video games. Nice.

“Are you playing tonight?” I asked.

“Yeah. Ten at Emerson’s.” The slur was pretty bad.

“Will you be ready to play at ten?”

“Oh yeah. Can’t wait. I can’t wait for you to be home. I miss your hips grinding against mine.”

Oh shit. That dirty talk got me every time. “I miss it, too,” I admitted as my heart started racing.

“You got a few minutes for phone sex? I’ve been such a good boy that I haven’t even jerked it while you’ve been gone. But your voice sounds like honey and I wanted it in my ear while I do this.”

I wanted to be turned on by that, but it was a little over the top. It was a little more information than I wanted.

Wait. More information than I wanted from my boyfriend? Shouldn’t I be into him saying things like that to me?

I tried to be into what he was saying, but I’d called with the mindset of a serious conversation. I wasn’t in the mood for phone sex, or any kind of sex, really. Even with the very sexual Dax Hunter.

“Can we just talk, Dax?”

He let out a frustrated sigh. “About what?”

His voice wasn’t the sweet, caring voice I’d been hearing the past few days. I wondered exactly how much he’d had to drink before I’d called.

“Where did you spend your Thanksgiving?”

“Brody’s house.”

“Why?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean why not with your family?”

Dax laughed, but it wasn’t a merry laugh. It was full of sadness, and it hurt my heart to hear it. “My band
is
my family.”

I wondered where his mom and dad were. I wondered if he had any siblings. And I wondered if he’d ever let me in on that part of his life. Maybe the reason I didn’t know much about him was because he’d purposely kept it hidden. And if that was the case, I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to dig deeper to find out more. I wasn’t sure how I could be with someone who didn’t show me who he really was.

“Did you have fun?” I asked, changing the direction of our conversation.

“Yeah. It was nice.”

“Were the other guys there?”

“Kane was. The other guys went to their parents’ houses.”

Why didn’t you?
I wanted to ask him so badly, but I didn’t. I wondered for a brief moment how close we really were if I wasn’t even comfortable asking about his family.