Sasha's Dilemma (13 page)

“You’re leaving me for
good, aren’t you?”

“Yes, Josh, I am.”

“I’m so sorry. I
thought… actually, I didn’t really think about anything
other than keeping you with me.”

“Josh, you’re a great
man, and once you settle down with a woman, you will make her very
happy. But that woman isn’t me. It was doomed from the
beginning.”

“You make me happy. All I
want is you, Sasha. I can’t think about being with anyone else.
You’re it for me, for as long as I live.”

“I’m not, but
eventually you will figure that out.”

I get up and turn to leave, but
Josh grabs me by the waist and swings me around. His lips slam on
mine. I get lost in the kiss, but reality slowly returns and I
remember why I came here in the first place and I push him off.

“Please, don’t leave
me, Sash.”

“I’m sorry, Josh, but
I need to do this for me.”

I lean in, kiss him on the cheek,
and walk out the door without looking back.

Two years later

I finish up my shift at the
hospital and head home to get ready to go out with my cousins. They
haven’t stopped annoying me all week to go out with them. They
have been relentless and are driving me up the wall. I have four
older cousins and they’re all brothers very close in age. They
have decided to take me under their wing and making me do things I
don’t want to do, like go out with them tonight.

Usually, I’m the sober
driver, but tonight they reckon is the night that I’ll get
white girl wasted, as they like to put it. I love them to death, but
they are a bit full on sometimes. Alan is the oldest, and I can
always rely on him when I’m in a jiffy and need help. Then
there are the twins, Kyle and Ryan, who are identical. They use that
to their advantage when messing around with girls. Last, but not
least, is the baby of the family, Brandon. He is the looker of the
lot and has women crawling out of his pockets. But he is the one I’m
closest to, probably because we are very close in age and can tell
each other anything.

Alan has agreed to drive tonight
so I can drink. We’re going to the local bar near where they
live. They told me they’re picking me up at nine. It’s
already eight, so I’m trying to get home on time to get ready.

Its nine o’clock and the
boys walk in the house without knocking.

“Haven’t you idiots
heard of knocking?” I yell at them from the bathroom.

“Oh, come on, cuz you gave
Brandon a key. Of course we’re not going to knock.”

“Bloody idiots. Brandon, I
want my key back.”

“No way, Sasha, that’s
mine now. Who else is going to come and look after you when you’re
sick?”

I was sick three months into my
stay in Sydney and Brandon had to come over and look after me. Little
did I know that he went and got a copy of my key so he could check up
on me whenever he pleased. Oh, and he does. I walk out into my lounge
room and all the boys are relaxing in front of the TV, watching
football.

“Okay, I’m ready to
go.”

Kyle whistles at me. “Wahoo, princess! Who are you
trying to impress?”

“Sasha, go and change,”
orders Brandon. “You’re not going out dressed like that.
I don’t want to be your bodyguard for the night.”

I swear he thinks he’s my brother, not my cousin.
I’m tired of him treating me like something precious and
breakable.

I lean across and thump his arm with my bag. “You
don’t have to be a douche!”

Brandon winces as if I’ve truly hurt him, but
kills it with a smile.

“If I have to change, I’m
putting my pyjamas
back on and going to
bed,” I add.

“Okay, okay, let’s
head out so we can meet up with the rest of the crew,” Alan
says, trying to calm the situation like he always does. I walk over
to him, link my arm through his, and turn around to poke my tongue
out at Brandon.

“I’ll throw you in the
pool, Sasha. Don’t start.”

“Yeah, yeah,” I say
with an eye roll.

We pull up to their local bar and
it’s packed. The boys notice their friends sitting off near the
dance floor, and Brandon and I go to the bar to get some drinks.

“What’re you having?”

“Just the usual, it’s
pretty busy here tonight. Is there a reason it’s so busy?”

“Yeah, one of our mates is
performing. He has actually made it pretty big, but this was where he
started out, so he is doing a favour for the owner to get more
customers.”

We head on back over to where the
boys are sitting, and I know a few of their mates already by the few
times we have gone out, but some I don’t recognise.
Plus there are quite a few girls hanging around the table, more than
usual.

“Hey, Sash, come and take a
seat over here,” Aaron yells across to me as I barge my way
through the slang of women standing around. Brandon follows close
behind me, and I see quite a few girls’ heads turn his way.
Then they give me a death stare because his hand is on my back. I
just smile at them because little do they know we are related.
Sometimes, I think he uses me to have some peace and quiet around the
craziness of the women.

“You going to have some
shots tonight?” Brandon asks me.

“Of course she is. She’s
going to get wasted, aren’t ya, Sash?” Ryan says over
Brandon’s shoulder. I feel someone staring at me, and between
the throngs of women, I see one very handsome man watching me. He has
a strange expression on his face like he is trying to work me out. I
turn my head away from his gaze. Ryan has set some shots in front of
me and he’s been trying to get my attention to take them. I
smile up at the boys and we all grab a shot and chug them back. Not
long after the first one, there are two more placed in front of me.

“Sasha, don’t try to
keep up with the two douches.” I look up at Brandon and giggle.

“It’s okay, Brand,
I’ll be fine. I don’t need a big brother tonight.”

He nods his head and pulls me into
a sideway hug with one arm. I rest my head on his shoulder and look
up to see a pair of gorgeous eyes death staring me. I’m not
sure why he is looking at me like I stole his cat, but I give him an
equal look and turn my head away.

Five minutes later, I’m
being pulled up to the dance floor by all the boys. We’re
having such a great time; I’m a little disappointed when the
band stops and introduces the next band to come on.

“This is our mate’s
band we were telling you about, Sash. They rock,” Brandon tells
me, but I can only nod my head in response. There is too much yelling
and screaming for this band to be able to have a conversation. Plus
all the commotion from the women rushing their way up to the front of
the stage to be as close as possible.

“Please welcome our local
superstars the Walking Warriors,” the announcer says. I turn my
head to the stage to have a look. The band consists of four members.
The one who takes his place behind the drums is very big and scary
looking with his shaved, tattooed head. Then there are two with the
pretty rocker boy look; they are very attractive. But it’s the
lead singer who compels my attention. He is stunning with his milk
chocolate skin. He looks so good I could eat him, but it’s his
eyes that hold me captive. I realise he was the man staring at me
earlier. I can understand why he had all those women hanging off him
and why every woman in here has tried to climb to the front of the
stage to get near him. He is a walking, scrumptious sex machine.

The band starts playing and
they’re really good, but as soon as his voice reaches my ears,
I feel like I’m melting. It’s so hypnotic.
I’ve been so engrossed in what he has been singing, I haven’t
heard a word that Brandon has said to me. I look at him and
realise he must have
been watching my expression as I stared at the lead singer.

“His name is Braxton,”
he tells me. I just nod my head and focus back up to the stage.
Halfway through their set, I make my way back to the table with the
boys and have a few more drinks.

Near the end of the night, I can
feel the alcohol and I’m definitely on my way to being very
drunk. I feel the chair in the booth dip beside me. I turn around and
I’m met with the most gorgeous eyes I have ever seen. I’m
captivated once again and he’s staring back at me. His eyes are
a mixture of light green and grey. My eyes shift to his mouth. He has
a gorgeous smile and I can feel myself getting wet just from looking
at him.

“Did you enjoy the show?”
he whispers in my ear so close I can feel his hot breath on my neck,
sending shivers all through me. I can’t form words so I just
nod my head. Brandon takes the seat across from us and starts talking
to Braxton. I’m listening to their conversation, but I’m
mainly watching the way his lips move when he talks.

I don’t notice
they’re talking to me until I spot the silence. I catch Braxton
smirking at me. I turn to Brandon and see he is trying to hold back a
laugh. I give him my best ‘what’ look. He just shrugs his
shoulders.

“So, Brandon, you going to
introduce me to your girlfriend?” Braxton asks, looking at me.
As soon as he says girlfriend to Brandon, I burst out laughing. I
turn to look at Brandon because I know he will have a scowl on his
face. He hates when people mistake us a couple, and sure enough, he
is scowling.

“No, no, Sasha here is my
cousin,” he says straight away. I turn to look at Braxton’s
reaction and he automatically smiles.

“Well, hello there, Sasha.
I’m Brax,” he says while sticking his hand out for me to
shake. I grab his hand and instantly feel a reaction. Quickly, I pull
my hand away in case he notices. Brandon asks me if I want another
drink, and then leaves to go get us a round. So I’m left
sitting in the booth with Brax. I start fidgeting because I’m
not sure if he wants to talk to me or he is just here to talk to
Brandon.

“Didn’t you like my
music?” I hear him whisper near my ear again. I fling my head
around; he’s sitting so close to me, our noses are nearly
touching.

I move back a little and answer
him. “I loved it. You are very good up there,” I say
pointing toward the stage.

“So, you hang out with your
cousins a lot?”

“Yes and no. On the
weekends, they don’t really give me a choice unless I’m
working.”

“You’re not from here,
are you?”

“No, I’m from
Brisbane,” I tell him, giving him my full attention.

“What made you move to Sydney?”

I don’t usually like
answering that question. I usually just give them a basic answer, but
I feel like I want to tell him why I ran away. I want to tell him how
my sister hurt me. How our relationship is better now, but not as
close as it used to be. I want to explain that the man I thought I
was falling in love with broke my heart, and I haven’t seen or
heard from in over two years, but I’ve recently learned he has
just opened a tattoo shop in my local area. I want to tell Brax that
all I want to do is drive by the tattoo parlour and to catch a
glimpse of Josh to see if he is what my imagination has built him to
be. But I can’t share any of that with him because that’s
a bit too much information for someone I just met.

“I got transferred for
work,” I end up telling him, but I can see the question behind
his eyes.

“Well, I’m in town for
a while if you would like to maybe have dinner with me sometime, if
you’re free?”

“Yeah, sure, that would be
nice.” I smile up at him just as Brandon comes back to the
table and hands us our drinks.

“Sash, we’re gonna
have to get going after this. It’s getting late and Alan has to
go help Dad out at the shop in the morning,” Brandon says to
me. I nod my head, but he doesn’t see because he’s too
busy looking between me and Brax trying to figure out what he has
missed. Eventually, he gives up and takes up a conversation with Brax
again.

I wake up feeling better than I
thought I would have considering how much I drank last night. After
Brax asked me out, he talked to Brandon and the boys for a while, but
we had to leave not long after. He walked with us to the car and
asked for my number, while the twins were whistling at us like
idiots.

He told me he would contact me
soon and gave me a kiss on the cheek before walking back inside. This
left me with four overprotective men, all having different opinions
on Brax. The twins were all for it and said it would be awesome
having a rock star in the family. Alan was a bit more cautious and
didn’t think it was smart to get involved with someone I’ll
hardly see. He was concerned I would end up getting hurt again. But
it was Brandon’s opinion that mattered the most to me because
he knows Brax best as they are the same age and went to school
together.

He reassured me Brax is a nice
guy, but warned I shouldn’t fall in love with a rock star
because it would never work out since I have no interest in fame and
don’t even like my picture taken at the best of times.

I leisurely start my day. I’ve
decided all I’m doing today is pigging out and reading on my
Kindle all day. By lunchtime, my tummy is grumbling. I’ve been
so engrossed in the book I’m reading; I have forgotten to eat.
I decide to head down to the local shop. I grab up my purse and check
my phone before I head out.

I have a few texts from Lola
asking how my week has been. She says she misses me and can’t
wait to come and visit. She is trying really hard, but it’s
going to take a lot to repair our relationship. There’s also a
text from Brandon asking if I pulled up all right from last night,
and the last one is from an unknown number.

Unknown:

Hi Sasha, was wondering

if you’re free for dinner

tonight. Brax

I didn’t think he was
serious about dinner, and I really didn’t think it was going to
be so soon, but I have a massive smile on my face.