The Trouble with Dating Sue (Grover Beach Team #6) (22 page)

For a tiny moment, I wondered if I should sneak out again and give her another private moment with my shirt. But heck, the scene in front of me held me captive. I couldn’t bring myself to leave.

Touched by such secret devotion, I leaned against the doorjamb and finally coughed to get her attention.

Sue jerked around to me. Her hands dropped immediately, and her eyes shot open wide. I teased her with a half-smile. “Would it make you feel better if I pretend I didn’t see that?”

She stared at me in utter horror.

“Hey now, don’t look so bashful,” I told her in a soft voice as I slowly walked toward her. “It was just a matter of time until you fell for my irresistible charm.” Pointing at my t-shirt in her hands, I added jokingly, “And scent.”

Warily, she backed away until she knocked into the island behind her and came to a dead stop. That particular place in my kitchen evoked nice memories. I followed her at a slow prowl and told her, “I won. Ethan has to do the dishes.” As I stood in front of her, I took my t-shirt out of her trembling hands and tossed it aside. One look over her shoulder, and I knew Ethan wouldn’t find much to busy himself with in here. “I see you already did his job. Nice.” I shrugged and locked gazes with her once more. “So we can go straight to dessert…”

My hands on her hips, I laced my fingers through the belt loops of her jeans and carefully pulled her against me. For balance, she gripped my upper arms, sending another shiver from her cold fingers through my body. I cracked a smile. “We have about twenty seconds for us.”

As our brows touched, me leaning my head down, she lowered her gaze. Oh, her sigh was the sweetest surrender. I breathed a kiss against her lips…and heard the back door slamming shut. Ethan.

“Make that five,” I corrected myself with a frustrated growl. But I wouldn’t just sit back and watch my dear brother ruin one good moment after another for me. Five seconds were better than nothing. Trying to tame my hunger for this girl, I pressed a quick, hard kiss on her mouth. Then I let her go and went to check on the cake in the fridge.

At Sue’s high-pitched “hi!” my attention snapped back to her.

“Hi,” Ethan replied, looking as surprised by her nervousness as I was. “Everything okay?”

Susan fumbled with her fingers. “Yeah! Sure! Why?” Still too loud and much too squeaky. A moment later, she dashed from the room. What was the matter with her?

Ethan cast me a worried look. I returned it with a puzzled shrug and decided not to tell him that Sue’s awkward behavior might have to do with us kissing just moments ago. I couldn’t be sure anyway.

“On the plus side,” I said to Ethan, picking up our wordless conversation, “she did the dishes for you.”

He shot a glance at the sink. “Ah. Awesome.” Next he came around the island unit and switched on the coffee machine. Putting the first of three cups under it, he shot me a sideways glance. “Maybe she broke a glass or something and feels uncomfortable now.”

“Mmmmaybe…” Or maybe not. I rubbed my neck and turned away from him. The room was thick with secrets, and I refused to be the one to clear them. As I cut the cake into square pieces and Ethan prepared cappuccino for the three of us, Susan returned from wherever she’d left to in a hurry before. The bathroom was a good guess.

As if, for some reason, she was no longer invited to sit with us, she froze on the threshold and just watched with wary eyes as my brother and I set the table.
What the hell, girl? Don’t be silly!
I put the two plates I was carrying down on the table and went to her.

Wordlessly dragging her along with me, I made her sit in the chair that had been hers since the first time she ate with us and assured her with a small smile that everything was okay. No need to freak out now that we’d reached the next level of whatever was between us.

Earlier, I’d prepared a special piece of cake for her. One that sported a heart-shaped, chocolate-dipped strawberry surrounded by kiwi slices. I got it from the counter and put it in front of her, then sat down too. Sue cast me a scrutinizing look from under her lashes. Yep, cake art was my way of telling her how I felt about us. If I couldn’t kiss her in front of Ethan yet, I could at least make her eat my declaration of love.

“Thanks for doing the dishes, by the way,” Ethan told her sometime through dessert. He put a forkful of cake in his mouth and added while chewing, “You know you didn’t have to do that.”

“Of course.” Sue swallowed the bite she’d just taken. “But between watching two hunky guys playing basketball or doing dishes…” A laugh escaped her. “Well, I guess I’m just weird.”

My brother joined in her laugh. “Only a little. I’ll drive you home for it later.”

“No,” I protested, shoving the last bite of my cake into my mouth. “I can drive her home.” No way would he trample on another perfect occasion for me to be alone with Sue.

Ethan licked his fork clean, grinning stupidly at me. “No, you can’t.”

Bet your ass on it, bro.
“Sure can.”

“Nope.”

I threw him an annoyed look. “Why not?”

“You’re grounded.”

Dammit.
I hated the grin on my brother’s face. And Mom would be home soon. Ethan was right, I couldn’t go. “Ah, fu—sh—” Hell, I shouldn’t cuss in front of Sue. “
Craaap
.”

My fishing for a decent word coaxed another laugh from Sue as she got up and carried her plate and empty cup to the sink. “Well, thanks,” she told me over her shoulder. Her sexy look fired me all up. “That was a very…
interesting
and delicious dessert.”

I agreed with a nod and got to my feet, not caring about the rest of the dishes on the table. When she came back and passed me as she headed for the door, I covertly stroked her hand with the back of mine. “Good night, sweetness,” I whispered so low that only she would hear it.

MOM SAT IN the kitchen and ate the warmed-up food we’d saved her from our dinner. While waiting for Ethan to come home so I could finally start an undisturbed chat with Sue on the phone, I joined her at the table to kill time with another piece of cake and a cup of coffee.

“Hey, sweetie,” Mom said, scooping up veggies with her fork. “How was the afternoon with Susan?”

She didn’t say
my
afternoon with Sue, she said
the
afternoon. Keeping it general meant she still hoped it was
Ethan’s
afternoon with her. Terrific. I sipped the cappuccino and licked the foam off my lip. “It was nice.”

“Just nice?” She smiled in a very demanding, very conspiratorial way. “Did Susan like Ethan’s meal?”

“Umm…I guess.” I lowered my gaze together with my voice. “And she liked my cake, too.”

Mom cut another piece from her steak and chewed it with way too much enthusiasm. “Are they out together now?”

“Yeahhh…no. Or
maybe
.” Heck, where were they? Ethan had said he’d drive her home, not stay with her for two and a half hours. “He was just going to give her a ride. I don’t know what’s keeping him so long.”

“Good.” She grinned at her plate, dragging the word out unnecessarily.

Dammit, had she even heard what I said? I spun my cup on the saucer. Ethan was supposed to be home already. Mom should be worrying where he was, not happy that he was out with my girl. To cut off her delight, I muttered, “I don’t think the two of them would make such a great couple.”

“Oh,” she said around a mouthful of green beans. “Why would you say that?”

As the weight of dejection grew heavier in my chest, I looked up and stared into her hopeful eyes for a few seconds, then sniffed defiantly, “Because I kissed Sue today. And she kissed me back. I intend to do it again. Is that okay with you?”

My mother’s jaw dropped, giving me an exclusive view of chewed-up green stuff.

Since I was well on the way to destroying her wonderful evening anyway, I added, “Oh, and Mom—I think Ethan’s gay. You know you can do nothing to change that, not even if you push the girl
I
like upon him at every given moment.” Eyes narrowed, I let go of the coffee cup and rose from the chair. On the way out of the kitchen, I told her without looking back, “There’s a piece of cake for you in the fridge.”

Now didn’t that go well…

Crabbier than I’d already been the past hour, I trudged to the living room, belly-flopped on the couch, and turned on the TV. Whatever was on didn’t hold my interest, so I started zapping through the channels. It was nine thirty—my special time with little Sue. Where the hell was Ethan?

It took Mom about fifteen minutes to stomach the shock, but when she finally came into the living room, her look was one of pure guilt. She stopped in the doorway, and we locked gazes for several long seconds.

As she started walking toward me, I bent my legs to make room for her on the couch. She sat down and gently rubbed my shin, ignoring the ending of
Up
on TV. “I’m sorry, darling,” she told me in a low, pleading voice. “I had no idea.”

She must have meant she’d been clueless about Sue and me, because the thing about Ethan wasn’t a big secret between us. It was something she didn’t like to talk about, all right, but definitely not something she hadn’t thought about a lot this past year.

“It’s okay, Mom,” I replied flatly.

“No, it’s not.” She pulled both my legs onto her lap and held my ankles in a warm grip—something she used to do when I was younger, upset, and didn’t want to talk about things. Somehow, that has always been her way of connecting with me and making me talk. “I’m really sorry, Chris. Of course it’s okay if you and Susan have feelings for each other. I never meant to… I didn’t know… Ah, it’s just…” She sighed.

Taking a deep breath myself, I shifted to my back, leaving my legs where they were, and searched her face. “Mom, I like her. Really. And Ethan doesn’t. At least not in that kind of way. I checked with him.”

“I know.” Another sigh pushed out of her chest as she tipped her head back to stare at the ceiling. “Well, I
guessed
he wasn’t in love with her from the way he…”

“Treated her like a friend?” I supplied when she couldn’t find the right words.

Head tilted toward me, she nodded and blinked slowly. “Yeah, that.”

“So…since you already sort of adopted Susan anyway,” I said with a small pout, “can I keep her?”

Mom laughed. “Of course you can.”

I held her gaze with a stern look of mine. “And could you try to be happy for me, too?”

Her laugh died, and a stricken expression washed over her face. Gently, she put my feet away, rose from the couch, and stepped toward me. Closing my eyes as she leaned down and her hair fell on my face, I turned my head to the side so her loving mother-kiss would hit me on the cheekbone and not the nose. “I
am
happy for you, baby. Very much, in fact.” She ruffled my hair and then stroked my cheek. “Susan is a nice girl, and you deserve someone like her.”

I agreed with that. But it meant a lot to me that she was finally on my side. “Thanks, Mom.”

She straightened, giving a tiny nod, and wrapped her black cardigan tighter around herself. “I’m tired. I think I’ll go to bed now.”

“Okay. I’ll stay here and wait for Ethan.” It could only be minutes until he came home. Right?

“Good night, sweetie.”

“Night, Mom.”

She walked out and turned off the lights as she passed the switch by the door.

Heaving a sigh, I rolled to my side again and stared at the TV. The flickering light from the screen was my only company for the next hour. But between my mulling over Sue and why Ethan hadn’t returned yet, not much of the movie registered.

At some point, I must have snoozed, because when I heard the sound of a door clicking closed and blearily lifted my head, the room was dark and drool dripped from the corner of my mouth. I wiped it away with the back of my hand, groaning. The sleep timer had turned off the TV. Fine with me.

Barely able to fully open my eyes, I glanced at my watch, which had glow-in-the-dark numbers. It was two in the morning.
What the heck?
Had Ethan been out until now?

I couldn’t be bothered to get up and walk to my room, much less follow Ethan into his and make him talk. Not in the dead of night. My cheek sinking back onto the cushion, I closed my eyes and saved grilling him—and texting Sue—for the morning.

*

Next time I woke, it was because my neck hurt like hell and my arm had gone cold and stiff when it dropped off the couch. I rubbed my eyes and groaned when I saw what time it was. Not even six o’clock. If I hurried to my bed now, I might catch a few Zs before the day really started.

Swinging my legs off the couch, I scrambled to my feet. As I shuffled to the door, a sound made me freeze on the spot. It wasn’t so much a sound as a voice, actually.
Sue’s
voice. And from what I could tell, she’d just come out of my
brother’s
bedroom.
What in the hell—

“Not my family,” Ethan whispered to her as they tiptoed past the living room, completely unaware of me. “You just don’t want Chris to find out.”

“I don’t want him to ask stupid questions,” she shot back in a whiny hiss. “This is really something I’d like to keep between you and me.”

Stupid questions?
My heart gave out, my mind did, too, my breathing stopped, and I wanted to die right then. Ethan had banged my girl. The girl I worked so hard to win and who he claimed to have no interest in. The girl that had made me fall in love with her in just two weeks.

My brother had slept with that very girl, and he didn’t even waste a thought on how he would break my heart in doing so. And neither did Sue.

Raking my hands through my hair, I turned on the spot, feeling so helpless it hurt. What was I supposed to do now? Be quiet? Walk out there and talk to them? Bang my head against the wall until all thoughts of wanting Susan Miller were crushed? The truth was, I didn’t know.

Ethan’s sigh drifted around the corner. “Fine. I won’t say a word about it.”

Even lower than before, Susan thanked him for that. When a traitorous silence followed, I had to step up to the door and sneak a glance into the hallway. My brother was holding my girl in a really tight embrace. Her face was buried in his shoulder, and his face was pressing against her hair. Neither of them noticed that I was standing merely a few feet away.

When Ethan let her go, I slid back into the living room, out of sight. With my throat tightening like I was stuck in a noose, it wasn’t a good idea to confront them now. Chances were I’d break my brother’s face.

The front door opened and closed moments later. With my back against the wall, I sank to the floor and hugged my legs to my chest. I dipped my forehead toward my knees. Furious and trying not to cry out at the sense of betrayal flooding me, I bit my tongue so hard I tasted blood in my mouth.

*

Spending Sunday in bed was the only thing that kept me from running amok. Ethan’s treachery stung so hard, I didn’t want to leave my room and risk seeing him. Mom called me to breakfast, she called me to lunch, and she sent Ethan to call me to dinner. I refused to open my door for either of them.

“Sweetie,” my mother said outside my room, gently knocking after seven o’clock in the evening. “Won’t you come out and eat something? You must be hungry.”

“I’m not. Leave me alone.”

“Chris, please. If it’s because of how I—”

“It’s not you, Mom.”

She sighed so loudly, the sound penetrated the door. “Okay,” she said then, defeated, and walked away.

I, on the other hand, kept doing what I’d done the entire day. Lying in bed, still wearing yesterday’s clothes, I stared at a message from Sue.
Good morning. Are you still asleep?
She’d sent it two hours after I saw her coming out of Ethan’s room.

Each time the display light of my phone diminished and the screen turned to black, I swiped my thumb across it and scowled at the words for another ninety seconds. I hadn’t replied. And I wasn’t going to. Her betrayal had been ingrained too deep for me to want to talk to her. I really didn’t need to hear all the ugly details.

When Ethan passed me in the hallway the next morning and offered me a ride to school, I cut him a scornful look and walked away without a single word. I showered, brushed my teeth, drank my coffee black and thick, and asked Mom for her car.

On my way to history, I ran into Justin Andrews. He was limping, which was usually a sure sign that something about his suicidal hobby—extreme BMX—had gone wrong over the weekend.

“You have an accident?” I asked, nodding at his left leg.

“Yeah, sort of. A stray cat ignored a yield sign and I took a flight.”

“Ouch…” I grimaced. “Did you have a doctor look at it?”

“Nope. It’s not that bad. Just bruised. I’m going biking again later today.” His gaze wandered away from my face to somewhere behind me. He smiled and lifted a hand to greet somebody there.

Turning around was a reflex. But when I met Sue’s eyes across the hall, all air was sucked out of my lungs. She stood rooted to the spot, her smile waning as I frowned at her. Was she going to come over? Was she going to say something? Did she expect
me
to start a conversation?

Right. She could wait for that until the cows came home. I turned back to Justin, ignoring what was happening behind me.

“Wow. What a warm greeting,” he said, narrowing his eyes in confusion. “Something up with you and her?”

I cleared my throat. “No. Why?”

“Well, wasn’t she the girl you wanted to seduce?”

My backpack slipped from my shoulder. “You know about that, too?”

“’Course. Thought I wouldn’t?”

At this point, I actually doubted that anybody
didn’t
know about the stupid challenge between Sue and me. With a sinking heart, I adjusted my backpack and told him, “It doesn’t matter. In fact, the challenge is over.”

“Seriously?” As I headed down the hallway to my class, he walked with me. From what I knew, he had math two doors down. “What happened?”

“Nothing. She’s just not interested.”

Justin threw me a sideways glance. “And you couldn’t convince her to be?”

That cost me a chuckle. “Obviously.”

“So that’s it? You gave up?”

“Yep.” In front of my history classroom, we stopped and I pivoted to him. “Got a problem with that?”

Slowly, he shook his head, but his eyes gleamed with humor. “Not at all. But you’ll make some people lose a lot of money.”

“Of course…” I grinned. “You bet on me, too?”

“Nope. Against you. Twenty that you wouldn’t land her this year.”