"You and Dean helping Sara out?" Kade asked. I breathed a sigh of relief. It made total sense that Brady would help me because of his relationship with Hannah. Totally normal behavior. Nothing to see here.
"Yeah, my good deed for the day," Brady said grinning at me. My heart skipped a beat and I swallowed hard. "You working today?" Kade nodded. "The El Camino?" The two began talking about a car that they were apparently helping a client restore. Luckily it seemed like I was the only one feeling awkward.
"Hey! These boxes of hung like a horse porn aren't going to unpack themselves!" Lola hollered from my balcony. Kade let out a laugh while Brady just stood there with his mouth open.
"LOLA JEAN!" I cried.
"What? Oh hi Kade!" She waved and I was sure I was tomato red. Not an easy feat when one is brown. "Brady, I'm eating your pizza."
"She never changes, does she?" Kade said, waving back.
"Unfortunately." I flipped her the bird and she blew me a kiss before going back inside.
"I'm pretty sure she's going to eat my pizza, so I'm going to head in." Brady looked at me.
"She will. Go, I'm right behind you." He bumped fists with Kade and jogged back to the apartment.
"So neighbor, I guess I'll see you around," Kade said with a grin.
"That sounds so creepy," I told him rolling my eyes.
"It one hundred percent does. It was supposed to be more Ned Flanders than Quagmire. My bad." We both laughed. The sound of Kade's laugh made liquid heat rush from my stomach to between my legs. I quickly said goodbye before I ended up needing to change my panties.
When I got back to my apartment, I went into my bathroom to wash my hands. I groaned seeing the halo of fuzzy curls around my face and the pieces at the back that had escaped my ponytail.
"So cute," I groaned, pulling out the elastic from my hair to fix it. My phone buzzed in the pocket on my thigh and I pulled it out to see a text from an unknown number.
'In case no one else tells you, Bentley says your ass looks great in those pants. I agree.' I let out a laugh.
'Horn dogs,' I typed back and then felt instantly guilty. I should not be doing this.
'Hey, he's fixed. I'm not.' I rolled my eyes and put my phone back in my pocket. After I fixed my hair, went back into my living room. There wasn't anywhere to sit other than the four dining table chairs, so we were spread out all over. I grabbed a piece of pepperoni pizza and a Corona and sat down on the floor next to Brady and Courtney. Lola was lying down using her jacket a pillow. Hannah was massaging Dean's shoulders and my dad and brothers were discussing where the missing bolts for my bed frame might be. Chris had one job.
"Oh man, thank you all so much for helping me today," I said as I sat down. I groaned when I finally made it down. "This was a bad idea. I may never get back up."
"Now you have to live here for another four years," Hannah joked, using her elbow to work on a knot in Dean's shoulder. He let out a hiss and she leaned over to kiss the sore spot.
"Deal," I said taking a long swig of my beer. It was perfectly cold and went down faster than I expected. Three pieces of pizza and another beer later, a thigh gap was the furthest thing from my mind. I sat with my back up against the wall with Courtney's head in my lap. Brady sat next to me, our hips almost touching. He was typing on his phone and then mine went off.
'So I don't think your dad or bros would appreciate it if I said it out loud, but you have a great ass.' I smiled and looked at Brady who was grinning at me. A tinge of guilt hit my system when I remembered my previous text conversation with Kade.
'You're right, my dad and Chris would hold you down while Jake ripped your spinal cord out your butt.' Brady grimaced. I laughed and kept typing. 'I appreciate the compliment.'
'I get it. I would do the same to any of the guys my sister dates.'
"You have a sister?" I asked out loud . He nodded.
"Yeah, half-sister actually. Same mom, different dads. She's ten years younger than me and doing that whole boy crazy thing right now. I'm going prematurely grey."
"That's sweet that you care so much."
"She doesn't think so. She thinks I'm trying to ruin her life," he groaned resting his head back on the wall.
"Being a teenager is all about self importance. Hannah was completely unlovable until she was seventeen, which wasn't a problem since she loved herself so much. Just keep doing what you're doing. She'll look back later and see how awesome it was to have someone looking out for her."
"Is that what happened with Hannah?"
"Oh Lord no. She and I got into a horrible fight and I ended up pinning her to the ground and smacking her in the face." Brady looked horrified and I chuckled remembering finally losing my temper with my sister.
"Yeah except you missed and almost broke her nose," Courtney reminded me. Her eyes were closed so I thought she was napping. "If Kade hadn't pulled you off, we were afraid you were going to give her a concussion."
"Damn," Brady said. "What did she do?" Courtney opened her eyes and we exchanged a look.
"Let's just say it was the last time she ran her mouth about someone else's business."
In truth, she had been talking trash about Koen, spewing the same small minded bullshit that most of the town was saying. We were at someone's house, I couldn't even tell you who. Koen wasn't there to defend himself and I could see Kade getting upset, especially when Katy, who he was dating at the time, joined in. Watching my baby sister, the same baby sister who had insisted on snuggling with me during her nap times, be so nasty ignited something in me. When the word 'cunt' passed her lips, I saw red and flew at her, tackling her to the ground. I straddled her, telling her to take it back. She started screaming at me and I snapped.
When I do tell the story, I always say my intention was to slap her but truthfully, my fist was closed. I got one good punch in and was pulling back for another when Kade grabbed me around the waist and pulled me off of her. She lay on the floor and for a second, I felt badly. Kade dragged me outside, only letting me go when he was sure I wouldn't go back for round two. We sat on the porch and pretty soon, she came and sat next to me, holding an ice pack to her face. She apologized for what she said and I told her I wasn't sorry I hit her but I was sorry if it hurt. Our relationship shifted that day. She learned to think for herself and I learned that I was willing to risk my comfort to do the right thing. Well, kind of the right thing. Physical violence probably wasn't the answer.
"But you guys are good now, right?" Brady asked. I wondered what he would think of me if he knew the full story.
"Of course. She's one of my best friends. She just needed to grow up. Don't worry, your sister will get there." I gave his leg a pat and looked over to where my sister was looking over Dean's shoulder at his phone, her arms around his neck. She looked up and smiled at me.
Love you, I mouthed to her.
Love you too, she mouthed back.