Bad For You: (An Older Brother's Best Friend Romance) (14 page)

nautica

It’s after five o’clock when I pull up to Simon’s house. It’s
been a long day, but it started to look up after I settled myself down from the
whole Bracken showing up at my front door fiasco. A smile grew on my face when
I walked into my classroom and found an array of flowers and cards from my
students and other faculty members.

I’m in my first year of teaching at the same
school I attended as a child, and I love it. I also coach the dance team.

My heels click against the driveway as I make
my way to the front door. For the past year, Simon and Macy have had dinner at
their house every Wednesday night. It’s a nice way for us to catch up since we
all have busy lives.

I walk into the living room, but stop dead in
my tracks as my breathing quickens. “What the hell are you doing here?” I ask,
trying to keep my voice low incase Annabelle is around.

Is this some kind of set-up?

I perch my hands on my hips, waiting for his
explanation. He laughs at my cold glare, pissing me off more.

Bracken is sprawled out on the leather couch,
looking like it’s an everyday occurrence, with a beer in his hand. My brother
looks over at me from the recliner in the corner. His eyes move to Bracken
while we both wait for him to say something.

He tips his beer my way with a grin. “I’m
here for dinner, just like you.” 

“And who invited you?”

“I did, sis,” Simon finally says. I turn to
glare at him, ignoring the arrogant smile on his face. He snatches the remote
from the table to turn down the volume on the TV. “We needed to catch up on
some shit. Plus, I thought everyone would like to visit with him.”  

Everyone but me, apparently.

“You needed to catch up on some shit?” I
repeat. He nods. “Can’t you do that over the phone.” He shakes his head.
Bracken is smart and decides to stay quiet this time.  

I roll my eyes and let out a long,
exaggerated huff. I probably look childish as I storm out of the living room
and into the kitchen, but I don’t care. I’m pissed off and annoyed. I collapse
down onto a chair at the island and blow out a harsh breath.

“I take it you saw our new dinner guest?”
Macy asks, looking at me as she stirs something on the stove.

“Sure fucking did,” I mutter. “And I’d like
to kill him.”

She shakes her head. “I’m sorry. Simon
invited him without even asking me. He just showed up here. I guess they talked
after the funeral and made up.” She opens up the oven, checks on the food, and
turns back to me. “Do you want me to sprinkle some extra cayenne pepper on his food?
Maybe dissolve a laxative in his drink? You know I have your back, girl.”

“No, just stay by my side. Don’t leave me
alone with him. I’m sure Simon is going to try to pull some underhanded move to
get us to talk about things.”

“Got it.”

“Hi girls,” my mom calls out, strolling into
the kitchen. Her eyes go straight to me. “Did you invite Bracken?”

“Negative,” I answer. I get up, pour a glass
of wine, and chug it down. “Your other traitorous child did.” I smack her side
when I noticed her thin lips twitch into a smile. “It’s not funny, mother. I’m
going to disown him.”

Her smile doesn’t budge. “It’s cute. He wants
you to be happy.”

I pour another glass of wine and snort.
“Let’s not even go there.”

“Come on, sweetie. You’re all older and more
mature now. You need to talk to him.”

“I wouldn’t say
all
of us are more
mature,” Macy mutters, with a laugh, resulting in me shooting her a dirty look.
Her face turns serious. “As bad as I want to smack the cocky bastard, I agree
with your mom. You need to talk to him. I’m not saying jump back in his bed or
anything, but at least clear the air.”

“That is terrible idea,” I answer.

“What’s a terrible idea?” Annabelle asks,
rushing into the kitchen with a doll in her hand. Her blonde pigtails, topped
off with bright pink bows, bounce as she skips over to me and wraps her arms
around my legs. 

“Oh nothing,” I say, wrapping her in my arms
and kissing the top of her head.  

“I like that nice guy out there,” she says.
“He’s really funny.”

I hold back the curse words on the tip of my
tongue. He’s trying to win my niece over now. The guy never did play fair.

* * *

I’m sitting on the top step of the front porch while everyone else
is in the house. I’d been watching Annabelle show me her cartwheels, but got
ditched for bath time. I stayed behind, wanting to get some fresh air. I look
back when I hear the door squeak open and frown as Bracken takes a seat next to
me.

Dinner was awkward, to say the least.

Everyone was apprehensive about Bracken and
me. The conversation stayed along the lines of how everyone else’s day went. I stayed
quiet, but was silently plotting out my revenge on Simon, who wouldn’t stop
throwing in hints that I needed to talk to Bracken.  

He stretches out his legs and swings the beer
bottle back and forth in his hand. “So what grade do you teach?” he asks.

“Seventh.” My response is sharp, and I stare
straight ahead.

“You were always good with kids.”

Speaking of kids …

I need to keep my mouth shut, but I can’t.

“So where’s yours?” I can’t hold the question
back any longer. My mind goes back to what I walked in on that day. The sobbing
redhead, the pregnancy test, and the terror on his face when he saw me.

“She uh … had a miscarriage.”

Damnit. Now I feel bad for bringing it up. This
is why it’s a bad idea for us to talk. Anything will blurt out of my mouth.  

“I’m sorry,” I whisper.

I know miscarriages can be hard. Macy and
Simon have been trying for baby number two for a while now, and she’s had two
miscarriages. Neither one of them have taken the losses well. There’s something
hard about getting your hopes up and it all falling apart.

He lets out a long, deep breath. “Rachel was
before you. I’d been having sex with her for about a month, but didn’t touch
her after our first night together. She’d been blowing up my phone, and showed
up in hysterics that day, claiming she was pregnant, and the baby was mine. She
brought the test, which you saw. You came in at the same time the results
showed up. I was in shock, terrified, and lost in the moment. I overreacted and
was an asshole to you.”

“That’s for sure.” I want to tell him what a
pussy he was for letting Jasper be the one who ran after me, but I stay quiet.

“And I’m sorry for that. I know being
overwhelmed isn’t an excuse for my behavior, but I was. The whole situation
with my dad and me, and Simon and his accident, and then losing you was tough.
I was still trying to figure out how to make shit right, and she shows up. The
dream of working for my dad was gone after I found out about the affair, and
now I needed to find a new way to support a kid. My life was a fucking mess. Rachel
ended up miscarrying, and losing the baby was hard on us.”

Wow.
We both stay silent for a few
minutes, looking at the colorful sunset.  

“Are you still together?” I finally ask.  

“No. We were never technically together. We’d
agreed to co-parent, but after the miscarriage, we eventually lost contact. We
touch base every now and then. She’s married now, and has twin boys.”

“That’s good.”

“What about you?” I
don’t say anything. “Married? Dating? Kids?” I shake my head. “What about your
engagement to Quinton?”

I finally look over
at him with a raised brow. “Have you been stalking me?”

He fights back a
smile. “You were engaged to an NFL player who signed a forty million dollar
contract. You were all over the news as the perfect couple, attending your ESPY
awards, and all that shit. The football player and the teacher, you were America’s
Golden Couple. Yes, I was keeping tabs on you, but it wasn’t hard to find my
information. All I had to do was look at a magazine in the checkout aisle at
the grocery store.”

“Perfect couple.” I
roll my eyes and snort. “Don’t believe everything you read.”

“So you’re not
together anymore?”

I shake my head and
take a swig of wine. “We tried to make it work. It was too complicated with his
football, my job, everything. It was too much.”

Quinton knew about
what happened with Bracken, and he knew Bracken had a place in my heart that he
could never fill. There was also the problem of him being in the NFL. That
involved lots of traveling, and
lots
of jersey chasers. After the second
‘incident’ I handed him back the five-carat engagement ring.  

“My dad left the
dealerships to me.” His statement is thick with emotion, and I can hear his
guilt.  

The fact that Randy
left him the dealerships doesn’t surprise me. I knew my mom didn’t want them
and felt like they belonged to Bracken.

“What are you going
to do? Keep them? Sell them?”

He runs his hand
through his beard and shrugs. “I’m trying to figure that out.” He finishes off
his beer. “I started a few dealerships with Jasper. They do pretty well, and
I’m not sure this is where I want to be.”

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t
know if I can stay in this town, live here, with you hating me. There’s no
fucking way I can know you’re only a few miles down the road, so close I can
throw a rock at your window, and not have you be mine. There’s no way in hell I
can be here and watch you be with another man. That will drive me up the wall.
Why do you think I never came back?”  

I wince. His words
are like a stinging smack in the face, leaving a mark. “You said it years ago,”
I hiss. “You and me, we’re a bad idea.”

“I was a stupid
fucking kid years ago who didn’t know shit.”

“Too much has
happened.” I run a hand through my hair. “Why now, Bracken? You show up five
years later, after a tragedy no less, and expect me to forget everything? You
can’t just snap your fingers and think I’ll fall right back into your arms. It
doesn’t work that way. I’m not that young, naïve college freshman who’s
obsessed with you anymore. It’s not that easy.”

He turns me to face
him. His eyes meet mine underneath the porch light. “Then tell me what I have
to do?”

“There’s nothing.”
I jump up from the step before I lose it. “It’s too late.”

“It’s never too late,”
he says, looking up at me. “And I’ll prove it to you.”

bracken

“With the exception of inventory,
not much has changed,” I say, walking alongside Pamela as we make our way
through the showroom loaded with shiny new cars. We’ve already done a lap
around the lot, and now it’s time to talk specifics. I have to decide whether I
want to take over or not.

There are more cars
on the lot, but other than that, it looks the same as the last time I was here –
at the holiday party with Nautica. I glance at the room where I’d taken her
over the desk and fucked her. My dick stirs just thinking about it. The room is
empty, and I know which office will be mine if I decide to stay.

“Randy thought the
last remodel was enough,” she tells me, leading me into an office with my dad’s
name on it. I gulp. I’m not sure if I’ll ever be able to take it off.

She takes a seat
behind the desk while I shut the door. “How are the numbers?” I ask, sliding my
hands into my pockets.

Her lips form a
proud smile. “The best they’ve been in years. Most of our competitors have gone
under after the recession. We’re getting all of their business.”

“That’s good to
know.” I gesture out the window to the showroom. “And you don’t want this? This
thing is a vault of money and success.”  She’d be dumb to not take this
opportunity. It would set her up for life.

When I first found
out she was fucking my dad, I’d been convinced she was a gold-digger who’d been
playing my family from day one, waiting to sneak up on my dad and take his
money. But I was a dumb kid. I know now that wasn’t the case. She loved him, he
loved her, and I’m an asshole for even thinking that.

She shrugs. “Car
sales and running a company aren’t necessarily my thing.” She taps her
fingernails against the desk. “Plus, I think it’s rightfully yours. Your dad’s
plan for years was for you to take over. I’m giving both of you that.”

“You have a house
payment and bills. How are you planning to pay for that shit?”

“Randy left me with
enough money to live a comfortable life, and I still have my job.” The sound of
her sliding open a drawer echoes through the room. I’m caught off guard when a
set of keys come my way and fall into my lap. “So what do you say? Are you
ready to be the CEO of Casey’s Auto?”

I play with the
keys in my hand. “I’ll think about it.” I don’t want to sound like a dick, but
I’m not sure about this.

“Are you not sure
because of my daughter?”

I snort. “Am I that
obvious?” Do I look that damn desperate?

“This might be hard
to believe, but she’s been waiting for you.”

The keys almost
fall from my hand. “What?”

“She’s been waiting
for you.” She goes on before I have the chance to disagree. “I know what you’re
probably thinking. She was engaged to Quinton, but she wasn’t planning on marrying
him. She knew that. He knew that. I’m pretty sure anyone who knows her knew
that. She was trying to force herself to move on, but every time he begged her
to pick a date, she’d delay it.”

“Maybe she just
didn’t want to get married. Trust me, she hates my ass.”

She lightly laughs.
“No, she doesn’t. She’s angry at you, but can you blame her?” I shake my head.
“You finally let her in and then walked away when she was the most vulnerable,
after promising you wouldn’t hours before. My daughter is a stubborn woman. Getting
her isn’t going to be as easy this time around. You have to work for it, but
the best things in life aren’t easy.”

“I know.” I knew it’d
be a challenge before I even got here. “But I can’t commit to taking the
dealership yet. If she denies me, I can’t see her with another man. I’ll have
to leave town.”  

“Take the
dealership. It will be harder for her to stay away if she knows you’re here for
good. If she sees you everyday, she’ll come around.”

She has a point. I
have to show her that there’s no getting rid of me, and I’m not leaving again. She
needs to know that she’ll see my smiling face everywhere she goes.

“I’ll take it,” I
say. “I’m staying.”

She responds with a
grin.

*
* *

I stroll down the locker-filled
hallway after checking in at the front office and head straight towards the
room number Pam gave me. The chances of her talking to me are higher here,
considering she can’t scream and kick my ass out without making a scene.

The classroom door
is wide open. I take a step back and stare at her for a few seconds. She’s
parked in front of her desk, concentrating hard on a stack of papers, and
marking them up.

I lightly knock.
She frowns, the pen in her hand dropping, when she notices me.

So far, not so
good.

“You’ve got to be
kidding me,” she snarls, annoyed. “You’re showing up
here
now.”  

I grin, holding up
the greasy bag filled with cheeseburgers and fries, and walk in further. “I
brought you lunch.”

She slides the
chair out and pushes herself to her feet. My eyes stay on her as she sneaks
past me to slam the door shut. She whips around to face me, her face red with
anger, and rests her hands along her hips.

“This has to stop,”
she says. “You can’t just show up at my job.”

I toss the bag on
the desk behind her. She lets out a gasp when I grab her hips and press her
against the side of it. “Why are you fighting this?” I ask. She shivers in my
hold as I run a hand across her warm cheek. “Why are you running away from me?

“I learned how to
run away from the best,” she spats, trying to pry my hands off, but I only
tighten my hold.

“I’m sorry. I’ll say
it every day if that’s what you want. Leaving you is the biggest regret of my
life.” I twist a long strand of her hair around my finger and fix my eyes on
her. I lower my voice to an almost whisper. “Tell me what I have to do.”

She lets out a
breath. “It’s irreparable.”

My lips go to her
mouth, slowly and carefully, and I press them against hers. I stay still,
waiting on her reaction. She pushes into me and slides her tongue into my mouth.
I suck on the tip as my hands travel down her back.

Her leg hitches around
my waist as I grind into her roughly. A rush of air escapes her lips as I grab
her ass and pull her harder into me.

“Irreparable my
ass,” I say, tearing myself away.

I have to stop
before things go any farther. As hot as it sounds, I can’t lean her over the
desk and fuck her right here, right now. I don’t feel like getting her fired,
or
getting arrested. I straighten out her skirt and give her a peck on the cheek.
“Now that we know you’re still fucking mine, let’s eat. I’m starving.”

I’m hungry for more
than what’s in the bag.

She snatches the
sandwich from me and falls back down in the chair. “Asshole.” 

I grin.

Step one is
complete.

I’m getting closer
and closer.

*
* *

It’s official.

I’m now the owner
of Casey Auto Sales.

I’m on a rollercoaster
of emotions. Growing up, I had this planned. Go to college, graduate, and take
over the business, but I didn’t think that was in the cards for me any longer. It
feels so bittersweet.

I hit Nautica’s
name after leaving the attorney’s office and send her a text. I probably look
like some obsessive stalker showing up everywhere she is, but I don’t give a
shit. I’m going to fight for her like I should’ve done a long time ago. I have
years to make up for. I’m not letting another day pass.

“What are your
plans for dinner?”
I ask.

I think back to our
texts when we were sneaking around. Damn, I miss those days.  

My phone beeps with
a response.

“Who is this?”

I forgot I changed
my number. “
The man you’re in love with.”

My response is
pushing it, but that kiss in her classroom is giving me some extra confidence.

“OMG Channing
Tatum?”

“
Funny. If I
recall correctly, you choose to fuck me over watching him that night. Looks
like I win.”
A few minutes pass and I don’t get a reply. Yeah, pushing it.
“Dinner?
You have plans?”
I ask again.

“No.”

“My place or
yours?”

“What?”

“Do you want to
have dinner at my place, yours, or go out?”

“Yours.”  

I send her my
address along with,
“see you tonight at six.”

*
* *

I’m renting until I figure out what my
game plan is. When I came here for the funeral, I paid for the first place that
would let me in on a short notice without a lease. The two-bedroom apartment’s
rent is over-priced as hell, but the place is decent and came furnished.

I own a condo back
home, but I plan to put it on the market. I also co-own a few dealerships with
Jasper, but I’m considering letting him buy me out. They’re up and coming,
successful dealerships, but they’re not anything like what my dad’s are. His
dealerships have had years in the making and a great reputation that people
trust, which is hard to find in the car business.

Nautica sent me a
text telling me she’s on her way. I grab a lighter and start lighting the
candles I bought at the grocery store earlier. I never thought I’d be a dude
who buys candles when a chick comes over, but hey, shit happens.

My gaze keeps going
to the door, and I grin when I finally hear the knock. She gives me a small
smile when I answer it. I grab her hand and pull her inside.

She looks sexy as
hell. Her dark hair is parted down the middle and pulled into a tight ponytail.
A pink, button-up blouse is tight around her tits. I lick my lips as my
fingertips tingle with the urge to undo each button. My cock aches as I move my
gaze down and eye her black skirt, imagining how easy it would be to slide it
down to her ankles and slide myself inside of her.

I shake my head in
an attempt to stop my fantasies from running wild. I need to be good and keep
my hands to myself … for now, at least.

“Wow, this is a nice
place,” she says, looking around. I can’t take my eyes off her ass.  

“Thanks,” I say,
and clap my hands. “Dinner is almost ready. Can I get you a glass of wine?”

“Wine would be
great, thanks.”

Her heels click
against the floor as she follows me into the kitchen. I pull out a stool for
her to sit down before popping open a bottle of red wine. “How does chicken
sound?”

Chicken is about
the only thing I know how to cook, so it was either that or take-out. I thought
it’d look better if I made something.

“Chicken sounds
good.” She takes a sip of wine before clearing her throat. “But first, I want
to get straight to the point.”

“Go for it.”
Please
don’t be bad.

“Why did you ask me
to come here, Bracken? And why the hell do you keep showing up everywhere I am?
At my job, my house, and insisting I forgive you?”

I pour my own glass
of wine. I knew I was going to have to start answering her questions sooner or
later. “Because I want you to forgive me,” I answer, simply.

She dramatically
throws her hands up in the air. “Fine, I forgive you. Happy? Does that honestly
make you feel better?”

I shake my head.
“Your acceptance doesn’t mean shit if it’s not real and you’re not over it.
Right now, when you see me, all you think about is how I hurt you. I fucking
hate that. When you see me, I want you to smile. I want your day to brighten. I
want you to see me as the man you love, not the one who hurt you.”

“It’s a little too
late for that,” she mutters, downing her glass and holding it out for a refill.

“It’s never too
late for shit.”

I turn around to
check the food, and change the subject when I face her again. I’m waiting until
the perfect time before I venture into deep territory.

*
* *

Dinner is going by smooth so far.
I’ve kept the conversation flowing, avoiding anything serious, and kept our
glasses filled. She tells me about her students, and how she started coaching
the dance team. I tell her about how we started the dealerships, and she asks
me how Jasper is doing.

Everything has been
fine, there’s been laughter and smiles, but I have a feeling all of that is
about to change. I have to ask. The words have been on the tip of my tongue
since I laid eyes on her at the funeral home and noticed the absence of Quinton,
and a ring.

“Was it just him?”
I ask.

Her eyes meet mine
from across the table. She tilts her head to the side as he eyebrows squish
together. “What?” she asks.