Better Than Okay (12 page)

She looked away and he sighed and ran a hand
over his head, shifting himself on the desk.

“She needed to use the computer to send
something off for work,” he explained calmly. “I let her.”

“Okay.” She looked down at her feet, then over
to the door. “It doesn’t matter anyway, Brian. I’m hungry; I’m going to get
something to eat.”

She made her way toward the door and heard
Black Dress Girl’s shrill laughter from the living room. Damn, she was
obnoxiously loud.
 
Brian grabbed her
hand again. She tried to snatch it away but he pulled her toward him so that
she was standing in between his parted legs.
 

“Hey,” he said, meeting her eyes. “I just let
her use the computer, okay?”

She looked away. She felt stupid. “It’s fine, Brian,”
she said. “You don’t have to explain anything to me anyway. It’s not like we’re
together.”

“That’s your choice,” he said pointedly.

She looked up at him. “You want a full-fledged
relationship?” she asked disbelievingly.

“I want you,” he said simply, not breaking eye
contact.

She stared at him, her breath coming quicker.
She was just in the beginning stages of getting used to the idea of being more
than friends with him. The thought of a real commitment freaked her out a
little. He sighed and shook his head, his eyes unreadable.

“You don’t ever need to be jealous,” he said
after a long minute.

He pulled her closer to him and wrapped his
arms loosely around her waist.

“I’m not jealous,” she denied, glaring at him.

“Right.”

He chuckled and she looked away, embarrassed
that he was finding so much enjoyment in this and she was still so turned on by
him. His eyes were more serious when she looked back at him.

“And so you know, I don’t remember what that
girl had on at the bar,” he said, gauging her reaction. “But I remember you had
on a pair of jeans and a black tank top thing and your hair was up with little
pieces hanging down and you looked so good when you opened the door I wanted
to...” he paused, shaking his head.

“You wanted to what?” she couldn’t help asking,
though she didn’t recognize her own voice.

His eyes traveled slowly over her face, like he
was visually caressing each feature and he pulled her closer to him.

“I wanted to show you exactly what I’ve wanted
to do for a long time.”

Her face flushed as her already active
imagination immediately kicked into overdrive. Unnerved, she backed up. He
grinned at her and pulled her back to him. He hesitated once her lips were just
centimeters from his, teasing her with his closeness.

“Kind of like right now,” he said, his voice
low.

He brushed his lips lightly against hers before
fully kissing her. She was quickly learning that his kisses were a lot like
him—slow and methodical, deliberate. She forced herself to pull away.

“Someone could come back here,” she whispered
breathily, looking guiltily toward the door.

He frowned. “So?”

She stared at him pointedly, her eyes wide.

“The door is closed anyway, Destiny.” He moved
her gently to the side and pushed himself off the edge of the desk, releasing a
frustrated breath.

“I just don’t want everyone knowing anything
until we’ve figured out what we’re doing,” she murmured, trying to read his
expression.

“Yeah, okay,” he replied listlessly, opening
the bedroom door.

“Brian…”

“Yo, let’s eat,” Dorian yelled loudly from the
living room, interrupting her.

“It’s fine, Tweet,” Brian said. He looked at
her for a beat then headed toward the living room. She released a breath and
followed him.

* * *

“O-M-G, this is so good,” Loud Girl said, her voice
carrying over all of the other conversations going on around the table, the
music that was still playing in the kitchen, and the television.

She definitely had earned the name change. She
chewed delicately on the delicate bite of enchilada she’d just put into her
mouth and grinned unnecessarily again at Brian.

“You made these right?” she asked him, even
though she already knew damn well that he did.

She licked the sauce off of her thumb then
pushed her hair behind her ear and smiled at him again. Destiny looked away and
took a healthy swig of her virgin Margarita. She knew she was driving and she
didn’t want to risk it, even though right now, she wanted a shot. She stared at
Loud Girl and asked herself for the twentieth time since they all sat down why
the hell she was even here.

Brian nodded and stretched his legs out in
front of him as he took a sip of his beer. Destiny could feel him looking at
her but refused to meet his eyes. He was sitting to her right and Nathan was to
her left. Loud Girl had managed to seat herself directly across from him.

“They are really, really good,” Pink Dress
chimed in, nodding her head in enchilada agreement. She was seated between Loud
Girl and Dorian.

“Damn, what about the tacos and margaritas?”
Dorian asked, looking wounded.

Pink Dress shrugged and giggled.

“And what about the salsa?” Nathan chimed in,
throwing his hands up in mock disbelief. Destiny eyed the salsa jar that was
still on the table.

“The salsa was the best of all, Nathan,”
Destiny obliged him, patting his hand like she was his grandma.

“Damn, straight,” he said as he laughed and
threw a chip at her.
 

She yelped and dodged the chip, scooting closer
to Brian, inadvertently meeting his eyes. He was watching them intently. He
took another swig of his beer.

 
“So, hey, Tweet, B told me to check out
your Static article yesterday on
Pitch
,”
Nathan said looking at her.

She glanced at Brian, surprised. He met her
eyes briefly and she looked away.

“What do you think about him signing that deal
for a million? Smart move or should he have stayed indie?” Nathan asked.

Static was one of the new rappers who had
emerged in the past couple of years and with the buzz of his latest single, had
garnered the attention of several major labels, one of which he’d recently
signed with. The editor at
Pitch
had
asked if she could do a last minute interview with him, which she had gladly
accepted. She bit her lip now, considering.

“I mean, it probably would’ve been better for
independents as a whole if he would’ve stayed indie with the amount of buzz he
has. You know, he could leverage that power, kind of pave the way for the other
indie artists who are trying to do the same thing. ”

“Yeah, but a mil is a mil,” Nathan shrugged.

“True but everything isn’t about money,” she
countered.

“Gotta think long-term sometimes.” Dorian
chimed in, stuffing a handful of chips into his mouth.

“And it’s not like staying indie would’ve meant
that he was broke,” she continued. “He’s definitely doing okay.”

“True,” Nathan conceded with a shrug, smiling
at her.

She glanced over at Brian, who was watching her
again. He looked at her for a long moment, holding her hostage with his gaze.
The corners of his mouth quirked up, just barely, and he took another sip of
his beer, still not breaking eye contact. Just a look from him and her insides
were twisted.

“All I know is that Static is so, so sexy,”
Loud Girl said, injecting herself into the conversation. “Actually, Brian kind
of looks like him.”

Destiny looked up at her and felt her fork stab
her enchilada. Loud Girl was smiling at Brian coyly and Destiny thought about
violently hurling the fork at her like a ninja in one of those old school
karate flicks she was always watching at Marsitas.

 
“Nah, I don’t look anything like him.”
Brian countered, chewing on a chip.

“You definitely do. He is fine,” Loud Girl
practically purred. She physically batted her eyelashes at him. “He is
definitely a pretty boy.”

Brian frowned silently and stuffed another
large bite of food into his mouth.

“What?” Destiny teased, her eyes wide. “You
don’t enjoy being called a ‘pretty boy,’ Brian?”

She knew how much it irritated him. He thought
of it as an insult instead of a compliment, like being called a pretty boy was
a testament to his character or something. He fixed a look on her and grinned
lopsidedly.

“I enjoy it about as much as you enjoy being
called a ‘cutie pie,’” he said, his voice low.

She felt her face flush and she took a sip of
water. He chuckled. Loud Girl glared at her.

“He does kind of look like Static, huh?” Pink
Dress pressed, ignoring them as she openly admired his features.

“Uh, I am sitting right here, woman,” Dorian
said exaggeratedly, raising a finger.
 

“Stop calling me ‘woman’,” Pink Dress insisted,
scrunching up her nose.

“What?” Dorian shrugged, raising his eyebrows
in feigned innocence. “You are a woman, right?”

“Yeah, but it’s offensive,” she said, looking
to Loud Girl and then to Destiny for moral support, she assumed.

“It is offensive,” Destiny spoke up. “You sound
like a caveman.”

“Kind of look like one too,” Brian
smirked.
 

Loud Girl cackled loudly and Destiny rolled her
eyes. Inspired, Dorian immediately began beating his chest like an ape and
Nathan started humming “In the Jungle.”

 
“Ya’ll are defective,” Destiny said dryly
as Pink Dress laughed, her temporary feminism forgotten at Dorian’s antics.

“And why are you even singing ‘In the Jungle?’”
she asked, frowning in confusion at Nathan. He shrugged, grinning.

“Isn’t that a caveman song?” he asked,
wrinkling his brow in consternation. He grinned. “Whatever, who cares.”

He burst into song again, bobbing his head back
and forth he sang. Clearly he’d had one too many margaritas. Destiny rolled her
eyes and he threw another chip at her, hitting her in the forehead.

“Ow!” she squealed. “You’ve been hanging around
Dorian too long. It is not okay to throw stuff at me.”

Brian pulled her chair closer to him. She
looked at him surprised, nearly falling into his lap with the sudden movement.
“Throw something else at her and see what happens,” he threatened lightly,
grinning slightly.

Nathan held his hands up in mock surrender,
laughing. “Damn, B. I know you grew up together but I didn’t know you were like
her protective older brother, too. I get enough of that from D.”

Brian grinned again and popped another chip
into his mouth. “Oh, I’m nothing like her brother.”

Nathan laughed and downed the last of his
margarita. Destiny’s face was on fire. She met his eyes briefly and he grinned
at her.

“Okay, we need another pitcher,” Dorian
jubilantly declared.

He jumped up and grabbed the empty margarita
pitcher, heading for the kitchen. Pink Dress followed behind him. Nathan
reached for the extra enchiladas that were on the platter in the middle of the
table.

“Time for round three,” he grunted, patting his
flat abdomen.

“I told you the other day on the phone that
Mexican was a good choice, Brian,” Loud Girl said, smiling.

She took a dainty sip of her drink and fixed
her eyes on him. Destiny’s head jerked up. She bit her lip, her heart hammering
in her chest. Did she really just say that? Loud Girl smiled and took another
bite of her enchilada. She looked at Brian. His eyes were a mixture of fury and
shock. She stared at him for a long second, then picked up her plate and pushed
herself back from the table, heading for the kitchen.

“Tweet, can you bring the sour cream back?”
Nathan called to her, oblivious to the energy shift at the table.

She nodded stiffly and willed her feet to move.
She felt sick to her stomach. She rounded the corner to the kitchen. Dorian had
Pink Dress pinned against the counter next to the sink, whispering something in
her ear. Her arms were draped loosely around his shoulders. She put her plate
in the dishwasher and quickly grabbed the sour cream off of the counter.

She hurriedly walked back to the table and
handed Nathan the sour cream. Loud Girl was still sitting there like she owned
the place, chatting with Nathan. Brian caught her eye as she walked past him
but she needed to get away from him as quickly as possible. She knew she
couldn’t just go running out of the door like she had last time. So she headed
for the second best place—the bathroom. She needed to get her breathing,
heart, and stomach under control.

She practically jogged toward the bathroom and
shut the door behind her before she exhaled. What the hell was he doing talking
to her on the phone? She bit her lip and sat down on the closed toilet seat,
trying to think logically. Part of the reason she was so scared to get involved
with Brian in the first place is because she knew his track record with women.
They tended to be pretty damn disposable. He was never disrespectful to them.
He always treated them really well whenever he was sharing their company, but
he got bored easily and he knew it just as well as she did. The idea of him
focusing on one woman for any extended period of time was something that he had
just plain never done—except for his alleged relationship with
Tamara.