Friends & Lovers Trilogy (6 page)

Rich just leaned back and grinned. “Ain’t
that the truth.”

They got their beer and watched the game for
a bit, drinking and talking. While they waited for their wings to
come out, Rich asked Colin if he felt better about working at The
General Store.

“
No, man,” Colin said with
a frown. “I love my parents and this town and everything, but I
can’t help but resent the fact that I’m here doing the one thing I
swore I’d never do.”

“
Then why are
you?”

“
Everything just went to
hell when I got hurt. I focused on finishing school, but then I
just had to get out of there. I couldn’t stand to face the team and
my coaches, knowing that I wasn’t a part of the game
anymore.”

“
It’s not like coming here
and running the store is your only option. If you hate it so much,
look for something else,” Rich offered.

Colin took a long drink, then replied,
“Nothing means as much to me as football, so I might as well be
miserable here, where I know people.”

“
That’s a shitty way to
look at it,” Rich argued. “Dude, I know you’re pissed, I would be
too, but playing football isn’t the only way to be involved in the
game.”

“
Yeah, I guess you’re
right.” Colin said thoughtfully. “I could look into coaching or
something; I just don’t know where to start.”

“
Well, you’re gonna start
at the bottom, but at least you’ll be happy,” Rich replied. Then he
looked up at someone approaching their table.

Figuring it was Kara, Colin didn’t look up.
Then he heard Kent’s voice.

“
Hey, guys. How’s it
goin’?” he said when he got to the table. He had his arm slung
around a beautiful girl with long blonde hair and amazing gray
eyes. She smiled and Colin noticed she had a dimple on the left
side of her face. “This is my sister, Roni. She’s staying with me
for a while and I wanted to introduce her around, make her feel
welcome.”

Colin and Rich stood up and shook her hand.
Rich held on long enough for Kent to narrow his eyes at him.

Rich just smiled and said, “It’s nice to
meet you, Roni. You need anything, you just look for me.”

Kent bent down to say something to Roni and
she turned and walked back towards the bar.

“
All right. The real reason
I wanted to introduce you is because Roni will be at Kara and
Bree’s party tonight, and I wanted you both to know that she’s my
sister, so hands off,” Kent said. “Especially you, Rich. I didn’t
like the way you were looking at her.”

“
No harm, man,” Rich said,
holding his hands up as if to prove he was no threat. “You’re
sister’s pretty man, that’s all. I’ll leave her alone.”

Kent looked at Colin, who just nodded.

Kent nodded back at both of them and said,
“Later,” as he walked back in the direction his sister went.

They both sat down and Rich whistled. “Holy,
shit. That was the most beautiful girl I have ever seen up close.”
He declared with a look of wonder.

“
I wouldn’t mess with Kent
if I were you. He looked pretty serious.”

Rich was saved from answering when Kara
arrived with their food, but Colin noticed that he couldn’t help
but look over to where the tall, slender blonde leaned against the
bar talking with Pete.

Chapter Nine

Briana was thrilled when they finally closed
for the night. She felt so greasy and gross that she couldn’t wait
to get home and shower.

She put the finishing touches on her dish,
then took it out to the bar to share with her co-workers.

“
That looks so good, Bree,”
Kara moaned from her perch at the bar. She’d kicked off her heels
and was rubbing her sore feet. “I’m so hungry, I could eat that
whole plate of pasta.”

“
Get in line,” Pete said as
he poured some drinks to go with their meal.

“
Wine for me, please,”
Nicole chimed in as she walked to the back of the room. “I can’t
wait to get everything cleaned and head to your place. I was so
bummed I had to miss out last week, but I had to go home to watch
my brothers and sisters.”

“
No problem,” Briana said.
“At least you’re free tonight.” Then she turned to Pete, “Wine
sounds good. Would you pour me the red?”

They all sat down to enjoy the food and
drinks, then went about cleaning up the front and back of the house
as quickly as possible so they could head to Kara and Briana’s
apartment. They yelled goodnight to Pam, who thanked Briana for the
pasta, then locked up behind them.

Kara and Briana hosted this get together
most Wednesdays, so they knew the routine and got themselves and
the apartment ready when they got home. Pretty soon the place was
filled with people and the party was in full swing.

Briana and Kara both opted for sundresses,
since it was a hot Texas night. When Nicole arrived wearing her
hostess uniform, Briana offered to loan her something to wear.

When Nicole walked out wearing the dress,
she looked uncertainly at Briana.

“
I think it’s too
small.”

“
No, you just have bigger
boobs than I do. It’s perfect,” Briana assured her. She fluffed out
Nicole’s hair to give it a fuller look, and told her to stop
standing with her hands crossed over her chest.

“
C’mon, let’s go get you a
drink. Stop worrying. You look amazing.”

They went out to join the party and ran into
Kent and Roni in the hall. Kent paused momentarily, taking in
Nicole’s drastic change in appearance. They all stood there for a
moment, until Nicole blushed and looked down, and Roni cleared her
throat.

“
Oh, ahh, hey. What’s up?”
Kent said hoarsely, before clearing his throat. “Nicole, you met my
sister, Roni, but Roni, you didn’t get a chance to meet Bree
yet.”

Briana smiled at Roni, surprised at the
striking resemblance between the two. It almost hurt to look at the
pair of them, they were so beautiful.

“
Wow, Kent, you never said
you had a sister.” Briana said, wondering what other things they’d
never shared with each other.

“
Yeah, Roni’s my twin.
She’s going to be staying with me for a while,” he said with a
smile for his sister. He tried not to stare at Nicole’s amazing
body.

“
Hi, Roni. It’s great to
meet you. Would you like something to drink?” Briana offered,
taking her arm and steering her towards the kitchen.

That left Kent and Nicole standing in the
hallway, her eyes on the floor and his on the ceiling.

“
Um, I’m going to go get a
drink,” Nicole said softly, excusing herself and following the
girls.

Kent gave himself a moment to regain
control, before turning and heading to join Pete and Kara in the
living room.

Briana strolled around her apartment,
talking with people and sipping on a beer. Eventually, she decided
she’d ignored the corner where Colin and Rich sat deep in
conversation, long enough.

She couldn’t believe that it had only been a
week since she first found out that Colin was back in town. Now he
was in her living room. Weird.

There were a couple of empty beer cans next
to their seats, and she heard them talking about college as she got
closer.

“
Hey guys,” she said when
she got close enough to be heard over the noise of the
room.

They both stood up. She walked stepped
closer to Rich to give him a hug. They embraced each other and
murmured hello before pulling away and smiling.

When she turned away from Rich, she noticed
Colin staring at them with a strange expression on his face.

“
You guys never used to be
that close before. I mean, back in high school we all hung out, but
you guys were never on a hugging basis. Anyone watching would think
that you were more than just friends,” he stated, looking
guarded.

“
She’s one of my best
friends.” Rich said, trying not to make a big deal out of Colin’s
observation.

“
Hmm. Okay, I guess.” Colin
still looked confused. “It’s just, Bree only went to A & M for
like, a year, right? And you’ve been gone this whole time. When
have you guys had time to get so close?”

“
What’s your point, Colin?”
Briana asked, starting to get frustrated with the way he was
acting.

“
All I’m saying is that it
seems like there’s more to the story.” He took a deep breath, then
asked, “Did you guys hook up or something?”

Briana and Rich looked at each other and
then looked at him. Both silent, but with expressions of guilt and
regret.

“
Are you fucking serious?”
Colin asked in a low voice. “I was fishing! Did something really
happen between the two of you?”

“
Bro…” Rich
started.

“
Don’t
Bro
,
me, Rich. Answer the fucking question.”

Briana stepped in between the two guys. “It
was just one time, Colin. It was never anything serious,” she
said.

“
That’s. Just. Fucking.
Great,” he managed before turning and storming out of the
apartment.

Briana turned to Rich, who had gone ashen
with regret.

“
Shit,” he said simply,
before sitting back down in his chair.

Briana went to find Kara, Kent, or Pete, but
ran into Roni first.

“
Roni,” she said, grabbing
her hand and pulling her over to Rich. “Can you keep an eye on him
for me? Make sure he doesn’t leave this apartment,
okay?”

“
Sure,” Roni replied,
looking anything but sure as she looked at the gorgeous guy sitting
there like he’d just seen a ghost.

“
Thanks.” Briana ran to her
room to grab the car keys.

“
What’s up, Bree?” Kara
asked from the kitchen. She followed Briana into her room, noting
her friend’s frantic movement.

“
Who does he think he is?”
she asked out loud. “He’s the one who dumped me! He has no right to
act all pissed off, like we did something terrible to
him.”

“
What are we talking
about?” Kara tried to get her attention, but she was scouring the
room like a crazy person.

“
Son of a bitch. Where are
the keys?”

“
Probably in your purse.
Are you going somewhere?” Kara asked, picking up Briana’s purse and
handing it to her.

“
Yeah. I’m going to have it
out with Colin, once and for all.”

Chapter Ten

Briana knew that Colin was staying at the
apartments behind The General Store from a conversation she’d had
with Rich. She just hoped that that’s where he went after he left
the party. Then she pulled behind the store and saw his truck, so
she parked behind it.

She stormed up the steps and pounded on the
door.

It swung open as she raised her fist to
knock again.

“
Not now, Bree.” Colin said
swinging the door closed again.

She put her foot in the doorway and pushed
the door as hard as she could, shoving past him and walking in,
before turning to look at him with her hands on her hips.

“
Yes,
now
,
Colin,” she countered.

He slammed the door shut and looked down at
her small angry form.

“
Fine, you wanna go?” he
yelled, storming past her, his arms emphasizing his words. “Let’s
go.”

“
No,” she
turned on him, standing up on tip toe so she could get in his face.
“You don’t get to be mad here, Colin. You left me, not the other
way around, and I doubt you’ve been celibate for the last four
years. Tell me, are you still a
virgin
, Colin?”

“
That’s
not the point,
Briana,
I don’t care that you’re not a virgin. I didn’t expect you to
stay a virgin forever. The point is that you slept with Rich - my
best friend. Or should I say, my former best
friend.”

“
Oh, give me a break. Rich
is still your best friend. You aren’t going to let one night three
years ago ruin the friendship you’ve had your whole
life.”

Colin turned from her to walk over to the
window.

“
Colin, listen,” she
pleaded, her voice softening at the look on his face. “We were both
away from home for the first time. I was upset because I was still
missing you and I’d heard you had started seeing someone. He was
upset because he’d been riding the bench all year. We were hanging
out and drinking, and it just happened. It was only once, and it
was really awkward afterwards. We agreed that we only wanted to be
friends, and have been ever since. Don’t be mad at him.”

Colin looked at her, his heart heavy and
jealousy coursing through his veins. “What about you, should I be
mad at you?”

She felt her blood start to rise again,
angry that he was trying to make her feel guilty when she had no
reason to be.

“
I don’t care if you’re mad
at me or not, but it would sure be hypocritical of you, now
wouldn’t it?”

He sighed loudly. “What did you come here
for, Bree? Go back to your boyfriend and leave me be.”

“
I don’t have a boyfriend,”
she retorted. “I haven’t had the stomach for one since you
left.”

Colin took a step closer. “That Kent guy
isn’t your boyfriend?”

“
No,” she responded. “Look,
I came here because I was pissed that you got mad at us. You have
no reason to be mad. I don’t get why you are. You’re the one who
left. You didn’t want me then, so why do you care now?”