Brody (17 page)

“She won’t,” she said, way too quickly, and because she had, the words felt more wishful than certain.

I tapped my hands on the table. “How do you know, Alex?”

Her gaze left me then, out the window and to the late morning traffic. She blinked. “Because her life got so much better after they moved,” she said. “And…” Her eyes fluttered away again and never returned this time. She chewed her lip. “She knows that and she told me if he ever came back, she’d do the right thing this time. She told me that. She told me that.”

 I wanted to question her, because with her story, that didn’t seem to be the outcome that resulted from the falling out between she and her sister. I had no reason not to believe her, though. She hadn’t given me one.

“So I’m going to go,” she continued. “I’m going to go. I’m going to warn her and get her and Aiden out of there for a while. However long we need.”

“No, you won’t,” I told her, my voice not faltering at all with the statement. “At least, not alone you aren’t. I can’t let you do that. Not by yourself.”

“Brody—”

“Alex,” I said. I wouldn’t argue with her about this. This was a battle I refused to let up on. I squeezed her hands. “I’ll take you. I’ll get you there to Aiden and your sister. I worked the leave out with my job. It’s done.”

Her beautiful eyes settled on me, narrowed and hard in their gaze. She shook her head. “But why?” she asked, surprising me. “Why are you doing this? Why do you
keep
doing this? Helping me?” 

The answer was something I felt was obvious, but I did her one better, bringing her hands together in mine. “Why don’t you feel like you deserve it? The help?”

Her hand went underneath her eye again, then the other. She sniffed, looking away, and I kept on.

“Alex, I know I don’t know you very well and because of that, this all might seem crazy. But the thing is, it doesn’t to me. It doesn’t at all and in fact, it makes nothing but sense.”

Pausing, I lifted her hand. Inside, she still held that ring and I opened it, letting her see.

“
This
makes sense,” I told her, lifting my gaze to her. I closed her hand in mine. “It just does and I… I want to help. Anyway I can and it doesn’t have to be more than that. I want to help and I want you to let me.”

I put it all out there, quite literally
everything
. I think I knew how I felt for a while now, about this girl that came to me in the night. Especially, after almost losing her.

“Let me help you,” I urged; I stressed. “Let me do this with you.”

She stared at my hands covering hers, the mood ring between us. I had no idea what color it was, but had a feeling if she looked at it, it would say everything she needed to know. I could feel it touching more of my hand than hers.

“Okay,” she said, looking up at me. And then, a smile touched her lips, a smile I wanted so bad to lean over and cover with a kiss.

But I settled for my own: “Okay.”

Chapter Seventeen

Alexa

Brody felt confident he could get us to the coast in just under two days time. Not as fast as the train, but he said having a form of transportation on hand wouldn’t be a bad thing. I trusted him, so I agreed.

I trusted him. I hadn’t been able to do that for so long I wondered if I still knew how, but the minute Brody came around? It all felt natural. Being with him felt natural. Had that been what he meant at the cafe? About us making sense to him?

My gaze found him from the corner of my eye, his one hand on the wheel, and his other on mine, holding my hand like he’d done before. We just kind of fell into that when we got into his truck, naturally, and I didn’t turn him away.

In fact, I welcomed it.

His hand in mine didn’t feel like he wanted something from me. It felt like he was giving something, support, and I think that’s exactly what it was. He knew I had a lot on my plate right now; Aiden and everything else. There was a barrier there, one he created, and that probably was best. My mind was so overwhelmed, I didn’t know if I could give anything else and he understood that.

He always did the right thing.

I took what we had for what it was and we traveled for miles while we did, him telling his stories. I missed his stories so much. This was him trying to keep the mood light. In fact, he did most of the talking while I just listened and he even let me hold his phone in my lap just in case Aiden called. He really was great, so great. We stopped only two times in six hours, pulling over for the normal stuff, a rest stop or a restaurant to eat. We went another three before our next stop and the anxiousness shook my legs. We were about to hit state lines, something I’d been trying to do for so long. I felt like I’d been traveling months instead of weeks and Brody made that happen. I actually thought he’d push us through, drive through the night on our final leg, but he took an exit after our last rest stop. We’d only been driving an hour.

I looked over at him and got nothing but a smile and squeeze to my hand.

“What’s going on?” I asked him, but I wasn’t worried. Like I said, I trusted him. I believed in him.

He turned the wheel, steering down the exit ramp. “Giving you a break from your head.”

I shook it then, not understanding.

His head tipped back with his laugh, the bill of his hat revealing his eyes. He glanced my way. “I’ve been watching you off and on all day, Alex. You need to get out of your head. You need to have some fun.”

Fun? Still, I didn’t understand. “Shouldn’t we just push through? We’re really making ground today.”

“
Today
is now this evening. Did you notice?”

That sunset in the horizon showed me I hadn’t. I really was stuck in my head.

The truck pushed back into traffic off the exit, the steady stream of a small town instead of the fast pace of a highway. “I was going to pull us over for the night anyway in a couple miles and this ‘fun,’” he paused, nodding with it, “will just be a side trip. I saw some signs on the road advertising it. If you’re game, I’ll take you.”

I really didn’t want to stop, but if he was going to stop anyway…

And then there was the way those blue eyes looked at me, drawing me in and everything.

His smile made me do the same, and so with that, I let him take me to “fun.” And what did fun end up being? A small carnival in the middle nowhere. Lights flashed the air and electric music coordinated with it.

My jaw went slack at the bright set up. “Are you serious?” I hadn’t been to one of these in so long.

His simply winked at me. “As a heart attack. It’s time to let Valentine out tonight.”

His reference to my stage name made me snort and after that, it turned into full-blown laugher. He came around to my side, holding out his hand.

I could only accept.

He tossed his hat in the back before we left, musing his hair all up and making it all sexy. And he was sexy. That couldn’t be denied. Anybody could be that though, but not everyone could be Brody with his big heart.

Once we got to the gate, he paid my admission to my protest. I felt I had a running total with him already.

He pulled me in, lowering. “Relax, okay? Just have fun.”

I’d sure try. After getting us a stack of tickets, we scoped out the area. This place was sure bustling for a tourist trap.

“Games, rides, or greasy food, darlin’?” he asked, staring down at me with a smile.

God, he could have anything he wanted from me, couldn’t he? I decided on food because I thought that’s what he might like. He was so big, I figured he’d always need it. I got chicken on a stick while he took advantage of the behemoth sized turkey legs the food truck had.

“Damn,” he said, sizing it up. “I’m going to regret this later, but it’s going to hurt so good.”

I giggled, taking a bite of my chicken. I’d probably regret this just as much as him. We took our meat on a stroll when some taunting came at us from the right.

“Look at this chump,” said a clown with white oil paint on his face. He sat in a dunk tank, screaming into his microphone. “Guy probably couldn’t hit a parked car to win a stuffed animal for his girl.”

Looking around, no one was behind Brody and me. Brody’s finger went to his chest.

“Yeah, you sucka!” the clown went on, chuckling. “You get three tries for six tickets.”

Brody eyed me, pushing his thumb behind him at the tank. “Highway robbery this guy.”

He was definitely a character, but he called me Brody’s girl, he couldn’t be all that bad.

“C’mon, man! Things aren’t getting any dryer over here. Don’t be a wuss.”

The clown proved to be very vocal, but Brody, the guy that he was, took it in good stride. Heading over to the booth, he paid for the tickets, accepting the balls for his shots. “Highway robbery,” he said one last time, then, rearing back, he took his first shot. A sharp hit slammed the wall with the target, but landed just off to the right.

The clown cringed for Brody. “Ooo… Close but no cigar.”

Brody pointed at him. “You’re an asshole, my friend,” he said, with a laugh. “But I got you.”

The clown let out a roar. “Go for it. I’m willing to let you prove me wrong.”

And so he attempted again, close, but the ball fell without accomplishing its mission. The third shot failed just as the first two and the clown had a field day with that. I covered my mouth, trying not to laugh as Brody’s run ended with defeat.

He took my hand in his, looking a little sour. “Come on. We’re not giving this guy any more of our money.”

“I want to try,” I said, surprising him. His eyebrows flashed and I went off to the side, paying for a shot with three tickets. I prepared, looking for my angle, and when I pulled back, I let the ball fly. It hit the target with a thud and the clown slid off his seat into the water with a large splash. Sputtering, he came up with his red wig draping his face. He took it all in good stride though and the attendant who sold us our tickets for the shots aimed her arms at the prize wall. I picked my prize, then returned to a shocked Brody, his blue eyes wide like saucers.

I handed him the big, brown bear I chose. “A big bear for the big guy.”

He laughed, shaking his head at me. Once he settled down, he nodded, taking the bear.

“Okay, so now that you made me look like a punk bitch, I need to redeem myself,” he said, eyeing the games. My hand was back in his and he pulled me over to the game with basketballs and hoops. He had to get so many shots in so little time, that I worried for his pride. This would be tough.

He pulled back already short sleeves, revealing his biceps. “I’m gonna make quick work of this, darlin.’ Just you watch now.”

I wasn’t confident but I humored him, so imagine my surprise when not only did he make the shots he needed in the few seconds he had, but he made
every
shot. One after the other, he sunk baskets like he was on the court instead of at a small carnival. Once he was done, he let me pick a prize and the bear I got ended up being bigger than the one I gave him.

“You’re kidding.” I blinked, shocked by what he told me moments later. We were on the Ferris Wheel now. “Your brother is a professional basketball player?”

Brody merely gave that throaty chuckle, deep from his broad chest. He draped an arm behind the back of our car, the Ferris Wheel giving us both a wide view of the tiny carnival. Multi-colored lights glittered around us, lighting up the darkening sky. He looked my way. “The kid had to get it from somewhere.”

I kicked his ankle across from me. His date for the evening was a big brown teddy, mine a tan colored one next to me. I giggled. “Modest much?”

He threw his head back, those blond strands flowing over his eyes when he came back. “My pop had us all playing at the rec center. It kept us all out of trouble and we made friends, too, so that was a bonus.” He shrugged. “It was good times.”

From his photos, his family seemed to have a lot of good times. What would that be like having so much and being so close? I loved my sister, but things sure had been hard for us; between us. Brody didn’t go on and I noticed he never mentioned his mom in this equation of family. I also didn’t see her in the family photo, only an older woman. I wondered if she was around. Not wanting to get too heavy, I left that alone. We were supposed to have a good time tonight and there was so much I didn’t know about this guy. This kind guy that came to my rescue so many times.

He reached for my cotton candy and I gave him some. I loved sharing with him. “So why don’t you play?” I asked.

A shoulder lifted as he shook his head. “I didn’t have a passion for it. That’s Griff’s thing, the one who plays professionally. The baby of us is on that track, too. His name is Colton. I don’t know. That’s just not what I wanted to do.”

I ate some of the blue fluff, letting it evaporate in my mouth. I went to ask him another question, but the candy hadn’t fully dissolved yet. Brody noticed and his smile went in my direction. I covered my mouth with a laugh, wiping it right after. “Is truck driving your thing then?” I went on. “Traveling?”

“Nah, not really. It just pays the bills, you know?”

He had said that to me before, at the bar. I crossed my legs. “What do you want to do then?”

He sat back in the chair, his fingers dangling over the sidebars absentmindedly. He didn’t answer the question right away and I didn’t know why. Maybe he simply didn’t know what he wanted to do yet. He was young, not much older than me.

His eyes narrowed, his gaze far away, but then he came back to me with that boyish grin of his.

“Would it be weird if I said anything I want?” he asked, and I shook my head. I think that’s what we all wanted in the end. But it was an interesting response to the question. He stared off again. “Do you want to check that out before we leave?”

His added finger point took my attention below, down to a brightly colored building with abstract angles, a fun house. I was game if he was. We waited for the full rotation of our ride to conclude, then headed toward the house, my bear in my arms with Brody’s under his. But getting closer my steps slowed, the lack of line evident. Usually that meant something if all the other rides were packed. We even had to wait ten minutes to get on the Ferris Wheel.