Finding Dandelion (Dearest #2) (12 page)

Ryan and I are sprawled out on my couch playing
Grand Theft Auto
.

“So did Jenna throw you to the dogs tonight?” I screech the convertible through a busy intersection, avoiding a near-collision.

“No.” Ryan snickers, and I turn my head long enough to see the wicked grin on his face. “She and Dani are throwing a sex toy party.”

The controller slips out of my hand, clattering on the floor.

He shakes his eyebrows at me. “It’s like a tupperware party but with vibrators and shit.”

The thought of Dani and sex toys makes my dick hard. Okay, this might have something to do with the fact that I’ve been damn near celibate all semester with a few minor exceptions, but the last time I tried hooking up with a girl, I accidentally called her Danielle, and she threw her shoe at me. I’m tired of being with other girls and thinking about her. Dani barely acknowledges my existence, but here I sit with a raging hard-on for her.

I’ve never pined over a girl. I need to get my shit together.

My hand dips to grab the controller, and Ryan laughs. “Apparently, Jenna wanted to cheer up your sister.”

Uh, yeah, the boner is gone. “Shut the fuck up, asshole.”

“She’s been through a lot.”

I shoot him a dirty look. No one needs to tell me that.

He says, “Jenna is on a crusade to cheer up Clem. She was thinking we could all go rock climbing this weekend. You wanna come?”

“Yeah. Count me in, but no more talk about sex toys.”

Ryan slaps me on the arm in agreement and resumes the game.

By Saturday afternoon, the temperature has dropped. I froze my balls off this morning during our game, but we won. I probably shouldn’t be rock climbing. My coach would have a fit if I got injured, but the promise of seeing Dani is all the encouragement I need. When I pull up to the park, I immediately spot my friends and jog over to the climbing wall. I sign the little “I won’t sue you if I die” waiver and leave my ID with the attendant.

Jenna, Ryan, Clem and her boyfriend Gavin are huddled next to the wall as they wait for their turn to climb. I hug my sister, making a point to scruff her hair.

“Hey, loser.” She grabs my arm. “Did you win this morning?”

“Of course.”

“Sorry I had to work. I wanted to see you play.”

A lot of people might say things like this, but she means it. I can’t count how many of my games Clem has come to over the years.

I give Jenna a hug and then shoot the shit with the guys.

The roar of a motorcycle behind us gets my attention, and I turn to see Dani hop off the back of the bike. The guy she’s with is pretty built, and he looks older, maybe mid-twenties.

I’m pissed, but I tell myself that she can do whatever she wants. She’s not mine, and I have no reason to be jealous.

“Hey, guys,” Jenna chirps, her perkiness getting on my nerves.

“Hi.” Dani walks up with that guy. Her nose is red from the cold, and her cheeks are pink. Goddamn it. She’s beautiful. When she sees me, she smiles, but there’s something sad in her eyes that digs into me. “This is Brady.” She turns to him. “I think you’ve met Jenna and Clem, but this is Jenna’s boyfriend Ryan, and this is Clem’s brother Jax.”

I don’t know why, but hearing her say my name does weird things to my chest. Brady nods, and I nod back.

“How did your econ presentation go?” she asks me, her eyes peering out beneath long lashes.

I can’t believe she remembers that. I mentioned it last weekend when I was hanging with Clem and Gavin.

“I survived. Barely.” It wasn’t my best work, but I eked it out.

There’s that smile again, and for a second I forget that we’re with all of our friends. Her date moves closer to her like he’s staking his claim, and she turns her attention to him.

We all stand around for a while, and I try to keep my back to them to avoid feeling like a jealous lunatic, but after a while, I can’t resist. Brady has Dani curled up into his side like he’s trying to keep her warm. My first reaction is to rip his head off his body. They’re joking around, talking quietly, and the next thing I know, she’s stepping away laughing.

“If I fall, it’s your fault,” she tells him. Dani tucks her sweatshirt into her jeans, re-ties her ponytail, does a handstand and starts walking around upside down. After a minute, she flips onto her feet, and we all clap. She laughs, and the light in her eyes threatens to kick me on my ass.

“What else can you do?” Jenna asks.

Dani shrugs. “Almost any gymnastics move, really. I can still flip and do all the mat routines. It’s the bar that always did me in. I have a hard time finding my balance up there. I guess I get scared easily.” Her eyes catch mine before they dart away.

“That was amazing, hot stuff,” Brady tells her, pulling her into a hug. She rolls her eyes and hugs him back. Her phone buzzes, and she pulls it out of her back pocket.

“That’s Travis. Can we stop by his place on our way back?” she asks Brady as she stares at the screen.

“Sure. He still owes me from that poker game.”

“I can’t believe you hustled him.” She shoves him playfully, and he laughs. They’re clearly close, but he hasn’t kissed her, so I’m not sure they’re official. Something about that gives me a glimmer of hope, which is stupid because I shouldn’t be trying to put the moves on my sister’s roommate.

Ryan bumps me with his elbow. “She’s a sweetheart.” He says it under his breath so I’m the only one who hears. When I don’t say anything, he murmurs, “They just started going out a few weeks ago. I don’t think they’re serious.” I nod like I don’t care, but he won’t drop it. “Jenna says she’s super loyal and has become a good friend to your sister.”

That right there is what I need to remember. That I shouldn’t mess with my sister’s friend. Clem’s been through enough bullshit. The last thing she needs is for me to break her roommate’s heart.

As Ryan moves up to strap into his climbing gear, my eyes drift back to Dani. She’s standing a few feet away, and when she points another glance in my direction, gravity shifts beneath my feet.

“You okay, man?” Gavin asks. He stands there studying me, and I mask whatever emotion just threatened to choke me.

“Yeah. I’m fine. Thinking about all the shit I need to do before school is out on Wednesday for Thanksgiving.”

He nods, and his eyes drift toward my sister who is staring at him with a lovesick grin plastered on her face. It’s weird to see her with a boyfriend.

Even though she and Daren dated most of their senior year of high school, I never saw them get mushy. I never knew if they felt weird around me or if that’s how they were. Seeing her with Gavin, though, I can tell he’s different somehow. Just… more.

“Do you mind that I’m stealing Clementine for Thanksgiving?” he asks quietly as we watch Jenna scale the wall.

“Not at all. I’m going skiing in Maine, so I’m glad she’ll be with you.” It’s kind of a relief that he’s looking out for her. Someone needs to. My parents sure as hell don’t.

I’m still pissed at my dad. I had just talked Clem into meeting with him for coffee when he texts about a “European acquisitions SNAFU” he has to “untangle.” I could fucking punch him in the nutsack for bailing on her. But when I broke the news to Clem this morning, she didn’t sound surprised.

I turn to face Gavin. “So… meeting the family?” I’m not surprised he’s taking this step, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous about the whole thing. I don’t want my sister to have to deal with anymore disappointment.

Gavin takes a deep breath, the weight of what I’m really asking evident in the sudden tension in his face. “I love her. I want her to meet the people who are the most important to me.”

I cough, uneasy for some reason. I lean toward him. “That’s nice and all, but if you break her heart, I’ll beat your ass.”

He laughs and nods like he’s on board with my plan. “No worries, man. She’s it for me.”

Part of me, the suspicious part, wants to run a background and credit check on the guy, but that sounds too much like my mother, a thought that chills me. The other part of me, the sane part, knows he worships my sister.

He’d fucking better.

Dani’s voice catches my attention as she talks to that guy Brady.

“I don’t know.” She looks up at him shyly. “I’ve never done anything like that before.”

Brady nods. “Travis says you can put it on your list, whatever that is.” He tosses his arm around her, and my gut hurts.

She covers her face. “He told you about that?”

Now I’m curious.

“It’s art, Dani. Relax. But you don’t have to be naked if you don’t want.”

That really fucking gets my attention.

Jenna is rappelling down the wall and yells, “Who’s getting naked?”

Dani pushes Brady’s arm off her shoulder and yells back, “No one. No one is getting naked.” She realizes we’re all staring, and she sighs. “Travis wants me to model for some nudes he has to do for class, but we’re talking
Playboy
nudity, not
Hustler
nudity.”

“There’s nothing wrong with
Hustler
nudity,” Ryan says under his breath, making me bristle.

“I bet you’d look beautiful, Dani.” Jenna wiggles out of her climbing gear and beelines it to her roommate. “Brady, are you doing nudes too, handsome?” Jenna looks over to Ryan and winks. He laughs like he doesn’t care. I don’t get those two. They never seem jealous. Must be nice.

Brady grins back, and that sick feeling in my stomach returns. “Travis wants to contrast my tattoos with Dani’s bare skin. She has that one tat I did on her back, but she’d still make a great canvas.”

I get several things from this conversation.

One, he inked Dani’s tattoo. I saw it the other day when she ran out to do the laundry and was wearing an off-the-shoulder shirt. I think it’s some kind of star.

Two, I’m guessing to contrast Brady’s tats with her skin, they’re going to have to be close or touching. Naked. Judging from his expression, he’d like this.

And three, I definitely want to beat his ass.

Just as I’m thinking I should talk to her, get her attention away from this guy, someone yells my name.

“Jax! Oh my God!” A curvy blonde bounds toward me and throws her arms around my neck like she hasn’t seen me in years. I turn my head just in time so that she ends up kissing my cheek instead of my mouth.

As she starts to pull away a little, I’m well aware that my friends are watching this with interest. Except Dani, who has her back to me. But Brady is watching.

“Hi, doll,” I say uneasily. That’s right. Doll. Because I can’t remember her name.

“It’s been too long, Jax. What, since spring break, right?” The girl’s arms are still wrapped around my neck.

“Yeah, I guess.” She’s pretty in a been-there-done-that sort of way.

A brunette calls out to the blonde, “Jasmine! There you are…” A smile creeps on this other girl’s face. “Wow. Jax.”

Shit. This can’t be good.

But it gets worse when the second girl strolls over and places her lips on mine despite the fact that her friend Jasmine is wrapped around my body.

Then it dawns on me.
Cancun.

Last spring, the soccer team and a few BC soccer groupies headed down for a tropical getaway.
Jasmine and Judi. They annoyed the fuck out of me by saying “J-squared” all night like they were some elusive mathematical equation.

“Jax, you naughty boy, you got away without giving us your number,” one quips.

Yeah, just the way I like it.

I’m about to blow them off when I catch Brady and Dani out of the corner of my eye. He has his arms around her and is whispering in her ear. She nods slowly, glances at me, and burrows herself back into him before he kisses the top of her head.

Jealousy eats through me like a worm. So what do I do? Embrace my inner asshole.

Reaching around so one chick is tucked under each of my arms, I gear up to put on a show. “My apologies, girls. Nick told me he had your numbers. What are you doing over Thanksgiving? The guys and I are going skiing. Wanna come?”

Jasmine purrs into my ear, “Yes, I want to
come
.”

Someone snorts behind us, and when I look up, I see Clementine shooting daggers at the girls before she sticks her finger in her throat to pretend like she’s puking.

I laugh, but it lacks enthusiasm.

After we exchange numbers and the J-squared duo leaves, my sister grabs my arm. “What is wrong with you? You’re going to catch something from those girls. Did someone drop you on your head as an infant?”

“You can’t blame a guy when that falls into his lap.”

Clem shakes her head at me. “Why can’t you date a nice girl? Perhaps someone who doesn’t announce wanting a three-way like she’s ringing a dinner bell?”

That’s easy. My eyes connect with Dani, who’s strapping into her gear and getting ready to climb. “Nice girls have the good sense to stay away from me.”