Friends & Lovers Trilogy (11 page)

“
I think you’re amazing
too.” she admitted, gazing up at him with happiness and hope in her
eyes.

He smiled down at her, then cocked his head
to the side and said, “What the hell is that beeping?”

“
Oh, no.” She tried to move
him off of her so she could get up. “My chicken. Has it been going
off long?”

“
I’m not sure,” he
admitted, letting her up. “Let’s go check on it.”

They got up and ran to the kitchen to try
and salvage their lunch.

Chapter Fifteen

After Briana left to get ready for work,
Colin got on the computer and continued researching coaching at the
college level. He was really excited about an opening at the
University of Texas in Austin. He called his former coaches and
asked if they would give him letters of reference, which they
agreed to do. He looked at all of the requirements for the
application and was excited at the prospect.

When he opened his email, he noticed another
message from Shawn. All it said was “Call me, 911.” He really
didn’t think there was anything left to say to her. He had no
interest in getting involved with her again, or hearing about her
latest conquest, so he deleted it.

While he was taking a shower before work, he
couldn’t help but think back to his afternoon with Briana.

Damn, she was hot.

He figured years of pent-up sexual tension
probably hadn’t hurt in making their first time together amazing.
Lord knew he’d wanted her in high school. Bad. She hadn’t been
ready then and he’d respected her and her wishes, but it had been
difficult.

She was better than he’d ever imagined in
his fantasies, and there had been plenty of those throughout the
years. He turned the temperature of the water down and tried to
cool himself off.

Once he was dressed and ready, he headed to
the store to meet his dad for inventory. When he pulled up, his
dad’s car was already there, so he went inside to meet him. He
found him in the back storeroom.

“
Hey, Pop,” he greeted his
father. “You been here long?”

His dad looked up from his inventory sheet
and gave him a broad grin. “Hey, Colin. Not too long. Your mother
made sure I sat down for dinner before she let me leave the house.
She’s worried that I’m not eating healthy enough. She made me eat
steamed vegetables,” he said with a grimace.

Colin chuckled. His dad hated eating
healthy. He was a meat and potatoes kind of guy.

“
Where do you want me to
start?” he asked.

His dad turned to him, dropping the
clipboard to his side and looking seriously at his son. “Your
mother and I had a long talk about you over supper,” he said.

Colin blinked over the unexpected turn in
the conversation. The mirror image of his own, and felt his heart
ache at the sadness in them.

“
What about?”
His father put his hand on Colin’s shoulder and squeezed. “Look,
Colin, we know how much getting injured has affected the plans you
had for your life. We’re so sorry that things turned out this way.
Initially I thought that when you came back here, things would fall
in to place… that you’d learn about the store and eventually take
over. But it’s obvious that you’re not happy. I know that you love
me and your mother, and that you want to help us and make us happy.
But son, you settling for less than your dreams won’t make us
happy. Would I have been happy if your dream had been to run the
store and pass it along to your children? Heck yeah. But that’s my
dream, not yours.”

Colin throat tightened. He looked down and
tried to get a handle on his emotions.

“
Thanks, Pop. That means a
lot to me. I don’t want to disappoint you, and I know you’re ready
to retire. I want that for you. You work so hard. It’s time for you
to enjoy your life with Mom.”

His father’s face burst with pride. “You’re
a wonderful son Colin, more so than your mother and I ever could
have imagined. We don’t want you to put our wants ahead of your
own. There are other people in our family who can run the store.
Your cousin Steve has always expressed an interest. Maybe I’ll give
him a call,” his dad said. “We want you to do something that is
going to give you a full and happy life.”

Colin pulled his dad in for a hug, holding
on a little longer than normal. He cleared his throat before he
spoke, “Actually, they’re hiring assistant coaches at UT. I was
thinking about applying.”

His father grinned again. “That sounds
perfect. Now, we’d better get to work. These items aren’t going to
count themselves.”

Colin was in dry storage when Rich came
shuffling in through the door.

“
What’re you doing here,
man?” Colin asked him.

“
There’s nothing going on
tonight. This town is dead, so I thought you might be able to use
an extra set of hands for inventory,” Rich answered with a
shrug.

“
Sounds good.” Colin pulled
a page out and handed it to Rich. “There are pens and another
clipboard on the desk. Thanks.”

While they worked, Colin asked Rich how
things had gone after he’d left the evening before.

“
Nothin’ much happened,”
Rich replied. “I made sure that Pete and Kara were okay. She
sobered up pretty quickly. She was fawning over Pete, amazed that
he’d stood up for her and taken a punch like that. Shit, I was
pretty amazed myself. Who knew Pete had it in him. Anyway, Pete
said he would make sure Kara got home safely, and they left. Kent
was hanging out in the corner, drinking himself into a stupor, and
growling at any chick who tried to talk to him. I think Bree messed
him up pretty badly.”

“
Yeah, she said that she
told him that she didn’t want to see him anymore. But she said they
only dated casually, I don’t know why he was so upset.”

“
I guess he was more into
her than she was into him,” Rich speculated. “He’ll be okay. There
was no shortage of girls willing to help him get over Bree, that’s
for sure.”

“
As long as he stays away
from Bree, I don’t care what he does,” Colin said
mildly.

“
Are you guys back on
then?”

“
I hope so. I think she is
beginning to trust me again.”

“
That’s great, man. I hope
it works out. You two were always great together.”

“
Thanks,” Colin said with a
smile. “What about you? Any prospects on the horizon?”

“
Well, I know it’s probably
playing with fire, but I can’t stop thinking about
Roni.”

“
Kent’s sister?” Colin
asked with a shake of his head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea,
Bro.”

“
I know, I know. And to be
honest, she doesn’t seem the least bit interested,” Rich stated
with a wounded look on his face. “I talked to her for a bit
yesterday, just to get to know her a little, and, man, she wasn’t
giving me the time of day. It was like pulling teeth trying to get
her to open up about herself. Usually girls like to spill
everything, but not this girl. Maybe that’s what I like about
her.”

“
Just be careful, man. Kent
already tried to warn you off. I know you’re always up for a
challenge, but you may want to let this one go.”

Rich shrugged, then gave Colin a cocky grin.
“Look who’s passing out dating advice. One night with Bree and
you’re an expert.”

Colin chuckled and punched him
good-naturedly on the arm. “Get to work.”

Chapter Sixteen

Briana hadn’t had an opportunity to speak
with Kara since the party at Rich’s house. She was dying to know
what had happened between her and Pete. But Kara wasn’t home, so
Briana went into work early, hoping to catch her before their shift
started.

When she walked into the back room, she
stopped dead in her tracks.

Kara and Pete sat at the break room table.
Kara was sitting in his lap and they were kissing each other
heatedly.

Briana cleared her throat, which caused them
to jump apart. Kara caught herself before she fell to the floor,
giggling. Pete’s fair skin colored instantly.

“
What’s going on?” Briana
asked.

“
Shh.” Kara responded,
holding a finger to her lips. “I don’t want Pam coming back
here.”

“
Why not? What’s going
on?”

Pete stood up and headed towards the door.
“I’ll leave you two alone so you can talk.”

He winked at Kara and walked out. Briana
started out after him, then turned to Kara, who was smiling wider
than she’d ever seen.

“
Did I just enter the
Twilight Zone?” Briana quipped, which caused Kara to giggle
again.

“
OMG, Bree things are
totally crazy.”

Briana had never seen Kara look or act this
way, like a lovesick girl.

“
Are you guys, like,
together now?”

Kara sobered a bit and tried to look more
serious, but she was so happy that even without the smile, she
glowed.

“
I’m so sorry about what
happened the other day, Bree. I never should have started drinking,
I knew we had to work, but one drink led to another and the next
thing I knew, that asshole started looking pretty good. I should
have listened when you came over and tried to get me to leave with
you. I feel so bad about the way he treated you, and the way he
treated Pete.” She got a dreamy look on her face. “God, Pete. Can
you believe the way he stood up for me? I mean, I always knew that
he was a great guy and that he was crushing on me, but I’ve never
had anyone do that for me before.”

“
What happened after I
left, Kara?” Briana asked, taking a seat as she spoke, baffled by
the look on Kara’s face.

“
Well, Pete took me back
home. I was sorry that he’d gotten hit, but I was pretty pissed
that he’d butted in. At least, at the time I was. I yelled at him
and told him to mind his own business, that I wasn’t his problem.
He just watched me with that calm way he has, and let me rant. When
I was done, he told me that I was a wonderful person, and that I
deserved better than some drunken asshole pawing all over me at a
party. That set me off again and I started yelling at him. When I
was done he told me that he loved me, that he’s loved me for the
past year, and that he wants to spend the rest of his life proving
to me how amazing I am.” Her eyes began to fill as she spoke, and
Briana started to get choked up.

“
Then what
happened?”

“
I stopped yelling and
started talking. I told him about my father leaving when I was a
baby, and my mom blaming me for it. I told him how she’d lock me in
a closet so she could go out and hook up with guys. I told him how
she told me every day that I was worthless. I laid it all out for
him and then explained that I wasn’t good enough for him. He’s a
great guy and he deserves better than me.” Kara smiled through her
tears. “He got mad and told me that if he ever heard me talk about
myself like that again, he’d bend me over his knee. Ha. Then he
said that I was exactly who he wanted and needed and that if he
needed to, he would remind of that every day. Can you believe
it?”

Briana smiled back at her, through tears of
her own. “Yes, I believe it. You’re wonderful and Pete is the most
amazing guy alive. You both deserve each other and you deserve to
be happy.”

They hugged each other and cried softly in
each other’s arms. When they pulled back Briana looked at the clock
and said, “We’d better get cleaned up and get to work.”

She passed Pam’s office as she walked
towards the kitchen, and noticed Pam talking to Nicole.

“
Bree,” Pam called out to
her.

Briana poked her head into the office. “Hi,
Pam. What’s up?”

“
Nicole is going to start
serving next week. I was wondering if you knew anyone who might be
good for the hostess position, before I post it in the
paper.”

Briana looked at Nicole and smiled.
“Congrats.” Then she turned back to Pam. “I might. I think I saw
her in the dining room when I walked in, let me go check and see if
she’s still here.”

Walking into the dining room, Briana spotted
Roni sitting at the bar eating a salad and headed over to her.

“
Hey, Roni, how’s it
going?”

Roni looked up from her salad, but when she
noticed it was Briana calling her, her face closed up.

“
Hi.”

Briana grabbed the stool next to her and
said, “Look, I know things between me and Kent are weird right now,
but honestly, all we have ever been is friends. I know he’s upset
now, but I also know that we’ll work it out, and I don’t want
things to be strained between you and me in the meantime. I know we
just met and all, but I’d like to think that we’re becoming
friends.”

Roni considered this as she looked down at
her salad, then looked Briana in the eyes.

“
Yeah, he told me that you
guys had an understanding and that you were never his girlfriend.
But you hurt him. I’ve never seen him this upset over a girl
before.”

Briana looked at Roni with regret.

“
I’m sad to hear that. I
hate to think that Kent is hurt, and that I’m the cause, but I
don’t feel that way about him. I just don’t, and I think it
would’ve hurt him more in the long run if I hadn’t let him go.”
Briana paused for a moment as her words registered. She had to
admit, at least to herself, that she finally understood Colin’s
reasons for breaking it off with her before he left for
college.

Roni nodded. “I get it, and sure, we’re
cool. I just have to stick up for my brother, ya know.”