The Sweetest Game (21 page)

“He left. He has a date tonight or some such shit,” he said, looking at Melissa as he said the damning words.

Melissa caved in on herself then; she almost crumbled. If a person could break into little pieces and fall to the ground like glass, I knew I was about to witness it.

“He has a date?” I shouted. “With who? Call him! Stop him!”

“What’s going on? Where have you guys been?” Jack narrowed his eyes.

I placed a hand on my hip, and said pointedly, “I took her to see Gran and Gramps. We needed to talk it out.”

“So, did you? Talk it out, I mean?” Jack’s gaze drifted to Melissa, and his eyes widened a little as he noticed her bloodshot eyes and reddened nose.

“She did,” I answered for her. “But we need Dean here. Right now. He can’t go on a date without hearing this first. He has to know!”

I was losing it. My control, my patience, all of it. If Dean went on this date and we allowed Melissa to sleep on everything she’d learned today, she might wake up tomorrow and decide not to ever tell him. And all this progress would be for nothing. I needed these two to finally get together. Not only because she was my best friend and he was my brother-in-law, but because they were well suited for each other and we all knew it. I wanted more than anything for them to at least try.

“So you want me to call my brother?” Jack asked, his voice filled with confusion. “And tell him to cancel his date and come back over here? Am I getting this right?”

“Forget it!” I said with frustration. “I’ll call him myself.” I reached for my phone, pressed Dean’s name, and hit the
CALL
button.

Nerves shot through me as I pushed Melissa into the house and pointed at the vodka. Jack shrugged his shoulders and I rolled my eyes. I grabbed a shot glass from the cabinet as Dean picked up. Slamming the glass on the granite countertop, I glared at Jack as I pointed at the vodka and then at my trembling best friend.

“Dean, hey! Thank you so much for all your help today, but you left something here. Can you come back and get it?” I had no idea why I lied, but it seemed right at the time.

“What did I leave there? I didn’t bring anything.”

I scrambled, waving my hands in the air silently begging for help, but no one moved or made a sound. “I, uh, had a gift for you. But it will go bad if you don’t come get it.” My face twisted with each lie that spilled from my mouth.

“Sis, I’m getting ready to pick up a date. I’ll be late if I come by there.”

“Listen to me right now, Dean. I’m pregnant, emotional, and out of control. If you do not get over here in the next ten minutes,” I paused for half a second to think it through before clarifying, “
without
your date, I will hang you by your balls the next time I see you. Understood?”

“Fine. I’m on my way.”

I ended the call without saying another word. Glancing at Melissa, I noticed the empty shot glass and smiled. “Good girl. A little liquid courage never hurts.”

“Shit, Cass,” Melissa breathed out on a moan. “What am I gonna say to him?”

Jack cleared his throat. “Is anyone going to tell me what the hell is going on?”

“You’ll see,” I said with a smirk toward Jack before looking into Melissa’s bright blue eyes. “And as for you. You will tell him everything we talked about at Gran and Gramps’. Just be honest.”

Pouring myself a glass of water, I sat on one of our new barstools and waited for the sound of Dean’s Mustang to pull into the driveway. If it felt like forever to me, I could only imagine how Melissa must have felt.

The rumble of his engine alerted us to his arrival. I opened the large garage door as Dean rushed through it and into the house through another connecting door. I closed the large garage door behind him and stepped back into the kitchen where we had all gathered. His eyes scanned quickly over the three of us, all but skipping Melissa’s face.

“Okay, I’m here,” he huffed out, the smell of his cologne filling the kitchen area as I silently thanked the pregnancy gods for not making it nauseate me. Dean looked hot in his dark blue jeans. He had on a fitted black T-shirt underneath a dark blue and black button-down shirt that wasn’t buttoned. “Is anyone going to tell me what’s going on?”

I waited for Melissa to speak up, move, or do something. Her fingers tapped out a noiseless tune on the rim of her glass as she stared at the floor and refused to look up.

Tired of waiting, I snapped my fingers in front of her face, forcing her to acknowledge me. When her broken eyes met mine, I wanted to take her into my arms and comfort her. She opened and closed her mouth a couple of times, as if she wanted to say something, but no words came out.

You’ve got to be kidding me.

Never in all the years I’d known Melissa had I ever seen her like this before, and I wondered if it were a side of her she’d always kept to herself. She’d obviously clammed up, so I guessed it was up to me to poke her with a sharp stick.

“I called you back here, Dean, because I thought Melissa had something to tell you. But I guess I was wrong.” It was a little harsh and I knew it, but game time was over and I only wanted to help.

Dean’s gaze snapped to Melissa and I saw what looked like hope flash in his eyes. He raised his eyebrows in her direction, but neither spoke a word.

I glanced at Jack, who had leaned against the wall, his arms folded and his feet crossed at the ankle. He kept his mouth shut and pinged his gaze between Dean and Melissa, clearly fascinated by what was unfolding. I had to laugh a little to myself, thinking that he was probably partially thankful that the drama had nothing to do with us for once.

Dean nodded slowly, and said to Melissa, “So, is that true? Do you have something to tell me, or are we just going to stand here all night? Because if it’s the latter, then I have a date to go apologize to.”

Melissa’s face paled and tightened as her stubborn defensive nature took over. She narrowed her reddened eyes and snapped, “Go then. You shouldn’t keep her waiting.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Dean shouted. “Is this a joke? Goddammit, woman, if you have something to say to me, just say it already!”

She stomped across the kitchen to stop in front of Dean and glare up at him, her tiny frame dwarfed by his. Then Melissa grabbed his shirtsleeve and dragged him out of the kitchen and into the garage without shutting the door.

Knowing I should grab Jack and walk away to give the couple their privacy, I planted my feet on the kitchen floor and leaned toward the open door instead. Eavesdropping might have been a crappy thing to do, but I had a lot invested in this conversation and was dying to hear it.

My husband obviously felt the same, because he wrapped his arm around me and pulled me against his body as he leaned toward the garage as well. “I’m not moving, so don’t even ask. I want to hear this shit,” he whispered against my ear.

I turned my head and planted a kiss on his soft lips. That single peck fanned the embers of lust inside me, causing them to erupt. Instantly, I wanted to drag him to the bedroom and christen it right the fuck now, but I shook my head to douse the flames, and concentrated on what was happening in the garage.

“So, what is this big news you have to tell me?” Dean attempted to sound tough, but I knew he had to be dying inside.

“I need you to stop being so mean right now,” Melissa begged. “Please? This is really hard for me.”

I wished I could see Dean’s face. Or at least his hazel eyes. I imagined them instantly softening with her words.

“I’ll stop,” he replied.

“Thanks.” She sucked in a long breath before letting it out slowly. “First, I just want you to know that I do like you, Dean. I always have.”

“You like me, like me?” he interrupted, his tone surprised, and I had to stop myself from giggling at his word choice.

“So much,” she said, then paused as it sounded like she was pacing across our garage floor.

Jack poked me in the shoulder, his eyes wide with excited shock. I nodded with a tight-lipped grin as Melissa continued, “And I’m so sorry for everything. The way I acted and pretending like I didn’t care.”

“Why? Why did you pretend? You fucking crushed me in New York. Why would you do that?” Dean’s voice was pained as he referred to their trip to visit us several months before.

“I just got scared,” she said in a small voice.

“Of what?”

Silence.

I squeezed Jack’s arm as I waited for her response. Pressing my lips against his face, I whispered into Jack’s ear, “This is killing me.”

“Me too,” he admitted.

Minutes of continued silence passed, deafening us all with the possibilities not yet spoken.

“Melissa,” Dean said, his voice finally breaking through the quiet. “Scared of what? You have to tell me. Please. Don’t close off now.”

Footsteps shuffled outside our line of vision and I held my breath.

“Please. I want to know,” Dean pleaded.

“You’re Jack’s brother and I’m Cassie’s best friend. We’re going to be in each other’s lives forever. I was afraid that if we tried to be together and it didn’t work out, it would ruin everything. That everything would be awkward and uncomfortable. And one of us would eventually have to leave, and well, it’s not going to be you, because you’re freaking related to Jack. So it would be me. I’d get kicked out of the group because you and I tried to love each other and it didn’t work out. So then I wouldn’t have only lost you, but my best friend and her baby too.”

Jack caught my eye and whispered angrily, “What am I, chopped liver? She’d lose me too!”

Shaking my head at his narcissistic view of the world, I shot an elbow into his ribs to shut him up.

Back in the garage, Dean laughed. “Is that it?” he said to tease Melissa, and I couldn’t stop the small laugh that escaped my lips.

“What do you mean, is that it? That’s everything, Dean. Cassie’s my best friend. Do you know how important that is to a girl? I can’t lose her. I can’t lose you both.”

The sound of my best friend crying pained me. Jack knew I wanted to go in there and comfort her, so he tightened his grip on my body. “Let them work this out,” he reminded me with a soft kiss to the back of my head.

Dean’s voice was soothing as he said, “I know how important your friendship is to both of you. I’d never come between you. You know I’d never want that.” When he finished, more shuffling sounds filtered through the open door.

“Of course you wouldn’t want it, but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen. Even by just talking about this, we’re opening up something we can’t take back.”

“I don’t want to take it back,” he said in a low voice.

“You say that now.” Melissa sniffed, sounding so pitiful my heart broke a little more for her.

“I’ll say that always. I want to be with you. I’ve always wanted to be with you. Why are you so convinced we won’t last?”

“I’m not convinced,” she replied. “I’m just worried. I’m a planner. Us not working out can’t be part of the plan because it ruins the rest of my plans.”

Jack gave me a questioning look and I shrugged. I honestly had no idea what plans she referred to.

Dean laughed and Melissa sobbed a little louder, then whined, “Don’t laugh at me.”

“I’m not laughing at you. I’m in love with you.”

“You’re,” she paused, her voice catching, “in love with me? Even after everything?”

“I knew you’d eventually come around,” he said confidently. “I just got really tired of waiting and getting shot down.”

“You knew?”

“Well, I hoped. I hoped a lot,” he admitted and I smiled at the sound of it. “So, can we do this now? You and me? Can we make this happen?”

“Are you sure you want to?”

“How many times do I have to tell you the same thing? I want this. I want this now. I’ll want this tomorrow. I’ll want this forever.”

“You don’t know that,” she said softly. “You can’t be sure.”

Dean sighed. “Melissa, I’m so convinced we’ll last until we die, that I’d bet money on it.”

“Oh yeah? What kind of money?” she asked in such a normal voice that I couldn’t stop my laughter from bursting free. “Hey!” she called out to us. “I hear you in there. Eavesdroppers.”

“Takes one to know one!” I shouted in response before hearing the familiar sounds of kissing.

I smacked Jack’s shoulder again and pulled from his grip to creep toward the door that separated the kitchen from the garage. Peeking around the door, the sight I saw made me cover my face with my hands. The sight of them actually kissing in public, well, at least in front of other people, was bizarre after the history they’ve had.

I resisted the temptation to light off fireworks, or hire a band. We’d all waited so long for this to happen, I wanted the whole world to know it finally had. When I turned to walk back to Jack, neither one of us could stop grinning. He opened his arms and I fell into them, kissing each dimple once before finding his mouth.

“I am so happy for them! My God, can you believe it?”

His tongue teased my bottom lip before begging for entry into my mouth. I complied, letting the beer-flavored taste of him consume me.

“Jeez, you two, get a room,” Melissa teased, and I pulled away from my husband to see her wrapped in Dean’s arms.

I gave a little huff. “You’re one to talk. You two need the room. You have a lot of make-up sex to have,” I teased as Dean perked up.

“I like that idea. I think she’s right.” Dean looked down at my fun-sized best friend and kissed her.

“Don’t you have a date to get to?” Jack asked pointedly, like a smartass.

Dean winced. “I think I’m late.”

“Tell me you at least canceled and the poor girl isn’t sitting at home wondering where you are?” I pinned him with the “mom” look I’ve been practicing lately in the mirror, and he chuckled.

“Who do you think I am? Jack?”

Melissa shook her head, then sucked in a breath before admitting, “I hope you’re done dating other people.”

“I hope you’re done dating anyone. Ever. ‘Cause it’s never happening for you again.”

“Is that so?” she fired back, my little spitfire reemerging, which made me very happy. A meek and broken Melissa was so not the girl I knew and loved.