Wrecking Ball (18 page)

I stare out over the beach as a light breeze carries the scent of the ocean to us. I can’t undo my wrong, but maybe I can be better because if it. Maybe as horrible as what happened is, I can learn and grow from it. Both of us.

“What do you say we finish these beers so we can head back and you can get your wife to fall
in love with you all over again?” Antonio chugs his beer down and grabs one of the two that are left, twisting the cap off.

“Sounds good.” I toast him.

***

The following days are slow. Sophia doesn’t treat me like an unwelcomed guest, but she doesn’t treat me like a welcomed one either. Tia and Antonio make an effort to do group activities, whether it’s hanging out on the beach or heading into town for lunch. Every day Sophia and I call the girls to check on them and laugh together at the silly things they say.

Tonight, Antonio and I are in the kitchen, discussing plans for the evening, when we hear, “We’re going out tonight. You boys can manage without us I’m sure.” Tia smiles sweetly at Antonio as she passes by him. She’s dressed to kill in a tight red dress and heels. I cringe because I already know Sophia will probably be wearing something similar.

“A night of dancing?” Antonio pulls a Corona from the fridge.

“Yep. Just us girls.”

“Where are you going?”

“Somewhere in Mandela,” Tia answers vaguely.

Just as I’m about to ask her to clarify, Sophia whisks into the kitchen and my mouth goes dry.
Her dress is short and tight and shows every bit of her beautiful body.
Fuuucckkk!

Sophia

Everyone goes silent as I enter the kitchen, all eyes on me. Brandon stares at me, his lips pressed into a straight line.

This dress is so not me or so younger than me, but Tia insisted and somehow I let her win. I really need to reevaluate my older sister roll. Shouldn’t she bend to me?

“You look sex
y, Phi.” Tia grins like the Cheshire cat as her gaze hones in on Brandon. Yeah, my sister; a sansei in the arts of torture and manipulation. Poor Brandon doesn’t stand a chance. Not that I care if watching me leave dressed like a sexy woman bothers him. In fact, I hope it does.

“Yeah
, Sophia. You look amazing,” Antonio adds as he gives Tia a pointed look. He knows her game as well.

“Are you ready?” I ask unable to look at Brandon. Why do I feel so nervous?

“Yeah, let’s go.”

Antonio leads Tia to the door to bid her farewell and just as I’m about to follow, Brandon grabs my hand. “You look beautiful, Sophia,” he whispers, then leans in and kisses my cheek softly. “Have fun tonight and be safe,” he says as he pulls away. His gaze is so deep, penetrating, that I have to look away. I can’t remember the last time he looked at me like that, like he needed me.

“Thank you,”
I murmur and pull my hand from his. “You two have fun.” I smile slightly and meet Tia at the door.

“No hookers
,” Tia smirks at Antonio.

“Damn
,” Antonio mutters. “I had five scheduled to be here in an hour. Brandon can you call and cancel?”

“Done,” Brandon snorts
a little laugh.

We take a cab to the club which already has a line outside halfway around the building. When we get out, Tia pays the driver and he speeds off leaving us.

“This place is bumping tonight.” Tia loops her arm with mine and leads me to the entrance.

“From the looks of it I’m going to be the oldest person here.” I glance down the line of young college kids.

“Funny, because every guy in line is checking you out.”

“Yeah, that has nothing to do with my gorgeous younger sister standing right beside me, does it?”

“I’m just the accessory,” she smirks. “Come on, I need a drink…or ten.” Tia pulls me.

“Don’t we have to get in line?”

“Nope. Antonio’s friends with the guy that owns this place.”

Of course he is.

We make our way inside, pushing our way through the mass of bodies and find the bar. Tia orders our drinks and when we get them, we sip them as we stare out at the dance floor. I don’t why, at this exact moment I feel compelled to ask her why she was crying that first night when she was making love to Antonio, but I want to know.

“I saw
you,” I start and she quirks a curious brow. “That first night we arrived and I’d gone to bed. I got up to get some water and saw you and Antonio on the balcony.”

Tia grins. “Sophia.” She says my name in mock shock. “Who watches their sister have sex?”

“Shut up. I didn’t watch as much as I happened to see you by accident.”

“Sorry about that.” She shrugs before sipping her drink.

“Why were you crying?” I blurt before I chicken out.

Tia’s expression flickers
from happy to dismal. “I wasn’t.”

“I saw you, Tia. You had tears going down your face.”

“I don’t know,” she snaps. “I had just had an intense orgasm, you know how that is. Sometimes it makes you emotional.”

I understand what she’s saying, I’ve had orgasms like that myself, but for some reason I don’t believe her. “Is that really the truth?”

“Yes, Phi,” she answers, but I still don’t believe her. I decide not to push it because she seems to be getting agitated.

Two hours
later, I’m already tipsy. Tia and I have danced non-stop. Finally, hot and exhausted, I excuse myself to the restroom. After a quick trip, I return to find some guy pulling Tia’s arm as she tries to leave the dance floor. I pause, waiting to see if she can handle it or not, but when she tries to pull away again he jerks her back and grabs her ass.

In a flash, I’m beside them.
“Get your hands off of her asshole,” I growl.

The
blue-eyed man, with short blonde hair glances at me and smirks, “Who the hell are you?”

“I got this
, Phi,” Tia assures me as she yanks her arm free from the guys grip.

“Now leave her alone. Walk away
,” I hiss.

“Make me bitch
,” he spits and my anger bubbles up inside of me. Before I realize what I’m doing, I sock the guy in his face and he stumbles back. Some of his buddies catch him before he hits the floor.

“Holy
shit, Phi!” Tia laughs as I shake my hand which is now in excruciating pain.

“Shit!” I whimper.
“I think I broke my hand.”

The music stops and the room quiets down as everyone on the dance floor takes in the scene. Security guys in white
Polos and black pants immediately surround us and pull me away from the guy I just punched. As two bouncers drag me away, Tia yells and points to me, “This is my fucking sister, ya’ll.” As she bounces up and down following us. “She’ll kick your ass!”

I can’t help l
aughing at her even though I’m probably on my way to a Mexican jail.

Brandon

“You suck at this
, man.” Antonio tosses his cards on the table and runs a hand through his hair.

“Yeah. I used to play in college, but now that I think about it, I lost my ass when I did.” I shrug. Even if I was good at this game, I wouldn’t be able to focus. My mind keeps turning to Sophia.
She looked hot as hell in that dress and the thought of her out wearing it where other men can see her is making me fucking crazy. Where did they go? Is she dancing with anyone?

Antonio must’ve noticed I’m
lost in thought because he asks, “Dude, they’ll be back. They went to my friend Vick’s club. He’ll keep an eye on them.”

Just then the house phone rings and Antonio hops up to get it. I busy myself cleaning up the cards from our game and adding them back to the stack.
A few minutes later, Antonio returns with a wad of cash in his hand, counting it.

“My friend Vick just called.”

“Yeah?” I blurt before he can finish.

“Seems Sophia has been arrested.
” He chuckles softly.

“What? Why are you laughing?” I panic.

“Sorry, man. It’s not funny, but it kind of is. I wouldn’t have pegged your wife as a fighter.”

“What happened?”

“She punched a guy in the face and security called the cops before Vick had a chance to step in and stop them.” He shakes his head and motions for me to get up. “I called a cab. Let’s go.”

“Holy shit. Is she okay?” I follow him to the front door. What could’ve made her punch a guy? With tha
t thought, dark thoughts roll through my mind. Some guy was probably fucking with her, getting handsy and she clocked him.
Damn it!
I knew that little dress would get her in trouble.

“Vick thought so, but he wasn’t positive.”

“What’s with the dough?” I eye him as he shoves the roll in his pocket.

“Clearly you’ve never been to a Mexican
jail,” he snorts. “This is Sophia’s freedom.” He pats the pocket where he just stuck the money.

Thirty
minutes later, we enter the police station with bright orange walls and officers dressed in brown uniforms.

Antonio speaks Spanish with a man at the front desk and when he describes Sophia and Tia as two beautiful American women
, the officer laughs and waggles his eye brows. I want to punch him. He leads us back behind a secured door and into a room with several desks. In the back corner, male voices laugh and say, “Ole!” before they all throw back a shot. As we near the back corner, Tia and Sophia are seated behind the desk, shot glasses in hand, and they’re giggling like a bunch of school girls.

What the fuck?
Sophia is plastered.

“Sophia.” I round the desk and pull her to a stand. She wobbles a bit and puts her hands on my shoulders to steady herself, but winces and pulls her right hand back.

“I think I broke my hand,” she slurs and then giggles. “I punched a guy in his face,” she brags drunkenly.

“My sister is fucking
Muhammad Ali, bitches!” Tia slurs and stands making her way by us to Antonio. “Hey, handsome,” she murmurs when he takes her in his arms. “You looking for a good time tonight?”

I miss Antonio’s response as my focus returns to Sophia. “What happened babe? Are you okay?” I take her right hand and check over it. It’s a little swollen, but when I move her fingers a bit she doesn’t scream in agony so I think she hasn’t broken anything.

Her big brown eyes gaze up at me and it’s easy to see the gallon of tequila it smells like she’s consumed has impaired her severely, because the look she’s giving me says she wants me. “Are you going to kiss it and make it better?” she pouts sticking out her lower lip looking incredibly adorable. I haven’t seen her this wasted in years, but if memory serves correctly, I don’t have much time to get her home before she starts puking.

“We gotta get her home, like
, now.” I spin around to Antonio who is taking a shot with Tia and the other officers.
Holy shit, these cops are awesome.
Normally I’d join in, but Sophia comes first and I know when she starts puking her guts up she’ll want to be in her bathroom where no one can see her.

“Okay.” He wipes his mouth with the back of his hand and
pulls out his money, but the officers tell him no in unison.

“You guys are the best.” Tia grins and one by one gives them all a kiss on the cheek, and when she finishes yells, “
Mucho gusto
!”

Sophia stumbles and I scoop her in my arms and carry her out. Just before I put her inside the cab, she nuzzles my neck with her nose and mumbles, “You
smell so good. I’ve always loved how you smell, baby.”

I know she’s w
asted and has no idea what she’s saying, but my chest feels heavy. I want her to say things like that so badly and even though she’s drunk, it gives me hope that maybe we can get through this. Maybe she’ll forgive me.

On the ride back to Antonio’s, Sophia lays her head in my lap and her feet in Tia’s while Antonio sits up front.

“She saw this guy messing with me and she just slugged him,” Tia laughs as she rubs Sophia’s leg. “I almost died of pride.”

“She’s lucky the guy didn’t hit her back
,” I growl. Tia can be so damn immature sometimes. What if that douche bag had hit her? The thought makes me insane.

“She knocked him off his fee
t, Brandon. I mean people had to catch him so he wouldn’t hit the ground.”

“Still wasn’t her wisest choice
,” I spit out
.

“Oh
, get over yourself. Who are you to judge anyone on wise decisions?” she counters and my anger hits the roof.

“Fuck you
, Tia!” I yell. “You know I feel fucking bad enough without your daily fucking reminders that I’m an asshole that hurt the best person I know.”

Tia laughs hau
ghtily. “Aw, poor Brandon.” She makes a pouty face. “He broke my
sister’s
heart and thinks no one should ever mention it again because he feels bad about it. Well fuck you right back, Brandon!” she snaps. “Sophia actually did something she felt tonight, not something she should do. She got angry and she reacted. She showed how she felt. You’ve turned her into some fucking auto pilot zombie that thinks of everyone before herself.”

“As opposed to you
, Tia?” I retort. “Someone who only thinks of themselves?”

“Okay
, you two. It’s enough. We’re home.” The cab lurches to a stop and Antonio hops out and immediately opens Tia’s door, pulling her out. “Enough, babe. You’ve had too much to drink when you know you shouldn’t and now you’re getting yourself upset,” Antonio mumbles as he pulls Tia away from the cab.

I slowly slide out, securing Sophia in my arms before standing. When I get her inside, Tia opens her bedroom door. We both put our argument on hold, putting Sophia first. I lay Sophia on the bed and slip her shoes off.

“I’ll get her, you can go,” Tia starts removing Sophia’s earrings.

“No, you can
go,” I growl. “I’ll look after her. She is my wife, Tia.”

We stare at each
other for a long moment when Antonio clears his throat. “Tia,” he says softly. “Brandon can look after her. Come to bed.”

Tia shakes her head. “Fine. But don’t you do anything
, Brandon,” she warns.

“What am I going to d
o, Tia? Rape my own wife. Geez, you think I’m really some kind of fucking degenerate like that?”

She stares at me a moment. “No.” She states it calmly. “I think you’re desperate.” And with that she spins around and leaves the room, Antonio shuts the door behind her.

Jesus Christ, my sister-in-law can be a real pain in the dick.

I
leave Sophia on the bed and head into the bathroom. Grabbing a clean wash cloth from the closet, I run it under some cold water. Before I can turn the faucet off, Sophia comes barreling into the bathroom and throws herself over the toilet, yakking up everything. Thank God the lid was up.

I pull her hair back while she hovers and dab the wet wash cloth on the back of her neck. She remains over the toilet for a long while, eventually falling on her back. I wait a few minutes to make sure she’s done before I try to pick her up and carry her to bed.

“No, please, Brandon. Leave me here,” she whimpers and I know she’s scared she hasn’t gotten everything up. So I position myself leaning against the tub and pull her so her head rests in my lap. I gently stroke her head, as she dozes off. Even at her worst, she’s still the most beautiful woman I know.