“Don’t be.” She felt so stupid. “I just… I don’t know why—”
Brandon smiled. “Forget about it, you wanna see something else?” He stood up.
She didn’t. All she wanted was to get out of there. It was getting a little weird. She should’ve never come inside his house. But she stood up, nodding, and followed him into the hallway.
When she realized it was his bedroom, she stopped at the door. He went into his closet and pulled out a long briefcase, setting it on the bed. He undid the clasps then turned back to her. “Come over here.”
Chewing on her pinky nail, Sofia looked around. She walked over to get a closer look. He worked fast, unzipping the bag. It was a rifle, a big one like the ones in the pictures.
Her eyes grew wide. “They let you bring that home?”
“No. My old man got it for me.” There was no hiding how proud he was of that. “He surprised me with it when I got home. It’s a replica, but the resemblance to the real thing is amazing. If I hadn’t handled one of these as much as I have, I probably wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.”
Sofia was intrigued. Her family owned a gun they kept in the restaurant for protection. But her brothers had barely let her see it, much less handle it. “Can I touch it?”
Brandon seemed pleased she wanted to. “Sure.” He took it out of the case.
“Is it loaded?”
Brandon laughed again, handing it to her. “No.”
She felt her cheeks warm as she chalked up the inane questions, but she appreciated his patience. “Wow. It’s so light.” She weighed it up and down in her arms. “I thought it’d be heavy.”
“They make them light for a reason. When in combat, you could be out there walking for days with one of these over your shoulder. Along with your backpack and other belongings, you wouldn’t get very far if it was too heavy.”
Sofia ran her finger over the barrel, then held it up to her face, pointing it at the window like she’d seen him holding it in the picture. “Who’d have thought I’d ever be holding one of these?”
Brandon came around her. “Actually, this is how you’re supposed to hold it.”
He put his arms around her and picked up her arms, his face inches from hers when he adjusted her head so that she could focus on aiming. Sofia heart rate spiked. His breath against her temple made her feel warm. It felt wrong. No one but Eric should be able to make her feel like this. With his body up against her back, big and hard, suddenly her eyes were on the bed in front of them. Thoughts of her and Brandon on it flooded her mind. She trembled, squeezing her eyes shut.
His hand came around her waist and pulled her closer to him. He whispered in her ear. “You okay?’
She nodded without saying a word, but gulped hard. Brandon leaned in closer to her temple. “I’m feeling it, too.”
He pushed up against her and she felt exactly what he meant. Sofia let go of the rifle. Brandon had a hold on it. He put it down on the bed, and spun her around to him. They stood for what seemed forever, lips inches away from each other.
Sofia brought her hand up and flattened against his chest. Though she didn’t push him away like she should, at least she had something in between them. Brandon’s hot breath was on her mouth and she could almost taste him.
“I think your brothers’ plan to make you so forbidden may’ve backfired on them.” His arm slipped around her waist. “I saw the way all those boys looked at you in high school. Saw it, because I was looking at you the same way. Every one of us had a hard on for you, Sof.”
He spoke right in her mouth, her heart pounding in her chest. “Tell me to stop and I will, Sofia. Otherwise,” he licked his lips. “I’m gonna have to kiss you.”
A part of her screamed say stop, but an even bigger part wanted him to. When her eyes went from his eyes to his lips, it was sealed. For the first time in her life another man’s tongue was in her mouth. The incredible excitement was of a different kind. One she’d never felt.
Even back when she and Eric were sneaking around, being with him never felt wrong. This was wrong on so many levels. Still, she kissed him back almost too eagerly. His hands were all over her body in an instant. Her hands cradled his face. The stubble on his face excited her even more. Eric had very little facial hair. She’d never thought something like that could excite her, but excite her it did. When his hand dropped down and caressed her behind, something in her brain finally snapped and she pulled away.
“No!” She breathed heavily and she pulled away from his arms. “I can’t.”
His dark carnal stare nearly brought her back into his arms. “Sofie, why fight it?”
She took a step back, feeling the blood drum in her ear. “Because it’s wrong.”
He pulled her back to him gently. “Do you have any idea how many times you’ve been the star of my wet dreams?”
Sofia’s mouth opened, but she had no words. Eric had always been so gentle even about the way he spoke to her. Brandon’s words were indecent, scandalous… but they made her feel things, things that made her breath even harder. “I can’t, Brandon.”
“But you want to.”
She stared at him, unwilling to answer. He leaned in breathing on her neck but not touching. Then his lips brushed against her neck, tormenting her. Her entire body shivered.
“Do you want to, Sofie?” he whispered, then kissed her neck.
Her legs almost gave out on her as she felt a bolt of excitement run through her. Somehow, she found the strength to pull away. If what she was feeling at that very moment was any indication to the answer to his question, she had to get out of there. Fast. She thought of avoiding his eyes. They’d give her away, but who was she kidding? He already knew.
“I can’t.” She walked away.
She heard him chuckle behind her. “That’s not what I asked.”
Suddenly infuriated with herself, she hurried out of his room and toward the front door. Brandon followed her, calling out for her but she ran out. The more she thought about it, the faster she ran. As soon as she was home, she called Eric. He answered on the second ring.
“Hey, babe.”
Hearing his voice did her in. Her voice broke with the first word. “I miss you so much.”
There was a pause, then he said, “Why don’t you come down this week? I’ll get a room for us out here. I can hardly stand being away from you either, Sof.”
Still tasting Brandon in her mouth, she almost fell apart. “I’ll be there tomorrow.”
***
Eric thought of the week he’d just had. Being away from Sofia was tough, but this week had been especially draining. He had no idea how emotional this would get. Sofia’s call on Monday struck a nerve. She sounded so upset. Eric knew right away something was wrong. Of course, she assured him it was just getting to her that she couldn’t go over and see him when she was missing him.
Not sure what to expect when she arrived, he braced himself. When Sofia showed up on Tuesday, her emotions had been all over the place. She’d always been eager to make love, but she’d been almost crazed from the moment she arrived and they’d been together all weekend. Then she seemed down, but no amount of persuading would get her to talk. All she said was she couldn’t wait for him to come home for good. Then in a flash, she was back to being aroused.
Eric smiled. Well, he’d never complain about that. Sofia’s sensuality went hand in hand with everything else about her personality. She was intense when it came to everything. She’d been a little weird all week. Eric had a feeling he knew why.
Her brothers weren’t the only ones with thy o a e short fuse. He’d steered clear of the coffee shop where Asia worked all week; he wasn’t adding any more fuel to that fire. He hoped she wasn’t still worrying about it. He hated to bring it up, but if she was still acting weird over the weekend he’d have to.
His phone rang just as he hopped on the freeway.
“Hey, baby!” Her chipper mood made him smile.
“Hey.”
<
br /> “You on your way?”
“Yep, just hopped on the freeway.”
Usually, Eric waited until Saturday mornings to leave. Friday night traffic was horrendous, but today he’d got off early. The guy he was assigned to work with had asked for half the day off, so they told Eric he could leave early. He was headed home and not a moment too soon.
“Angel and Alex miss you.” He heard Sarah laugh in the background.
Eric smiled. “They do?”
“Yeah, they’ve been whining about you not spending any time with them on your weekends home.”
He heard Sarah laugh again along with male grumbling in the background.
Eric couldn’t help laughing. “Is that right?”
“Yeah, so we’re ordering from Andolini’s and they want you to come over and play with them.” She laughed. “Seriously, they really wanna play some football out front. Me, Sarah and Valerie will cheer.”
“Andolini’s? I’m in.” He hadn’t had their pizza in ages. When they were younger, they used to eat there all the time. They had the best pizza in town.
After hanging up with Sofia, Eric felt much better. Maybe he wouldn’t have to have that dreaded conversation with her after all.
The guys did seem happy to see him when he got to Sofia’s house, but no one was happier than Sofia. He squeezed her tight and kissed her like he really wanted to when they were finally out of her brothers sight. Even after all this time, he still wasn’t comfortable getting too cozy with her in front of them. And he knew damn well, they weren’t comfortable watching.
Once back outside, he grabbed a beer from the ice chest. “Don’t you bums work?”
“Go long,” Alex said to Angel then glanced at Eric. “Parents are at the restaurant.”
Angel ran out in the street and Alex threw the football at him. A car turned into the cul-de-sac and slowed. Angel moved out of the way, smiling at the driver. When it was close enough, he saw it was Valerie, Sarah’s cousin. Eric wasn’t surprised she was still coming around. She and Alex had been on and off since high school. Alex put up an act that their relationship was just for fun, but as much as Mr. Tough Guy played it down, Eric saw the way he looked at her when they were together. He wasn’t fooling anyone.
Romero showed up a while later and they all hung out like old times. It felt damn good.eltool The girls sat on lawn chairs in the front yard chatting, while the guys stood by Alex’s truck parked out in the street throwing back a few beers.
They were in the middle of clowning Romero about his piece of crap car when they noticed he wasn’t paying attention to any of them. He was looking behind Eric. “Is that Bad News Billings?”
Eric turned around to see a very clean-cut, buffed-up Brandon Billings, walking toward them with a dog on a leash.
CHAPTER 11
It is what it is
“Get the fuck out!” Romero said, smiling, “Is that you, Billings?”
Brandon extended his arms out to the sides. “In the flesh.”
“What?” Angel added, “No way!”
Brandon laughed. As surprised as everyone else, Eric couldn’t believe how different Brandon looked.
Angel reached out, shook his hand, and patted his shoulder. They all did the same except for Romero, who feigned punching him in the stomach.
“Did you just get back?” Angel asked.
“Last week, actually.”
Alex went back to leaning on his truck. “You wanna beer, man?”
“Yeah, I’ll take one.”
Alex swatted Romero on the arm. “Go grab one from the ice chest.”
Romero made a face. “Why me?”
“Because I asked you to.” Alex turned back to Brandon. “So how was it?”
Brandon smiled. “I can’t complain. I mean, it was hard at first. Boot camp’s brutal, but you get used to it and,” he said, looking away for a second, “anything was better than being home.”
“What’s this?” Romero pointed at Brandon’s upper arm, after handing him the beer. “You got a tattoo?”
Brandon turned his arm to them when he saw the interest in everyone. It was the US Marine embeltooloo?lem, the one with the eagle sitting on a globe with an anchor going through the globe. The detail was impressive, and by the look on Brandon’s face, there was no doubt he was proud.
“That’s cool.” Romero studied it closely. “You know I’m thinking of getting a tattoo. Did it hurt?”
The guys chuckled. “What are you gonna get, Romero? A picture of your cat, Flea?”
Romero looked at Alex, disgusted. “Its Fee Fee, and he’s not my cat, he’s my uncle’s.” He brought his attention back to Brandon. “I was thinking of getting a gun right here.” He lifted his shirt, exposing his abdomen. He stuck his hand in his pants. “So it looks like I’m packin’.”
They all busted up, including Brandon.
“That’d be the only thing you’d be packin’,” Alex said.
Romero looked at all of them, obviously failing to see the humor. Without commenting on their laughing, he looked back at Brandon. “So does it hurt?”
The girls had come over to pet the dog. He was cute, just a pup. Instead of bending over and petting the dog like Sarah and Valerie, Sofia came over and leaned against Eric, slipping her hand in his. Brandon glanced at them, then brought his attention back to Romero. “Nah, it doesn’t hurt too much. The vibrating needle kinda numbs it.”
“Damn, Brandon,” Romero said, looking at his arm, “looks like they worked you out pretty good.”
Brandon chuckled. “Yeah, I thought I was used to getting worked out, but I got back home and,” he looked at Sofia, “got worked out pretty hard here, right, Sof?”
Sof?
Sofia smiled. Eric held her hand a little tighter. He wasn’t sure what that meant, but he wasn’t jumping to any conclusions like he knew her brothers would. They all stared at Sofia. Brandon saw the looks on their faces. “I knew she was on the track team, but damn. I didn’t know how fast she was.”
Eric glanced at Sofia. In very unlike Sofia fashion, she blushed. She hadn’t mentioned Brandon was even back in town, much less that she’d been running with him. Eric didn’t want to make too much of it, but he had to wonder if had anything to do with her behavior this week.
“So you raced?” Romero asked. Before either could respond, he added, “Did you beat ‘im, Sof?”
Sofia and Brandon exchanged glances. It was just a glance, but it held the weight of an elephant. It turned Eric’s stomach. The carefree afternoon he’d been having up until then took a nose dive.
“I almost beat him,” Sofia answered.
Brandon smiled. “Don’t worry, Sof, You’ll get me next time.”
Eric squeezed her hand. The hidden message in Brandon’s eyes wasn’t missed. Sofia didn’t respond. Much to Eric’s annoyance, Romero went back to asking about the tattoo. As if one tattoo made Brandon an expert on the subject. Eric wanted to hear more about Brandon and Sofia running. If he didn’t now, he’d sure as hell make sure he did later. Unfortunately, later would have to wait. The guys had planned a night out, bowling.
After chatting for a while longer, Brandon finally said he had to take off, but not before turning to Sofia one last time. “You gtim heonna be out there tomorrow morning?”
Eric felt her tense up. “No. I only run during the week.”
“Alright, then I’ll see you out there Monday morning.”, he said, and Sofia shrugged in response.
To top it off, Angel insisted that since Eric had had such a long drive, there was no sense in taking two cars—they should all go in his. The only moment he would’ve had alone with Sofia before tonight was the drive to bowling alley. Now that was shot, too. He wouldn’t even be able to take advantage of the ride home.
Alex and Valerie must’ve taken a detour along the way, because they’d all been at the bowling alley over twenty minutes, and they still weren’t there. Those two did that a lot. With Angel and Sarah off to buy drinks, and Rome
ro showing off his bowling skills, Eric took advantage of the moment.
“So how come you hadn’t mentioned Brandon being back?”
Sofia lifted a shoulder. “I dunno. I forgot. I only ran with him a couple of times.”
“You forgot?” Eric didn’t want to be pissed. He didn’t want to ruin the weekend before it even started. But he knew if he ever forgot to mention something like that to her, she’d go postal on him. He knew he could trust Sofie. He just couldn’t shake the bad vibe he got when she exchanged glances with Brandon.
“It was in the morning and only for a few minutes. By the end of the day it had totally slipped my mind.”
That made sense to him. Still, he squeezed her hand. “Anything else you forget to tell me?”
She shook her head immediately. Eric leaned his forehead against hers. “Look Sof, if you forgot to tell me because you thought I’d be mad, that’s not cool. Remember just like I’m always reminding you that I’ve never given you any reason to doubt me, you’ve never given me reason, either.” He lifted her chin. “I’m okay with you taking a jog with a friend, it’s when you start keeping it from me that makes me wonder why, okay?”
“Okay,” She stared into his eyes.
He stared back. “Promise me you won’t keep things from me no matter how mad you think I’ll be.”
“I promise,” she said, then squeezed him tight, “I love you so much.”
They kissed until someone cleared his voice loudly. Angel stood behind them with a frown. She was still his little sister. “Will you two knock it off?”