Always and Forever Read online

  “Remember the night we went out to the pasture at my parents’ and laid in the bed of my old truck watching the sky? Must’ve seen twenty shooting stars.”

  My head jerks down and I see Brody leaning back against my car, still in his work clothes, arms and ankles crossed looking as easygoing (and hot, damn it) as ever except for the heated look on his face.

  “On every one, we’d wished we’d be together forever,” I say quietly keeping my eyes locked on his as I take a few steps toward him.

  He pushes off my car and stands up straight. “Yeah.” His eyes now penetrate mine seductively. “And then I fucked you hard.” At my gasp he smirks. “That was a good night,” he says, his voice all husky and rumbly and sexy as hell.

  Holy shit.

  That was a good night and I feel my womb dip at the memory.

  I stand there staring at him thinking I might not be as great at statistics as Fin is, but I do know it’s been almost four-hundred days since I’ve had sex.

  And Brody looks so good and I’m more than tipsy and it’s been so long since I’ve been looked at the way he’s looking at me that I just might make a very bad decision right about now.

  Holy shit.

  Chapter 5

  And then I fucked you hard.

  Good lord.

  That comment right there threatens to push me over the edge.

  God, how I need that.

  I need him.

  God!

  Just as I’m ready to succumb to my desire to go to him and fling myself into his arms against that hard body of his, forcing him to take me to my place or his place, or, hell, just take me right here, Brody’s brother Kade and his fiancée Amelia come walking up.

  “What’s up, you two?” Amelia asks as they approach Jen’s, giving me an amused look as if she knows exactly what’s going on which I’m sure the lust beaming off me has given me away.

  I reign in my libido, but it’s a damned struggle believe me, because Brody had me at fucked and hard. Gah. Then I look back at him and watch as he takes a step forward, his hazel eyes glittering almost golden in the light from Jen’s as they hold mine when he says, “Just trying to get the payoff for my bid on Piper.”

  It takes me a moment to semi process what he’s said but when I do, my jaw drops as does my heart because I think he’s just insulted me.

  “What?” I whisper and teeter a bit on my heels either because I’ve been drinking or I’m in shock or both.

  “Brody!” Amelia admonishes making me look dazedly at her. My eyes go to Kade who’s giving Brody a look as if he wants to kill him.

  I look back at Amelia and ask quietly, “What did he just say?”

  I see her eyes narrow at Brody then she turns to me. “Nothing worth hearing again. C’mon, Piper, gimme your keys and Kade and I will drive you home.”

  I look back at Brody whose contrite expression shows me that he feels bad about what just happened but my brain’s still a bit fuzzy in my inebriated state.

  “Keys, Pipe.” This is Kade who holds his hand out to me.

  I frown but dig my keys from my purse and hand them to him. Amelia takes me by the upper arm and leads me to the passenger side of my car helping me in then I see her round the car and Kade holds the driver’s seat forward so she can get in the back.

  “Thanks, Mill,” I say leaning my head against the seat to look at her when we take off.

  “No problem, sweetie,” she replies with a smile reaching up to pat me on the shoulder.

  “Kade?” I ask. He turns toward me, eyebrows raised. “Was your brother a total dick to me just then? I’m kinda finding it hard to figure out what happened.”

  I sit up to look at him and feel my head bobbing unsteadily (why’s my head bobbing?) as I see him look into the rearview mirror at Amelia.

  “Let me get you inside your house and we’ll talk about it there, okay?” Amelia says. Next thing I know she’s at my car door helping me out then walking me to my front door and inside. I hear Kade say, “I’ll wait here, baby,” and I turn to see him standing inside my living room. I grin and pull my hand to the side of my face to give him a spirit fingers wave. He does the same back to me which makes me laugh that big, badass, ex-Navy SEAL Kade Kelly waved at me that way then Amelia and I are in my bedroom and I’m sitting on my bed of which she’s already pulled back the covers.

  “Jeez. I feel like I’m in a time warp,” I mumble.

  She’s kneeling in front of me taking off my heels and she chuckles. “I know exactly what you mean.” She stands then pulls me up with her and takes off my sweater then turns me to unzip my dress. “Love this dress, Pipe,” she mutters as she helps me out of it.

  Only in my bra and panties now, I plop down onto my bed and tell her I got it for twenty bucks at Elise’s then I pass out.

  Sometime during the night I wake and swear I hear Brody telling me he’s sorry as he holds me from behind, his mouth at my ear moving down to kiss my neck sweetly as I move my hands up to curl my fingers around his forearm, but when I wake in the morning, I’m alone and know it was just a dream.

  ~~~

  “Jax is the fucking shit,” Ryan mumbles through the forkful of chicken enchilada she’s shoved into her mouth.

  She’s at my house the next day sitting cross-legged on my sofa and I’m in my big, amazingly squishy and comfy chair-and-a-half and we’re on our second episode of Sons of Anarchy, both of us going gaga over Jax Teller.

  “Did you know there’s supposed to be an SOA prequel with Brad Pitt as Jax’s dad?” she asks and I stare at her then blink because God help every woman on the planet if that comes to fruition. She nods. “GTS, girlfriend.”

  I frown. “GTS?”

  “Google that shit,” she says with a snort.

  I roll my eyes. “Hey, remember that guy who attacked Amelia at Kade’s last year? She said he looked just like Charlie Hunnam. She’d dated him but had broken it off when she found out he was married,” I confide taking a bite of my own enchilada.

  “Holy fuck. Lucky bitch.” I shoot her a look. “I mean, c’mon. Someone who looks like Jax?” She raises her eyebrows trying to get me to agree. When I shrug she adds, “But that’s some scary shit to have someone in your house and you don’t know it.”

  I frown as I think about that. “You know, it’s weird, but last night I could’ve sworn Brody was in bed with me. I mean, I was a little drunk so…”

  “Wait. You were drunk? You weren’t when you took me home.”

  “Stopped at Jen’s and had a few beers. Finley saw me and called me over then tried to get the dirt on the auction from me but I held her off. Steered her in another direction.” I chuckle.

  “She’s brutal. How’d you distract her?”

  “Who knew she’s got the biggest crush on Sean Matthews? She went all psycho about his stats. So cute. That kept her occupied the entire time keeping ‘Ex Bids on Ex Seeking Sex’ from being the headline of the Post tomorrow.” I roll my eyes and Ryan snorts. “But then last night, it seemed so real, like Brody was really there. Probably just a dream which is kind of disturbing that my subconscious is going there.” I’d told her earlier about what Brody said to me outside Jen’s when Kade and Amelia came up and Ryan was fuming mad telling me the next time she saw him her Taekwondo skills were going to be put to some good use.

  She now frowns. “Does he still have a key?”

  “No. He gave it back the night we broke up,” I tell her with a shrug.

  “What if he made a spare or something and has been creeping into your house at night to do God knows what?” She looks at me with a shudder. “The Serenity Point Stalker is on the loose. Hide your kids, hide your wife…”

  I give her a sarcastic look. “It was a dream, dork. I doubt he’d bother especially after being such a dick last night.”

  She nods and takes another bite. “Dick move, for sure,” she garbles while chewing
.

  We watch four more episodes then she leaves saying she has to stop by her shop to check her inventory and update her purchase order. Tomorrow starts another busy week in the Point and I sigh as I think about it wondering if this is going to be how it goes for the rest of my life: me pining away over Brody like I have this past year hoping he’ll get his head out of his ass, and this going on for the next fifty years. Ugh.

  And I decide that nope, I will not allow my life to play out that way. First of all, I’m not waiting around for him anymore. Second, I’m going to get proactive and find out exactly what led to our breakup which will finally give me some closure. And third, I’ll force myself to stop loving him.

  And then I figure, I’m done with him.

  ~~~

  “Mike’s here,” Ryan whispers into her phone.

  It’s Thursday and the week has gone by in a rush. Monday, I got started on finding answers about the breakup. I first went to Finley and had to bargain with her by giving a mini-interview about the auction, fibbing a little by telling her that it’s been over a year, Brody and I are good and we’ve decided to just be friends, so that she’d promise to try and get me some answers. I mean, who better to research things than the town’s reporter? Fin said she’d start by snooping around some and I remembered Ryan saying we should do the Veronica Mars thing, so I’d told Finley we’d start doing some snooping too. I also walked down to Hale’s after lunch and asked Amelia some questions. I’d told her about the breakup when she’d come back into town last October but surely she knows more now that she’s Kade’s fiancée. She invited me out to her and Kade’s house tonight for dinner and hopefully I’ll get some answers there.

  Now I just finished taking a phone order when right after hanging up, Ryan called. And she’s freaking out.

  “He’s there? Why?” I ask.

  “To get a haircut!” she hisses.

  “Um, don’t see how that’s a problem, Ry. You’ve given him haircuts before.”

  “But now there’s ‘something’ between us! Don’t you see?”

  I laugh. “Yeah?”

  “God! Think about it. He’s going to tell me what he wants me to do for the auction thing!”

  “Or he could just tell you he wants the haircut free,” I reply.

  “Oh.” I hear the disappointment in her voice and immediately feel bad.

  “Sorry. Not trying to detract from the importance of his bidding on you. So, yeah. Of course! He’s there to tell you what he wants you to do!” I rally in support of my best friend quashing my blasé attitude that I know is coming from my deep-seeded resentment over Brody’s behavior lately.

  “No, you’re right. He probably just wants a haircut.” And now I really feel like shit for stealing her thunder.

  “No! Ry, seriously, I’m sure he’s gonna tell you what he needs, and, oh, let’s hope his needs involve you between his sheets.”

  She laughs nervously. “God help me if it’s that ‘cause I haven’t had any in so long, I’d probably jump on him right here in the chair. Meet me at Jen’s after you get back from Amelia’s and we’ll talk about what you find out and about Mike. It’s Thirsty Thursday! Oh, and heads up. Peyton and her gang are talking about Brody’s ‘pity’ bid for you.”

  “Pity bid? Pity for me or the city?” What the hell?

  “I don’t know. Both maybe? Blow it off. They don’t matter. We’ll talk tonight. ‘Kay, gotta go! Mrs. Ralston’s waiting for me to mix her color so she can keep rocking the blue. Bye!”

  I snort at that as I hang up. Mrs. Ralston had been our middle school principal and has gone with the old lady blue hair thing for years now. Ryan’s said she’s tried telling her there are other dyes she can use but Mrs. Ralston has been adamant about sticking with what she knows and stubbornly continues the 70s legacy of cobalt coiffures. And Thirsty Thursday? Jen’s offers three free drinks to women every Thursday which Ryan and I have taken advantage of for years.

  And P.S. I hate Peyton.

  ~~~

  I close up at six then run home to change into jeans and a sweater, grab the chocolate lovin’ spoon cake I made (which is fucking amazing, I tell you) then head out to Amelia and Kade’s. I drive the two miles north and three east to the gorgeous old Victorian house where they live but once I pull up the long drive, I find I’m suddenly nervous. What if I talk to them and find there’s really nothing that’s gone on and Brody broke up with me because he broke up with me? What if he decided he didn’t love me anymore and wanted to find someone new? Crap. In all this time, I haven’t even let my mind go there. Nope. Egotistical little me has always thought it couldn’t just be me. It had to be something else. And now as I get out of my car and go around to get the cake out of the passenger side, I find I’m kind of terrified.

  “Hey, Piper!” Amelia says with a big smile from the back door which instantly calms me down.

  “Hey,” I answer, smiling back as I walk up the porch steps.

  “Oh, God, that looks absolutely evil.” She nods toward my hands indicating the cake.

  I laugh. “It’s pretty wicked.”

  “I’ll bet. Come on in.” She holds the door for me then leads me through the mudroom and into the kitchen then takes the cake placing it on the counter. “Let me take your jacket.”

  While she goes back to the mudroom to hang it up, Kade comes in looking hotter than ever.

  “Hey, Pipe. What’s up?” he asks, coming over to hug me.

  Kade’s four years older and has been like a big brother to me. He was mostly gone the first nine years Brody and I were together because of his SEAL duties but he’s always treated me as if I’m one of the family. He now kisses the top of my head and pulls away and I watch as his eyes light up when Amelia comes back into the kitchen which makes me sigh wishing I still had a man look at me that way.

  “So, you ready to put the steaks on, handsome?” Amelia asks him with a flirty smile.

  “Babe,” he says and moves to her, wrapping her in his arms and bending down to give her a hot kiss. Dang. When he pulls away, she looks up at him as if he hung the moon, trailing a finger down over his close-cut beard. After they’re finished ogling each other, she gets the tray the steaks are on out of the fridge and hands it to him then lets out a yelp when he swats her on the ass before he heads outside.

  “God. I don’t know what I was thinking leaving him all those years ago,” she says almost dreamily as she stares at the door Kade just went out, and I’m glad Ryan’s not here because I know she’d put a finger in her mouth and act like she’s gagging.

  I chuckle at the thought which brings Amelia out of her musings.

  “Sorry! I know we act like a couple of teenagers but a lot of time was lost and we’re working on making it up,” she says with a grin. “Would you like a glass of wine?”

  “Sure,” I answer as she pulls a couple glasses out of the cabinet. “I’m really happy for you two. Things just seemed off when you were apart.”

  “Thanks, Piper,” she says as she pulls a bottle from a little wine refrigerator that’s under a cabinet next to the big fridge. “That five years we weren’t together, I thought I knew what I was doing but looking back, I know I was completely lost.” She uses an electric corkscrew to open the bottle then pours me a glass handing it to me. “I know it sounds so cheesy,” she rolls her eyes and chuckles, “but I feel ‘found’ now that I’m back with him.” She pours her own glass then laughs. “God. Tell me to shut up.”

  I snort. “No, you’re right. Like I said, it was like the universe was out of balance until you two got back together.”

  She answers sarcastically, “Yeah, like the ocean without the moon to bring in the tide.”

  “Like the earth didn’t rotate the whole time you weren’t together,” I reply with a grin.

  “Like Hostess when they got rid of Twinkies.”

  “And when they brought them back but now they
taste like shit,” I answer.

  We both laugh.

  “Oh, lord. How in love am I?” She takes a drink then I see her face get serious when she lowers her glass. “But, really, how are you?”

  I lean against the counter. “As good as I can be, I guess.” I shrug then putting my glass to my lips say before taking a drink, “Is wanting to rip Brody’s testicles off a bad thing?”

  She chuckles as she pulls baked potatoes out of the oven and sets the cookie sheet on the stovetop turning off the oven. “Nope, not at all. I get it. And what he said Saturday night totally deserves that action. I can’t believe the way he acted.”

  “I think he was embarrassed when you guys walked up.” I’ve thought about this a lot and still haven’t found a clear answer for what he said. “You need any help?”

  “Can you get the butter and sour cream out and put them in those little bowls by the microwave?”

  I do what she requests as I tell her, “But it was a dick thing to say.”

  “I agree.” She grabs a head of lettuce, a tomato and cucumber out of the fridge and sets them on a cutting board on the counter. “You might be right. Maybe he was embarrassed.” She runs the veggies under the tap. “I don’t know why, though. He knows Kade and I think you belong together.”