“It’s okay.”
“No, I wasn’t thinking.”
“I’m not ashamed,” she shrugs, feigning detachment, a word that doesn’t exist in her vocabulary. “I think sex is special, that’s all. It shouldn’t be taken lightly. Excuse me, I see a friend I know.”
Nathan and Wyatt wait until she leaves to look at me, the latter saying, “How come the Cocker hormones didn’t get passed down to her, huh? Why didn’t we get Sofia Sol as a sister? Her, I can understand!”
Nathan reminds him, “Soph’s getting married in a couple months.”
“Yeah, but before that, she was worse than Nicholas!”
“Me? You guys are just as bad.”
“Bullshit,” Wyatt insists from behind a you’re-shitting-me face.
Nathan agrees, “I get half the tail you get.”
Bored, I ask Matthew, “You see Denise or Maddie yet?”
“You keep asking me that.” He stretches up to scan the place. “She probably stayed home to be with the dog. Didn’t want to leave him alone so soon.”
“Denise, too?”
He meets my eyes, suddenly amused. “You want me to ask Billy?”
Shoving my hands in my pockets I mutter, “Why would I want you to do that? I was just asking.”
“It’s the third time you’ve asked me.”
My brothers stare at me with interest.
“I haven’t asked you three times.”
Wyatt says, “It was more than that.”
Nate agrees, “I heard four, and I wasn’t even with you the whole time.”
I head away, “I’m concerned about the dog.”
As they follow, my brothers won’t drop the subject.
Wyatt razzes me, “I think you’re concerned about the owner.”
This is exactly the soil they like to till.
“Yeah,” Nate laughs, “We love dogs, but asking five hundred times is a bit overkill, dontcha think?”
“She must have been smokin’ hot, huh, Nicholas?”
“Maybe hotter than that fire?”
“You want to show her your hose?”
“Get her nice and wet.”
I laugh, “Shut the fuck up!”
“Have her moaning, 911! 911! I’ve got an emergency!”
“Yes, ma’am what’s your emergency?”
“I need a condom!”
Shaking my head I lock eyes with Matt.
They zoom in on him next.
Wyatt asks, “Hey Matt, you see her? Did she kick him in the nuts?”
“Did he give her that dog so he looked like a good guy.”
Flipping around I get in Nathan’s face. “Hey, don’t even joke about that.”
His eyebrows fly up. “Looks like I hit a nerve.”
“I went into a fire to save that dog, and you would have, too.”
The laughter leaves his eyes. “Okay, Nicholas.”
“I didn’t do it to get in her pants.”
“I hear you. I understand.”
Eyeing him to make sure he means that, I turn around, head for the door. “Take Zoe back home when you guys are done here. Matthew?”
“Right here.” He jogs up .
Nathan calls after us. “Nicholas?”
I don’t want to turn around, but I do anyway. “What?”
“I’m dropping out of Yale to become a firefighter.”
My mouth goes slack because I know Mom and Dad aren’t going to like this. Nodding under my distraction I tell my baby brother, “You do what you feel is right,” and start to head out.
“Nicholas!”
Turning around I see him watching me with need in his eyes, and I suddenly realize he’s looking for my approval.
I take a deep breath, thinking about it. “I always wondered if you really wanted to become a lawyer.”
“I don’t. It bores the shit out of me.”
Nodding I rub my face. “They’re not going to be happy, but I’m behind you, Nate. I’ve got your back.”
His eyelashes flicker and his shoulders square off, reminding me so much of Dad.
As Matt and I walk into the cool night air, I mutter, “They really do look up to me like a second father, don’t they?”
He smirks, “You have to ask?”
CHAPTER 16
N ICHOLAS
I ’ve been trying to decide whether or not it makes me a stalker if I called that vet for Madison’s number.
“Nick.”
I glance up to my lunch meeting and frown. “Sorry, got distracted.”
“Oh yeah?” Dane leans back in a chair that should be more comfortable for these prices. “If the new Georgia tax laws aren’t enough to hold your interest, then how about those hips?”
I glance to a woman walking by our table, a beauty in her thirties with a bod made for that skirt. Without emotion I shrug and put my napkin back on the table, rising up. “She’s okay, listen, I have to make a phone call. I’ll be back before our food arrives.”
Dane waves me off while sipping his martini. “Fine, go.”
Breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner, or coffee meetings with finance guys should come with a warning label: includes alcohol.
The collective belief is if we’re going to work sixteen-hour days, we deserve lubricants to strengthen morale. I’m not a huge drinker, but I join in for the social aspect because you’ve got to. However, with guys like Dane it’s tough. The more he drinks, the bigger an asshole he becomes.
“Those hips would haunt your dreams, Nick!” he calls after me, way too loudly for this fine establishment’s ears.
I flinch and keep walking, sliding my phone from my pocket and searching my call-list, frowning as my chest starts pounding.
“Sandy Springs Animal Hospital, Adam speaking, how can I help you?”
“Yeah, hey, my name is Nicholas Cocker. I uh…a friend of mine came in with a dog a couple weeks ago after a house fire we were in.”
“Oh wow, I’m sorry. Everyone okay?”
Blinking at the full restaurant from where I’m standing off to the side, I realize this is news to him, so he wasn’t working that night. Probably doesn’t do the graveyard shift if I’ve caught him there today at half-past-noon. I can’t remember the name of the woman I spoke with last time.
“Yeah, everyone’s good. Listen, I lost my phone and the girl’s number with it, the one who brought in the dog. She’s a friend of mine. Name is Madison. I’m the one who paid the bill. Just hoping you can pass her number along to me. I’m trying to reach her.”
He’s amiable. “Sure, no problem.”
Relieved, my lungs deflate. “Great.”
“What’s her last name?”
“Uh…”
Shit shit shit.
“I don’t know it, but hey, we don’t all know our friends’ last names, right?”
Silence on the other end of
