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He smiled. He actually smiled, without me getting injured.
Pure elation filled me.
“Great,” he said. “Sean goes way faster than Dad.”
I cut my eyes to Sean, who was slouched over the handlebars and looking directly at me.
I ignored how good he looked positioned like that, which was a difficult task, considering the faded jeans he had on were clinging to his thighs, and the sleeves of his heather-gray thermal were pushed up, revealing magnificent forearms decorated in ink. Plus his hair was styled in one of my favorite ways Sean ever wore his hair—a little messy. Pieces had fallen out of his pony and were hanging in front of his ears, framing his face.
Sean had amazing hair. I wanted to touch it more than I wanted to breathe.
“Not too fast, I hope,” I said to him.
“He got here, didn’t he?” Sean answered.
I cocked my head as most of that elation I’d been feeling left me. Mm. Not sure how I felt about that answer.
But he had done me a favor, so I decided not to press, and instead wrapped my arm around Eli, who was staring at that bike and nothing else. “Sean, this is my brother, Eli. Eli, this is Sean.”
Sean jerked his chin.
I looked down at Eli and watched him return the gesture.
Holy Lord, that was cute.
“The car unlocked?” Dominic asked.
“Yep,” I answered.
He dug the phone out of his pocket and looked back at Sean. “Thanks for the ride, man. It was cool,” he said.
“No problem,” Sean replied.
Dominic walked to the car, opened the back door, and dumped his book bag inside before climbing in himself.
When I turned back to Sean, he was looking at me again.
“S-Shay.”
I put my attention on Eli. “Yeah, buddy?”
“I know w-what I w-want to do now,” he said, half of his mouth lifting.
All that admiring he’d been doing, it immediately dawned on me what my brother was referring to.
And although I wanted to give him the world right now, there were certain things that were just out of my control.
“Oh, um, I don’t know, E. I think Sean has to get back to work.”
“What’s the problem?” Sean asked.
I looked at him, mouth open to reply, but Eli stepped forward and spoke first.
“I w-want a r-ride,” he told Sean.
Sean’s brows lifted. “Yeah?”
Eli nodded his head so fast, I feared it would detach from his body.
“E, Sean has to get going,” I said, reaching for my brother.
“I do?”
I quit reaching for my brother and looked back at Sean. “You don’t?”
His one shoulder gave a quick jerk. “Gotta be getting back, but I got a minute,” he shared.
“Oh. Well, okay!” I stepped up beside Eli and ruffled his hair. “One quick ride around the parking lot. How’s that sound?”
Eli tipped his head back and wrinkled his nose. “B-But Dom g-got a long r-ride. I want that t-too.”
“E…” I began.
“C-Can you t-take me back to S-Shay’s?” Eli asked Sean, cutting me off.
“He’s gotta go to work, E,” I said. “Just go for a ride around the parking lot. That’ll be fun.”
“B-But th-that’s not special, Shay.”
I pinched my lips together. Well, shit.
“You live around here, or closer to Whitecaps?” Sean asked, drawing my head up.
Oh, my God. Was he actually considering this?
“Uh…closer to Whitecaps,” I said. “I’m at Pebble Dune Apartments.”
Sean nodded once, then held out the helmet to Eli, telling me, “Don’t know where that is, but I’ll follow you.”
Oh, my God. He wasn’t only considering this. He was doing it.
Helping me out was one thing, but Sean didn’t even know my brother. He could’ve insisted parking lot ride or nothing, but he wasn’t.
Wow.
Wow.
“Yes!” Eli punched his fist into the air. “C-Can I go, Sh-Shay? C-Can I?”
I pried my smile off Sean and gave it to Eli. “Heck, yeah, dude. Go for it.”
“Yes!” he cried again before breaking into a sprint.
I walked over to the bike as Eli was fastening the helmet, stepped up beside Sean, and quickly admired the jewelry he always wore on his arm—bracelets made of different colored thread. Single pieces. Not three or more strands braided together.
Friendship bracelets. That’s what the thread reminded me of—my childhood. I’d made bracelets using thread like that all the time.
Then I bent down and told him with a hushed voice, “Not too fast. He’s only eight.”
Sean smirked behind his short, thick beard. “Sure thing, Mama Bear.”
“Mama Bear? You cracking another joke? That’s twice today.”
He stared at me, confused.
“The not everyone should have pets comment,” I reminded him.
His face hardened, making him look regretful. “I was talkin’ about me when I said that.”
“Didn’t sound that way.”
Somehow, his face hardened even more, causing little lines to form in deep, tanned grooves beside his eyes. Now he wasn’t only looking regretful. He was looking mildly pissed.
“Relax. It was funny,” I told him, smiling.
His gaze lowered to my mouth, and he instantly quit looking pissed, but that regret was slow to leave him, keeping the tenseness in his jaw until a soft giggle escaped me.
