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At least one of them wasn’t mad at me and was being very agreeable. Then again, Trenton was always that way with me. I had no idea what the hell Simon’s problem was. He hadn’t acted like this toward me in the shop earlier.
“What are you planning on getting from the store?” Simon asked me. I could feel his eyes on me, but I refused to look at him and kept looking out my window.
“Now you’re just being nosy,” I mumbled.
It wasn’t that I was trying to push his buttons, but I let him get under my skin, and I would not be me if I didn’t poke him back just a little.
“I feel like I have a right to know what we’re going to the store for since I’m going along for the ride. Seems only fair that you tell me.”
“Simon,” Trenton rumbled in warning.
He was right to try and chastise his brother. Sometimes I felt like Trenton just got me way more than Simon did, and what Simon had said was definitely the wrong thing to say to me.
“I’ll talk to Rain when we get home later,” I told them without taking my eyes off the window. At this point, I didn’t even see what we were driving past, it was all a blur to me as I figured out in my head what I was going to say to Rain later.
It wasn’t a conversation I was looking forward to, but I supposed it was past time for it to take place.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Simon demanded.
I sighed heavily. This wasn’t a conversation I wanted to be having with him because I knew he was going to argue with me and put up a fight. But I pulled up my big girl panties and got to it because avoiding shit never got me anywhere I wanted to be.
“Rain has his own car, so there’s really no reason for him to be driving mine around all the time. I’m just going to take mine back from him, and then you guys won’t have to be driving me around all the time. You won’t have to worry yourself with what it is I’m going to buy from the store. Problem solved, just like that.”
The car remained silent after that, but it was the kind of tense silence that happened when everyone knew there was a bomb that was about to go off. I just knew neither of them were going to like what I had to say, which was partially why I’d said it in the first place.
Trenton found a parking spot close to the entrance of the store after doing a lap around the lot and we parked, stealing it from a red minivan that honked repeatedly at us as they drove past. Men who drove minivans always seemed to be very aggressive drivers, in my experience. It was like they had to prove to the rest of the world that they didn’t have to trade in their balls when they drove the family vehicle, and to prove it, they acted like even bigger assholes toward everyone else behind the wheel.
There wasn’t anything manly about it.
Real men drove their families around and didn’t care if they had to do it in a minivan. All they gave a shit about was that it got their family to their destination safely and in one piece.
I got out of the SUV before either of them could start in on me. Once we were in the store, I knew neither of them would broach the subject for fear of being overheard. They wouldn’t want to risk embarrassing me or upsetting me in public. They were awesome like that.
As the only form of apology I was willing to give him, I took hold of Simon’s hand and threaded my fingers through his. His arm jerked and his head snapped down so he could stare at me with his wide, gray eyes that were shining silver with the depths of his emotions.
I’d surprised him and caught him off guard—two things someone like Simon, who’d been training his whole life to be able to protect me, wasn’t used to experiencing.
And it made me realize something important... I never really touched either of them if I could help it.
Had I never held his hand before? If I had, it’d been so insignificant to me that I didn’t even remember it, but I was willing to bet that if it had happened, Simon would be able to tell you the where and when of it.
Damn.
I chewed on my bottom lip. Now that I was holding his hand, maybe it wasn’t such a good idea. Maybe I should pretend to cough or something and let his hand go so I could use my elbow to cover my mouth.
No, that just seemed mean, and I didn’t ever want to intentionally hurt him. I didn’t want to hurt him or his brother.
No, I wanted the exact opposite of hurting them. I loved them both very much, and I wanted to show them love and affection.
But I couldn’t. I was afraid of what the others would think if I got too friendly with them. Not that they gave me reason to worry. We were family, and a little hand holding between us wouldn’t bother anyone. Anything else past that though... who the hell knew?
I tried to pull my hand away, but Simon’s hand tightened around mine, and he refused to let me go.
“Nope.” He shook his head. “You wanted to hold my hand, so that’s what we’re doing. You told me so when you slid your fingers through mine and held on. Now I’m not going to let go. Deal with it.”
I looked to Trenton for help since he was the more sensible one of the two, but he refused to look at me. No help there.
Damn.
