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“He wanted to make sure that I was planning on treating you right.” I lean in and kiss her. “He wanted to make sure that I wasn’t going to try to take advantage of you or hurt you.”
“Oh, yeah?” She looks up at me under those long eyelashes of hers, having no idea the power she has over me. “And what did you tell him?”
“I promised him that I would look out for you. That I’d take care of you. And that I wouldn’t get you pregnant.” I laugh.
She doesn’t. “Are you freaking serious right now? What the hell. He already had that discussion with me weeks ago.”
“It’s his job to protect you, Nattie. You can’t ask him to give that up yet.”
She grips the front of my t-shirt. “Did he scare you away, QB?”
Wrapping my arms around her, I pull her closer and rest my chin on her head. “Nope. It takes a lot more than that to scare me away. You’re worth it, Nat.” Leaning down to kiss her again, I try to remind myself that we are in front of her house, and her father is home. “Want to go out Friday night? We could catch a movie?”
“Nope. Dad’s flying out that afternoon. How about we order pizza and find something to watch on Netflix?”
“Netflix and Chill? I like the way you think, naughty girl.”
“You’re an idiot. I meant to watch the movie. We can chill afterward.” Stretching up to her tiptoes, she leans in, kisses me quickly, and turns to walk away. Her hair whips around her face as she turns her head back to me.
“You better be nice to me, Brady Ryan. You’ve seen what I can do with a glitter bomb.”
41
Natalie
When Brady walked in my door late this Friday afternoon, I wasn’t expecting Cooper to be walking in with him. Obviously, it’s his house too, but our date night has officially turned into the three of us. By seven, we are all laid out on the couch, waiting for the Chinese food to be delivered, fighting over what movie to watch. Just as we decide on the new John Wick, the delivery driver shows up, and we all sit down to eat in the kitchen.
Coop is hovering over his plastic container of sweet and sour chicken. “Jesus Coop, do you want to slow down and chew?” My disgusting brother opens his mouth that is full of half-chewed chicken so that I can see it. “Gross! Don’t be a pig.”
“Whatever. I feel like I’ve barely seen you this week, little sister. What’s going on with you?”
“Nothing new to report here. Actually, I’ve been meaning to ask you something all week. Monday morning in Chemistry, Tiffany mentioned that you two broke up.”
Brady passes me the egg rolls. “Actually, she said you were taking a break. Very Ross Gellar of you, Coop.”
Stunned, I look at Brady. “I’m not sure why, but I’m impressed by the Friends reference, QB.” He smirks at me, and I blow him a kiss before turning back to my brother. “Back to you, Coop. Tiff blew me off when I asked what happened. She told me it was your story to tell. Care to elaborate?”
Cooper swallows his food before going back in for seconds with his chopsticks. “It is what it is. We went to that party at her friend’s house Saturday night, and Tiff’s older brother was there. She got pissed off. We both moved on. It was never anything serious anyway. We can’t all be the over the top, sappy, fucking couple you two are.”
I throw a wrapped fortune cookie at his head. “Asshole.”
Brady leans forward. “Man, I haven’t seen Dave in forever. How long is he home for?”
“He said he has two weeks’ leave.” Coop looks upset.
Annoyed that I have no idea who Dave is, I interrupt. “Hello… You guys know that I don’t have a clue who you’re talking about, right?”
Turning to me, Brady explains, “Dave is Tiff’s older brother. He graduated four years ago. He’s always been a cool dude. Captain of the team when he was at Kroydon. Incredibly smart. He skipped college and went into the Navy. He’s a Navy SEAL now.”
Cooper takes another bite of chicken, then adds, “I ended up talking to him all night, and it pissed Tiff off.”
My stomach drops. I hate that I know the answer to my question before I ask it. “Why?”
“She didn’t like it when I told her that I was going into the Navy after high school.”
Brady puts down his chopsticks, stunned. He looks from Cooper to me like he’s missing something.
“Haven’t changed your mind about it then? Does Dad know?”
