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I hadn’t wanted this moment to end.
Chapter Five
Jurnee
Two weeks,that’s how long it had been since I was released from the hospital and I hadn’t seen a glimpse of Braxton, the very man that stayed with me the majority of the time I was there. He’d called Alley almost every day to check on me but hadn’t talked to me himself or came over. I knew he was busy trying to get his business off the ground and his house organized, but I missed him.Is that even possible? I mean, he was only with me for the few days I was laid up after surgery, and then poof, he was gone like smoke in the breeze. But did that warrant wanting him to be around now? What was it about him that got to me?
The truth was, I believed it was just Braxton. As a kid, he had always warmed my heart, whether it be from how he took care of Alley, or how kind he was to others like Summer and me. He may have been a boy back then, but I knew if I spent more time with him now, the man he was today would be almost perfect in every way.
Even though I was itching to see him, I’d been fine during my time at home. I had the girls there to help me if I needed it and my parents had been over a lot. Alley worked at home, writing her smutty romance novels, so she was always around if I needed something, and Summer being a nurse, had been hovering and helping when she wasn’t at work. I was still sore and had more recovery to do, but I was physically getting better. Mentally, it was still hard to believe I’d been shot and I knew I had to cope with that aspect of the evening, but I hated being away from my baby this long. Baby, being my job. I was ready to try and ease my way back into my regular schedule and life.
I loved the non-profit organization I created and not being there even though I had amazing people working for me, was killing me. It was something truly dear to my heart, helping foster kids or any children for that matter who needed it. Whether it be an outlet and place to go for help with homework or other issues, a place to play instead of going home alone, or somewhere to make friendships and have people to socialize with. Even Summer and Alley volunteered their time there and it was fabulous.
Hopeful Jurnee, that was what I’d named it. That place and volunteering at the hospital in the pediatric cancer wing with all the sick kids was truly special to me. I knew all too well what it was like being so little, sick, and lost beyond reason.
I couldn’t stop thinking about how excited I was to get back to my regular schedule a little bit at a time while I finished my physical therapy. Even with everything that was going on in my brain, something Braxton had said kept replaying in my head. He’d told me we needed a do-over. He wanted to dance with me.
That would be a fantasy becoming a reality and boy do I want that.
I knew I shouldn’t, and I wasn’t exactly sure how Alley would feel about it, but she had been cool about the time he spent at the hospital with me. The girls had always teased me about the crush I had on her brother, but we weren’t kids anymore.
Now everything was different.
I was getting ahead of myself. Remembering who I was and what I looked like, why would he be interested when he could have anyone he wanted? Another thing was, I knew I shouldn’t get close to anyone because I might not be able to make them happy in the long run.
I needed that do-over though, craved that dance, and I wanted to believe someone like Braxton would be intrigued and interested in a person like me.
Don’t get me wrong, I loved myself and my life, but I also wouldn’t allow myself to be fooled about how another person would fit into it and whether I could have the future I so desperately wanted. This was the biggest reason why I never got really close to others. Except for the girls that is. They didn’t give me any choice and they’d burrowed their way into my heart and planted themselves there, roots and all.
I had a feeling Braxton could do the same in no time at all.Did I want that?
Besides being scared, the fact was, I’d never really had strong feelings for someone that filled me with the passion to accept them into my world the way I was longing to now. Nobody had made my pulse race like Braxton had, as though there was a rhythm section of beating drums thumping away in my heart like a marching band took up residence in it whenever he was near. There had been men and there had been dates. I wasn’t a virgin, but I’d only been with one man that way, so you could almost call me one.
To say the pipes were rusty and I was inexperienced was an understatement.
With all this flying through my head as fast as I flew through the pages of Alley’s hot romance novels, I didn’t hear her walk in the living room. Can’t blame me, I mean, there was a lot to think about and yetonething always made its way to the forefront of my mind.
Braxton.
On top of being the finest specimen I’d ever met, he was also fun. Seriously, what grown man wanted to feed a twenty-four-year-old like she was a toddler and play around while he was doing it? Obviously, he had, and it made him that much more appealing. I know I said I shouldn’t get close, that I couldn’t make someone happy forever, but I was struggling to hold back being around him after seeing him again and spending just a few short days together. I just prayed it didn’t cause issues with my bestie.
She and Summer both, they were my tribe.
As if reading my mind, Alley started in. “Don’t go getting locked up in your head about why you shouldn’t go for what you want. If you think for one second I would be upset if you were with my brother, then you're crazy. I just don’t want you or anyone to get hurt. But if you two got together it would make me happy. I love you both. You, my brother, and Summer are my world.”
I was wondering what happened to Landon’s place in Alley’s world because at one time he’d been a big part of it, but it was something we didn’t talk about anymore and hadn’t for some time.
Anyway, how she’d always been able to read my thoughts I could never figure out. Alley was just that way, and it was a little scary. She always had the skinny on what Summer and I were thinking and never failed to tell us and give her two cents about it. Some may not have liked that about her, but me, I loved it. I never had to guess what was going on in her head and everyone always knew where they’d stood with the girl. She was one of a kind and I adored her. Us three girls were sisters and had the tats to honor that bond.
Once we’d all turned eighteen and could make our own choices, none of us hesitated to put the ink on our bodies which just tied us together in another way. We didn’t need it, we were thick as thieves, but we wanted it. The matching tats we had placed on each of our right shoulder blades, displayed for others to see, were ones we wore proudly.
It was an amazing design and tribute to our friendship. There was an infinity sign with a swirling heart that weaved through it. Written in script on the bottom of the heart a word was placed on each side, that saidSoul Sistersbecause that’s what we are. Curving around the top of the heart, also in script, it said,not Sisters by blood but Sisters by heart.
United we were and would forever be.
So yes, I was hesitant about taking that rain check Braxton mentioned, exploring an old crush, and getting to know him as a man a woman would have an interest in. I was reluctant for many reasons, but a big one was because this was Alley's brother. She said no and I just hoped she was right. Because against my better judgment my heart was doing the talking. I was going to explore this thing with Braxton and I damn sure hoped my decision didn’t backfire on me.
I already know Braxton is lethal.
