37
IAIN
“Ah, fucking hell, man.”
Adam threw his napkin down as he sat across from Holland and me at our sidewalk table for lunch.
I’d spent the morning trying to figure out how I wanted to tell him about the fact that I was seeing his sister, but when Holland saw a second’s worth of a frown on my face as we headed to the restaurant, she said, “I got this.”
Which meant her sitting down at the table, letting me sit next to her, then saying to Adam, “So, we’re a thing.”
And that was it.
“What’s he so upset about now?” A.J snorted as she came back from the bathroom.
Seemingly, the answer was he’s not taking it well that Holland and I are together.
But instead of saying that, Adam heaved a sigh, took out his wallet and handed A.J a twenty.
Holland burst out laughing. “You knew?” she asked A.J, who gave a cocky toss of her dark ponytail over her shoulder.
“Suspected it early,” she said before turning her eyes to me. “I mean the whole buying her a bed thing was a little suspicious, Thorn. But you got the benefit of the doubt because I was swamped. But then the other day at the bar, I just felt it. And had I been there in person to see you guys earlier, I’d have known even faster because this energy?” she pointed back and forth between us. “Palpable as fuck.”
I had to laugh even if it meant I wasn’t as slick as I thought, and later in the meal, when I snuck inside to pay the bill before Adam, he found me and clapped his hand on my shoulder.
And though I expected his usual jokes, all he had for me was a quiet, close-lipped smile that was so obviously emotional that I had to give him shit.
Or at least try, but then he said, “Stop. Just… let me have this fuckin’ moment, okay? Because if I had to pick anyone in the world for her, it would be you in a heartbeat,” he said, humbling me so fast I couldn’t even crack a teasing grin anymore. “You were the one who taught me how to be a better brother for her. You always looked out for her from the start, and I’m not even sure who’s luckier. You or her.”
His hand was still on my shoulder as I broke into a smile as I nodded. “I appreciate it, man.”
“I’m sure I’m supposed to give you the customary ‘if you hurt her, I’ll kill you’ speech, but I’m pretty sure that’s yours to give,” Adam said, making me laugh. “So, you guys going off on the secret birthday adventure today?”
“Yep.”
He grinned. “Dude. This girl hasn’t been anywhere in the world except our shitty hometown in Jersey and the lower half of Manhattan, and she only got her driver’s license two years ago. You’re really going to trust her to drive you to some mystery location?”
“You bet. If she wants it, she gets it. I’m not even going to ask questions at this point,” I said, making him laugh and joke about how I was already whipped. And though I easily roasted him right back, it didn’t take away from what I’d just said, especially as I caught Holland’s eye through the front window of the restaurant.
A piece of her blonde hair blew in the breeze as she smiled at me, warming my entire soul and affirming what I knew in my heart as fact now.
That I would do anything for this girl.
And there was nowhere in the world I wouldn’t go for her.
Hiking.
That was apparently what Holland had in mind for my birthday surprise, and I wasn’t complaining.
But I was definitely perplexed.
And amused.
“Okay, but don’t you understand that hiking is never just hiking? It always serves a purpose, Iain,” she teased—teasing me in every way possible, actually, considering the fact that she was climbing ahead of me in these spandex-looking training shorts that made me want to spank her ass and fuck her right in these woods.
“I know, I know. There’s always a view of some sort at the top,” I said, though I had to wonder what kind of view we were going to get in this random area about an hour-and-a-half outside the city.
But as we traversed another twenty minutes up a steep incline of grass, dirt sticks and trees, I felt a natural rush in my veins. My blood start to pump. And when we got a little farther and I heard the unexpected sound of water, Holland turned to me with a bright smile for the look of realization on my face.