My head jerks up when I hear someone clearing his throat. I put my phone back in my pocket and find my brother staring at me.
“Hey, little bro,” I greet him, trying not to feel like a bastard for hurting him. I’ve not told him how things are between me and Gabby. I’m going to have to soon. With each passing day, it’s becoming more and more apparent that he’s not going to give up otherwise.
“Dom,” he says. “You th-th-think we c-c-could talk tomor-rr-row?”
I swallow, hating the look on Thomas’s face when he struggles with his words. Thomas has been dealt way too many hard knocks. I’ve been around him, watched how he struggled. I’ve tried to shield him from that shit as much as I could. Thomas is not weak, but I think he gets in his head and lacks the self-confidence to see that he’s not.
“Sure. I’ll be around. What’s up?”
“I just… I n-need to talk to you.”
“About Gabby?” I venture. Hope blooms in my chest. Did he finally listen to her when she told him she didn’t want a future with him? Fuck, finally. I’ve tried on my own, but Thomas won’t listen. He thinks I’m just trying to push him out of the picture. Gabby’s the one that has to convince him he’s never been in the picture. It’s a hard place for me to be in because I’ve spent my life protecting my brother from pain. I hate that I’m the reason he’ll suffer his biggest hurt. Losing a woman like Gabby is something that might be impossible to recover from.
I don’t want to find out.
I see the fire that briefly enters my brother’s eyes. How can a man carry a torch that burns that bright when the woman has told him there’s no hope? I just don’t understand it. Is it because he’s so shy with other women because of his stutter? Did he choose Gabby because she’s the only one he’s comfortable with and doesn’t want to let her go?
“Y-yes.”
“Okay, man. We’ll talk tomorrow. Want to go grab some food that Mom and Dad paid a fortune for?” I joke, already knowing he won’t agree.
“N-no. I think I’m g-going to sneak out. Cr-cr-crowds aren’t m-my thing.”
“Mom will skin you alive,” I warn, joking. Mom babies us when she can get away with it. Dad doesn’t let her too often. He growls and says she’ll make us soft. She’ll roll her eyes, and they never fail to kiss.
When I was in school, most all our friends had parents that were divorced. My parents? They’re so much in love it’s crazy. Dad says all the time that Mom is the reason he’s still on this earth, and when I watch them together, I figure he’s probably right. I like what I got with Gabby. The sex is good. I have feelings for her that I’ve never experienced in my life, but it’s not so intense that I think either one of us would die if we weren’t together. I don’t want that. I mean, I am glad for my parents that they have that—but I never want to be that dependent on another person. Ever.
“Yeah,” he laughs. “T-talk t-t-to you t-t-tomorrow.”
I frown. His stutter is worse today. I need to get Mom to suggest he start going back to that doctor who did the electric shocks on his vocal cords—or something like that. It seemed to help. The doctors all say there’s no physical cause for stuttering, but if someone in the family had the condition, it can be likely a child does, too. That gutted Dad when he heard. He doesn’t know his family history, but since it’s not in Mom’s, he shoulders the blame for Thomas’s speech difficulties.
I shake off my thoughts as Thomas walks away. I don’t want to think about any of it today. Tomorrow, I’ll talk with my brother. After that, I’ll finally be able to publicly take Gabby as my old lady. It’s going to piss her dad off and give my old man some grief, but it needs to be done. This way, I can keep losers like Brandon Lavers away from her.
With that in mind, I head toward the garage. It’s time to remind Gabby that I know just how to work her body in a way idiots like Lavers can never achieve.
Chapter 3
Gabby
I feel his eyes on me before I even make it into the garage office where we agreed to meet. Anticipation has my body feeling as if it’s on fire. It’s always like this when Dom is around. It’s as if my body is tuned in only to him. I’ve been in love with him since I was a kid, and it only developed in intensity after our first kiss. Our connection only deepened after we had sex. Dom might have been my first, but I was his too. Maybe that is what made it so special.