Lukas taps the top of his bottle against mine and takes a drink. I take a swig off my bottle and glance over at Julia, standing with Parker, Asher, Lilah, and her fiancé, Ben. All five of them are watching us shamelessly.
Lilah cups her hands around her mouth like a megaphone. “Now kiss!” she hollers. Half the patrons in the bar whip their heads around to look at her and then pivot on us. Lukas throws her the bird and rolls his eyes so hard I’m surprised he doesn’t hurt himself.
We join the others. Julia purses her lips and raises an eyebrow at Lukas. “We’re good?”
He shrugs. “Yeah, but if you hurt him, I will come for you,” he teases, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. “My man here is sensitive.”
Julia tucks her tongue against the inside of her cheek, trying not to laugh as I shrug his arm off and pull her toward me. “You know, usually, brothers get protective of their little sisters, not the guys they’re dating,” she says as she nestles her back against my chest, leaning into me when I wrap my arms around her waist.
“Yeah, but we all know you could kick his ass, my ass, probably even Asher’s ass, so…”
Asher grunts, but Lukas shrugs at him. “You know it’s true. She’s scrappy, and she likes to get the drop on people. Never forget the week we snuck the bootleg VHS tape of First Blood from Gran. Julia was tackling us out of trees and shit.”
He is certainly in his element. The tension is gone, and he has everyone laughing as he hands Parker a root beer. He wraps an arm around her shoulder, smiling at her.
Ben pipes up. “But she couldn’t kick mine?”
“Nah, Lilah’s too possessive. She wouldn’t let another woman near your ass, even to whoop it.”
Lilah laughs and throws a straw wrapper at Lukas.
He dodges it. “Tell me I’m wrong!”
Half an hour later, the front door bangs open. Gran, Sally, Anita, and Josie stream in. Sally’s swinging her scarf like a cabaret dancer, and I’d put money on the fact that they’ve been pre-gaming.
“Oh shit,” Asher laughs. “It’s about to get out of control.”
Ben grins at him, “At least your grandmother doesn’t try to feel up your biceps every chance she gets. The number of times she’s asked me to help her cross the street just so she can get all handsy…”
The foursome joins us, handing out slightly wobbly hugs. Gran doesn’t give Julia and I a chance to untangle ourselves before wrapping us in a great big hug.
“Thank you, Jesus!” she calls to the ceiling dramatically. “I’ve been waiting my entire life for this moment!” Sally wraps her fuzzy pink scarf around my neck before dragging Gran away and toward the bar.
“Sorry! The old girl can’t hold her Slippery Nipples like she used to!” she cackles over her shoulder.
Julia shudders in my arms, pretending to gag. I’m shaking with laughter, but a minute later, someone else walks through the door and my blood runs cold.
“What the fuck?” I mutter. Jules follows my eye line, cocking her head to the side.
“Javier?”
My brother waves at us from the doorway and I wrap my arms around Julia just a fraction tighter. I wish I was happy to see him. Iwantto be happy to see him. But all I can picture is the way Julia used to look at him, and it makes me sick to my stomach.
“What are you doing here?” I ask as he joins us.
“Hi to you too,” he chuckles, running a hand through his hair. “Well, look at you two!”
If he wasn’t my brother, I think I’d like to punch him in his smug face.
“What are you doing here?” I repeat. Julia’s hand strokes my forearm surreptitiously and I mentally pump the brakes.I don’t hate my brother. I don’t hate my brother. I don’t hate my brother.
“I just flew back into town. The firm is opening up a San Francisco office. They added me as a partner and I’m spearheading the logistics on this end. Isn’t that great? I’ll be in Sonoma every weekend.”
Oh, fuck me. Because this is what I need right now, right?
I finally,finallygot through to Jules and now I really fucking wish I’d gotten more out of her than “we’ll see where this goes.”
No… that’s stupid. She’s better than that, and I know it. She’s not going to toss me aside just because Javier turns up again. I need to be decent to him. Or at least try.