Best Friend's Brother #3 (Best Friend's Brother Romance Series - Book #3)

Best
Friend’s Brother #3

BOOK
3

By
Alycia Taylor

Copyright
2015.
All rights reserved.

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CHAPTER
ONE

ALEXA

I stood in the alcove of the front door and watched
Ian drive away. This day had started out so good that it was hard for me to
believe that it ended so badly. I let myself into the house and I was
disappointed to see the light on in the living room. That meant Dad was still
up. He always turned the lights off before he went to bed. I stood in the small
foyer wiping at my face. I didn’t want my dad to know that I’d been crying. He
would just start worrying about me again.
 

“Alexa?”

“Yeah Dad, it’s me,” my voice cracked. Damn it! I
heard him get up off the couch, so I just gave up and went in. “Hi Dad, why are
you still up?”

“I was waiting for you,” he said. “I just wanted to
make sure that you’re okay. Are you okay?”

“I’m okay.”

“You don’t look okay baby, you’ve been crying.”

“I’m okay Daddy, really. My emotions have just been
crazy, you know? They’re all over the place and I cry at the drop of a pin
lately.”

“Come sit with me for a minute,” he said. I didn’t
want to. I just wanted to go to my room and be alone. His eyes looked so
worried though that I felt bad. I went over and sat on the couch with him.
“Where were you tonight?”

“I went out with Ian. We met some of his friends at
the over eighteen club downtown.”

“Ian’s been around a lot lately.”

“Yeah…”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

No, I wasn’t, obviously. I wanted to hear why he
seemed not to though so I said, “Do you not like him, Dad?”

“It’s not that,” he said. “I don’t really know him.
What I’ve heard of him and seen of him…it seems like he and Emma were polar
opposites. She was always such a happy girl. She had such a sunny disposition
all the time. Ian seems…I don’t know, sulky, brooding…I guess women are
attracted to that. I just hate to think of you getting with someone who will
bring you down.”

I had tears in my eyes from when he mentioned Emma,
but I laughed through them when he said that about what women are attracted
to
. “Not all women like that sort of thing, Dad. His
brooding is mostly related to the fact that his sister just died. He’s not
always like that. He has regular moods just like anyone else. Anyways, you
don’t have to worry about it anymore.”

“Is that why you were crying? Did he do something?”
Dad looked like he was going to go after him. It was funny to me how parents
lost sight of their own mortality when it came to defending their kids.

“No, Ian didn’t do anything, Daddy. I just decided
that we were spending too much time together. We were both just looking for a way
to get past losing Emma and our emotions got all mixed up, I think.” I was
saying all of this to my dad because I couldn’t bring myself to tell him about
Ian’s past for some reason. I was angry with him, but still protective. It was
strange. As I said it though, I realized that maybe it was true, partly. Maybe
I had only become so infatuated with him in the first place because of Emma. I
had to have seen him before at least some point over the years…but I hadn’t
even noticed him until Emma died.

“Well I know that you need to have someone to talk
to about her,” Dad was saying, “But I think you’re right. I’m not sure Ian was
the best choice. One person grieving in a relationship is bad; two is a recipe
for disaster. If you need to talk to me about anything…”

I forced a smile. He was trying so hard. I just
wasn’t sure what I needed right now. Ian seemed to be the only thing that
worked. “I know, Dad. I appreciate it, thank you,” I yawned and said, “I think
I’m going to go to bed.”

“Okay honey. Please let me know if you need
anything. I know that I can’t fix this, but it breaks my heart to watch you go
through this.”

I stood up and kissed him on the top of his head. “I
will, Daddy. Thank you.”

I left him sitting worried on the couch and when I
got to my room I thought once again how messed up things were. He worries about
me because I lost my best friend and I worry about him, worrying about me. Ian
and I had been worried about each other, but now I think I put my faith in the
wrong person there…I don’t know why life has to be so damned complicated.

I changed into my night clothes and went into the
bathroom and brushed my teeth and washed my face. Sometimes, going through the
motions of normalcy helped. I looked at my face in the mirror and realized that
tonight wasn’t one of those sometimes. The stress was still very clearly
showing on my face.

Before I got into bed I looked at my phone. Ian
hadn’t texted me or tried to call. I was a little bit surprised about that at
first. Maybe I flattered myself, but I thought he would at least text. As I lay
down and thought about our conversation and the things I found out tonight I
realized that it was probably a sign that I had done the right thing. He
doesn’t have any more to add to what I’d heard because I was right. He was a
cheater, then and now. His friends all seemed either complacent about it all,
or amused. I shut off the lamp and tried to go to sleep but my mind just
wouldn’t shut off
.
 
It
was hours later before my mind finally became too exhausted to continue batting
around all of the thoughts that were wandering around in there. I slipped into
a dreamless sleep. It was like the sleep of the dead.

I woke up the next morning when the sun pushed its
way through the blinds in my room. They were closed, but the sun was insistent
and found any tiny little crack that it could to slip in and assault my eyes.
It reminded me of the day I woke up in my dorm room…the day I found out that
Emma was dead. Suddenly that wave of grief that always stalked me crashed over
my head like a tsunami. My chest physically hurt and before I even knew that I
was crying again, the tears were already flowing freely down my cheeks. God, I
miss her. She’s the one that I would talk to about things like what happened
with Ian. She would either agree with me or she’d set me straight…she was
always honest with her advice and opinions. Sometimes I took it and sometimes I
didn’t, but we always respected each other. We always loved each other. We
always were there for each other.

I lay there in my bed and sobbed like a baby,
soaking my pillow and remembering all of the times when I had a broken heart,
all I had to do in order to feel a little better was call Emma. She would talk
me through it and restore my self-confidence and having me laughing before it
was all over. What was I going to do without her for the rest of my life? I
didn’t have other friends like her. The rest of them were just superficial
friends. They’re “hang-out” friends. Not Emma. She was the closest thing that I
ever had to a sister. I loved her so much and she loved me back. I realized
that at least being with Ian had distracted me. I’d been able to carry on with
my daily routine because I wasn’t completely focused on losing Emma. Instead I
felt like we were keeping her alive in a way by sharing our memories of her. I
didn’t even have that now and I had no idea how to carry on alone.

I turned into the pillow and closed my eyes. I just
wanted to sleep. Sleep would let me forget and make the time pass. I wanted the
time to pass quickly so maybe it wouldn’t hurt so much. People always say that it
gets easier with time. Well, bring on the time because this shit hurts so badly.

CHAPTER
TWO

IAN

I was pissed when I dropped Alexa off and I was
pissed when I was finally able to go to sleep. I hoped that sleep would help,
but I woke up as angry as I’d gone to bed. When my so-called “friends” started
running their mouths, I was embarrassed at first for Alexa to find out what a
delinquent I’d been in high school, but she totally overreacted. I had never
expected her to get all spun out over it like that. I never even asked her what
kind of stupid shit she did in high school. Everyone does stupid shit in high
school. I’m positive that she’s not completely innocent. Nobody’s so innocent
that
they
can judge someone else on what mistakes they’ve
made in the past. I lost a lot because of the shitty choices I made. I didn’t
get my high school diploma and I didn’t get my scholarship. I lost the respect
of a lot of people who had put their faith in me. Yes, I made mistakes. I made
a truckload of them. But I paid for them and she had no right getting all up on
her moral high horse and calling me a cheater. What the fuck is that? I didn’t
text her last night and I wasn’t going to today. That was it for me. I’m done. I
don’t need to be with someone who is so negative and judgmental. Maybe she’s
just immature, I don’t know. The bottom line is that I’d spent the past five
years of my life trying to overcome the self-esteem issues I had because of the
things I’d done and gain back some of the things I lost. My own family accepted
that I’d changed.
The whole family.
They all stood by
me. They knew I was just being a stupid kid and that didn’t make me a bad
person. I wasn’t going to waste time with someone who wasn’t even there still thought
they knew what it was like.

I got up and showered and after I dressed, I went to
the gym and did my workout. When I was finished with that, I called my trainer
to see if he had anyone around that I could spar
with
.
I needed to get free of some of this frustration.

“Hey Dean,
it’s
Ian.”

“Hey kid! What’s up?”

“I need to spar today. Is anyone around there that
might be up for it?”

“Vic is here.”

“Shit! He’s the only one?” Vic is a moose and I
can’t stand him.

Dean laughed. “Yeah, take it or leave it. I could
spar with you, I guess.”

“No thanks, I don’t want to hurt you.”

Dean laughed again. “So, should I tell Vic to wait
around?”

“Yeah, I’ll head over there now.”

Vic and I looked ridiculous together, besides the
fact that I couldn’t stand him. I really hated sparring with him. He was six
foot nine. Seriously, I know I’m stereotyping, but wouldn’t basketball have
made more sense?

“How’s things been little man?” This was Vic’s
regular greeting.

“I’m six-one, fucker.”

“Compared to me, that makes you a little man. Don’t
even get me started on what I saw in the showers last time we sparred.”

“Are you trying to piss me off enough to kick your
ass?”

“Come on little man, I’m just playing.”

“Let’s do this,” I said. We clapped gloves and
started circling each other. Vic threw out a wide hook and I dodged it and came
back with an upper cut that landed on his chin. It would have knocked a smaller
man on his ass, but Vic just shook his head like a wet dog and continued on. I
threw out a left hook but he dodged it and came back at me with a hook of his
own that caught me on the side of the head. I saw stars and it caused me to
take a couple of steps back to regain my balance. I found myself up against the
ropes of the training ring we use to spar in at
Dean’s
.
Vic kept coming at me, throwing punches, connecting with my chest and my oblique
enough to knock the wind out of me. I put my hand up to stop him and the son of
a bitch stepped back and said, “What happened little man, not as big as you
thought you were?”