Can't Let You Go: A Wheeler Brothers Novel (21 page)

"You gonna kick my ass again?" I ask, handing her the game controller.

"Probably." She gives me a smug grin. "But first I need something to drink." She sets the controller down and goes to the kitchen. "You want anything?"

"I'll take a Coke." I get up. "I'll be right back." I go to the bathroom and adjust myself in my jeans, then splash cold water on my face and the back of my neck. I was already hot, but now I'm burning up and need to cool down. I dry my face, then go to my dresser and find some basketball shorts to put on.

"You want a glass?" Jen asks.

I turn around. "For what?"

"Your Coke." Her eyes go down to my shorts, which are straining against my erection. I don't care if she sees it. She knows she turns me on. It's no secret. And she felt it when I was on top of her on the couch.

"I'll just drink out of the bottle."

Her eyes quickly move back to my face. "What'd you say?"

"The Coke. I'll just drink out of the bottle."

"Oh, yeah. Okay." She turns and walks out of the room.

We meet back on the couch and resume our game. She wins the first one, then I win the next. We're both competitive so we keep playing, alternating wins, until I finally win three in a row.

"That's it for tonight," she says, tossing her controller aside. We've been playing for hours and it's almost midnight. "I need to get some sleep and then I'll beat your ass tomorrow."

I smile. "Yeah, I don't think so."

We gather up the food wrappers and pop bottles scattered over the table and take them to the kitchen, tossing them in the garbage.

Jen yawns. "I'm really tired."

"Let me use the bathroom quick and then the bedroom's all yours."

"You're not sleeping there?" she asks as we walk down the hall.

"I'll take the couch tonight." I go in my room and straight to the bathroom.

"Bryce, that couch isn't big enough," she says, standing at the door as I brush my teeth.

"I'll be fine." I set my toothbrush in the holder and wipe my mouth on the towel.

"You said your back hurts. It'll hurt even worse sleeping on the couch."

"Guess we'll find out." I go past her out of the bathroom. "Goodnight."

As I'm leaving the bedroom, I hear her behind me. "Bryce?"

I turn back. "Yeah?"

"Thanks for letting me stay here. It's so much better than being at my mom's house."

"No problem."

She smiles. "And thanks for high school flashback night. I had fun."

"Same here." I smile back. "Especially since I crushed you in hockey."

"Hey!" She takes one of my pillows and throws it at me but I'm already out the door. "Just wait until tomorrow!" I hear her say.

Stopping at the hall closet, I grab a blanket, then go back to the bedroom and get the pillow she threw at me, which is sitting on the floor. She's in the bathroom with the door closed.

I return to the living room, turn off the lights, and lie down on the couch. It's not a bad couch, but I'm 6'4 and it's not long enough for someone as tall as me. My feet hang off the edge. I turn on my side and scrunch my legs up, which is even more uncomfortable than having my feet hang off.

A few minutes later I get a text. It's from Jen and says,
I feel bad you're sleeping out there. Would you just come in here?

I text back,
I'm good. Just go to sleep.

Another text pops up from Jen.
You're so frustrating.

She's referring to more than the fact that I'm sleeping on the couch. She's frustrated with my refusal to take our relationship farther, which we easily could've done tonight. But we can't do that. We can't go there. I know she understands that. She just doesn't accept it.

An hour later, I'm still trying to get comfortable on the couch. It's just too damn small for someone my size to sleep on. I'm going to have to go sleep in the bed. Besides, it's where I want to be. I want to be next to Jen. She might be moving away soon and this week may be my last chance to spend time with her. From next week until the end of the semester, she'll be busy with classes and working her three jobs. And any free time she has will be spent sending out resumes.

I take my pillow and make my way down the hall to my room. The door is open and through the hint of light coming in from outside, I see Jen curled up under the blanket. I go around to the other side of the bed and slowly get in, trying not to wake her.

"Bryce?" she mumbles.

"Yeah," I whisper. "Sorry I woke you up. I couldn't sleep on the couch."

"I told you," she says. "I bet your giant feet were hanging off." She quietly laughs.

"You think that's funny?" I slide up next to her and slip my arm around her waist to pull her in for a hug, then feel her soft skin against mine and realize she isn't wearing a shirt. I move my hand down to check that she's wearing pants. She is, but the topless thing has thrown me. I wasn't expecting this. Now it's going to be even harder to sleep next to her.

"What happened to your sweatshirt?" I ask.

"I got too hot and I was too tired to get up and find a t-shirt."

"You want me to get you one?"

"No. I don't need it." She backs up, pressing her warm body into mine.

Despite telling myself I would stay on my own side of the bed, I can't do it. She feels too damn good for me to pull away. I bend my legs slightly to conform to hers and wrap my arm fully around her waist, holding her even closer. Her hand goes over mine and when I lift my fingers slightly she laces my hand with hers, just like I wanted her to do.

We know each other so well that we can read each other's movements. We know what they mean. The same with our tone when we talk, and our faces when our expressions change. I don't think I'll ever have that kind of connection with someone else, and I don't think I want to. Jen has a special place in my heart, and even when she leaves and moves on with someone else, she'll still have that place in my heart. She'll always be with me, even when she's gone.

"Goodnight," Jen whispers.

"Goodnight," I whisper back, then without even thinking, I gently kiss her shoulder. I'd like to keep going, letting my mouth work its way down every inch of her beautiful body, but I won't let myself do it. So instead, I hold her in my arms, wishing we could be like this forever. But since we can't, I'll take tonight.

The next morning, I wake up on my other side. Jen's body is pressed into my back and her arm is around my chest. This is how I want to wake up every day, with the feel of Jen wrapped around me, or me around her. I've even imagined it in my head. I've pictured Jen and me in the future, living together, waking up with her in my bed. And then I see her getting up, putting on a suit, and going to her corporate job while I throw on jeans and a t-shirt and pound a hammer all day. That's when I wake up from my fantasy and realize we don't fit. She needs to be with someone better. Someone smarter. Someone she wouldn't be embarrassed to introduce her boss to. That someone isn't me.

Jen's hand moves softly over my chest. "Are you awake?"

"Yeah. Do you know what time it is?"

"Nine-fifteen. I just checked my phone. Are you late for work?"

"I'm not working today." I roll onto my back but Jen's hand remains on my chest. "My dad texted me last night and told me to take today off since I worked so much last week finishing that kitchen."

"So what are you doing today?"

"Trying to fix your car."

"Oh, yeah, I forgot about that. I guess we should get going."

"No. I want you to stay here where it's warm. Besides, weren't you planning to work on your paper?"

"Yeah, I guess. How long do you think it'll take to fix the car?"

"I won't know until I figure out what's wrong with it. If it's not something simple, I might have to tow it to my dad's house and work on it there."

"If you do, I'll come over and keep you company."

"You don't have to. You need to work on your paper."

"I have all week to do that."

My phone rings on the nightstand and I reach over to get it. "It's my dad," I say to Jen. I answer it. "Hey, Dad, what's up?"

"Don't bother going to the house on Jackson tomorrow. We have to postpone the job until the weather clears up."

"What weather?" I glance down at Jen, who's now lying on my chest, the blanket pulled up over her. If anyone saw us right now, with Jen topless and lying on my bare chest, they'd assume we're dating, and yet we're just friends. At least that's what we tell ourselves.

"Haven't you looked out your window?" my dad asks. "We had sleet overnight and an inch of snow. Supposed to get a lot more snow today or tomorrow and then it might turn to rain. And the wind is really picking up. It's too hard to work under those conditions. I told the homeowners we're going to have to postpone the job until next week."

The project on Jackson Street is an add-on to a house; a three season room that'll be built just off the kitchen. It'll take a few weeks to complete. Austin's going to work on it with me, along with a small crew of guys we've worked with in the past.

"So where am I working this week?" I ask.

"You're not. I'm giving you the week off. Spend it with Jen. Take her to the movies or do something else she likes."

I'm getting the feeling this is a set-up. My dad keeps telling me not to let Jen go so this could be his last attempt to get us together. But he didn't have any control over the weather so maybe this isn't a set-up. Still, he could've assigned me to work somewhere else.

"But doesn't Nash need help with—"

"Nash doesn't need help," he says. "Neither does Jake. You're taking the week off and so is Austin. You've both been putting in a lot of hours the past month and could use some time off. And Austin's been wanting some time to work on his music so now he'll have all week to focus on it."

"What's he doing today?" I ask because I'm hoping he can come with me to work on Jen's car. If I can get it started, I'll need Austin to drive it back.

"He's still asleep. I swear, that boy could sleep all day. So are you going over to check on Jen's car?"

"Yeah, but I gotta shower and get ready. I just woke up."

"Oh." I hear the surprise in his voice. He knows I never sleep this late. "So um, where's Jen?"

"Still asleep."

There's silence on his end and then he says, "Well, I guess I'll let you go."

"Yeah. Hey, I might need to tow Jen's car to your garage and work on it there."

"That's fine. I was working out there yesterday so I've already got the heat running."

My dad installed heaters in the garage back when I started spending all my time out there. I'd be working on engines in the middle of winter, freezing my ass off. Then one day in January I got home from school and the garage was almost as warm as the house. Those heaters were one of the best gifts my dad ever gave me.

"Thanks, Dad. I'll let you know if I'm bringing it over."

"Sounds good. Talk to you soon."

We hang up and Jen looks up at me. "What'd he say?"

"That it's snowing."

She sits up. "Really?"

The blanket fell off her when she sat up and my eyes go straight to her breasts. She has great breasts. Perky and just the right size. Not too big, not too small. She quickly picks up the blanket and covers herself. "So how much snow?"

"Just an inch, but he said there's more coming. I'm going to clean up and get to work on your car before the storm rolls in."

"We're getting a storm? Like an actual winter storm?"

"I'm not sure. My dad made it sound like a mix of snow and sleet along with some heavy winds."

She sighs. "Great weather for spring break."

"Yeah, I know. And with this shitty weather, the house add-on over on Jackson has been postponed until next week. So you're stuck with me."

She gets a big grin on her face. "You mean you're not working this week?"

"Nope. My dad is making me take it off. Austin too."

"That's awesome! We can hang out all week. Go to the movies. Stay up late. Sleep in. I'll hurry and get my paper done so we can do stuff."

"I thought you wanted to spend the week searching for jobs."

"I will, but that doesn't take all week."

"Don't you have to work at the restaurant?"

She lies back down on the bed. "I'm kind of, um...on probation there. Because of what my mom did."

"Probation?" I turn on my side, facing her. "What the hell does that mean?"

"It means I'm not allowed to work there for at least a week. Maybe longer."

"Just because your mom showed up?"

"Jerry told the owner that some of the customers complained about my mom making a scene. I don't think it's true. I think Jerry's just being a jerk. He's never liked me. And he knew he wouldn't need me to work this week. The restaurant is always dead during spring break. Anyway, the owner told him to put me on disciplinary probation, which means taking away all my shifts. I'm hoping I can go back in a week but I'm worried they're going to fire me."