Miss Congeniality (25 page)

“I’ll think about it. I can’t promise I’ll go, but I will think about it for you.” She stood up, ready to go inside.

“That’s the problem with you, Alex. When are you going to start doing something for you?” She walked off, leaving him to his thoughts, and headed straight to her room. Lance still wasn’t back, and she checked her phone for any missed calls or messages. There weren’t any, so she simply went through her nighttime routine and went to bed alone. Sleep evaded her because her mind wouldn’t shut down from everything she had heard. She never knew her brother had such hidden depths, or kept all those secrets for years. She finally drifted off, awaking slightly when she felt the dip in her bed.

“Shh,” he said, after she turned her head to talk to him. She fell back to sleep, encased in Lance’s arms.

B
rea woke up slowly the next day, feeling the sheets beside her. They had cooled, and she thought she might have dreamed his presence except there was a telltale indention where he slept, and his clothes from yesterday were in a pile on the floor. She rolled over on her back, staring at the plastic stars she stuck on the ceiling years ago, wanting to block out the potential conversation in her head. She dragged herself from bed and into the shower, figuring if she was going to fight with him, she should at least look good doing it. That way, he could at least see what he would be giving up if he continued to act like an asshole. Forty-five minutes and one pep talk later and she found herself following the smells and sounds from the kitchen. Everyone was in there except her, and Lance and Alex were joking about something, shooting the shit at the kitchen table drinking coffee. Well, that was something, at least.

“She’s awake,” Alex alerted everyone to her presence. Lance’s head shot up and green eyes burned into her, his thoughts indiscernible. He simply held out his hand, and she went without hesitation. He pulled her close for a kiss before setting her at the kitchen table so he could make her some coffee.
Someone knows he fucked up
, she thought.
Wonder how long I can milk this?
She noticed Alex looking at her, telling her he knew what she was thinking, but she didn’t care. She maturely stuck her tongue out at him and accepted the coffee cup Lance gave her. She drank deeply, her heart warmed when she realized he fixed it the way she always did.

“Talk later?” she asked, not wanting to get into another argument with her family around.

“Sure,” he agreed, drinking his own coffee.

“Leave the boy alone,” Alex put his two cents in. “Everyone knows he was only looking out for your best interest, even if it was against your dear, old brother.”

She narrowed her eyes. “It’s none of your business what we have to talk about, so leave us alone.”

He arched his eyebrow and leaned in toward her. “Oh, so I’m mistaken in thinking you are going to try and filet the man for getting mad about you paying for my bail, and then leaving so he could calm down?”

“Shut up, Alex,” she mumbled. “What’s for breakfast?” She directed her question at Silvia, who was at the stove with Derrick.

“I’m making blueberry pancakes.” Her favorite.

“Maybe I should come home more often,” she joked.

“Maybe you should,” Alex said pointedly, an uncomfortable silence settling over the kitchen. Everyone knew he was talking about more than food.

“I’m sorry I haven’t been around when you needed me,” she apologized.

“I told you to go and never look back.”

“I know you did, but you don’t have to defend me. I knew what I was doing, and as much as I loved you guys, it just became easier to stay away. Especially when I had paparazzi who would just show up randomly, or people always taking pictures. I didn’t want people to know Miss Congeniality was actually the daughter of a junkie prostitute.”

Sympathy showed in his crystal-blue eyes. “I get it; I didn’t want them to know the truth about you, either. But the crap about you being the nice, innocent one? Do they even know you?”

“Shut up! I try to be nice sometimes. I mostly just got it because I was never in trouble, unlike Raquel.”

“Yet lately, you can’t seem to stay out of trouble,” Lance threw in his two cents.

She turned toward him. “I think it’s the company I’ve been keeping lately. The latest poll said I should dump you, so I can go back to being the nice one.”

His jaw dropped. “You’re lying.”

“I’m not. Henry, my PR rep, sent it to me last night. The article basically said since I’ve been with you I’ve been cursing more, drinking shots like an alcoholic, driving a motorcycle, and getting into a bar fight. One girl commented they’re just waiting on the tattoo. He also said I should really take into consideration what everyone is saying if I want to salvage my career.”

“Your career is fine,” Lance argued. “Why the hell do you keep him around?”

Brea shrugged. “I don’t know. He was good for a while, but I think he is starting to overstep his bounds.”

“Ya think?” Lance snorted.

“Wait a second,” Alex interrupted. “So, you’re telling me people really have an opinion about you dating him and the shit you do on your own time?”

She nodded. “They’ve been doing it for years. I’ve just stayed out of trouble until this guy.” She jerked her thumb at Lance.

“Unbelievable.” Alex looked flabbergasted. “And you want me to move to that shark tank?”

“With all my heart,” Brea answered honestly. Lance laid his hand over hers and squeezed his silent show of support.

“Wanna talk about what happened yesterday?” Brea asked Lance while they walked holding hands to a diner down the street.

“We can,” he answered. “I’m not going to apologize for trying to protect you because you are my responsibility at this point. Not your brother, who I like, not your aunt and uncle, and definitely not your mother. You. So if I stepped on your toes yesterday, it wasn’t my intention, but I am going to make sure you’re okay.” It was hard to stay mad at the man when he said stuff like that.

“I understand, and I will always appreciate the fact you wanted to stick up for me. However, it’s not what you say; it’s how you say it. You yelled at me and then you just left, without telling me where you were going or what you were doing.”

“I wasn’t aware I needed to check in with you.” She stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, ready to yell at him again for trying to make a joke when she was being serious.

“I’m serious. I don’t expect you to check in with me, and I never have, but if you’re pissed and we’re not at home, then I need to know you aren’t going to take off.”

“I told you I wasn’t.”

“But I didn’t know. I waited for hours for you to get back, and you never did. I had to field questions from everyone; sympathetic looks told me they knew we were on the outs. I didn’t appreciate it.” He slung his arm over her shoulder and leaned down to kiss her.

“I’m sorry you had to try to defend me.”

“It wasn’t that; I could take that part. You’re my boyfriend, and I will always defend you in public, even if I don’t necessarily agree with you. But I needed you last night. Alex and I dealt with some heavy shit, and I really needed someone to lean on.” She looked up and him, wanting him to understand the severity of her next statement. “If you can’t be that person, let me know.” Confusion showed in his green eyes.

“What are you trying to say?”

“I’m saying I needed you and you weren’t there. I need to know that isn’t going to happen again.”

“Look, I’m not going to say it will never happen again. I’m saying I fucked up, and I shouldn’t have left you the way I did, and I will do my level best to never hurt you like that again.” She mulled it over. He hadn’t promised it would never happen again, but who could? Although she felt like they had been together forever, they were still in the ‘get to know you’ phase of their relationship, and there would be missteps. The important thing was to correct it so they wouldn’t make the same mistakes twice.

“Okay.” She reached up and kissed him before going into the diner.

“So, what is this place?” he asked when they were seated.

“It’s our old hangout. We used to come here after school and get milkshakes and fries.”

“Nice,” he said, noticing the diner was deliberately designed to look like a 1950s soda shop.

“Brea?” The waitress looked down in shock. Brea squealed and jumped up, hugging the waitress tight.

“Shannon! How in the hell are you? Let me look at you!” Brea held Shannon out at arm’s length, taking in her old high school friend.

“Lance, this is Shannon,” she introduced the two. “We were cheerleaders together, and she was one of my best friends.”

“Ahh, the beloved cheerleader,” he quipped.

“Shut up,” she told him before turning back to Shannon. “So, what have you been up to?”

“Nothing, working at the diner with Jimmy Mason.” Jimmy’s parents owned the diner, so it only made sense he would take over the reins of working there. However, there was something in the way she said it that had her questioning.

“Jimmy Mason?”

Shannon held up her left hand, wagging her ring finger to show her wedding band.

“Oh, my gosh!” Brea grabbed her hand, both girls squealing over the ring in a way that had Lance rolling his eyes. “How long?”

“Three years.”

“Wow! Congratulations!” she said enthusiastically. She was so excited, thinking of everything she had missed since being away. Maybe her no-contact rule wasn’t the best decision she ever made.

“And guess what.” She leaned in close so other people wouldn’t overhear. “I’m pregnant.” Brea squealed, waving her hands in the air. She hugged Shannon, kissing her cheek.

“I am so happy for you.”

“Thanks! We are thrilled. But I’m not far along, so we aren’t telling many people yet. But seeing you here is about as rare as a blood-red moon, so I figured you were safe.” Brea laughed at the joke, overwhelmed by feelings of guilt.

“Yeah, about that.”

“It’s okay.” Shannon cut off any apology she was going to make. “I’m not going to say it hasn’t been hard, not having one of my best friends here, but I understand why you did it.”

“Why is everyone giving me a free pass on bad behavior?” she asked Lance, knowing he wouldn’t answer.

“Because no one wants to imagine what it’s like to live with your mother, so we don’t know what it would take to get over it. If you needed to disappear for a while, we’ll support it.”

“My mother doesn’t excuse bad behavior.”

“Hell, that woman could excuse most anything. Are you going to go see her?”

“Hadn’t really thought about it.”

Shannon leaned over and patted her hand. “I think you should.”

“Shannon.”

“I’m serious. She is a big part of the reason why you didn’t come back. I know it’s because you didn’t want to see her. You need to see her, though, because you are still looking at her as if you’re the eight-year-old girl she neglected, not an adult who just seriously needs help. She can’t hurt you anymore.”

“I know,” she said defensively, not liking the way Shannon hit the nail on the head.

“All right,” Shannon said, sliding out of the booth, “as long as you don’t stay away too long like you did last time.”

“I won’t,” she promised. “Who else is going to help spoil your baby?”

Shannon laughed, patting her stomach. “Every damn person I know. But he or she could use another aunt.”

“I’d like that.” Brea smiled.