Out Of The Friend Zone (15 page)

"Now why would I do that?" She ran her index finger down the side of his face.

Chandler reached up and pulled her hand away from his face. He spun her around slowly, taking in every inch of her. "God, you're beautiful!"

She didn't have a chance to respond; he was too busy ravaging her lips with his. After the kiss he laughed. "See what you do to me, just by looking at you?"

Brynn laughed. "Well, turnabout's fair play!" She walked away from him and into the kitchen. Chandler followed her like a lost puppy dog. When he walked in, he saw Brynn bent over, taking the food out of the oven directly in front of him. He couldn't tear his eyes away from her round bottom sheathed in black leather.

"I don't think I'll be able to make it through the night...You are staying here, aren't you?"

"Well, I wasn't sure if you wanted me to," Brynn said.

"I want nothing more than to have you in my bed tonight." Chandler looked into her eyes. Brynn nodded, unable to speak when she saw all the feelings and emotions shining there. "Good. Now, do you think you can finish up in here? I need to go take a cold shower before everyone gets here. If I'm not down soon, it's all because of you!"He gave Brynn a quick kiss, then retreated upstairs.

Brynn smiled as she watched him run up the stairs, glad knowing that she was having as much of an effect on him as he was on her. It was going to be a long night!

B
efore Chandler was able to make it back downstairs, some of the dinner guests began showing up. Brynn didn't have any problem entertaining them, especially since Zaiden and Nyla were the first ones there. Zaiden knew the two guys, Pete and Tony, who had shown up after he did, so he helped Brynn by keeping them company until Chandler showed back up. Brynn was thankful to Zaiden for helping her, and she was even seeing him in a whole new light from when they went on their 'date'. Brynn was also happy because it gave her and Nyla some 'girl time' before everyone else started to show up.

"So, things must be getting serious between you and Zaiden! Seeing him again, for what, the third weekend in a row?" Brynn teased.

"More like we've barely left each other's side since we met, except to go to work. Strangely serious, by my standards anyway," Nyla laughed. "So, what about you and Chandler?"

"We're just seeing where things lead us. That's about all the commitment we can give each other right now, but I care about him a lot, enough to scare me, and I think he cares about me too...I know he cares about me," Brynn said with conviction.

"Well, good for you. Any word from the frog since Prince Charming saved you from him last week?"

"No, but he'll probably come back and do some other dumb ass thing. Thank God for Chandler!"

"Now that's just what I like to hear...My little Brynn thanking God for me!" Chandler said as he walked into the kitchen behind Brynn, and wrapped his arms around her waist. He nuzzled his lips in her neck, breathing in the scent of her perfume.

"Yeah, no better topic came up, so we had to discuss my annoying neighbor," Brynn teased. "You know, you're nose is awfully cold. Have a nice shower?"

"Ah, you're just too funny!" He unwrapped his arms from Brynn and went over to give Nyla a polite kiss on her cheek. "You look great tonight. Dress up in order to catch the eye of our fair ball player?" he asked, looking at her white leather A-line mini skirt and black and white print one-shoulder shirt.

"Oh, honey, Nyla doesn't need the attention of the fair Moose...she has the attention of your buddy Zaiden, remember?" Brynn told him.

"Still!?" Chandler asked, shocked that the two of them were still together. Zaiden had never been one to stick around longer than a week or so, and from what Brynn had told him, Nyla was usually a one night deal. He was really surprised that the two players were still playing together.

"Well, what can I say? Poor Zaiden just can't get enough of me!" Nyla laughed as Chandler and Brynn both rolled their eyes.

Brynn and Nyla made their way back to the living room shortly after Chandler answered the door. Brynn didn't want to seem anti-social, especially to the couple of friends of Chandler that she would be meeting for the first time tonight. When they entered the living room, dinner was going to start soon, but she wanted to say hello to everyone first.

Both girls were introduced to Pete, Tony, and Alex, friends of both Chandler and Zaiden. Nyla was also introduced to Mike Mussina, as she shook his hand in awe. Brynn then said hello to him, and thanked him for coming. Mike thanked her for cooking by giving her a hug, and when he released her, Chandler immediately pulled Brynn back into his arms.

Mike looked curiously at the scene before him. "Am I missing something here? Are you two together, or are you just friends?"

"We're together," Chandler admitted, for the first time to anyone. All of his friends seemed happy to hear it, and patted him on the back in congratulations.

"Good for you man. It's about time," Mike told him, his voice full of sincerity.

"Yeah, I know," Chandler agreed.

"You're one lucky man, you know that?" Mike openly eyed Brynn up and down.

"Do I ever!" Chandler smiled.

"So, how about dinner? Everyone must be hungry?" Brynn led them all into the dining room and showed them where to sit. She and Chandler went into the kitchen to bring the food out.

"So, was it weird for you to tell them that we're together?" she asked when they were alone in the kitchen getting the food.

"Actually, it was really easy. It just felt right. Almost as right as this..." he said, as he pulled her into a kiss.

"Mmm, that did feel right, but watch out or you'll need another cold shower!"

"Yeah, about that...I'm not really fond of them, so how about we keep them to a minimum?"

Brynn laughed as she handed some food to Chandler to bring to the table. She grabbed the rest and headed to the dining room. Everyone was passing the wine and the food by the time she and Chandler sat down, with an abundance of conversation and laughter being shared. To Brynn, it seemed as though the night was already a success. Chandler beamed at Brynn as everyone complimented the food. He couldn't have been more proud to have her by his side.

After dessert, everyone sat around talking about how stuffed they were and how delicious all the food was. Brynn and Nyla cleaned up the table and put all the dishes in the dishwasher. Brynn told Nyla that she could do it on her own, but Nyla insisted on helping. It went fast with the two of them working together, allowing them to rejoin the guests sooner than if Brynn had worked alone.

They all sat around the living room, talking about the past, and Nyla and Brynn sat there listening to their stories. At a few stories, Brynn and Nyla looked at each other, feeling a little left out, with no clue whom or what they were talking about. For the most part though, they were happy to hear the stories about the wild antics of Chandler and Zaiden in their youth.

An hour after dinner, more guests started to arrive. Brynn and Chandler took over being the dutiful hosts, leaving their current guests to mingle amongst themselves. Soon the party was in full swing, with people milling all throughout the house and on the back deck.

It had been about an hour since Brynn had last seen Chandler, and she was wondering where he was. She was at the makeshift bar with Mike Mussina and one of her single and very pretty friends from work. Brynn was trying to work her matchmaker magic on the two of them, and it seemed to be working. Of course, to keep her friend Pam from going after him only because he was on the Yankees, she told her only that his name was Mike, and that he liked sports.

All three were getting ready to do a shot when Brynn felt arms encircling her waist from behind.

"I wouldn't drink too much if I were you. I hear there are some pretty big plans for you tonight, some that you'll want to be sober for," a low voice whispered in her ear.

Brynn's legs turned weak, hearing that voice and feeling his warm breath against her ear. She turned to see a seductive smile on his face. "Is that so?" she asked. "Well then I'd better be a good girl tonight!"

"Just until all the guests leave, then you can be as bad as you want to be," he told her, then kissed her deeply, not caring who was watching.

"Mmm...I've been waiting for one of those. Where've you been, I haven't seen you in a while."

"Oh, one of my buddies was getting a little rowdy, so I took him out front to calm him down. Then he got into one of his drunken confessions about his life that I had to sit and listen to. Most of it was so slurred that I couldn't understand what he was saying, so I put him in a cab and sent him home."

Just then, Nyla rushed up, out of breath. "Um, I think we have a little problem. I think I just saw Nico."

"What!?" Chandler and Brynn both shouted.

"Oh hell no," Chandler declared.

"Where was he?" Brynn asked.

"Well, Zaiden and I went over to your house to get away from all the people for a few minutes, and when we were leaving, we saw a guy walking down your front sidewalk to the back of the house. Then we lost him in the crowd of people in the back yard. He had a paper in his hand, and when we shut the front door, the sign that told people the party was over here was gone," Nyla explained.

"So Nico is somewhere here, either in my backyard or in my house?" Chandler asked.

"I think so. I can't be sure it was him, but it looked an awful lot like him from behind. You know his stupid bow-legged walk." Nyla said disgustedly.

"Nyla, go get Zaiden and Tony and bring them back here." Chandler ordered. He turned to Brynn. "I promise I won't let him hurt you. He's not going to get near you," he said, as he wrapped Brynn in a hug. "I'm going to keep Tony and Mike with you while Zaiden and I go looking for him. We'll get rid of him, don't worry."

Nyla came back with Tony and Zaiden, and Chandler grabbed Mike from the other side of the bar. Chandler let them know what the plan was, making sure that Mike and Tony both knew that no one was to get near Brynn.

Nyla was the first to spot Nico, since she knew him the best. He was standing in a group of people, facing the bar and watching every move that Brynn made. He was concentrating so intently on Brynn that he didn't even notice Chandler walk up and push him.

"I don't think you were invited, so it's time you left," Chandler told him.

"I'll leave when I feel like it," Nico growled. "Who the hell do you think you are?"

"I'm Chandler Tiller. This is my house, and I didn't invite you here."

"Well, your neighbor did, so leave me alone. Take it up with her if you don't want me here."

"That's funny, because Brynn's my girlfriend, and I know for a fact that she didn't invite her ex-husband to our party." He glared at Nico. Nico looked hard at Chandler, and a look of recognition spread across his face. "That's right. I was the one last week who kicked you out of her house. And now I'm kicking you out of mine. Leave now or I'll call the police to have you removed."

"Kiss my ass, you little puss!" Nico yelled, and pushed Chandler.

"You want to fight, tough guy? Is that it?" Chandler yelled, as he pushed him back.

Nico reached back and sent his clenched fist flying into Chandler's eye. As soon as his punch connected to Chandler's face, Zaiden jumped in and tackled Nico.

"Time for you to go!" Zaiden yelled at Nico.

Brynn saw the whole fight, and when they started pushing each other, she took off through the sea of people to get to them before anything happened to Chandler. She got there just as Zaiden tackled Nico to the ground. She ran to Chandler's and took his head in her hands.

"Are you alright?" she asked, worried.

"I'm fine. He just got a lucky punch," Chandler growled.

"I'm so sorry," she said, placing small kisses all over his face, murmuring apologies the whole time.

Chandler pulled her into a hug. "It's not your fault. I'd rather he hit me than you."

Brynn looked over to where Nico was being held by Zaiden. She calmly walked over there before Chandler could stop her. "I don't know what the fuck your problem is, but you need to leave and never come back. Do you hear me? We are over, have been over, and will always be over. Stay away from me, stay away from Barrett, and stay away from Chandler. You're lucky that Chandler isn't pressing charges this time. Don't let there be a next time."

Nico struggled against Zaiden's grasp to get to Brynn, but wasn't able to shake him. Brynn turned and walked back to Chandler as Zaiden dragged the unwelcome guest to the front of the house.

She took his face in her hands again, looking at his eye that was starting to swell up.

"We better get some ice on that. Does it hurt?" she asked.

"Only a little."

The two walked back into the house and headed for the kitchen to get some ice. Chandler groaned in pain as he touched his eye. "Yeah, I think that's going to leave a mark," he joked.

"Thank you, again. Once again, you saved the damsel in distress. It must be getting pretty old," Brynn said.

"No, it's not getting old. I want to protect you, Brynn. I don't want you to be hurt, and if I'm there to prevent it, that makes me happy. Now, could I do without a black eye?...Yup, but as long as you don't get hurt, I'll be fine."