Grace
We were about two hours northwest of Nashville when my brother called me.
My phone was the one hooked up to the SUV, a map on the screen and my 70’s playlist humming through the speakers. It was a mix of rock, pop, and disco, and “Hot Stuff” was interrupted by the call, BIG BRO sprawling across the screen in all caps.
Jaxson’s nostrils flared as he looked at the screen, and then at me, and I held a finger to my lips as I answered.
“Don’t tell me you want the game day dance for the stupid golf tournament tomorrow, because the answer is no,” I answered, and the sound of my brother’s deep chuckle filled the car.
Jaxson was as stiff as a fucking board in the driver seat.
“I was just calling to check in on you, but now that you mention it…”
“NO,” I re-emphasized. “It’s bad enough I got wrangled into doing this for every hockey game. All because I tried to be a good sister when you were in a bad mood in high school.”
“Be honest — you love it.”
I grumbled, but he wasn’t wrong. I really did look forward to those calls before each game, knowing I was a part of his pre-game ritual — even if it was small. My brother was a professional hockey player. He had every reason to lose touch with me, but he never did.
“I love you,” I corrected. “Which is the only reason I put up with it.”
“Sure, sure. Where are you?” he asked.
Jaxson and I shared a look, and I swore he looked like he was about to shit himself.
“In the car with one of your teammates,” I said, and Jaxson’s eyes doubled in size, the car veering enough to hit the bumpy edge of the road before he re-centered it. “We were actually just thinking about pulling over for a quickie before you so rudely interrupted.”
There was silence on the other end for a moment, and Jaxson’s head was whipping back and forth between looking at the road and asking me what the fuck with his eyes.
I fought to hold in my laugh, and then Vince blew out a breath.
“Not funny.”
“I thought it was.”
Jaxson relaxed marginally when he realized Vince didn’t believe me. He had no reason to. He’d scared all his friends off me his entire life, and he knew none of them would be stupid enough to test him.
I couldn’t hide the smile that curled on my lips when I realized Jaxson knew the risk, but he was here, anyway.
I didn’t know what that meant, but I liked to think about it.
Stupid.
This was the shit that got me into trouble. Jaxson had just offered to take me for a drive to make me feel better after a breakup that wasn’t even really a breakup because technically, we weren’t even dating.
And I’d roped the poor guy into a road trip.
Even when he agreed to it, he’d made sure to draw the line between us, to remind me what we were and what we weren’t. He was telling me in every way possible that this was just him being a friend.
Still, if he didn’t want to be here, he wouldn’t be. He could have easily laughed me off and said no. I could still be loafing on my brother’s couch and burritoing up in my sads.
Instead, I was in the car with Jaxson Brittain.
And maybe it was stupid, maybe I was reading into things…
But I swore he wanted to kiss me — just as badly as I wanted to kiss him.
Of course, right now he looked more like he wanted to strangle me. I guessed my little joke wasn’t too funny to him, either.
“I’m in Kentucky,” I said, not bothering to lie when I didn’t need to. My family was used to my nomadic behavior, so me being in the middle of nowhere USA wouldn’t be weird at all to them. “But don’t worry, I’ll be at your tournament tomorrow. Meeting Mom and Dad there.”
“Good. You can watch me dominate in the name of charity.”
“I see your modesty is even stronger in the off-season.”
“Just confident, sis,” he corrected. “Maven and I are packing now, flying into St. Louis tonight.” There was a stretch of quiet before he asked, “You doing okay?”
“Oh, you know me. Sad for about twenty-four hours and then that shit is behind me.”
“That’s my sis. Don’t give that loser any energy he doesn’t deserve.”
I smiled, but didn’t miss how Jaxson subtly shook his head like he hated that answer. I thought about what he said to me at the creek yesterday.
“I hate when you do that — act like you’re not allowed to feel anything but happy, like being sad or angry or disappointed makes you a bad person.”
I swallowed.
Why did I feel like that?
When did being anything but happy start to make me feel like a burden?
“Well, I won’t keep you. Just wanted to—”
“Hi, Gracie!”
It was Maven who interrupted him, and I smiled wide. “Hey, Mave.”
“Can’t wait to see you tomorrow! Livia is coming with us, too. So, while the boys hit balls with sticks, the girls can get drunk and pay a hot caddie to drive us around in a golf cart.”
“Any caddie who values his life would know better than to come anywhere near my girl,” Vince growled, and I rolled my eyes.
“Calm down, psycho. It’ll be me the caddie rails at the end of the night.”
I grinned proudly at the joke, which made Maven laugh and Vince ramble on about how he’d go to jail. I was laughing to myself when I glanced over at Jaxson.
But he looked just as murderous as my brother.
I narrowed my gaze at him, smiling even bigger at the thought that my little joke might have made him jealous.
I wanted him to be jealous. I wanted him to throw me over his shoulder caveman style again and tell me he’d be the only man touching me from here on out.
God, what was wrong with me?
“I’m going to go toss your brother in the pool before he overheats,” Maven said over Vince still warning me to stay away from every man at the tournament. “Love you, see you tomorrow.”
“See ya,” I said on a laugh, and then ended the call, and “Hot Stuff” picked up right where it had left off.
An awkward tension settled over the car, and I was all too aware of how hard Jaxson gripped the wheel. Then, he reached forward and turned the music down.
“We need a game plan for tomorrow.”
My chest squeezed at the insinuation, at the fact that while I’d been on the phone, he’d likely been freaking the fuck out realizing we were all going to be in the same place tomorrow. I didn’t know why, but a small part of me thought maybe he’d just tell Vince that we’d been together. It wasn’t like we’d done anything wrong. We were just two friends on a road trip.
Even as I thought it, I knew it was ridiculous.
Vince would never be okay with that, and we both knew it.
I didn’t know which emotion I felt stronger — hurt that Jaxson wanted to keep me a secret, or elated that he was willing to risk what we both knew would be an unforgivable offense against my brother, all in the name of making me happy.
I couldn’t remember anyone, ever, prioritizing me and my joy like that.
My chest squeezed again, but this time, it was less painful and more like hope — which I needed to squash down with a heavy boot.
“Don’t worry,” I told him, propping my feet up on the dash. “I’ve already got it covered.”
“How so?” he asked, arching a brow.
“Easy. Drop me off at the airport, and I’ll call my mom and dad, tell them I just landed. They’ll pick me up, and then when the tournament is over, I’ll have them take me back and you can pick me up again. Trust me — they don’t check my flights anymore. They’re used to me just taking off and going places. And this way, no one will see us together.” I leaned an elbow on the console, then rested my chin in my hand as I smiled up at him. “Our little secret is safe, Brittzy. Promise.”
He frowned at that, and I saw his fear wash away, something like guilt and regret taking its place. “Grace, I hope you don’t think—”
“TAKE THIS EXIT!”
I cut Jaxson off with excitement buzzing through me, my eyes glued to the billboard until we blew past it.
“Wha—?”
“Now!” I said, grabbing for the wheel. I made sure the exit lane was clear, and then tugged enough to steer us toward it.
Jaxson slowed down, batting my hand away as he took over. “Okay, crazy, please don’t get us killed.” He shook his head, but he was watching me with both confusion and amusement as I bounced in my seat. “You have to pee or something?”
“Nope, I just found our next road trip pit stop.”
He cocked a brow, pulling to a stop at the red light waiting at the bottom of the exit. And it was perfect, because all I had to do was hold my grin and point to the sign across the street.
IRIS FESTIVAL — 17.4 MILES
It had an arrow pointing to the right, and I waggled my brows when Jaxson looked back at me. I’d completely forgotten the Iris Festival was happening, and we’d just happened to drive through the right part of Kentucky that we ran into it. It was an EDM festival, a multi-day one with dozens of artists and thousands of attendees. I knew without looking that a general admission ticket would be all we could get this late, but that was all we needed to get in and dance.
Jaxson sighed like it was the last thing he wanted to do.
But he cut the wheel right, and I thought I saw him smile when I threw my hands up in an excited squeal of victory.
