Page 12 of Devoted
Chapter 4
Brooks
“Fuck, man. I can’t believe you’re actually here.” My cousin Ethan taps the neck of his beer with mine before we both take a long drag from our respective bottles.
“Well, it’s not like I came home for a good reason… but yeah, I’m here.”
“Hey, you did the right thing, Brooks,” he says, clasping his hand on my shoulder. “Your mom needs you now more than ever. You know my mom and I will help any way we can. But Aunt Viv needs her boy by her side while she fights this crap.”
I sigh and then take another drink. “I’m worried, man. It’s bad.” I filled Ethan in after our first visit with Dr. Lexington that day about her diagnosis and treatment plan. He’s the only confidant I really have right now, and as the closest thing I have to a brother, he’s let me vent to him as often as I need to.
Last week my mom had her first treatment, which left her extremely nauseous and weak. The only reason I’m out tonight is because Ethan’s mom is at home watching her and making sure she’s comfortable. I feel guilty as hell, but they both assured us to go out and have fun. So here we are.
“Yeah, but your mom is tough as nails. She’ll beat this. I know it.” He slaps my shoulder one more time before veering back around Tony’s bar and the handful of other guys sitting with us at our table.
It’s actually Ethan’s birthday, and since I’m home now, I finally get to celebrate one with him. It’s been years since I’ve been back to Emerson Falls for a reason other than the holidays. Work and life in Santa Barbara kept me busy enough to only be able to travel around that time. And I never took a vacation during the rest of the year to make sure I had the holidays off to see my family.
“So, how’s it feel to be thirty-one, knowing forty is looming now in the distance?” I tease my cousin, changing the topic and draining the last bit of my beer.
“I feel great, man. I’m secure in my career, in the best physical shape of my life… now I just need the girl of my dreams.” The chatter of the other guys at the table interrupts our conversation as one of them plays a joke on another, resulting in the loser throwing back two shots of whiskey. Several men from the fire station and a few from the private emergency company that Ethan works for all gathered here tonight to help him celebrate his uterus eviction anniversary on a chilly March evening.
“Damn. Nick’s gonna pay for that tomorrow.”
“Aren’t we all?” I joke, knowing that with how often I drink now, I’m sure to be fighting a hangover in the morning. Luckily, I have another day off before I go back to work so I can nurse a hangover if it comes to that.
“Yeah, but it’s my birthday, so right now I don’t give a shit. I just want to get wasted and the cherry on top of my birthday sundae is having my long-lost cousin here with me.” He wraps his arm around my shoulders from the side, patting my bicep while leaning heavily on my body for support. The smell of beer coming from his mouth is pungent and indicative of how much he’s already had to drink.
“Aren’t you supposed to have cake on your birthday?” I push him further, enjoying seeing him let loose.
“I can have whatever the fuck I want. It’s my birthday, dammit! And tonight, I want to bring a girl home and cuddle the shit out of her,” he draws out, leaning back in his seat again while drawing more amber liquid from his bottle. His eyes peruse the room as he tries to narrow in on his conquest.
“Cuddle, huh? Is that code for sex?”
“Not all hook-ups have to lead to sex, man. Some women just enjoy a warm body next to them for the night, you know?”
“Are you talking about women, or yourself?” I chide.
“Fuck off, man,” he relents and then surveys the bar again.
When Ethan sets his sights on someone, he dedicates himself to that one woman for the night. Sadly for him, that’s his downfall. He doesn’t know when to move on and cut his losses. My cousin is a hopeless romantic and when he falls, he falls hard. Unfortunately, most ladies don’t reciprocate and it’s left him broken hearted more than once.
“So who’s it gonna be?” I push the conversation forward, leaning into Ethan as if trying to see through his eyes. We scope out the room some more until my eyes lock onto raven-colored hair across the bar, shiny and straight, and reminiscent of hair I’m all too familiar with. The woman doesn’t turn around though. She’s enthralled in a conversation with the older woman sitting next to her, leaning in closely to her so they can hear each other over the noise in the bar.
When Ethan moved from Ashland to Emerson Falls, I remember him telling me about Tony’s Bar, saying it was the best hangout for him and his buddies. The age range of patrons varied, but everyone seemed to be in there for the same reason—to let loose and relax after a hard day’s work. Seeing as this is my first time here, I can see the charm of the place. The light wood panels on the walls match the long bar stationed along the back of the room. Overhead lights hang above tables and booths providing just enough luminosity to see each other while having conversations, and an eclectic mix of music blares from the speakers, catering to the wide spread of musical tastes based on age range in the room—everything from classic rock like Van Halen and Def Leppard, to newer artists like Katy Perry and Billie Eilish.
And now that I see a group of women varying in age as well across the room, one of them being the black-haired mystery girl that’s making my heart beat frantically, I can see how this place appeals to the masses. But before I can talk myself out of who I think she is, a slight turn of her head confirms it.
Holy fuck! It’s her—Jess, my miniature vixen from the hospital that has thoroughly impressed me over the past week and rattled my mind since moving back home. And now that I know it’s her, the rest of the faces of the women register as well, all fellow nurses from the hospital, but a few from different departments other than emergency. And damn, she looks good out of her scrubs and in a real-life setting—elated, maybe a little tipsy, and flashing a blinding smile to her group of friends while clearly having fun here tonight.
“I think we found a winner,” Ethan pulls me from the intense reaction my body is having right now to seeing her outside of the hospital, forcing me to clear the lump that formed in my throat as soon as I realized I truly want to know her like this—like two people who aren’t a nurse or a doctor, but just a man and woman that find each other insanely attractive.
And I know that Jess reciprocates those feelings because when I caught her starting at my ass the other day, her cheeks instantly reddened. But I feel like her eyes are always on me when we work together. And the truth is, mine are always on her too. I can’t help it. There’s something about this tiny woman that has fascinated me since the moment I saw her angry in a coffee shop.
“Really? Who?” I croak out, trying to mask my desperation and rattled nerves.
“The redhead. Twelve o’clock.” Ethan throws his head towards the group of girls that Jess is sitting with as my eyes narrow in on a cute little ginger perched on a stool a few seats down from my girl.
But she’s not your girl yet, is she? And do you even want that? Don’t you have enough on your plate right now, Brooks?