Page 117 of A Little Jaded
“And my older brother, Dodge,” I finish. “He’s the one you have to impress.” Hesitating, I turn to face Everett fully. “Which, now that I think about it, will be pretty impossible, so don’t get your feelings hurt if he’s an ass.”
Everett’s mouth twitches. “Your brother’s an ass?”
“My brother’s my dad’s son,” I clarify. “And even thoughmy dad’s mellowed out over the years,”—Everett scoffs, but I ignore it—“Dodger’s holding strong to his assholery phase. Actually, I should give my dad more credit. Maybe it’s less of his genes and more of Dodge’s career choice. Being a rockstar is pretty much the quickest way to inflate a guy’s ego, and Dodge is…Dodge.”
“I’ll keep it in mind.” Everett eyes the front of SeaBird warily. “Although, you’re not exactly making it easy to walk in there.”
“Why? Afraid they won’t like you?” I tease.
“It’s exactly what I’m afraid of.”
My brows raise. To be honest, I didn’t think Everett was afraid of anything. Did I find a chink in his armor?
When he catches me staring, he asks, “What?”
“Nothing, it’s… I figured you weren’t one to care about what others think.”
He reaches over the console, grabs my hand, and brings it to his lips. “It’s my girlfriend’s family. Of course, I want them to like me.”
Fireworks erupt in my stomach, and I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from grinning like a lunatic. “Did you just call me your girlfriend?”
Tugging me closer, he drops a kiss to the corner of my mouth and rasps, “Did I stutter?”
“You didn’t sayfakegirlfriend,” I clarify. “You said girlfriend.”
“Pretty sure we already discussed this.”
“Pretty sure a girl can’t take anything seriously if it comes out of a guy’s mouth twenty-four hours after sex,” I argue.
The same low chuckle rumbles up his throat. “If we’re playing by those rules, my comment tonight doesn’t count, either. I did come down your throat on the way here, remember?”
My eyes bulge, and I smack his chest. “Everett!”
“You’re the one who brought it up,” he reminds me.
I roll my eyes, but the mandoeshave a point.
“Whatever.” I tuck my hair behind my ear and take a deep breath. “Let’s get this over with.”
“Okay.” He kisses my knuckles one more time, then lets me go. “Girlfriend.”
The air is a hell of a lot warmer inside the building than it was outside. As it thaws my already cold cheeks, Everett shrugs out of his coat, and I do the same. Without a word, he grabs my jacket, hooks it over his arm, then offers his ID to the bouncer. Following suit, I pull mine out and hand it to the big, burly man at the front. Once he’s satisfied, he tilts his head toward the bar, and Everett adds, “Lead the way, Stormie.”
The place is crowded. Even more so than usual, which is saying something. SeaBird has always been the place to be. Or at least, that’s the way my dad has always explained it. I never really came here. Not unless his rockstar friends, the leading men in Broken Vows, were playing and they snuck me backstage with the rest of the families. After they had kids and stopped touring, I never really came back. Never really could, and by the time I was over twenty-one, I’d already moved to Cedar Springs. Whenever I came back to visit my family, I hung out at my parents’ house.
It’s just as crowded as I remember. I’m not really surprised. My brother’s band sells out massive venues year-round. Of course, their fans would be lining up to hear them play in their hometown. It’s been a while since they’ve been back. Dodger. Judge. Paxton. And Tuke.
Now, if I could only convince my body to stop feeling like a shaken-up can of soda, that would be great. My relationship with Dodger has always been…strange. Less like we’re equals and more like he’s the king and I’m the princess he’d prefer to keep locked in a tower somewhere.
Thanks to Mom’s miscarriage, there’s quite the age gap between us. Penelope’s sixteen years older than me, and Dodger’s ten. I was the surprise baby. The miracle baby. The rainbow baby. If anything, the gap only made my sister more motherly and my brother more protective and more…big-headed and bossy and overbearing to the point that when he moved away, I felt like I could finally…breathe.
The reminder of how I spent said breathing room by hooking up with an abusive ex-boyfriend is the cherry on top of a craptastic sundae, though.
Way to prove him right, Raine.
If only he knew.
Part of me is grateful Drake never wanted to meet my family. Now, I have a fresh start with Everett, and I’m really hoping I don’t screw it up tonight. My dad hasn’t stopped asking about him since their first run-in at the shop. Surprisingly, though, he’s been kind of aloof overall, and I haven’t figured out why yet. I guess I’ll find out tonight.