We left Brooks standing at my parent’s graves, and I had to admit that I felt bad about it even though I probably shouldn’t have. Even though Branch was my choice, and probably the right choice, Brooks was still dear to me. He’d always been there when I needed him in a way that Branch never was.
No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t stop loving him and remembering back to that moment of our first kiss.
To stick to our plans, I’d decided to bury those secret feelings for Brooks. Branch and I were going to be happy together, and Brooks would just be my brother-in-law. He’d always been in my life and that gave me comfort, somehow knowing that I’d never have to let either of them go.
It was how it had to be.
It was how he wanted it to be.
Chapter 2
Our annual dinner of sour beef and dumplings was something that we all looked forward to. The five of us would sit there, eating my mother’s specialty meal and reminiscing about the good times with my parents.
It would get emotional, but never uncomfortable. This was my second family, and any sadness that I had they shared as well.
After seeing the movie, Branch and I headed back to the house. We were running late, but Danica had called and said that they were going to wait for us.
Nothing could have prepared me for the shocked feelings that overwhelmed me when I walked into the house and saw Brooks sitting next to a beautiful girl from our school. He smiled as I walked in and hung my jacket on the back of the chair. Sitting across from him was probably a bad idea, but there were only two seats available, and both were directly facing them.
“Sorry we’re late. The movie had twenty minutes of previews that we didn’t anticipate,” Branch explained.
Danica started passing the salad bowl and I couldn’t help but take in the delicious scent of the sour beef and dumplings. “It smells wonderful.”
She smiled. “I wish one year I could make it as good as she did. That woman had a niche for making it perfect, didn’t she?”
I nodded and accidentally looked up at Brooks. He was watching me, not the girl, who was named Natalie Chambers. I avoided making eye contact with her for the sole purpose of not giving a damn if she was the Queen of England. Any girl that Brooks was interested in would always be my enemy.
I wouldn’t call it jealousy. It was the fact that for so long both of the boys had always been mine, in some weird convoluted way. We’d always had each other’s backs and I hated that my relationship with Branch was causing that bond between Brooks and me to sever.
Mr. Valentine, who I always called Walt, cleared his voice. “We hope you don’t mind Brooks bringing a guest. It was my idea, seeing as we had plenty of food.”
I smiled, trying to hold in the true feelings of that little bitch sitting at our dinner table for my special meal, to remember my mother, whom she never even met. We’d had bad blood since she’d passed around a note in eighth grade making fun of me for getting my period. I told the teacher and she got into a lot of trouble. Since that day we weren’t exactly friends. “No, it’s fine. The more the merrier.”
I felt Branch’s hand touching my thigh and slowly sliding up my legs until he reached a point where it was starting to make me uncomfortably hot. I reached under the table to stop him and happened to look up. Brooks was looking at me, watching what I was doing. While never taking his eyes off of my arm under the table, he took his hand and stuck it under the table, toward Natalie. She made a little sound, letting me know he was really touching her.
It was so aggravating how he was teasing me. I gave him a dirty look and pulled my hand back up to eat.
We finished our salads and started passing around the main course. When I went to grab the bowl from Danica, my elbow hit my napkin sending my silverware to the floor. I handed Branch the bowl and leaned down to get them. My eye caught Brooks hand, between the legs of Natalie. Her panties were slid to the side and he was practically fingering her. I came up quickly, banging my head on the table.
It was so sickening that I excused myself to the bathroom after feeling the bile rising in my throat.
Why was he torturing me?
I couldn’t understand why he’d do something like that in front of everyone.
I heard knocking on the bathroom door and cracked it open to see who it was on the other side. Branch smiled when he saw me. I grabbed him by the arm and pulled him inside with me. “You are not going to believe what I just saw under the table.”
He ran his hand through his light brown hair and smiled. “Does it have to do with Brooks?”
He didn’t seem surprised. I smacked him on the chest again. “Yes, but this is legitimately horrible. He was fingering her under the table. Why did he bring her here?”