Skin Deep (19 page)

We finished eating and Allie and I cleaned up
the dinner mess, but Luke and Brandon actually did the dishes.
Jackson disappeared out the front door with his cell phone and Doug
and Allie followed, Allie grabbing the Frisbee sitting in Doug’s
toy basket on the way out.

I finished my laundry and threw another load
in for Luke and Brandon. I took the basket of clean clothes out to
the couch to fold, holding up the guys’ clothes to see whose was
whose. I gave up after a minute because everything I held up was
Brandon’s.

“Why are you doing Brandon’s laundry, Emma?”
Luke asked me, shaking his head.

“I thought it was both of yours, and it was
just sitting in front of the washer. So I threw some in with mine
and then started another load of it. Its not a big deal.” I
shrugged.

Brandon, being a smartass, said, “When you
get done with my laundry, can you change my sheets on my bed?”

I finished folding the clothes, grabbed all
of Brandon’s up in my arms, and walked into the kitchen to stand
next to him. He opened his arms to take them from me, and as soon
as I saw my opening, I punched him in the stomach, making his
breath wheeze out as he doubled over.

He moaned. “Why the hell did you do
that?”

“You deserved it, asshat!” Luke said,
laughing and giving me an appreciative look.

I winked at Luke and headed outside to play
with Doug with Allie.

The rest of the evening passed in a blur. We
stayed outside, enjoying the crisp, cool, fall weather, and when
darkness started falling, Luke started a bonfire in the concrete
fire pit sitting in the middle of a large patio area just off the
back deck. The fire was surrounded by thickly cushioned benches and
adirondack style chairs. We all moved to the patio around the fire,
relaxing. Luke disappeared inside and came back out with the stuff
to make s’mores.

After stuffing ourselves with the ooey-gooey
goodness of chocolate, marshmallow, and graham crackers, Allie
stood up to leave.

I laughed when Brandon pulled her down on his
lap, refusing to let her leave. She laughed and tried to get up,
but he wouldn’t let her. She gave in when he started tickling her
and leaned back against him, gasping for breath. I couldn’t help
but smile to myself because they looked good together, but I didn’t
think either one of them would ever settle down. Allie was too free
spirited, and Brandon was too…Brandon.

Jackson was quiet for the most part, but I
saw him watching Allie with a speculative look gleaming in his eyes
a time or two.

When it started getting late, we all headed
inside. I couldn’t keep from yawning and Luke kept laughing at me
and teasing that I was getting old if I couldn’t stay up past ten
thirty. Of course, then I had to tell him about himself, especially
because he’s older than me…

Allie was standing by the door, her keys in
hand, and I walked over to give her a hug and say goodbye. As we
stood there , Brandon came up and put his arm around Allie. We both
looked at him, waiting for whatever crazy shit would come out next.
Instead, he surprised us both.

“Allie, you don’t, uh…you don’t have to
leave.” Brandon said hesitantly. “There’s plenty of room here, and
you could have my bed if you wanted. I’ll sleep on the couch.”

I smiled. Brandon could be so sweet
sometimes!

Jackson piped up from the couch where he was
lounging. “Yeah, Brandon, I don’t think you’ll get to sleep on the
couch because that’s where I’m sleeping and I’m not sharing!” He
winked at Allie before adding, “With you, at least. Allie can share
the couch with me. Or, better yet! Allie and I’ll sleep in your bed
and you can have the couch as you so graciously offered!” He was
grinning ear to ear by this point.

Brandon stiffened, glaring at Jackson who
just laughed at him.

I rolled my eyes, then turned to Allie. “You
gonna stay and put these boys out of their misery?” I asked
her.

She raised her eyebrow at me, a sly grin
spreading across her face. “Yeah, I’ll stay. But sorry, Jackson,
I’m not sharing the couch with you. You and Brandon could share his
bed…” she trailed off, laughing as Brandon and Jackson looked at
each other in disgust.

Brandon spoke up again. “Allie you can sleep
with me in my bed. I promise I’ll behave!”

Allie glanced at me and I covered my mouth
with my hand to hide my smile. I knew Allie all too well.

She walked up close to Brandon, their chests
almost touching, before she lightly placed her hands on his chest,
sliding them upwards to encircle his neck. With gently pressure,
she pulled his head down. Placing her lips next to his ear, she
said softly (but not so softly that everyone couldn’t hear), “Who
said I wanted you to behave, lover?”

She then traced her tongue lightly down the
curve of his ear to his neck before pulling back and walking
towards the hallway. Halfway there, I saw her bite her lip as she
met Jackson’s gaze, and I could see the hesitation and almost
longing in her eyes but she continued down the hall.

Brandon stood frozen, though his breathing
had become heavy, and I visibly saw him swallow hard before he took
off in a rush after Allie.

I heard laughter and turned to see Luke
standing beside the couch, watching everything unfold. Jackson was
scowling, and Luke clapped his hand to his shoulder as he walked by
him in my direction. He grabbed my hand and started pulling me
towards the stairs, Doug trailing behind us.

I turned to Jackson as I stepped up onto the
first stair. “For what its worth? She thinks you’re hot, too. We
talked while we were outside with Doug, and she’s confused. She’s
really attracted to you, but she’s also attracted to Brandon. Don’t
count yourself out just

yet, Jackson.”

I started climbing the stairs again,
following Luke who had stopped when I did.

“Emma?” Jackson’s voice stopped me again.
“Call me Jacks. All my closest friends and family do.
And…thanks.”

“You’re welcome, Jacks. Good night.”

Luke and I headed to bed. Of course, our good
night kiss became a good night fondle, which turned into a good
night fuck that had me screaming so loud when I came, we heard
Brandon (or it could have been Allie?) thumping something against
the ceiling in a non-verbal ‘could you keep it down please?’ kind
of way.

I drifted off to sleep wrapped up in Luke’s
arms, his body pressed to the length of mine, thinking that it’d
turned out to be a pretty good weekend after all.

Chapter 13

You know, I realized that time goes a lot
faster when you actually allow yourself to have a life outside of
babysitting your niece and nephew and living vicariously through
your best friend and (sadly) little brother and sister.

Halloween was Friday, which gave me exactly
five days to figure out a costume. Allie had decided that she was
going to throw a party and costumes were required. I didn’t have a
problem with that because, like I said before, Halloween is one of
my favorite holidays. You get to dress up in whatever you want, be
whoever you want, AND you get CANDY! Win-win, baby!

Luke kept asking me what I was going to be,
and I had a couple ideas, but I almost wanted to surprise him. That
was going to be a little tough, though, because ever since that
weekend a couple weeks ago when we carved pumpkins and…well, it was
an interesting and very full weekend. Anyway, since then, we hadn’t
really spent any time apart. He brought me to work, and somehow
managed to schedule his appointments and such at the shop so he
would be done at the same time I was. Sometimes we stayed at my
house, but generally we stayed at his and Brandon’s house.

Jackson had stayed just a couple days more
and then had flown back out to L.A. for work. I made Luke call him
and invite him back for Allie’s Halloween Party and he had said he
would try, but wasn’t very hopeful that he would make it.

Allie and Brandon have hung out with us quite
a bit since that weekend, but I haven’t noticed any real romancing
going on. Allie swore that they didn’t even do anything the night
she slept in his bed. She confided in me that she felt guilty
because Jackson was sitting on the couch right down the hall. I
told her she was screwed either way. (Pun intended!) She didn’t
find me amusing.

My work phone rang on my desk, breaking into
my musings. “Good afternoon, Floyd Grim’s office, may I help
you?”

Silence. Then a quick indrawn breath that
almost turned into panting.

I hung the phone up after saying hello a few
more times. Obviously someone was there but didn’t want to talk.
I’d been getting hang up calls or heavy breathing calls for a
while, but I really hadn’t thought anything of it because it didn’t
happen very often. Here lately, though, I’d been getting two or
three a day and it was starting to creep me out.

I mentioned it to Floyd who just chalked it
up to pranksters. We’d been pretty busy with clients, lately, and I
was swamped, so I didn’t dwell on it.

At the end of the day, I closed up the office
and headed outside to meet Luke. Except Luke wasn’t there; Jackson
was leaning up against a silver SUV, apparently waiting for me.

“Jacks! Hey! What are you doing here?” I
asked him, smiling and giving him a quick hug.

“Luke got held up with a tattoo, so he asked
me to come pick you up. I just got into town about an hour ago. I
have a surprise but you have to wait until we get back to Skin Deep
with the boys.” He smiled at me secretively.

We pulled up at the shop and I practically
ran inside, dragging Jackson with me. As soon as we got through the
door, I stopped beside him and looked up. “Well?” I waved my hand
at him, silently telling him to get on with it.

He laughed again and fondly kissed my
forehead. “You’re so cute. But I’m not telling you yet.”

I pouted.

“Hey! What’d I tell you about touching my
woman, Beckett?” I heard Luke yell behind us. I turned and went to
him, sighing when he folded me into his warm embrace.

Jackson walked over and, out of the blue,
kissed Luke on his forehead. Luke scowled in mock anger and punched
Jackson in the arm. Jackson laughed and retorted, “Yeah, I know you
were just jealous of my kiss.” He made a show of wiping his lips
off. “But damn, man, Emma feels much nicer against my lips.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at the bantering
between the two of them. It got worse when Brandon came out from
the back and joined in. When we settled down a bit, Jackson cleared
his throat and his face turned serious.

“Well, I was telling Emma that I have a
surprise. So I guess I’ll just get it over with. I bought the
property next door to you, Luke, and I’m moving back here. If you
don’t mind, I’ll crash at your house until the house is built,
but…I miss my friends.” He shrugged and I could tell there was
something more that he wasn’t telling us, but I wasn’t going to
pry. That was probably something that Luke would need to do. And
then I could pry it out of him…

“Hell, yes!” Luke shouted.

“Bout damn time!” Brandon yelled over
Luke.

Jackson stood there and grinned at them, then
turned and winked at me. “Alright, I’m buying dinner to
celebrate!”

We all went to Griff’s because it was right
down the street and one of all of our favorite places. We sat and
ate and the guys drank beer. We stayed later than dinner, because
Monday nights were karaoke nights and we were laughing our asses
off at Willy (town drunk, remember him?) singing
There’s a Tear
in My Beer
while he stumbled around the stage. He almost fell
off twice, but by the grace of God or some invisible wire we
couldn’t see, he managed to stay up there.

About an hour into karaoke, they were calling
up the next singer and I heard my name over the speaker. I froze,
looking around in confusion and panic. No one had left my table so
who the hell had put my name in?

I heard laughter up by the stage and looked
up to see my brother standing there, bumping fists with the karaoke
guy.

“C’mon up here, Emma! I know you can sing,
little one!” Jeremy Boggs was the only one who’d done karaoke at
Griff’s for the last five years and he’s good at it. Always brings
a crowd, and he’s gotten me up there a time or two. But no way in
hell on earth was he gonna get me up there in front of the
guys!

I glared at Calland before pushing against
Luke, silently asking him to let me out of the booth. He got to his
feet quickly, moving out of my way as I shoved past him with fire
in my eyes, heading toward my brother.

When I got closer to him, he bolted, running
past me so quickly that I couldn’t grab him. He headed back to the
table and sat down beside Luke. Before I could turn and head back
to the table, Jeremy leaned down and grabbed the back of my
sweater.

“Hold up! Get your pretty little ass up here,
girly. You aren’t going anywhere until you sing.”

I sighed as people started chanting my name,
led by Jeremy on the mic. I closed my eyes for a second before
heading up on stage. I yanked the microphone out of Jeremy’s hands
and glared at him, which had him backing away with his hands up in
mock surrender.

I nodded my head at him as he headed back to
his setup and he cued up my song. If I sang karaoke, I always
started with this song, because it was one of my favorites to sing.
The opening notes of
Black Velvet
by Alannah Myles began
pouring out of the speakers and I lost myself for the moment in the
music. I loved to sing, and I always got stage fright so bad, but
once I got going, I didn’t want to stop.

I closed my eyes and focused on the song, and
when I opened them, I never focused on anyone. I mostly kept my
gaze on the clock at the back of the room above the hallway to the
bathrooms. I completely ignored the table where Luke, Brandon,
Jackson, and Calland were sitting. When I finished the song, my
voice fading out as the last notes sounded, the room filled with
clapping and whistles, the loudest of which were coming from the
table where the guys were.