Sure Bet (Out of Left Field #1)

13. Brooke

Chapter 13

Brooke

D ead. I was dead.

I winced, peeking open an eye. Sunlight assaulted my skull, penetrating and throbbing with a dull ache.

Nope, I was very much alive.

I slammed my eyes closed and prayed for an apocalypse to end my suffering. Gone in the first wave, please, and I wouldn’t be sorry about it.

I didn’t understand how power grids worked, when to plant potatoes, or how to pickle eggs. I wasn’t fit to survive any kind of catastrophic event, including this hangover.

Groaning, I reached blindly for my phone and knocked my hand around until I made contact with it. I checked the time. Noon.

“Fuck me.”

A glass of water and aspirin rested on the far corner of the nightstand, out of reach of fumbling hands.

I smiled. “Shana.”

A true best friend, she knew how to take care of me. She’d even charged my phone.

I drained the water and popped the pills, smacking my lips and deciding I wasn’t as bad off as I initially thought. Still not great, though.

Quickly changing out of my rumpled dress from last night, I winced and hobbled to the bathroom. My feet were killing me.

“She lives!” my best friend called down the hallway from the living room, where she sprawled on the couch. She licked her finger and turned the page of her magazine. “I feared it was touch and go for a while.”

Twenty minutes and one satisfying shower later, I joined Shana.

She glanced up from her reading with an amused smile. “Good night?”

Dressed in scrubs and with her hair pulled into a tight ponytail, she appeared ready for work. Maybe she had picked up an extra day at the vet clinic.

Dragging myself to the couch sapped all my energy. I was done for the day. So much for dressing in my yoga wear. No class today, no way.

“I think it was a good night. I remember laughing a lot. Oh! Dancing. I have a distinct memory of enjoying it.” I chuckled. “Wild. What do I owe you for the cab home?”

Shana’s eyes lit up, and she closed her magazine, leaning forward. “Oh, Brooke. Brooke, Brooke, Brooke. ”

Her utter delight unsettled my stomach even more than whatever I drank last night.

“What?” I whispered. A foreboding sense of dread sat leaden in my gut. “What happened?”

She tilted her head, her grin widening. “Do you remember who you danced with last night?”

Hazy and fragmented memories lingered, like trying to solve a puzzle with missing pieces. I just needed a minute to catch up. I drank a lot… too much, obviously, but glimpses of emotions mixed with quick bursts of images as the picture came together.

Jealousy. I remembered the tight and agitated sensation… Jealous of… Oh. Oh, dear.

“Liam,” she supplied, not waiting for my sluggish brain to catch up.

My eyes shot to Shana’s. “I danced with Liam.”

Boy, did I.

Flashes of laughter, warm breath on my neck, hands curled around my hips… a wave of embarrassment washed over me as I recalled my antics from last night. The reckless abandon and rubbing myself all over Liam, convinced I was… a queen.

‘You would feel like a queen with a man on his knees before you, reigning over him. You’d be a wicked one, I bet.’

Jesus, that was hot.

Not as hot as his body pressed to mine, the way we’d moved in sync and rolled rhythmically... Suddenly, memories flooded in with images that warmed my cheeks.

A craving for his touch, satisfaction as I watched his palm smooth over my waist. A longing for his attention, the exhilaration when his eyes locked on mine.

His concern for my well-being, his insistence that I drink water because I would regret it in the morning if I didn’t, his protectiveness. God, I didn’t want to love that as much as I did. That was admittedly sexy—a solid play on his part.

But my hips had rolled and undulated as well. His fingertips dug into my skin the harder I ground against him. I hadn’t gotten shy or backed down. I felt just as sexy.

“I remember.” I traced a finger along my lips as I smiled to myself. Why on earth would I have wanted to forget a night where I was assertive, spirited, and seductive? Seductive! Me, seductive!

My best friend grinned. “I knew your brain would catch up. You were drunk, but Liam would have rung the alarm if you were blackout drunk.”

I rolled my eyes. “I never get blackout drunk. I’m not irresponsible. I went hard, yes, but I mostly remember when I think about it. Just give me a second to?—”

Horror sank in as the night’s memories became clearer. “I barfed in a bush!”

Shana winced.

And there it was—what I desperately wanted to forget. The moment when seductive shifted to shit-faced embarrassment.

Rising to my feet, I held my hands to my temple and laughed . What the fuck else could I do? “I barfed in a bush, and Liam held my hair back and then gave me a piggyback ride home after I called him an Uber, and he said I could ride him.”

“Wait, what? You called him an Uber, and he said you could ride with him, but he gave you a piggyback ride home?”

“Close enough.” I tugged on my bottom lip. “Well, at least I didn’t give in.” As much as I wanted to. Come to think of it, it was pretty damn impressive I held my ground under such conditions.

“Give in?” Shana crossed her arms. “Give in to what?”

“Nothing!” I said quickly. A little too quickly.

She narrowed her eyes. I blinked innocently. A best friend standoff.

“Brooke,” she said slowly. “You announced a ‘New Me’ campaign days ago over breakfast.” She threw up jazz hands—the mockery. “Inspired by a breakup with Sam, in theory, which just so happened to coincide with my brother moving in.”

“Hey, breakup and brother are purely coincidental, my New Me?—”

Her finger pointed threateningly as she pressed closer on the couch. “What aren’t you telling me?”

I puffed a breath and grimaced. “How much time do you have?”

It took me less than ten minutes to update my best friend on ten years of hurt pride. She knew nothing happened in the closet, but admitting I had wanted to kiss her brother but was too scared was so much worse than just allowing her to think I couldn’t stand him.

“That son of a bitch. So that explains his weird energy.” Shana’s gaze flickered over me. “And yours. I can’t believe you made a bet with Liam based on ten years of unresolved embarrassment. I can’t believe he offered to move out! He’s broke, and Karen is a pit bull with hair extensions. Where is he going to go when you decimate him? He won’t move in with Bren.” Her smile was sinister. “Unless he wins the bet, and it’s a non-issue. I don’t know who I’m rooting for.”

“Me! You’re rooting for me and my dignity! He plays dirty!”

“Yuck, Brooke. There are lines. I don’t need to hear about him getting dirty?—”

Oh god . “I just mean he has a way of making me forget it’s not real. He makes it... ugh . Fun.” I threw my hands up, exasperated.

“You could use a little fun, my friend.” She shook her head. Whether disapproval or shock remained unclear. “So that’s what you’re trying to prove? That he’s faking it? That it’s not ‘real’ to him?”

“No, I do want to be different, and I don’t want to be a pushover. I want to be a confident woman. I’m tired of settling. I’m ready to be someone who asks for what she wants because she believes she deserves it.”

“Except when it comes to asking—let alone begging—for that kiss.” Shana smirked.

“Liam’s taunting is only the tip of the iceberg, Shana. This has been a long time coming.”

My breakup and Liam’s unexpected reappearance may have pushed me to take the leap, but they weren’t the reason for it—they were just the starting nudge.

And last night… Dammit, it was a fun start. Dancing, flirting, commanding someone’s attention—I felt powerful, in control, and sexy . It was intoxicating.

“You know, he spun you that night at the party intentionally.”

“He didn’t.”

“He did,” she said. “He spun you on purpose.”

I snorted. “Yeah, maybe as a joke. Then he dragged me in there as some sort of game to embarrass me and let his friends mock me.”

“They were mocking him.”

An inaccurate claim and ridiculous. Shana had been there. There was no way she had missed it.

“Yeah, because he was with me! ”

She sighed and gave me a pitied look. “No, because you turned him down very publicly, Brooke.” She held up her hand before I interjected. “Yes, I know. You feel he publicly humiliated you. Boy, you two dummies are quite the pair.”

I gaped and smacked her arm. “Shana!”

She smiled softly. “He wanted to kiss you that night, and probably plenty of nights since. The only problem is that neither of you can figure out the difference between hate and horny. Maybe this is the fine line that lets you have both.”

“What? Don’t be ridiculous.” I hesitated, wringing my hands as my heart fluttered fiercely in my chest. “But if that were the case, why would you not tell me?” Shana opened her mouth and I hurried to add, “Not that I care that he spun me on purpose.”

My best friend shrugged. “I stay out of it, Brooke.”

“Liar! You’re the middleman, the buffer, the negotiator, not to mention the instigator. You invited Liam out last night and ditched him with me.”

She held up her finger. “No, I ditched you with him. There’s a difference. He would have been happy to hang with you. You, on the other hand, are far less likely to give him a chance.”

That couldn’t be right. I’d given Liam plenty of chances over the years. Hadn’t I?

“He initiated this stupid bet!”

She shrugged. “And you accepted the stupid bet and made the stupid declaration that you want him to move out when that’s an even more obvious lie than wanting to smooch him. Plenty of stupid to go around.”

“Must be the water,” I muttered.

“I was hoping you guys would have a good time. Related or not, you’ve been embracing this badass vibe since he showed up. It looks good on you.” She gave me a sharp look. “And I meant it. You both need more friends.”

The sheer magnitude of Shana’s revelation left me grappling to make sense of the last ten years between us. It seemed absurd, completely preposterous to even entertain the idea that Liam might... Liam had been taunting and teasing since his arrival, ego-driven, antagonistic, manipulative, and…

“Shana, did you charge my phone last night?” I swallowed heavily when she shook her head. I already knew the answer, but I asked anyway. “Did you bring me water and aspirin?” Another shake of her head.

He rubbed my back until I fell asleep.

“You were comatose when I got home just after two. Liam said you’d been dead to the world for an hour. Why?”

Blood pounded in my ears, pulsing with the realization that maybe Shana was right, and I was the one not to give Liam a chance. But my enmity was the only guard I had to protect the stupid heart in my chest from a guy who wouldn’t want it anyway.

“No reason,” I rasped.

He wouldn’t have made the bet or taunted me if she was right. He would have seduced me. The only explanation was that she had it wrong.

With a heavy sigh, she pushed out of her seat and headed to the kitchen to start a fresh pot of coffee. The grinding of the beans left me recoiling, but if she made it for me, I’d drink it gratefully.

“He’s a dummy if he thinks he can bluster his way into your life,” she said, clucking her tongue.

“He’s since softened his approach,” I admitted. And it is working . Goddamn him.

“How did you resist throat-punching him when he claimed you’re desperate to kiss him?” She rubbed her face and groaned. “ Liam! That’s not how you convince a woman you’re not an asshole.”

Draping my arm over the back of the couch, I grinned. “It was a close call. It took Olympic-level restraint not to clobber him.” Or kiss him.

“You deserve a gold medal.” Shana reached into the cupboard to pull out a couple of mugs. “I love my brother, I do, but it’s like he insists on learning things the hard way.” She leaned against the counter, her eyes dancing with mischief. “Get him to beg you to kiss him! Now that’s how you cultivate a confident, bad bitch vibe.”

I held up my hands and shook my head. “Nope, nope, nope. I have one goal: make it through our birthday, maintain my dignity, and live my life with confidence while refusing to settle. Adding more to my plate sounds lofty.”

“Oh, please. You’ve bounced from one lackluster relationship to another. You’re hungry, starving .” Shana’s eyes met mine. “Why not have your cake and eat it, too?”

I sat up. “I like cake.”

“He said he would have you begging to kiss him before your birthday?” She stared at me like I was an idiot. “ Then don’t. Easy.”

I mean, that’s what I’d been telling myself. Before he compared me to a queen.

Shana poured two cups of coffee and carried one over, handing it to me and taking a seat. She narrowed her eyes. “Remember, it only counts if you kiss him. There’s a hell of a lot you can do without kissing.”

I nearly fumbled my coffee. “There are so many ways to interpret?—”

A knock from outside had Shana up and off the couch, but she held my confused gaze and continued grinning as she answered the front door.

“Brenden!” she exclaimed, lifting onto her toes to hug the man standing in our doorway.

She swept her hand to invite a Viking inside our condo. Tall, rugged, and imposing, he looked like a Norse legend come to life. He stepped into the sun-drenched room, the light shining on his honey-hued locks.

“Come in. Sit. Have a coffee and a chat. My dumbass brother is still asleep. He was up late after escorting my dumbass friend home and babysitting her dumb ass.” Shana smiled and batted her lashes at me. My jaw dropped, but she continued. “Your wife doesn’t know that you came to pick me up, huh? We can be quick about it, and I’ll be out of the house before she gets back. She won’t even know I was there.”

He shrugged his broad shoulders and took a seat in the recliner by the window. “She always knows, and trust me, she doesn’t mind sharing the load. I can do it solo, but it goes so much faster with a helping hand.”

I blinked. Then blinked again.

Shana nodded sympathetically. “I can’t blame her, Bren. Size alone, it’s a lot to handle. I’m sore for days after! Even with all my dance and yoga, all the stretching, I still can’t?—”

“Oh my god, what are you talking about?” I screeched, cupping my cheeks.

“My dumbass sister is cleaning his mansion for yet another side hustle,” Liam answered from the hallway. He breezed through the group and went straight for the coffee pot in the kitchen. “Not to mention three other players on the team and dog walking for the mascot.”

“George, the mascot, is human. Larry, his dog, is not,” Shana said.

“These walls are thin, Shana. I can hear you call me a dumbass from my room. Such juvenile language.” Liam gestured to the steaming mug on the counter, and she nodded for him to take it. “ Dumbass ,” he grumbled beneath his breath.

“It’s not a mansion.” Brenden rubbed the back of his neck. “Definitionally speaking, anyway. I was able to talk Karen into a more reasonably sized house.”

“Karen!” I exclaimed. This guy was Liam’s best friend and apparently married a pit bull with hair extensions.

Shana groaned. “There’s nothing reasonable about your square footage. My back is killing me!”

“There’s nothing reasonable about Karen, either.” Liam took a seat at the kitchen table and loudly slurped his coffee.

Brenden sighed, got up, and signaled to Shana that it was time to go. They headed for the door as she collected her things.

“Oh, I forgot. I have a date tonight with Sergio after work,” Shana said.

“I’m going to need you two to hit the party store this afternoon and grab supplies for next week’s shindig. It’s quite a haul, two-person job, no skirting that. There’s a list. No big deal. Liam will drive. Okay, bye!”

“Can’t!” I called back. “I have yoga in an hour.” I had planned to skip yoga, but there was zero chance I was in a state to fight off Liam’s shit when recovering from last night.

“Perfect. Bring Liam. He loves yoga!” Shana called.

“He does not?—”

The door closed, leaving Liam and me alone in the condo.

He faced me with a broad smile. “When do we leave?”

I should have known he wasn’t going to make this easy.