“She won’t let me have you,” she mumbles.
I kiss the top of her head. How did I not realize how much I want her until I feel her pulling away? “Who says she gets to be the one to give us permission.”
She tilts her head up and rests her chin on my chest, staring up at me. “I can’t date you if she tells me no. It’s not right. She’s my friend.”
Anger rushes through my veins. “She’s your best friend from years ago. You said yourself that you two were estranged for years. You’re gonna throw this away because Sierra throws a temper tantrum over the fact that I want you and not her?”
Her hands tighten pulling my T-shirt tighter as if she’s afraid I’m about to leave her. “I live with her. I…”
“Let’s go together. We talk to her together.” I place my hands on her cheeks so she can’t stray from looking at me. “I’ll be right there with you.”
“We can’t. That’d be like an ambush. But before we continue this, I need to talk to her.”
I stare into her gorgeous brown eyes. Eyes that have transfixed me from our first meeting on the train, so honest and pure. “But—”
She puts her finger to my lips and shakes her head. “Me alone.” Rising on her tiptoes, she replaces her finger with her lips.
Her lips press to mine and my hand falls to the back of her head not allowing her to move away from me. Our tongues glide along one another’s with a kiss we’ve perfected over our short time together. A kiss I’d hoped of having numerous times with her, but now it feels like a goodbye kiss. The kind someone gives someone as a parting gift.
She ends the kiss and falls back to her heels, her hand running along the stubble on my cheek. “I’ll call you.”
“Blanca, let me come with you.”
She squeezes my hand. “Bye Ethan.”
I’ve never hated those two words more than I do watching her open my apartment door and disappearing through it.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Blanca
I take the long way home, stopping at Scrumptuals for a few pick-me-up brownies and cakes that will hopefully make Sierra take the news better than I expect. Everything that’s ever come out of her mouth about Ethan has been negative.
Opening up the door to the apartment, I hear shouting. Dylan has one foot on the edge of the couch and one on the coffee table. Seth stands by the window with one foot on each arm of the chair. Sierra’s standing on the kitchen table with no chairs in sight while Rian has one foot on a kitchen chair across the room and the other on a cushion on the ground.
“Lava!” Sierra yells and points to the ground.
I drop my purse on the entry table and walk across the room. “How old are we all?”
“Come on. It’s fun,” Sierra says.
“Are you playing Piranha?” I ask, sitting down on the couch.
Dylan shoots me a sympathetic look.
“No, we’re playing Volcano and Lava and you, my friend, have died from the burning lava,” Seth says.
I shrug my shoulders and put my feet up on the table.
“Time out. Blanca went to Scrumptuals,” Dylan says. He and Seth each climb off their spots.
“We were at a standstill anyway. You need to play with an odd amount.”
I pay no attention to Rian because they’re playing a childish game I used to get yelled at for when I was younger for throwing beautiful hand stitched pillows onto the dirty floor.
“I gotta get to work anyway.” Dylan jumps off the couch. “Seth, didn’t you say you were looking at a new piece?”
“Yeah, I’ll join you,” he says.
Sierra falls onto the couch next to me and grabs the box of sweets from me.
“Rian, I bet Seth could use your input,” Dylan says to her.
“Really?” Her face beams and she grabs her purse, following them to the door.
“See you guys later.” Dylan shuts the door and it leaves Sierra and me alone.
My stomach knots and clenches so bad my hands fall to it.
“Aren’t these brownies the best? Don’t tell Rian, but I think they’re better than hers.” She cringes and I don’t say anything. “How is Dom?” She pops another mini brownie into her mouth.
“Good. Val is six months pregnant, can you believe it?”
“I can’t believe they actually got married. I mean, they were the couple who were fated to be together from such a young age that it was like a horror story when she got pregnant with Ryder. The fact that they found their way back to each other all those years later is really something.”
I half listen to her. I wasn’t really surprised. Val and Dom were made for one another, it was just my pig-headed brother who probably kept them apart.
“Maybe I should’ve gone with you so I could visit my dad.” Her head falls back against the cushion. “Last time I talked to him he said he had a woman he wanted me to meet.”
My head falls onto her shoulder. I know how hard that must be for her.
At ten, Sierra’s mom went to war for our country and gave her life in return. I’m not sure her or her father ever fully got over it. They were both in the military and deployed at different times. It was a devastating loss and Sierra rebelled hard after that. So much so that Mama told me I couldn’t hang out with her for a while. She was never quite the same after that. Still awesome, but not as soft or smooth as she used to be. She had more jagged edges after losing her mom.
“Maybe this person will make him happy.”
She nods. “I don’t really want to find out.”
I find her hand between us and clench it because what people don’t understand about Sierra is how vulnerable she is when it comes to her family. I have to think that might have been a problem with her and Ethan since he goes to see his family every Sunday.
“I’ll go with you if you’d like.”
She turns to me and smiles. “I’d like that. Thanks.”
I nod. Taking a deep breath, I figure it’s now or never.
“I need to talk to you about something.” I sit up straighter but don’t let go of her hand. I turn to face her, and concern runs deep in her eyes.
“What is it?”
“You know last night how I went out with that guy from work?”
“Yes, and I was very upset you came home.” She winks and smiles.
I’m about to crush her.
“When he walked me home, we ran into Dylan, Seth, and Knox.”
Her shoulders fall. “Shut up. They met the mystery guy before me?” Her lips tip down and she almost pouts. “I’m your bestie! It’s supposed to be me who judges whether he’s good enough. I should tell you, as long as the guy drinks beer, watches sports and likes tattoos, the guys will love him. Their standards are very low.”
An awkward chuckle is the best I can do in response.
“This can be fixed. Invite him over tonight.” She stands up and heads into the kitchen, opening up the fridge. “We’ll go up on the roof and then we can all go out. He can spend the night here if you’d rather not spend the night there. Does he live alone? Or does he have roommates? Is that why you didn’t spend the night?”