“There goes my plan to tell him and Brianna over a calm dinner,” she said, her voice tight.
He looked over his shoulder. Mike closed in on them. “Yeah, I’d say your plan is ruined.”
“I know you can move faster than this,” Kiersten said, tugging on his hand. “Let’s go.”
Kiersten sped up, but Garrett dug his feet into the pavement. “I’m not running from him. He deserves a chance to yell and scream at me.”
“No, he doesn’t.” She looked at him out of the corner of her eye and paled. “He’ll kill you. He’s not kidding. Why do you think I didn’t want to tell him?”
Garrett shook his head and turned to Mike, grimacing as he grew closer. “No, he won’t. We’ve been best friends for years, so he’ll just—”
Wham.
Garrett saw stars, and hit the ground flat on his back. The back of his head slammed onto the concrete. Fuck, that hurt worse than a sucker punch. Groaning, he sat up and clutched his eye. “Damn it, Mike. What the hell? We have a plan—”
Mike picked him up by his shirt, leaning into his face, and growled, “Give me one damn reason why I shouldn’t kill you here and now.”
“I told you why in the gym,” Garrett said, shooting Kiersten a quick glance. “Remember?”
“Let go of him, Mike,” Kiersten snapped, tugging on Mike’s arm. “I’m not a little kid anymore. We’re adults, and Garrett is going to be there for me the whole way.”
Mike swallowed and flexed his jaw, not releasing his death grip on Garrett’s shirt. “I don’t give a damn.”
Garrett squinted through his good eye, trying to focus on Mike. “I’m sorry, man, but you know how I’ve felt about her since high school. This can’t be much of a surprise.”
“What?” Kiersten looked at Garrett in surprise. “What do you mean?”
Mike’s grip slackened a fraction. “Kiersten, can you give us a second alone? We need to talk. No girls allowed.”
“No way.” She crossed her arms over her chest and glowered. “I’m not leaving you with him.”
“It’s okay,” Garrett said. “We need a minute.”
She huffed and stomped to the car. Once she was out of earshot, Mike said, “She’s a little brat, but she’s my sister. And no one f**ks with my sister. Not even you.”
If anyone else had called Kiersten a brat, he’d be flat on the ground. But he guessed he had to give her brother a pass. “She’ll want for nothing. I swear it.”
“And Chris?”
“Will have a father now,” Garrett said, his tone steady. “I’ll be there for him. Anytime. Anywhere.”
Mike relaxed and let go of Garrett, holding his gaze. “I’ll hold you to that for the rest of my long, long life. Fail, and you’ll answer to me.”
Garrett nodded. Mike would give him a chance to make this right—i.e., convince Kiersten they should be in love and married—but if he failed, or broke her heart? Mike would be the first in line to kick his ass before ripping him to pieces.
“Understood,” Garrett said. “I’m hoping to make her fall for me once I’m in the house. I’ll probably fail…but I have to at least try.”
“Damn straight you do.” Mike shoved him back and gave him one last warning look. “But it won’t be easy. She’s been hurt too many times.”
“I know, but she won’t be hurt by me. She can trust me, and so can you.”
Mike looked over at Kiersten—who glowered at him from the car. “Brianna’s the only normal one out of all of us. I don’t know what happened to her that made her so human.”
“You’re human, too. And so is Kiersten.” Garrett looked at Kiersten, too. “If I earn her trust…I can earn her love. I know it.”
Mike turned toward him with disbelief written all over his face. “I think you underestimate her pain.”
“And you underestimate my commitment.” Garrett shoved his hands in his pockets and took a deep breath of cold air. “I won’t give in until I win.”
“I think you’re insane.” Mike shook his head. “But remember this. The only reason I’m giving you a shot is because you’re my best friend. Blow it with her, and I’ll forget that small fact.”
Chapter Seven
Kiersten waited in the car for Garrett and Mike to end their “man talk.” No girls allowed, my ass. She clenched the steering wheel tightly, sighing with impatience. Chris was old enough to be left home alone for a little bit, but he was also old enough to not be left alone for too long. Teenagers got into trouble. She remembered that all too well. Twelve years ago, she’d been one of the biggest troublemakers there was.
But then Sue had died, and Chris had needed a mom…and everything had changed.
And now she was changing again. Morphing into something she didn’t want to be. She hadn’t planned on stopping by here, but when Garrett hadn’t answered his phone she drove to the gym without really thinking it through. Expecting to find him boozing it up with some secretary slut or something. Like Pete.
Was she being too girlfriend-ish in even caring? By checking on him like this? Should she back off? Probably yes to all of those questions. Especially the last one. But she didn’t exactly know the proper etiquette for when she couldn’t get ahold of her baby’s father. Maybe that newspaper column “Miss Manners” that ran in the Sunday Post could tell her.
Until then…she had a kid to get home to.
She laid on the horn and motioned Garrett over. He said something to Mike, and then came jogging to her window. She rolled it down and he leaned in. His blue eyes were bright and wary. And he looked so damn handsome with his curls flopping about his head every which way. Every time he moved too close to her, it grew harder to resist touching him.
Which was all the more reason to keep her distance.
“What’s up?”
She fidgeted. “I need you to come over tonight. I want us to tell Chris about the baby together.”
“Okay.” He looked at her closely. “You could have just called.”
“I did.” She lifted her chin. “You didn’t answer, so I stopped by here on my way home from the store.”
“Shit, I’m sorry.”
“Why didn’t you pick up?” She gripped the wheel so tightly her hands ached. “Last time the man in my life didn’t pick up his phone, it was because he was busy picking up someone else. Namely, his secretary.”