“Our plan isn’t working.” I offer her half a smile.
Kai actually suggested I let Bristol manage me to get closer to her. That if we were around each other all the time, she’d have to acknowledge her feelings, my feelings, whatever. Bristol had been trying to manage me for years, but I didn’t want to just be her job. Apparently, she’s now not only my manager, but also my pimp. It still burns me up that she handed me over to Qwest like some prize at the fair.
“You mean Project Proximity?” Kai grins and reaches for one of the brownies Sarita, their housekeeper, made.
“Yeah.” I shrug with phony carelessness. “Maybe Rhyson’s right. Maybe she wants a guy like Parker, and I should just give up.”
“Rhyson isn’t right. Not this time.” Kai mumbles around her brownie. “He’s biased. He’s so close to you both, he doesn’t want things to go south and become awkward. Not just personally. He’s thinking about the business, too, I’m sure.”
Kai laughs, the husky sound drawing Rhyson’s attention. He grins over at us . . . mostly at Kai, before returning his attention to the game.
“And he’s afraid Bristol would destroy you.” Kai’s eyes meet mine in a careful stare. Maybe she’s afraid of that, too.
“I know.” I grin because I ain’t scared. Not even a little bit. “Most brothers would be protective of their sisters, but I get it. Bristol’s a handful.”
I slant her a sneaky grin and hold my hands up for her inspection.
“But I got big hands.”
“Oh, God.” Kai shakes her head and chuckles. “Rhyson is protective of Bristol in his own way, but he thinks she’s too much like their mother.”
“She’s not.”
Kai pauses chewing to hold my eyes with hers.
“Bristol is like her mother, Grip. I think she’s aware of that, and you should be, too. It isn’t all bad.” She shrugs. “I’m like my father in a lot of ways, and we know his history.”
Kai’s father, a pastor, left her and her mother in Glory Falls, the small Georgia town where she grew up. Ran off with the church secretary and never looked back.
“Just because she’s like her mother, doesn’t mean she is her mother,” Kai continues. “Rhyson got away from that house, from his parents. Bristol wasn’t so lucky.”
“Are you saying Rhys doesn’t trust her?” I frown, because I know he does now. They've gotten past that.
“Of course not. I think Rhyson is self-aware and recognizes how much he’s like his parents, and how easily that can go badly if he isn’t careful.” Kai offers a tentative smile. “Maybe he’s just afraid Bristol won’t be careful with you.”
“I’m willing to take that risk.”
“Apparently, she’s not.” Kai leans over and squeezes my hand. “Yet.”
“Why couldn’t it be easy for us the way it was for you and Rhyson?” I wait for the incredulous look Kai gives me. Their journey was anything but easy.
“It’s funny you mention us, though.” Kai rests her hand on her belly. “Bristol reminds me a lot of myself.”
“Really?” If there were ever opposites, it would be Kai and Bristol. “You’ll have to elaborate.”
“I believe Bristol has feelings for you,” Kai says. “I’ve told you that before, but something holds her back. That’s how I was. I knew I had feelings for Rhyson, but I let all my hang-ups keep me from doing anything about it. I didn’t trust him or myself.”
“You think Bristol doesn’t trust herself?” I smack my lips derisively.
“Not just herself.” Kai’s eyes fill with sympathy. “I don’t think she trusts you either, but I believe she will.”
That’s the very hope I’ve been clinging to for years, but now I’m not as sure. I can’t believe I thought Kai was just another thirsty chick when Rhyson first started bringing her around. She’s the opposite of that, and of all the amazing things my best friend has had in his life, she’s the best. She’s the only one who sees what Bristol and I could be together.
“It’s about time you showed up,” Max says from the pool table across the room.
Kai and I follow the direction of Max’s smile. Bristol makes her way slowly down the steps to the rec room, still wearing sunglasses. The grim set of her mouth and faint lines bracketing her lips speak of a rough night. I wonder how rough it got with Charles Parker.
“Sorry I’m late.” Her voice a tired rasp, she pushes the sunglasses up into the hair screwed into a knot on her head.
“I hate you, Bris,” Sarah says, looking over Bristol’s narrow, ripped-knee jeans and long cardigan. “You look great even hungover. You are hungover, aren’t you?”
“Very much so.” Bristol tips her head back and closes her eyes. “Gah. Sid Vicious is playing in my brain.”
“Isn’t he dead?” Max squints his eyes and frowns.
“Max, I can’t with you today.” When Bristol opens her eyes, she looks right at me for a few seconds before looking away to Rhyson. “Hey, brother.”
“Bris, what’s up?” Rhyson glances away from the screen briefly. “I didn’t even know you could be hungover. You hold liquor like a bottle. I’ve never seen anything short of a tranquilizer lay you low.”
“Apparently,” Bristol says, settling onto the couch across from Kai and me, “they tranquilize vodka martinis now.”
“Where’d you have these vodka martinis?” I ask, addressing my first words to her since our confrontation at the bar last night.
She becomes preoccupied with the handle on her bag for a few seconds before lifting her eyes to mine. They’re slightly pink and puffy, more pewter than bright silver today.
“Um, Vegas actually.”
“Vegas? Last night?” Sarah plops onto the couch beside Bristol, jarring them both.
“For the love of God, it’s a couch, not a trampoline.” Bristol winces and raises a shaky hand to her forehead. “Yeah. Just with a friend.”
“Woman of mystery.” Max squeezes between Sarah and Bristol. “Give us all the details.”
“No.” She scoots over, her flat voice and flat eyes opaquing her thoughts from them, from me.
“Did you take anything, Bris?” Kai asks sweetly.
“You know,” Bristol says, mouth tipped to the left, “I didn’t. I was rushing and didn’t even think to.”
“Come on. We’ll get you something.” Kai presses her hand into the couch for leverage, and Bristol stands to help pull her the rest of the way.
“Whoa. Careful there, little mama.” Bristol smiles for the first time since she arrived. She’s already got a soft spot for her niece. “Let me help you.”
Rhyson’s eyes leave the screen and fix on his petite wife with her hand pressed to the small of her back. He and Bristol exchange a quick grin. He’s still watching Kai as she and Bristol climb the steps and leave the room.
“Dude!” Simon laughs triumphantly, pointing to his winning score onscreen. “That’s what happens when you take your eyes off the prize.”
“Oh, my eyes were on the prize.” Rhyson tosses the controller to the floor. “I’m out. Food? Sarita left raw meat. I think I can manage to get it to and from the grill without the fire department intervening.”
“Maybe I should handle the grill.” I follow him out onto the patio adjacent to the rec room. “Remember the last time you tried to grill?”
“Nothing was lost or destroyed,” Rhyson says.
“Unless you count Grady’s eyebrows.”
“God, he looked ridiculous for months.” Rhyson’s laugh booms over the memory of the uncle he lived with here in LA when he emancipated. “Too much lighter fluid. That was the problem.”
“No, you not knowing what the hell you were doing was the problem.”
Max and Sarah join us, stretching out on two lounge chairs and scrolling on their phones.
“Daaaaaaaaamn.” Max sits up on the lounge chair and flips his legs around to face Sarah. “Did you see Spotted?”