then to Addy before it came back to me. Her eyes settled but her mouth didn’t. It tipped up into a big, bright smile and she muttered, “Right.”
“Come on, Hadley,” Brady started. “I’ll take you to the Indian place.”
Hadley took in her man, then her sister, and said, “We can order in.” Then Hadley’s face went soft and her eyes turned pleading and I made a mental note to brace if Addy ever decided to look at me that way. “I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever.”
Yep, I’d need to brace if Addy had a mind to look at me that way, with her pretty eyes and beautiful face slack and her tone beseeching. I had no doubt I’d cave in under a minute and give her whatever she wanted. Therefore, it was no surprise when Addy sighed and her shoulders slumped forward. Hadley’s latest play worked, Adalynn was giving in, but she looked nervous about this.
“Baby?” I called, and her gaze lifted to mine. “What do you want? If it doesn’t deliver, me and Brady will go pick it up.”
Relief.
I wasn’t sure if it was from the knowledge I had no plans of leaving her, or someone else made the choice, or it was obvious I was okay with them staying. Whatever it was—and it might not have been any of that—I learned something new about Adalynn Walker. Unlike her sister, she didn’t use her eyes to get what she wanted—she used them to offer gratitude. Now I had a new dilemma, a new addiction—I wanted to see that look turned my way and I wanted it often. And so I knew I’d seek it out, give her anything and everything she wanted, anything to earn those soft, green eyes alight with a beauty I knew with certainty I wanted to see for the rest of my life.
That wasn’t the first time I’d had that realization. Hell, it wasn’t even the first time in the last five hours. But this time, after Brady’s reminder, it was the first time pain sliced through me.
“I’d like a burger from The Station,” Addy told me.
“They deliver?”
“No.”
“Call in the order.”
Hadley happily slipped back into the house, smile firmly in place, knowing she’d gotten her way. Addy’s movements were slower, still unsure. Then she stopped and turned.
“Um. What do you want?”
“Patty melt, onion rings, and a cream soda.”
She didn’t smile like her sister, but some of the unease slid from her posture as she made her way into the house.
“Maybe I was wrong,” Brady muttered.
He hadn’t been. Brady had been spot-on in his assessment. I was an asshole who didn’t deserve the likes of a Walker. Especially the sweet shy one.
Jasper Walker would bury me, and that I deserved.
9
“Addy and Trey…” Hadley’s singsong voice filled my kitchen. I rolled my eyes to the ceiling and wondered how much trouble I’d get in if I hog-tied and gagged my sister.
My mom would likely frown on it. My dad would totally get it and my brother would wonder what the hell had taken me so long. My sisters would laugh, so would my cousins. My sister was a known ‘shit talker’—she loved to get a rise and worked hard at it. But she absolutely didn’t like being teased in return. Total poor sport when she was on the receiving end. So, likely I wouldn’t get in any trouble because everyone in the family would understand, even my mom.
But Brady wouldn’t; he loved my twin more than reason, and I liked Brady and didn’t want Thanksgiving and Christmas to be uncomfortable. So I decided against hog-tying and gagging Hadley. For now.
“Seriously, are we in fifth grade?”
“You didn’t have a boyfriend in fifth grade,” she reminded me. “You didn’t even have one in ninth grade.”
I hadn’t. My dad had strict rules about dating and I’d followed them to the letter. However, none of my siblings had. Though it was worth noting that my older brother, Jason, didn’t have the same rules as us girls had. Mom grumbled about this on our behalf, my aunts had taken her back, but my dad was unmovable when it came to his girls.
“And…” Hadley continued. “I’ve never, not once in all my life have caught you naked with a guy.”
Heat hit my cheeks and I shook my head.
“We’re not talking about this.”
“Um. Yes, we are. We’re talking about it in minute detail. Spill, Addy. We have less than a half-hour before they get back and I want every last juicy—”