Full Contact (Worth the Fight #2) - Sidney Halston Page 0,59

took the paintbrush, reached up, and finished the job Chrissy had been working on.

Going anywhere near WtF had probably not been such a good idea, she knew. Dennis had made it very clear that if he caught her with Slade, there’d be hell to pay. But she had broken it off with him and she intended to keep it that way. The problem was, she missed him so much she just couldn’t stay away. She hadn’t intended to go to WtF, but her feet had just begun to move, and they had led her to the gym. Damn feet!

Jessica reached for the handle of the front door and walked in. From outside she hadn’t realized the music inside was blaring.

“Hi, guys!” she yelled, but neither Chrissy nor Jack turned. “Helllloooo!” she yelled again. Obviously they hadn’t heard her.

She walked over to the radio and pulled the plug. Both of them abruptly turned to face her. “Hi, guys,” she said again.

“Oh, sorry, Jess. Didn’t hear you come in,” Chrissy said.

“I know.” Jessica chuckled. “So you guys are painting, I see.”

“Yeah. Slade had to do something with Tony, so I came to finish painting.”

“That’s really sweet of you, Chrissy. You’re a great sister.”

“What are you up to?” Chrissy asked Jessica.

“Oh, nothing. I was in the neighborhood, so I came by to say hello and see if Slade needed any help.”

“I’m sure he’d love any help you can give him.” Jack winked at her.

“Babe!” Chrissy rolled her eyes. “Sorry about that, Jess. He’s a guy.”

Jessica laughed. “It’s fine. Don’t worry ’bout it. I assure you, Slade and I are just friends.”

“Well, if you say so,” Chrissy said. “Hey,” she added, skipping over to Jessica, “if you’re not doing anything, I’m going to see a few office spaces later for my new practice. Jack has a shift today and can’t join me. Wanna come along? I’ll make you dinner as a thank-you.”

“You don’t have to make dinner. I’d love to come.”

“Yay!” Chrissy cheered.

—

“That first place gave me the creeps,” Jessica was saying a few hours later as she gulped down a drink.

“Yeah, and the smell? What the hell was with the smell?” Chrissy laughed. “Thanks for tagging along. I know it was boring, but if I’d gone alone, I’d have been so anxious to get the whole thing over with that I probably would have signed a five-year lease for the smelly, creepy place.”

“No problem, and no, you wouldn’t have, the stink would’ve melted the lease papers.” They both laughed. “You didn’t have to buy me a drink, you know. It was fun, and I’d have gone anyway.”

“We needed a girls’ night. JL will be off soon, and I already told her to come join us when she’s done,” Chrissy said. “Plus, I needed to get you tipsy so that you could spill the beans about whatever the hell is going on with you and my brother. One moment you’re on, the next you’re off.”

“I don’t even know.” Jessica dramatically dropped her head to the table for a moment before lifting it up again. “I wonder how he’s doing. Really doing, like in his heart, ya know? He never seems worked up about anything. Nonchalant—that’s the word that I’d use to describe him.”

“He’s a guy—who the hell knows what’s going on inside? And anyway, that’s just the way Slade is. Relaxed, mouth of a sailor, says what’s on his mind without much thought, but at the same time happy-go-lucky,” Chrissy said.

“In a badass, cage-fighting, ass-kicking sort of way,” Jessica added.

Chrissy giggled. “Yeah, in a badass, cage-fighting, ass-kicking sort of way.” She took another sip of beer. “But don’t get him mad. Oh, no. I’ve seen that only a handful of times in my life. When he gets mad, he gets mad. M-a-d mad! It’s actually scary.”

“I can’t see it.” Jessica shook her head. “Nope. I mean, I’ve seen him mad, but it wasn’t scary mad. It was jerk mad—nothing terrifying. And I’ve seen him fight, but even then he doesn’t seem angry. He seems…indifferent, almost. But he’s good. God, he’s good. Sexy as—”

“No. No. No.” Chrissy covered her ears. “La la la la. I don’t want to hear anything remotely sex-related about my brother.”

Jessica laughed so hard, her drink went down her windpipe and she choked. Suddenly strong hands reached under her armpits, lifted her from her seat in the booth, and slapped her on the back.

“Omigod! Slade, stop it! I’m a doctor, you idiot. That’s not doing anything other than hurting her,” Chrissy