Every Which Way (Sloan Brothers) (32 page)

“Yes,” Severine blurted out. Macsen had ruined her McDonald’s run. Her stomach had rumbled the entire trip.

“Come with me. We were just getting ready to eat lunch.” Jayni was a few inches shorter than Severine, but she directed Severine toward the house like a mother in charge. “We’re having something light. Owen and I are going to a New Year’s party, and-”

Severine kept up with the conversation, nodding her head when she needed to. Before they reached the steps, she turned back around and found all three males staring at her.

What did they know that she didn’t?

Chapter Thirty-four

Severine took in the guest bedroom. The decor was shabby chic and nothing she would’ve expected for a cabin in the woods. Like the rest of the house, it was dominated by a woman’s taste. And while Severine enjoyed the light colors and pale blue of the walls, it was doubtful Thayer or any other male would.

Her legs paced the wooden floor. Severine was ready to give up, until her aunt answered the phone. “Hello?” Her voice was out of breath, but happy.

“Hey. You guys busy?”

“For you we aren’t.”

Severine glanced out the window and tapped her forehead against the cold glass. “I wanna tell you something.”

Rachel paused. “Do I need to get your mom? Did you just find out you’re pregnant, and you don’t know the baby daddy?”

“No! And you really need to lay off
Sixteen and Pregnant
.”

“It’s a train wreck. You wanna look away, but you just can’t,” Rachel said in defense of her reality show obsession.

“Moving on,” Severine drew out. “I just want to talk to you.”

“Why?” Rachel asked suspiciously.

“I’m with Thayer.”

“Ohh...”

“I’m at a cabin in
Tennessee
...with his family.”

“Is this an early April Fools’ joke?”

“Does it sound like I’m laughing?” Severine asked dryly.

“Is the other brother there?”

Severine released a deep breath. “No.”

“Good. Now, on to my next question, what the in the eff are you doing there? Were you kidnapped?”

Severine groaned and pushed away from the window. “I’m here on my own free will. Believe me. I ran into Macsen at McDonald’s, and it wasn’t the best feeling,” Severine explained.

“And then you randomly decided to go on a trip with Thayer. What do you even know about this guy?”

So much more than I ever knew about Macsen
.

“It was on a whim. I’m going against everything I think is right.”

“Yes. So what are you still doing there?”

“What do I know about right?”

“Severine-”

“I mean it,” Severine rushed out. “How do I know what is really right for me?”

“And right this second, are you regretting your decision?”

Her answer was absolute. “No. This is the opposite of wrong.”

“Then it’s exactly right.” Rachel cleared her throat. “I’m gonna get off here, but be mindful of everything that’s happened before this.”

“I will,” Severine promised.

Their call ended, and Severine stared down at her phone in thought. She could suffer through doubts of how wrong this was. But after lunch and watching Thayer with his family, she wanted to stay. Severine wanted more.

A rap on the door made Severine toss her phone onto the bed like it was poison. Thayer opened the door and peeked his head inside.

“I’m not naked. Clearly, you can come in.”

“I knocked too quickly then,” Thayer shot back. He stood in front of her dressed in jeans, kept in place with a belt and a simple, solid white crewneck long sleeved shirt.

He said nothing and walked around the room taking in the decorations. When he moved past her, Severine could smell his cologne. She sat down on the edge of the bed and watched him turn around to look at her. His hair was cut short but left longer on the top. He dragged his fingers through his hair, making it messy.

He didn’t even have to try. The outer shell of Thayer was lickable. It was what he hid from the elements that had Severine curious and searching for more.

“Get dressed,” Thayer insisted. It was one decibel away from demanding.

Severine scrunched her lips to one side and patted her arms and stomach. “Dammit. I could’ve sworn I put clothes on this morning.”

“Put...” Thayer paused for the right word, and finally shrugged, “whatever on. Hell, wear that. We’re going out.”

“Where to?”

“I have a couple of friends here that I grew up with. They’re here for a few days to celebrate New Year’s. I told them we would meet them in an hour.”

Severine heard his explanation, but she could only focus on the one thing that stood out to her. “You grew up here?”

He didn’t tense up or walk away. Thayer nodded his head. “From first grade to sixth.”

“Hmm,” Severine responded back. Macsen at least told the truth on one thing.

“You have forty-five minutes to get ready.”

Severine moved toward her suitcase and searched frantically for a dress. “You could’ve told me earlier!”

Thayer stood to her right and watched as she moved her clothes. His scent, his arm pressing close to the side of her ribs, made her close to being completely enveloped by him. “Don’t you always look like that?”

“All the time,” Severine said dryly. “Every day I wake up with my hair done and lipstick in place.”

“I really wanna see if that’s true.”

His innuendo was transparent. Blindly, Severine grasped the edges of her suitcase. The material briefly warped. “Let me get ready.”

He nodded and walked out the door. Severine waited until she heard his footsteps retreat from the door and ran to her bed.

Lily answered on the second ring, “Yes?”

“Quick. I need you to help me find a dress,” Severine asked hurriedly.

“Really!” Lily suddenly became interested. “Where are you going tonight?”

Severine avoided the question. “Just help me.”

“Fine. Umm...what about that cute sweetheart dress you have?”

Severine didn’t bring that with her. She shifted her eyes between the two dresses in front of her. “I’m giving you two choices. My cowl neck dress in plum or a tight sweater dress in silver.”

“The sweater dress with a deep v in the back?”

“Yep.”

“One last question.”

“Shoot.”

“What the hell is a cowl neck?”

Severine groaned as she put the phone on speaker and took her shirt off. “Look alive, Lily! It’s a neckline that’s draped around the shoulders.”

“Ahh! Gotcha. Next time just say that. I don’t speak
Vogue
. Since I can’t envision that dress, I’m gonna go with the sweater dress.”

“Good,” Severine said. “I’m putting it on as we speak.”

“What shoes are you wearing?”

“I only brought a simple pair of black pumps.”

“Brought? Where are you?”

Severine paused long enough to adjust the hemline of her dress. “I’m with Thayer...in
Tennessee
.”

“Shut up.”

“Can’t.”

“Hold on. I need privacy to hear this,” Lily muttered. A door closed, and Severine heard Lily moving things around. “Okay. You need to spill everything. Right now.”

Severine plugged in her curling iron and cranked up the heat. “He asked me to go with him. And so I did.”

“By yourself?”

“No, his family is here. Don’t have an ulcer.”

“Macsen’s there?” Lily sputtered.

“Do you think I’d come if he was here?”

“Good point. So where are you going?”

“It’s New Year’s. We’re meeting his friends.”

Lily sputtered before she finally said a coherent sentence. “I can’t wrap my brain around this...are you with him?”

Severine stared at herself in the mirror and wrapped a strand of hair around the hot metal. “We’re nothing.”

Lily read in between Severine’s pauses. “But you want to be.”

“I have no clue,” Severine confessed honestly. “This is spontaneous, something I didn’t expect. I want to enjoy it.”

“Have fun! Just call me tomorrow.”

“Gotcha. Oh, how’s Benji’s family?”

Lily sighed and spoke quieter, “It’s going good now. But it was kinda awkward at first. Now I think they’re coming around more to me.”

“Does he have any siblings?”

“Yeah. Three sisters. They picked me apart during the first hour.”

“And what’s the final verdict for you? Are you enjoying them?”

A contented sound of relief escaped from Lily’s mouth. “They’re all great. But I need to go before they think I’m taking a massive shadoobie in here.”

“Uck. Go. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Adios.”

Severine turned back to the full-length mirror, and double-checked her make up. Her nerves raced ahead of her as she gathered her coat and purse. She was ready to be released from her indecisive thoughts.

Her feet were sure in their steps as she walked down the stairs. Thayer walked through the front door at the same time. He briskly rubbed his hands together to create warmth and paused as he took in Severine’s outfit.

“I’m ready.”

His brows rose, and a smirk tilted his lips upward. “I can tell.”

Severine buttoned up her coat, as Thayer stared at her. She could feel his regard all over. If she looked away from her jacket, what would he read in her eyes?

In her mind, she had to reaffirm over and over that this was the breakthrough she was determined to have. Severine had no idea what path she was on. No guide was available to point her in the right direction—she was lost in a whole new continent. It gave her a course of energy and made her step forward toward the one person that was just as astray as her.

Chapter Thirty-five

“Do you really need your purse?”

“Let’s just say I’ve seen one too many Lifetime movies.”

She shut her door before walking in step with Thayer. Severine could hear the pounding of the music nearby.

“What do these Lifetime movies teach you?”

“That the stalker shows up out of nowhere and is always friendly and nice at first. It quickly turns vicious after that.”

He glanced down at her. “Then carry some Mace with you.”

“I do,” Severine patted her clutch. “It’s in my purse. The same purse you were pressuring me into leaving behind.”

Thayer looked away, but Severine saw a small smirk lingering on his lips. In the past few hours, Severine had discovered more things about Thayer than she had ever known about Macsen. For once, she pressed her body close to Thayer as they walked into the club.

“Follow me,” Thayer shouted above the noise.

Severine went to answer, but stopped short when Thayer grabbed her hand tightly in his and guided her past the warm bodies around them. There was no weaving around people. Thayer towered above everyone, giving him free rein to demand space as they made their way to a couple waiting by the bar.

“Thayer Fucking Sloan!” A guy yelled from the bar.

Thayer’s shoulders moved up and down from laughter as he did the ‘bro hug’ that had been around for ages. “You guys been waiting long?”

The black haired guy laughed and reached a hand out for the small girl next to him. He was around Severine’s height. An infectious grin spread over his lips as he wrapped an arm around the girl next to him, bringing her closer. She had on a cute black dress with red heels. They made her come up to Severine’s chin. It was dim in the club, but Severine could make out the smokey eye makeup and red lipstick. Her blonde hair was layered around her face in a cute style that Severine would never be able to pull off.

Severine’s bitch-o-meter wasn’t flying through the roof, and that was a good sign. Time was always the best thing when it came to getting to know other females.

“Severine,” Thayer draped an arm around her, shrouding her to his side. “This is Dan and Morgan.”

Severine’s smile was wide. It was all from Thayer. “Nice to meet you guys.”

“How much did he have to pay you to come with him tonight?” Dan teased.

Severine kept a solemn expression on her face as she answered him. “Nothing. He kidnapped me from the local McDonald’s.”

Thayer guffawed at her response. “What she’s trying to say is that we go to the same college.”

The mention of school made Severine’s back stiffen. Not here, not now. She didn’t want to think about it. Thayer noticed her tenseness and started to rub his hand up and down her arm. Both Morgan and Dan watched the movement.

“Are you going to stand here all night?” Morgan directed her question toward Dan. “Chop, chop, and get us some drinks!”