A Little Complicated (3 page)

She perked up. “Right! You caught me. I saw you coming and took my chance. And now you can walk me home like a responsible adult. My dad will be so grateful he’ll whisk you away.”

“You’re awfully big on hooking your dad up with a guy,” I said, eyeing her carefully as I took a sip of my coffee.

“Women always try to use me as some prop, playing the perfect step-mom.” She leveled me with her gaze. “And If it’ll get the stick out of his ass to get a dick up his ass I’ll do about anything to make it happen.”

That sip I’d just taken of my coffee… Yeah. Spit it right in the poor thing’s face. Then I started apologizing profusely and trying to wipe her down with my napkins. “Oh
, my God! I’m so sorry, Lila. But seriously? You’re fourteen! How the hell do you know anything about that?”

She waited for me to finish fussing over her. “I read fanfic. It’s all boys doing that stuff. And I’m almost fifteen. Not stupid, y’kno?” Oh I wanted to smack those rolling eyes out of her head.

“Well, I’ll walk you home and say hi to your dad as long as you never say anything like that to me again. My gah!”

“Deal!” She said with another of her winning smiles.

I followed her home and she looked smug as she unlocked the door to their apartment. I’d never said I’d actually go out with her dad, but hey, at least I’d let him know I had been looking out for her.

The door flung open before she could finish turning the key. “Oh shit,” Lila mumbled. An elderly black lady in floral scrubs looked between the two of us and launched into a tirade about being early and not finding Lila in her bed and
“Lila Novak, child, you’d better not have been out doing that wheel chair racing horse shit. Tut tut tut.” The nurse was just in the middle of checking a griping Lila out from head to toe, shooting death glares at me, when it
really
sank in what she’d just said.

First floor of my building.

Handicapped apartment. “
His daughter is sick or something. He didn’t explain.”
Fucking. Hell.

“Lila Novak?” I asked, looking at her dumbly. She looked up at me and nodded, looking confused at the dumb look that must be on my face.

“
Delilah
Novak? Brady’s Delilah?” I asked, stupidly.

She and the nurse both stopped to look at me, inspecting me carefully like one might a species they’d ne
ver encountered, wondering first and foremost
does it bite?
Lila nodded, eyeing me. “How—” she started but was stopped by a voice come out of the apartment, toward us.

“Y’all, what’s all the fussin’
about?” Brady asked, coming from inside the apartment, hair adorably ruffled from sleep. I fought the urge to swoon like my sister had been for days. Just that damned sorely missed accent was enough to make my cock try to embarrass me in my tight running shorts.

“Oh, shit.” I repeated Lila’s earlier sentiment.

Brady looked from Lila and her nurse to me. Then proceeded to also repeat, “Oh, shit.”

“That’s what he said,” the nurse said drily. Everyone turned an acerbic look to her. She looked among the three of us. “What?”

Brady looked at me in wonder. “Ryan Borja, that’s what.”

CHAPTER FOUR
Brady

Eight Years Earlier

“Hey, thanks.” I said to the really cute guy who’d helped me find the store I’d been looking for all day.

“No problem,” he said with a lopsided grin. He had the biggest, brightest blue eyes I’d ever seen and his blond hair was in one of the faux-hawks that seemed to be fashionable lately. If he wasn’t so well-toned the guy would definitely be a twink, but the guy had some serious biceps and sexy forearms. He wore black, thick-rimmed glasses that sat just right on his very Greek nose. The glasses went well with his pointed chin and chiseled jaw. He was model pretty in a nerdy way, but you could tell he didn’t know he was. He seemed entirely too nice.

“I’m Brady, Brady Novak,” I said, holding out my hand. He studied it for a minute then gave me another of his winning smiles, taking my hand to shake.

“Ryan Borja.”

“Nice to meet you, Ryan. You from around here?”

“Oh, yeah. I grew up here in Decatur. Go to school over at Emory’s Clairemont campus.”

“Hey, me too. Must be a freshman?
I’d remember you if I’d had a class with you.” Yeah, I flirted shamelessly, but no way was this young’un gonna go for a single dad. The attention was nice, though, and he was sweet enough to deserve a little attention himself. And I wasn’t lying. It was almost the end of the school year and if I’d not seen him in my mixed level courses or around my friends (what few I had, what with all the baby haters) he had to be a freshman. 

“Yeah.” He said. “My sister goes there, too. It’s sort of in the blood. Wait. You go to school here but you don’t know where the Flying Biscuit
or Jamma Ramma are?”

“Oh, well, I’m not from here.
Grew up down in Valdosta. I don’t get out a whole lot other than work and school, having a little girl and all.” And there was that look. It didn’t seem to be the usual
eew fuck off
look I was used to. His expression was more a thinly veiled disappointment. He probably thought I was straight. Story of my teenage life. Gay men preach all day about being tolerant but they sure ain’t when it comes to bisexual guys, and even more judgmental of the single father. Though, it can’t be easy since teenage parenthood isn’t exactly in the cards for most of them—being gay and all.

“Well, maybe I’ll see you around.” I said. “If you need any help on campus that your sister can’t give, you holler.”
I knew I sounded flirty again, and it was a dumb suggestion since about the only thing I’d have he hadn’t found over the school year would be my dick.
Lame.

“Yeah, uh, same here.” He said. I sighed and turned to walk away. I knew my face was probably showing how bummed I was, but I can’t rightly help it. I take quite a few ego hits for someone who’d fucked up but done the right thing.

“Hey!” He hollered as I was almost across the parking lot from where he still stood. I turned to see him jogging toward me, that lopsided smile there but a little uncertain. “You should hang out with me and my sister sometimes. She’s going to be a teacher and we’re both pretty good with kids. You know, so if you needed to get out.” Nobody offered that. No one was that nice. I looked him over carefully.

“What? Too weird?” he asked. “I’m not exactly a social butterfly, okay? My sister is my best friend so I’m not sure how this whole ‘trying to be normal person and offer help’ thing works.” He blushed underneath that golden hued skin on his cheeks so I didn’t doubt his honesty or his sincerity.

“Damn freshman, where have you been the last five years?”

“Five years?”

“Yeah. With the little one it’s taken a bit longer to graduate.”

“Well, I’m impressed you did either way. My sister will love you.” He rolled his eyes at that. I wondered what that was about. He’d obviously decided I was straight and I figured I wouldn’t see him again so I just went with it. Boy was I wrong, though. That day we ended up having lunch. And when it got close to finals he
helped me cram for exams. He was quiet but funny. His sense of humor sucked about as bad as mine but he cracked me up. Turned out I’d accidentally made the best friend I’d had in a long time. Just in time to leave him. That sucked.

I was also incredibly attracted to him
, and the way he was with my little girl did wonders for my heart. He even babysat her about a month later while I went on a date with this bangin’ chick that had actually asked
me
out. A hippie chick named Ellie.

“Her name is
what?
”

“Ellie. Didn’t catch her last name though. Met her on campus.”

“Blonde hair, blue eyes?” He asked, looking a little annoyed.

“Yeah,
‘bout as light blonde as yours.” Then it dawned on me when he grimaced. “Oh, shit, dude. Your
sister
isn’t this Ellie is she?” Yeah he’d said his sister was his best friend, but aside from a random story about her wild dating ways he’d never talked about her and she hadn’t come up in the couple weeks I’d known him.

“Yeah, that’s her. I guess that’s why she ditched movie night with me tonight, huh?”

I winced. “Oh, damn. Do you want me to cancel?” I really would have if he’d asked. Honest. I didn’t know anything about Ellie and he was such a good guy. Plus, if he was to be believed about her dating habits—and I had no reason not to believe him—she was a flake.

“No. Don’t worry about it,” he laughed. “Not like you’ll get laid here tonight.” Ouch. He made a face when he realized he was talking about his sister
, or so I was guessing. “Just go. Have fun,” he said, pushing me out the door and shutting it in my face.

And that is how I embarked on the craziest relationship ever. For two months I dated Ellie, but we never worked toward sex. Not enough time on my part, plus it was hard to ask Ryan to watch Delilah just so I could hang out with his sister. It worked out that they were so tight, though, because we all started hanging out together. It felt like just a good friendship, honestly,
but she would say weird things about how nice it’d be to be a step-mommy. That was so unlike her. But it was no big surprise when I mentioned that my job offer I’d accepted and would start after I graduated the next month would be taking me to Phoenix, Ellie made her excuses quick-like and dumped me.

Now, I wasn’t all that into the relationship, mostly because I felt guilty that the one time
did some heavy petting and dry humping, I’d almost said her brother’s name when I came. But I was so drawn to him. Ellie was fun, though, because she always pursued me just enough to make me feel like some kind of prize, even knowing about my little girl.

But so did Ryan. At some point, though, he’d stopped looking at me like someone he was crushing on to looking at me like—well, his sister’s boyfriend. And that sucked because I’d known him first, liked him first. I didn’t realize until the night Ellie and I broke up and I’d gotten drunk feeling like a loser for losing Ellie and never having a chance with Ryan (and totally fucking it up dating his sister) that I’d never told him I was bisexual. So when Ryan came over to help me pack
the night before I was to fly away from him, I thought I’d told him, but I ended up just making out with him.

Now I was drunk
again since my mom had Delilah for the night. So all I really remember about that night in my mind was the hottest kisses of my life, him saying he was sorry for Ellie, and the best fucking blow job ever. Then he said he felt guilty and I sure as hell felt guilty for making him feel guilty so being a fool I let him leave.

Three
months. Three fucking months I’d known Ryan and two I’d known both of them. And in those months it had been such a whirlwind. All I was walking off with was these snippets of memories. I’d traumatized Ryan, whose smile had really changed my faith in humanity. Now it was back to being just me and Delilah. So when my mama brought Delilah back from her last visit before the move and drove us to the airport, I didn’t—couldn’t— think about them. It was all for Delilah anyway. We had a life to get to. We’d both waited long enough and Ryan and Ellie Borja would just have to be a memory.

And that’s what they’d been until now. Goddamn them.

CHAPTER FIVE
Brady – Present Day

Holy shit I was looking at Ryan Borja and all I could come up with to say was
Oh shit
. Really? And fuck had he aged good. He still had his nerdy model look going. His hair was different now, too, shaved on the sides but long on the top in one of those Euro-mullet thingies. He pulled it off damn well.  And those tattoos on his forearms were sexy as fuck.

Oh shit. I don’t know why I’d assumed he’d moved out of state like he’d talked about with me several times.

“Ryan? Holy shit, it’s good to see you!” I held out my hand for a shake, noticing the surprised look that Lila gave me then she looked back at Ryan.

“Holy crap! Ryan!
The
Ryan!”

“’
The
Ryan’?” Ryan’s voice squeaked when he asked. Damn that was cute.

“You babysat me! How did I not remember?”

“Well, I was a lot younger and so were you. I guess we both look different.” Ryan’s voice was as shell-shocked at his facial expression.

“You got hot.” That was my little girl, never one to mince words. I chuckled at the cute blush that spread under Ryan’s sun-golden skin.

I realized my hand was still out and he’d only glanced at it so I slowly pulled it back to my side.

“Wow, well, this was a blast from the past,” Ryan said. “But, I gotta go. It was nice seeing you.”

What the hell?

“Thanks for walking me home, Ryan,” Lila called as Ryan fled. Vera and Lila both looked at me.

“What?” I asked and they shared a knowing look.

“So that’s
The Ryan,
again. You gonna let him run off like that?” Lila asked. When did fourteen year olds get so… obnoxious? I scowled at her and got a mocking laugh in response.