“I swear to God, Joseph, if you call my foot a hoof, my other foot is feeling just fine and it will happily meet your face.”
Laughter erupted out of him, his blue eyes creasing up. The hand holding my foot let go and reached up to run through his dark blond hair. “Fine. Let me go get you some ice. Looks like it’s a slight sprain. You probably shouldn’t ride your bike, though. And we can probably reschedule the CPR training this afternoon.”
“No!” I yelped. “I really need to get that done. It’s not like I need a foot to do mouth to mouth, right?”
“I guess not.” He stood up just as Keri Ann came out the door.
“Nana gave me an ice pack to bring out here. What happened?”
She came over and inspected my foot as Joey took the icepack from her. He gave her a quick hug, kissing the top of her hair. “Morning, kiddo.”
Then she plopped down next to me, causing the suspended bench to jolt and then swing.
I sighed and winced at the ice cold of the pack Joey applied gently to my ankle. “Your brother just called me a horse.”
“A filly.”
“A horse. And my foot, a hoof.”
Keri Ann grinned, looking from me to Joey.
Joey chuckled and shook his head. “And a beautiful hoof it is too. I need to get this elevated. Be right back.” He unfolded his tall frame, and I noticed how built he’d gotten under his blue shirt. Not that he hadn’t been before, playing football and all, but he seemed a bit leaner, more chiseled now. What was I thinking? This was the third time I’d caught myself noticing Joey as a guy and not my best friend’s brother. My face flamed, and I raised a hand over my eyes.
“You see? I told you he has a thing for your feet,” Keri Ann whispered.
At her words, my body had the strangest reaction. My throat and chest snapped tight mid inhale, like I was a drawstring bag and a boulder was just dropped inside it. I hoped the hand over my face muffled most of the odd choking noise I made, and it certainly hid the instant burning heat on my skin. I mashed my lips together. Holy shrimp guts, boulders suddenly dropped into your insides didn’t feel that great. The first time she’d mentioned his comment about my feet, it slid right over me with little consequence. Now, suddenly I found myself wanting to ask her what he said exactly, and when, and whether he was being serious and what had been the context. And my feet? Was she sure he mentioned my feet? And I also never wanted to speak of it again.
A normal person would have responded to her comment. Now it was weird that I hadn’t said anything.
Jesus, Mary, and Joey.
Bright light and cool air hit my face as Keri Ann pulled my hand off.
“You okay?”
I nodded and tried to release a breath that couldn’t get past my lips. I ended up puffing my cheeks out.
Keri Ann reached out and popped my cheeks with a grin. “Seriously, Jazz, what’s up?” she asked again.
“I, uh, just felt weird for a second.” Had I seriously developed a crush on my best friend’s older brother? I’d known him since I was eleven. I’d had crushes on him throughout the years. Silly crushes. Childhood type hero worship. And I’d also seen him at his worst.
When he was gross.
When he was smelly.
When was annoying.
And while still annoying, now he was all grown up. And stunningly hot. And I was older, and …
Oh holy shit buckets.
I had a legit crush on my best friend’s brother. A massive one. Like huge. And for some reason it was like I’d just discovered something I’d known all along.
“YOU REALLY DIDN’T have to drive me, you know.” I was sitting in Joseph’s red pickup, leaning as far away from him as possible in case I accidentally inhaled the smell of him and moaned or something.
“Oh shut up, already. We’re almost there.” He shook his head, amused.
I kept testing myself. I’d glance at his forearm, or his thigh, or his profile and check my body reactions. It was awful. Every single damn time, my belly clenched or did this weird bubbling thing. And when he changed gears and his fingers closed over the gear stick and his thigh muscles tensed, it was excruciating. God, I needed a Pepto Bismol. What the hell had happened to me? It was like I woke up in Narnia or Wonderland or an alternate reality. Or in Erath. God, I wished it was book world Erath instead, and this was Jack Eversea I was crushing so hard on. But, no.
I grunted, disgusted at myself. “Well, you don’t have to wait on me, I’ll—”
“What? Catch a taxi home? Do you know how much that will cost? What’s going on with you?” He glanced at me before concentrating back on the road. “I offered to help you, you accepted. Now you’re being weird.”
“I’m not.”
“If I didn’t know any better I’d think you were trying to avoid me. And here I was thinking we were finally becoming friends.”
“We are. I’m not. I …” I trailed off.
“Whatever.” He shook his head. “Okay so, look, I’m glad we’re alone so we can talk.”
I swallowed, my ribcage growing tight. “Yeah?”
“So is he the guy?”
“What?”
“Chase Kennedy?”