I give Kohen a quick kiss on the lips to stop his protest. Jax is right, he’s late. He reaches behind me and shakes Logan’s hand.
“Happy birthday,” Kohen says.
Logan nods. “Thanks.”
Kohen gives me a hug before helping me into the car. He closes the door with more force than necessary. As I watch him climb into the cab in front of us, my anger emerges. My hands shake at my side with barely controlled temper. I’m fed up with the games Jax likes to play. Jax has no right to treat Kohen like he did today. Kohen isn’t the problem here; he is.
“You could have at least said goodbye to him.”
“I’m sure the boyfriend doesn’t mind.”
Uncomfortable silence fills the rest of the ride. I hold my breath as much as possible because his scent wafts all around me, invading my senses. Thankfully the ride doesn’t take as long as usual. When he parks in an empty space, I sigh in relief.
I jump out so fast that I nearly fall flat on my face, but I catch myself on the doorframe just in time. I don’t wait for him. I stride to the elevator and press the button, urging it to hurry up. Since I’ve run out of all my luck today, Jax strolls up, ignoring that I’m trying to ditch him. He waits with me for the elevator to arrive.
When it does, we both enter. His arm brushes against mine and I fight with everything in me not to react. I bite my lip in agitation from my traitorous body. The tension in the air intensifies. It’s now a mixture of anger and sexual tension. I hold my clutch up to my chest as a barrier and a way to keep my hands to myself. When the bell chimes, signaling we’re at the penthouse, we both exhale the breaths we we’re holding.
I run into Connor’s as fast as my feet can carry me without falling on my face. Connor sets a beer bucket on the coffee table when I enter. Yes, an actual beer bucket, heaped to the brim with ice and beer. There’s a stack of action-packed movies on the table. Of course he has the poker table set up in full view of his flat screen television. It’s perfect!
Logan walks in with his hands full of junk food. I rush over to him and take the precious food out of his hands.
“Sit down, it’s your birthday!” I give Connor my no-nonsense look. “He shouldn’t be doing anything but having fun, Connor!”
Immediately I take charge of the evening. I order Jax to put a movie on and line all of our presents on the poker table. Connor attempts to help him, but I shake my head. He smirks and moves to take the seat that I saved for Jax, the chair furthest away from me. I shake my head again, but he ignores me and hands Logan his gift. As Jax comes to the poker table, he pauses mid-step when he realizes that he’s going to sit next to me. I’m the only one who notices, since I’m the only one paying attention to everything he does.
I glance at my brother, wondering if I can play sick so I can go home. That thought leaves as quickly as it appears. There’s no way I’m ditching just because I have to be near Jax. I can handle anything he throws my way. I scowl in Jax’s direction. His eyes sparkle, as if he just read my mind, and I know that will take a lot of self-control to avoid a scene.
Jax winks at me as he takes his seat. His leg brushes against mine. I suck in a breath and frown at him. Our stare down is broken by Logan tearing through the blue wrapping paper. His face lights up when he sees whatever is inside.
“Thanks, man!”
He springs up and gives Connor a hug. Not a one-arm man hug either, a real hug. He must really like it.
“Well, are you going to show us what he got you or not?” I ask.
“Concert tickets to Cheap Trick the second weekend of November!”
I jump out of my seat so fast the chair falls to the ground. Please say we’re all going, I chant in my head. To my relief Logan, holds out four tickets! All thoughts of Jax are momentarily forgotten. Until he picks up the chair. It doesn’t escape my notice that Jax moves my chair closer to his. I eye him, wondering what his game is, but he doesn’t give anything away.
“I think this present is more for Adalynn than me,” Logan says, distracting me from The God I’m forced to sit beside.
“Oh shut up. You’re the one who got me into them when we were little.”
When Logan picks up Jax’s present, Jax fidgets in his seat. I watch him from the corner of my eye, not wanting him to catch me staring. Hmm . . . What can be in the bag? Logan’s mouth drops open as he removes an old shirt. He sits there, immobile.
“An old shirt? Really Jax you couldn’t get him something better than one of your old jerseys?” Connors asks him.
I agree with Connor. I mean, come on, Jax has more money than anyone I know. Anything else would have been better than that. Still silent, Logan slowly turns the jersey around so I can see it better. My breath catches. Holy shit.
“Is that really his?” I ask Jax.
Connor gulps loudly. He seems ashamed from his comment earlier as he studies his beer with a forlorn expression.
Jax looks more than uncomfortable as he runs a shaky hand over his face. “Yeah . . . if you want something else, I’ll get you anything you want . . . I just . . .”
He stops his rant when Logan sweeps him into the biggest bear hug I’ve ever seen. Can Jax even breathe? Composing himself, Logan sits back down and traces the number twenty-three on the back with his finger in awe.
“How did you get this?” Logan and I ask at the same time.
It’s our dad’s jersey from when he played soccer in college. The one signed by everyone on his team the last year he played.
“I went through your storage in California. Found it and brought it back . . . I thought you would rather have it then it being kept somewhere in a box,” Jax explains.
WOW! I’m speechless and so is my brother. I don’t know what’s in storage since Logan dealt with all that, but I can only imagine there are millions of boxes everywhere. Give or take. I don’t even want to think about how much time that took. It’s incredible that he did that especially with his work schedule. He is an amazing friend to my brother and I think I just fell in love with him a little more.
“When?” Connor asks.
Jax shrugs. “I’ve had time lately and I wanted to give you something meaningful. Not that Cheap Trick tickets aren’t.”
“Thanks man,” Connor says sourly.
Jax winks and I can tell Logan is getting all choked up.
“I don’t...I don’t...even—”
“Don’t even worry about it. Happy birthday,” Jax says.
Knowing my brother needs a mood-lifter, I hand him his present. Naturally, I wrapped it in the brightest shade of neon pink wrapping paper I could find.
“Really Addie? They didn’t have any other color?” Logan accepts the box from my hands.
Giving him my cheesiest smile, I say in a sing song voice, “Nope, they only carry this color. I know it sucks!”
“Oh I’m sure that’s why, not because you’ve enjoyed giving me presents wrapped in pink since we were kids.”
“Why break tradition?”
We smile at each other. Logan tears into it and slides the lid off of the box. He picks up one frame after another, not saying anything. He sets each frame on the table and stares at them. I hold my breath. The guys can now see exactly what I got him. They look at the pictures, to Logan, to me, and back to Logan again. It’s eerily quiet and I can hear Logan’s heavy breathing from across the poker table. When I glance up, my brother blue eyes are pinned to my face.
I can feel how much pain he’s in now because of me. I can’t believe I’m such an idiot. Of course he doesn’t want a reminder of everyone that isn’t here on his birthday. I open my mouth to apologize, but stop when I see his eyes glistening with tears. Crap! I’m the worst gift-giver in the history of the world. I really thought he would love this. I turn away from him, and run though ideas to flee without being insensitive.
Emotions . . . I can’t do them.
Logan slowly stands and makes the few steps around the table to me. Bending down so we’re at eye level he whispers, “Thank you.”