Destined to Be Three (17 page)

Putting her hands on her hips, Shannon growled in displeasure. “I’m not going to fuck your brothers, Jaycee!”

Jaycee and Katie-Anne snorted, both of them mumbling words of disbelief.

Katie-Anne huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. “The only reason that you can talk about your brothers with Shannon is because you’re a pervert.”

Shannon and Jaycee barked laughs that could, in all probability, be heard for miles.

Holding her side, gasping for air between horselaughs, Jaycee teased, “Pot, meet Kettle.”

Katie-Anne spun around and walked away from them, heading for the café’s door in a snit. With her long, dark hair billowing behind her, she flipped them the bird over her shoulder. “Fuck you. You bitches suck.”

“That’s what we were trying to tell you,” Shannon called out between one of her laughs.

Throwing her arm around Shannon, Jaycee said, “Come on, Shan. She’ll be over it before we sit down at our regular booth.”

With a nod, Shannon inquired with a wiggle of her eyebrows, “So, Jaycee. Were they as good as you thought they’d be? Well, I know that you have fucked Gray before, but what about Cade? What about both of them together? Give me something here. I have to live vicariously since I will more than likely die a virgin.”

“You wouldn’t be a virgin if you crooked your finger at Jared, Drew, or Randy. Hell, they would fuck you where you stood, then slap a ring on you.” On an afterthought, she added, “Then we would really be sisters, like I plan to be with Katie-Anne one day.”

“No.” Shannon shook her head sadly, her eyes misting over. “They let me know exactly what they thought of me years ago, and even if they hadn’t, it wouldn’t have worked anyway.”

Even on cloud nine, Shannon could piss her off. Her excuses were utter crap, and Jaycee was going to give her a piece of her mind. “Damn it, Shannon. When are you going to let that incident go? They were half-crazed, thinking their woman was planning to use them as boy toys. The first time you approach them and you are dressed like a femme fatale intent on getting her cherry popped. If the tables were reversed, how would you feel?” Shannon opened her mouth to spew some lame lie, so Jaycee cut her off. “Don’t you dare lie. You would have chewed them each a new asshole after you castrated them with the nearest sharp, rusty object, minus the anesthesia.”

Clamping her mouth shut, Shannon opened the café door for Jaycee.

Entering Lou’s as if she owned the place, Jaycee waltzed in with an overly dramatic swagger to infuriate Shannon. Shannon’s sneakers stomping on the black-and-white checkered floor was a good indication that she was doing that.

On autopilot, Jaycee made her way to their colossal booth in the back, weaving around all the tables without exerting effort as if it had only been a few days since she had eaten here instead of a few years. She passed so many of her friends as she went, amazed to see who’d settled down with who. The high school librarian sat with the four Jones brothers, holding one of the men’s hands while snuggled up to another and visibly flirting with the two sitting across from her. The town’s nurse, Janet, lounged on Dr. Murphy’s lap, wearing a beautiful collar around her neck. Max and John, two of her high school friends, whispered about something between laughs and kisses in a corner booth.

Jaycee sighed, realizing how much she’d missed living in a place where a person loved who they loved without worrying about what the other people thought. No one gossiped about anyone else’s relationship because, for the most part, everyone lived in some sort of unconventional relationship.

By the time Jaycee reached their table, her face hurt from smiling so much, but her heart was soaring. Falling onto the cushy bench, Jaycee bounced up and down. The red upholstery was old and worn from many years of use, but the comfort it brought was as much for her soul as it was her body. “Mmmmm…I missed you, red bench,” she said, rubbing her hand back and forth across the vinyl in a loving caress.

When neither of her friends made a snide comment, she glanced at them, finally noticing that both women weren’t aware of her existence. They were glaring at a table across the café filled with five massive men, three of which were her brothers, and two of their mechanic friends.

The five men seemed to be studiously ignoring them, but from Jaycee’s position, she could see all of their eyes darting toward them every few seconds. Men were seriously stupid sometimes. Why couldn’t they get their act together? If she could work everything out with Gray and Cade, her friends could have the same happily ever after with their men.

“Hmmmm.” Shannon and Katie-Anne had their dares coming very soon. She ought to use them wisely and nudge everyone along. “Earth to Shannon. Earth to Katie-Anne. What are you looking at?” Jaycee asked with way more volume than necessary, playing dumb as if she didn’t already know the answer.

When they didn’t respond, Jaycee decided to mess with them. Pointing at the men’s table, she exclaimed, “Hey! Look, it’s my brothers.” Waving enthusiastically, she yelled, “Hey guys!”

Katie-Anne and Shannon cursed, glancing away from the men quickly, their eyes scrambling to find something to look at before settling on the jukebox.

All of the men looked over at her, smiled warmly, and waved at her before each of them glowered at their respective ladies. Without any verbal acknowledgment, the men went back to talking and eating their breakfasts.

“I think that I want to hear a song. What do you think, Katie-Anne?” Shannon’s voice was supposed to be nonchalant, but she could hear the tremble in her sultry voice.

“Sounds fun. I think that I want to hear ‘Bitch’ by Meredith Brooks,” Katie-Anne said, her manicured fingers rapping against the countertop rhythmically to the beat of the song currently playing.

Jaycee’s hand shot across the table like a bullet, smacking Katie-Anne on the hand with more momentum than intended. She realized her mistake when her friend’s hand made a thwack against the table, causing Katie-Anne to yelp, which in turn snagged the attention of both Shane and Landon. They assessed Katie-Anne before turning a thunderous scowl on Jaycee. Raising her hands in mock surrender, she stuck her tongue out at them.

Never looking away from the jukebox, Shannon countered with a demonic grin, “No. I want to hear ‘Better Than Revenge’ by Taylor Swift.
Some
people forget that I can be a vindictive bitch when crossed.”

Most people would be shaking in their boots at the expression Shannon plastered on her face, but Jaycee wasn’t most people. Instead, she laughed loudly.

Three-quarters of the people inside the café peered at her as though she had gone mental. Pretending not to notice all the attention centered on her, Jaycee stopped laughing and squealed, “God, I missed you!”

Katie-Anne said coolly, “You just saw us a few days ago, Jaycee,” in her most blasé tone. But the head-bopping to Cyndi Lauper’s hit song “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” and the smile she fought contradicted her words.

“Does this mean you’re back for good?” Shannon asked enthusiastically.

How should she answer that loaded question? She knew what she wanted and what the men wanted, but nothing had been decided yet. They needed to have a serious talk—ASAP.

Shrugging, Jaycee replied, “I think so, but we have some stuff to work out first.”

“What exactly do you need to work out with them?” Katie-Anne asked incredulously, gaping at her. “You came home with them. I think that says it all.”

Shannon leaned forward, her face creased in concern. “I’m sure Jaycee has a good reason. Is everything okay?”

Before Jaycee could answer, a young waitress strolled up to their table with a bright smile, introduced herself as Nikki, and took their orders.

When their server had gone, Jaycee took a deep breath and explained, “We haven’t had time to make any plans for the future. It’s no big deal.”

Shannon sighed. “Crap. We did all that work for nothing?”

Jaycee felt her brow furrow in confusion at Shannon’s remark. “Did what work?” When Shannon refused to elaborate, Jaycee swiveled her head to the right and pinned Katie-Anne with a stare.

Katie-Anne grimaced and angled her head away from Jaycee, looking everywhere but at her.

Next to Katie-Anne, Shannon groaned and laid her head on her folded arms on the tabletop. She wouldn’t look at Jaycee, either.

A sick feeling of dread churned inside Jaycee’s stomach, and the room seemed to shrink around her. She slid out of the booth, intent on reaching the bathroom before she vomited on Lou’s floor.

Not paying any attention to anything other than the panic coursing through her veins, Jaycee ran headfirst into another person, jarring her out of her terror-stricken trance. She heard an
excuse me
from a very familiar voice, a Russian-accented voice.

Shaking her head as if that action would clear her muddled mind, Jaycee took a good, hard, long look at the woman she’d run into. Wearing khakis with a simple white button-up blouse, the woman had on no jewelry or adornments. Her blonde hair was pulled back in a tight chignon, and she had applied only minimal makeup which enhanced her green eyes.
Destiny Isgood?

Her outward appearance was the polar opposite to the one Jaycee had seen at the psychic parlor, but that didn’t change the fact that this
was
the mysterious fortune-teller. Contacts and wigs could do astounding things for a disguise, but there were certain things that couldn’t be faked. And this Destiny was the real thing.

Jaycee wanted to know what the hell was going on. And she wanted to know it five minutes ago.

“What the hell are you doing here, Destiny?” The words flew out of her mouth, not allowing time for censoring or consideration. “And why the hell do I get the feeling that my dearest friends are involved?”

Complete silence filled the café. The hustle and bustle had died down before she even finished her sentence. Now, thirty sets of curious eyes were fixed on her.

From the corner, a small voice asked the person next to her, “Why’s that lady calling Svetlana by a different name? Who’s Destiny, Mommy? I thought that was a word. It was in my book.”

The woman shushed her daughter, but no one paid any mind to them.

Jaycee glared daggers at
Svetlana
, who stared right back at her, not seeming the least bit fazed by her or her intimidation tactics. Changing her strategy, Jaycee crossed her arms and tapped her foot impatiently.

Hours or minutes or seconds passed, and nothing happened. She and Svetlana maintained their staring contest while the people surrounding them kept an eye on them, ogling and twiddling their thumbs. Jaycee had no clue what they expected to see.

At long last, she heard footsteps from behind them. A hand clamped down onto her elbow firmly and spun her around. “Come on, Jaycee. I’ll explain everything to you,” Katie-Anne said in resignation.

“Well, I think that I want to hear this particular conversation, Katie-Anne,” Shane declared as he and Landon entered the picture.

“Me, too,” Jared said stiffly as he, Drew, and Randy walked up behind Shane and Landon.

Jaycee noticed how her brothers moved to stand as close to Shannon as humanly possible without attaching themselves to her body. Predictably, Shannon also noticed and moved two steps back, bumping into one of the empty tables. A frown from all three of her brothers let her know Shannon’s not-so-subtle movements hadn’t gone unnoticed.

“Fine,” Jaycee snapped. Taking two steps before she realized that Svetlana wasn’t coming with them, Jaycee reached for the woman’s arm and yanked. “You. Come. With. Us.”

Svetlana followed a baffled Jaycee without a complaint.

Chapter 16

Letting Katie-Anne guide her back to their table, Jaycee kept a fixed grip on Svetlana. No way was she letting her get away. If anyone would be honest with her, it would be Svetlana.

Ducking into the booth, Jaycee noticed that no one sat beside her. Shannon, Katie-Anne, Shane, Landon, and Svetlana sat down on the opposing side, while Jared, Drew, and Randy stood by, hovering over Shannon protectively. She decided this must be how a criminal felt standing in front of the firing squad. Her heart flew, ears buzzed, head spun, and palms sweated.