Making the Grade (3 page)

“It’s not my fault. It’s not,” she insisted. “It’s Hailey’s.”

God, it was almost incestuous. The three Warren brothers and their girlfriends were fucking up Brian’s life. And one of those girlfriends happened to be his own sister!

Dylan frowned. “What does Hailey have to do with this? Wait. Did Derrick put her up to it?” Derrick, Dylan’s twin brother, had been known to screw with Dylan on occasion. But Hailey, from what little Brian knew of her, was a genuinely sweet woman who was engaged to the youngest Warren brother—Gage. So why the hell would Derrick be involved?

“Christ, my head hurts. There are only three Warrens, right? Or is a fourth going to come out of the woodwork to screw with me too?” Brian stood over his sister, his arms crossed, his temper frayed and ready to explode if Freddy didn’t open her mouth and explain. “
Talk
.”

“Fine.” She blew out a breath and her bangs fluffed. “You were so hot and bothered to go out with Faith that I had Hailey plead your case. Except Faith hates rich guys, so we kind of lied and said you were a friend of a friend and had no money. Strictly lower-middle class.”

Brian just stared at her, his mind buzzing. Suddenly, all those money comments and Faith’s humor about them took on an all-new meaning. She hadn’t been playing with him for his wealth, but teasing him good-naturedly, one friend to another. In a restaurant she must have thought he’d splurged on.
Fuck.

“What?” Dylan asked.

Harper groaned. “Oh boy. Freddy, I’m gathering your small untruth didn’t go well. Brian does not seem like a happy camper.” He frowned past Brian at something on the wall. “Fuck, man. It’s not even eight on my day off. Freddy, tell the man all of it.”

Brian had the satisfaction of seeing her cringe before his temporary joy faded. Annoyed with himself, his sister and life in general, he glared at her and kept his mouth shut before he said something he’d regret.

Freddy looked genuinely shamefaced. “I’m so sorry, Brian. When you first tried to talk to her, Faith wouldn’t return your calls, and she’s so perfect for you. So I thought if we convinced her you weren’t one of the rich, assholey types she used to date, you two would hit it off. I mean, Hailey, Sydney and Faith are tight, and we all love you. I thought between the three of us, we could help Faith find a guy worth dating. From your entrance this morning, I can see I screwed up.”

Before she could pester him for details, Brian stopped her. “No. Don’t ask. Not now.” He turned and left, slamming the door behind him.

He’d made a real hash of things. Mostly not his fault, but still, he could have been less of a dick and tried to talk Faith honestly about what he wanted. If he had, he would have realized she was so much more than he’d thought. By now, she’d realized he hadn’t called her on purpose.

Maybe.

He hadn’t been a complete prick last week. There might be a way to salvage things. He
had
to get her to give him a second chance. The question now was how to smooth over that blunder with the woman he’d half fallen in love with upon first sight.

Faith glared at her best friend. Stupid Hailey. A blond bombshell with large breasts, glorious hair and a softly rounded belly just beginning to show her pregnancy, she had the nerve to have found one of only three Mr. Rights in all of Augusta, Georgia.
 

“I’m not talking about him,” Faith insisted. “We went through this.”

For the past week, she’d done her best to avoid Hailey’s inquisition. And Sydney’s, and Freddy’s, and her friends Amy’s and Beth’s as well. But she’d run out of options, because Hailey refused to budge from her front door.

“I brought chocolate.” Hailey held up a bag from Smits and Plass. As if she’d been programmed, Faith’s thoughts went to that rat, Brian.

“Oh, fine. My hips and thighs might thank you, but I won’t.”

Hailey sighed and stepped inside the apartment. “I’m so unappreciated.”

“Shut up.” But Faith smiled. She’d missed her friends. Wallowing in self-pity wasn’t as much fun as laughing with the girls.

Hailey chuckled as she glanced out the large window overlooking the quad. “The good old days of ogling Mr. Tool.”

Faith laughed with her. “Oh yeah. My entertainment hasn’t been the same since he moved in with you. So do you still make him strip naked and dance around for you?” Only Hailey could have met the love of her life doing a striptease in front of his window—across the way from Faith’s apartment.

Hailey huffed. “For the record, we never saw him naked. He used to walk around in his tighty-whities.”

Faith cracked up at Hailey’s scowl. “Okay, I admit. Your man was never naked. But a girl could hope.”

“Bitch.”

“Bimbo.”

Hailey sniffed. “And I brought you chocolates…”

“Give.” Faith yanked the bag to her and inhaled. “Oh man, I needed this.”

“I’ve given you time. I’ve even held off Sydney from coming over to torture you. Now tell me how your date with Brian went. I’m dying to know.”

Faith ignored her in favor of a vanilla cream. “God, this makes your nagging almost palatable.”

“Big words do not intimidate me, Faith.”

Faith groaned. “Fine. Brian was nice, fun and charming. We had a great dinner, came back to my place, and before I knew it, we had sex. Like, I-lost-my-mind-it’s-that-good sex. Then he left and I haven’t heard from him since.” There. She’d laid it on the line.

Hailey stared at her agape.

“You’ll catch flies if you don’t close your mouth.”

Hailey snapped her mouth shut. “You did
not
bang Brian Goode.”

“I did. And then he cut and ran.”

Hailey frowned. “Brian? He’s such a great guy.”

“Yeah, so you said. Many,
many
times. And because you said that, I went out with him. You owe me this candy.” Faith took another rebellious bite.

“I don’t get it. He’s so nice. Sydney loves him, and the only other guy she can tolerate is Derrick.”

“Her hot boyfriend. Yeah, I know. Rub it in, why don’t you? You have Gage. Sydney has Derrick. Freddy has Dylan
and
Harper. And I have chocolate.” She bit into another cream. This one raspberry.

“What happened?”

“I wish I knew. Face it. Men are assholes.”

“Faith.”

“With the exception of the Warren brothers. Happy now?”

Munching chocolates, she wasn’t prepared for tears to fill her eyes. How embarrassing to break down in front of Hailey. And how maddening to cry over Brian Goode. The dumbass.

Hailey, thankfully, hadn’t noticed. She was staring at the floor by the front door. “What’s that?”

Faith blinked away her tears and cleared her throat. Time for a coconut cream. There had to be one in the bag. “What’s what?” she asked as she searched.

Hailey poked her in the shoulder.

“Hey.”

“That.” Hailey pointed. “Looks like an envelope with your name on it.”

She followed Hailey’s finger and saw it. Her heart raced, because she
knew
who it had to be from. There was no rhyme or reason to her intuition, but whenever she dealt with Brian, she had the same butterflies in her stomach.

With slow, deliberate steps she retrieved the note by the door. She opened it and read, becoming angrier with each passing word.

Dear Faith,

I apologize for not calling you sooner. I’ve been extremely busy at work. I really enjoyed our time together. You’re a beautiful, charming woman any guy would be lucky to go out with. I’d love to get together with you again. You’re an amazing woman.

Yours,

Brian

PS. I can’t tell you how much I look forward to seeing you again.

“Why, that arrogant asshole.” Faith fumed and handed the note to Hailey, who’d demanded to see it.

“I don’t get it.” Hailey glanced up from the page. “What’s wrong with this? He says he’s sorry and he misses you.”

“Please. He says he wants to ‘get together again’. Ha. I know what that means.”

Hailey shrugged.

“It means he wants to do me again. As in,
have sex
. Too busy to call? To friggin’ text? Whatever. He didn’t even have the balls to talk to me face-to-face. What a loser.”

She took the note back from Hailey and crumpled it in her hand.

“So, I guess a second date isn’t happening.” Hailey sighed. “Gimme some of that chocolate.”

“Here. Have at it.”

Hailey frowned. “Why are there thumbprints in all of these?”

“I wanted coconut cream. Would you rather I bit through them until finding the one I wanted?”

“Geesh. No. Forget I asked.” Hailey chewed, then asked, “So now what?”

“Now I go back to my life and forget I ever knew Brian Goode.”
I just have to figure out how to stop dreaming about him, and I’m golden.

“Okay. Gotcha. So can we talk about my bachelorette party now? That’s if it’s okay to talk about me marrying Gage. You don’t hate all men again, do you? Your man-hating mode is scary.”

Faith swore. “Hell. No, men are fine. I guess. Just not
that
one.” She glared at the paper in her hand and threw it at the floor.

She and Hailey talked about the bachelorette party scheduled for next month. Faith couldn’t be happier for Hailey. For a long time, Hailey had been shy of dating, like Faith. But Hailey’s problems stemmed from being too pretty for her own good, not from dating to compensate for feelings of inadequacy and insecurity—negative emotions Faith could now recognize in herself.

Dylan had been helping her to be a better person. Through the delicious Dr. Warren, Faith had learned to trust her instincts and believe in herself. Though she’d thought Brian was an okay guy, so maybe Dylan was off the mark.

An apologetic letter. She snorted with amusement.

“What?”

“Oh, nothing. Just looking forward to the stripper we hire for your party.”

Hailey laughed. “Fine with me. Just make sure you tie Amy and Beth down. Those two can get wild.”

Faith’s friends all worked in the same logistics firm. Sydney was the oddball, a realtor who worked for herself. “Yeah, right. Amy’s dating Jeff in legal, and Beth finally came off her high horse and admitted she’s been doing her boss.”

Hailey goggled. “Beth? No way.”

“Way.”

They gossiped about the other women before Hailey had to go. But as she left, she tripped over something left on the doorstep.

“Damn. Death by gift bag?”

Faith grabbed the offending item off the floor and looked into a brightly colored bag. The tag read,
Thinking of you
. “No name,” she murmured.

“What is it? Open it.” Hailey rubbed her hands together. “You have a secret admirer.”

“It could be a bomb.”

“Right. In pink tissue paper and decorated with ribbon. Get real.”

Faith pushed past the paper and found an adorable stuffed dog, a bag of Chukar Cherries and a gift certificate to her favorite coffeehouse. The cherries gave him away. “Friggin’ Brian.”

“
Oh
. He sent you an apology and a gift. Now you have to give him a second chance.”

“Like hell.”

“I’ll start calling you Sydney,” Hailey warned. “Remember when she and Derrick had that disastrous first date? Poor Derrick had to resort to family—Gage and me—to get Sydney to give him another shot. Now look at them. I think she’s moving in with him this spring.”

Faith frowned. “You’re not involved in this, are you?”

“No way. I learned my lesson with Sydney. Granted, she’s glad about Derrick now, but then she was a pain. And you’re meaner than she is.”

“Good. Remember that.”

Hailey gave her a wide smile.

“What?”

“I’m so glad you’re over that Dr. Sphincter.”

She laughed. “Pichter.”

“Yeah, him. Time to be girlfriends again, right? No more moping over guys. Brian apologized, so you can let it go.” At Faith’s silence, Hailey glared. “Faith?”

“Fine. I’m over it. I’ll just write him a note and have Sydney drop it off for me since she’s so buddy-buddy with the guy.” Sydney had sold Brian his house not too long ago and thought he could do no wrong.

Hailey left, and Faith dragged her gift bag inside. She loved the stuffed dog—a tiny brown Lab—chocolates and gift card. But she’d be damned if she’d let a man buy his way into her affections again. Instead, she put everything back in the bag and added a note of her own.

The next day, as Brian was leaving the house to go for a jog, he found a familiar bag on his doorstep. A glance around showed no one out of place on the street, so he took it inside with him. His heart racing, he looked through it, only to see his gifts still there. Disappointed, he sifted through everything and found a note written in a feminine hand.

Brian,