Under My Skin (Skin Deep #2)

“Ha ha, very funny, Brandon,” I said sarcastically, giggling over the picture myself. “I forgot about that! God, we were obsessed with everything wedding back then…” I sighed wistfully and then doubled over again when Jackson pointed out a picture of me sitting on my potty chair with the newspaper spread out over my lap, pretending to read it. In the picture, I was scowling at my mother or whoever was taking the picture, obviously not impressed with being interrupted.

We stayed until almost eleven, finally getting up and saying goodbye to my parents after my dad got into a discussion with Brandon and Jackson about Luke’s bachelor party. They started talking about ideas that Calland had thrown out when he’d come by the house the other night and I called an end to it when they started whispering to each other and shooting suspicious looks over their shoulders at us. We walked to the door and my mom wrapped Chloe in a gentle hug and told her to come back anytime, especially if she ever needed to talk. She then hugged both the guys, kissing their cheeks and then laughing hysterically when they both jumped as she goosed them. I just sighed and shook my head. Mothers.

I was woken up at three in the morning by my bladder, who was protesting the four beers I’d consumed at dinner. I stretched and started to wiggle my way out from between the bodies wrapped around me but found that I didn’t have to because Brandon wasn’t in bed with us. I shook it off and stumbled up out of the bed, headed into my bathroom to take care of pressing matters. When I was done, I moved to get back in bed but stopped as I heard soft voices in another room. I quietly slipped into the hall and padded toward the spare bedroom. The door was cracked open and a faint light was coming from a nightlight that I’d put in there for Chloe at her request. I peeked through the opening and tensed when I saw Brandon lying in bed with her, one of his arms wrapped loosely around her while the other gently stroked her hair. He was murmuring to her soothingly, trying to calm the whimpering sounds coming from her throat.

I took a breath and when I did, the door moved, creaking slightly. I winced and peeked back through to see that Brandon was watching me. He smiled at me and motioned me into the room. I mentally berated myself for being nosy and being caught at it as I slowly pushed my way into the room and padded toward the bed as quietly as I could. He held his arm out to me and I shook my head, backing away again. No way in hell was I getting in bed with them and being all lovey-dovey while the poor thing was bawling her eyes out.

I heard a small sniffle and then Chloe’s head lifted. I saw surprise flash across her face before she’d schooled her expression again, giving me a guarded and slightly guilty look.

“Hey,” I said softly. “Sorry…I just…I heard you and just wanted to see if you needed anything, or if there was something I could do?”

She shook her head at me and gave me a watery smile. I could see her eyes filling back up again and Brandon wrapped her in his arms again. She buried her face against his chest and cuddled closer. A feeling that I swore I’d never feel in my life settled darkly in my chest, squeezing around my heart. Jealousy doesn’t sit well with me, especially when there is absolutely no reason for it….right?

Swallowing the nasty feeling down, I gave Brandon a small smile in response to the rueful one he shot me and turned and left the room. I made my way back into my bedroom and sank down on the bed beside Jackson. He stirred and turned over, reaching for me blindly in the darkness. I allowed him to pull me into his body, letting the comforting warmth of him soothe me.

“What’s wrong, baby?” he asked, his deep voice sleep-roughened and soft.

I shook my head, not caring that he couldn’t see it. No way in hell was I telling him what was really wrong.

“Where’s Brandon?” he asked suddenly, sounding more awake.

“Chloe had a nightmare and he heard her,” I replied. I felt him lean down and then his lips were on mine, kissing me sweetly before he sat up and swung his legs off the bed.

“I’ll be right back. I just want to check on her, okay?” Without waiting for my answer, he fumbled in the dark for his shorts, pulled them on, and left the room.

I heard faint voices down the hall and flopped myself over onto my back, my breath leaving me on an exasperated huff. I laid there in the darkness, lost in my own thoughts until sleep pulled me under again.

My alarm woke me in the morning and I reached over and thumped it off. My eyelids felt like they weighed twenty pounds and were lined with sandpaper as I blinked and rubbed at them, trying to wake up. The alarm started going off again and I leaned over Brandon to shut it off but the damn thing kept going. I pounded on it once more and it bounced off the nightstand, crashing to the floor, which made Brandon jerk straight up in bed, sending me tumbling in a heap off the end of the bed. I swore loudly as I laid there on the floor, realizing it was my cell phone ringing and not the alarm.

I heard the bed rustle above me and looked up to see Brandon and Jackson peering down at me, Brandon with an almost crazed, scared look, and Jackson mildly amused and curious.

“What are you doing down there, baby?” Jackson asked, his voice laced with barely suppressed laughter.

I rolled my eyes and stretched, trying to look nonchalant but failing miserably. “Ahh…you know. Just hanging out.”

Brandon reached down and grabbed my hand, pulling on it until I sat up. “Sorry…”

I smiled at him and shrugged before getting to my feet. He grabbed for my hand again and pulled me onto the bed across his body, wrapping his arms around me and squeezing. His lips found mine and he kissed me softly before apologizing again for dumping me off the bed. I smiled again and found myself lifted away from him and wrapped in Jackson’s arms with his lips on mine. I sighed contentedly and then groaned as my phone rang again. Brandon reached over and snagged it, holding it out to me.

I glanced at the display as I answered, surprised to see that Emma was calling this early. “Hey, what’s up?” I asked.

“It’s me,” a deep voice said in my ear. “Emma wanted me to call you.”

I shot up in bed, not even wincing when I elbowed Jackson in the stomach in my scramble to sit up.

“Luke? What’s going on? What’s wrong? Where’s Emma? ” My questions came fast, not even giving him enough time to answer.

“Nothing’s wrong and she’s right here. We were just talking about something and wanted to run it by you,” he said, laughing at my tone.

“Really? At…” I craned my neck looking for the alarm clock to check the time before I remembered that it was on the floor where I’d dropped it. “Whatever time it is?” I asked him grouchily. “Why didn’t Emma call, then?”

“Jesus, Allie, just listen to him!” I head Emma yell in the background, laughter ringing out in her words.

“Okay, okay…get to it!” I growled, still irritated by them laughing at me when he just about scared the piss out of me by calling this early from Emma’s phone.

“We’re going to move up the wedding.” He said it firmly and then fell silent, I guess waiting for my response.

“Okay? That’s it? That’s what you were calling for at the crack of dawn, trying to scare the life out of me? Ugh…tell Emma I’m going to kill her. I love her, congrats, I’m all for it, but I’m hanging up now. I’ll be there tonight to kill her. Text me the date.” I huffed out a breath and tapped the end key on the screen of my phone before dropping it and flopping back on the bed between Brandon and Jackson who were both looking at me expectantly.