Finding Our Course (Finding our Way 3)

“Humor me. With the amount of alcohol you’ve had the last few hours, I need to try to clear your head and make you stay awake, at least until we’re done talking.”

“Have you been watching me?”

“Yep, been watching you since you came through security. Nice body shots, by the way. I almost ripped those guys’ heads off, but I kept my eye on the bigger picture.”

“Bigger picture?” I squeak, embarrassed he saw the guys at the bar. Thank God we were creative and found ways to do the shots with all clothing in tact.

“Yeah, like getting you on a flight where you had nowhere to run.”

“But why? What do you need to talk to me about? Really, what is there to talk about?”

“Maybe the fact that I saw you or spoke to you almost every day for years, and you cut me off without even a goodbye. Maybe the fact that we used to be close, and you’ve dodged me repeatedly for far too long.”

“This is about me not being your friend? Because I’ve always been your friend, Bryce, but my life has changed. And let’s not forget, I’m Nate’s little sister.”

“My friend? Nate’s little sister?”

“Well, yes.”

“You have no fucking clue, do you? I stopped thinking of you as Nate’s little sister the night you stuck your tongue down my throat with the sweetest kiss I’d ever tasted.”

Embarrassment floods my cheeks, and I look around to see if anyone heard. But the people around us are all lying back with headphones, watching the in-flight movie.

“Don’t be embarrassed. It was the highlight of my life so far. I dream about the feeling of your soft, sweet lips on mine. You have to understand where I was coming from. You were fifteen years old. I was almost nineteen, leaving for college in a few weeks, and you should have been off-limits.”

I think about it for a second and see his point.

“Okay, but don’t flatter me. I’m sure a baby on the way and proposing to your girlfriend trumps a kiss from a lovesick teenager.”

“No.”

I roll my eyes and reach for his beer, which he quickly replaces with my soda.

“Fuck!” he groans, rubbing his hands over his face. “Shit, this is hard.”

“You know what? Let’s not make it hard. Let’s not talk at all. I’ve personally had enough. I’ll go back to sleep and you can watch the movie. Then when we get to Aspen, we can go our separate ways.”

“How do you propose we do that? We’re in the same house.”

“Not if I go to Nashville!” I slap my hand over my mouth, cursing myself for saying my plan verbally.

“You wouldn’t. Your parents would be so upset.”

“They would understand. They’ve always understood,” I whisper and watch his face fall.

“Shit, that explains it.”

He throws his head back and drains his beer, then turns to me and pleads. “Please, listen to me, Devon. Let me explain. Since the day you turned eighteen, my life has been a rollercoaster. I’ve had to make some really hard decisions, and the one person I wanted to throw a joke at me or make me smile has been gone.”

My heart beats so loud it’s a wonder my chest isn’t pulsing. I want to tell him no, just to leave the past in the past, but I can’t. “Okay.”

He motions for another beer, and I give him my drink to throw away. The little I sipped is threatening to come back up. My mind is telling me to just hear him out, but my gut is saying he’s about to crush me again.

“Where should I start?”

“Wherever you want.”

He sighs and then turns his whole body to me, knees and chest trapping me in.