Flirting with the Frenemy (Bro Code #1)(12)

She doesn’t fucking have to.

I approach and dangle my keys between us. “I’m backseat driving.”

She smirks. “Of course you are.”

But she still takes the keys.

I hold the ring steady until she makes eye contact again. “That’s my kid you’re driving,” I add softly.

She holds my gaze without flinching. “Noted. Now, if you don’t want me stealing this thing, you better get in.”

Tucker’s already in the backseat strapping into his booster seat, so I settle into the passenger seat.

Feels weird to be on this side of the car.

But I think I owe her.

She might not realize it yet, but she owes me too.

And since we’re here together, she’s going to pay up.





Five





Ellie



Shipwreck smells like fried oysters, cannon fire, and dirt. People in pirate costumes stroll along Blackbeard Avenue while locals leap out from behind barrels and out of the local shops to challenge tourists to swordfights.

It’s glorious.

I tell Wyatt and Tucker to go on about their business, that I’ll get a ride back with a friend, but because Wyatt is Wyatt, he insists on walking with me from the parking fields at the end of the main drag toward Crusty Nut, which has the best fried pickles and banana pudding in all of Virginia, and yes, I have sampled every banana pudding in Copper Valley, and a fair number up in the DC metro area too, so I can say with absolute certainty that Crusty Nut’s banana pudding cannot be beat.

Also, if you don’t like banana pudding, I’m happy to eat yours. You can have my Twizzlers.

“Tucker, have you ever seen the inside of a pirate ship?” I ask as we pass Scuttle Putt, the miniature golf course at the edge of the park. The entrance to the payment shack is shaped like the bow of a ship, complete with a mermaid figurehead above the door.

Tucker slows.

Wyatt scoops him up and puts him on his shoulders like he’s light as a feather. “We’ll check it out later.”

“Why are you doing this?” I murmur. “I don’t need a fu—freaking escort. I’m fine.”

“Your brother would kick my ahem if I didn’t get you back safe and sound to his house tonight, and we both know it.”

“I know everyone in town, and I’ll get a ride. Go away.”

“Not until I see who’s driving you home.”

I pause outside Crow’s Nest, the local bakery, as I spot the owner just inside the open door, wiping down tables in a pirate costume, complete with eye patch.

Just as he’s supposed to be. “Hey, Grady. You ready?”

I smile, and he smiles back, and for the first time since Wyatt walked in on me in the bathtub, I know tonight’s going to be okay.

“You bet, hot stuff. Give me two seconds to toss this rag.”

Wyatt looks at me.

Then at Grady, who’s six solid feet of dependable, adorable muscle and dimples, topped with a thick mop of dark hair that even his hairnet can’t fully contain.

“What the f—fudge is going on here?” he growls.

“Just picking up my date. Who will also drive me home.”

“Your date.”

“Mm-hmm. Like I said, go about your business.”

Cooper, Grady’s brother, strolls out of the bakery and rubs my hair. Not because he’s older than me, but because he’s taller than me. “Still heartbroken you didn’t pick me, Calamity Ellie.”

“You’re unreliable,” I reply, earning a laugh.

“Dad. Dad,” Tucker whispers reverently while Wyatt continues to glare. “Daaaad.”

“I’m still handsomer,” Cooper points out.

I pretend to study him, then shake my head. “Nah.”

He puts a hand to his heart like he’s wounded. “Aah, Ellie. What’s a guy gotta do to get your affections?”

“You have to pick up your phone when she calls, idiot,” Grady tells his brother as he steps outside, sans the hairnet under his pirate hat. He offers me an arm. “Shall we, Calamity Ellie?”

“Who the hell are you?” Wyatt snarls.

“He’s—” I start, but I’m suddenly squished in a bride-scented hug with a fake parrot smashed into my face.

“Ellie! There you are. Why aren’t you answering your phone?” Monica demands. She’s dressed to the hilt as a pirate captain, with her honey blond hair tied back in a low ponytail under her pirate hat.

“It’s recovering from a swim,” I tell her.

“Daddy and Miss Ellie took a bubble bath together!” Tucker announces as I pull back.

Monica’s hazel eyes dart from me to Wyatt to Tucker up on Wyatt’s shoulders, going round as a pirate steering wheel by the time they’re back on me.

Grady drops his arm and takes a step back, brows raised, a slow smile spreading like he’s coming to a conclusion.

Shit.

Shit on a cannonball. This is not how today is supposed to go.

Behind Monica, Patrick, tall, blond, and usually affectedly bored, narrows his eyes like I’m still his business. “A bubble bath? Together?”

“They were all covered in bubbles,” Tucker says with a giggle.