Broken Open

CHAPTER FIVE

TUESDAY WATCHED EZRA follow his brother and turned away with a sigh. Natalie was right there and she would be insufferable until Tuesday shared. Which was a best friend’s right after all and she’d do the same in Nat’s place.

“Not yet. You came in right as condoms were procured.” Tuesday leaned in close to Natalie. “He could be a gold medalist, world champion in oral sex, however.”

Natalie groaned. “I’m so sorry. We tried to call you and then him and we just didn’t want to let it wait.”

“Of course you came over and that’s what you were supposed to do. If you hadn’t, he’d never have forgiven himself.”

Tuesday got the feeling no one was harder on Ezra than Ezra himself.

Tuesday had noted the way Ezra had eased into control and Paddy calmed down. The Hurleys were very close-knit and those girls were adored by one and all. They’d needed him, he’d responded and had helped and everyone felt better.

It made her happy to see Ezra step in to protect his family the way he did.

Natalie nodded, agreeing. “Still, it sucks. We’d just started to fall asleep when we got the call. That little girl is such a sweetheart. Vaughan must be beside himself.”

“They got to it before her appendix burst. It could have been so much worse. At least Vaughan was there when it happened.” The youngest Hurley brother appeared to be a great father so Tuesday imagined he’d have been out of his mind with worry if he’d been across the country on tour still. He’d be worried then, too, of course, but at least he was close by and that was a blessing.

“We’ll talk about that later.” Natalie looked toward the living room, where the brothers both had phones pressed to their ears. “So. A champion, huh?” Natalie asked carefully as she bumped her hip to Tuesday’s.

One of the things Tuesday loved most about her best friend was the way Natalie knew when to push and when to back off. After Eric had died, Tuesday had drifted awhile.

Unable to face the home she’d made with Eric, Tuesday’d gone off to visit people and sleep in guest rooms. It had been Natalie who’d finally got through to her and told her to start living again. Natalie who pushed and coaxed and cajoled her back to the work of the living once more.

Ezra’s rumble sounded from the other room and it made Tuesday smile.

“Yes.”

“And it was okay, so that’s good.”

Natalie had meant being with a man in their home—in Tuesday’s bed.

A hotel room was private and impersonal and it wasn’t yours for longer than a little while, which telegraphed the attitude she wanted to project. She had lovers and not boyfriends.

She wasn’t sure when she’d be ready to be with someone again and so it had felt to her that the safest thing was to not do it until she knew it was time.

Ezra, though, trod all over that distance. She let him. She even liked it. But she feared it, too, and it had awakened all sorts of stuff inside. Stuff she didn’t have the time or the luxury to examine right at the moment.

“It was way better than okay.” Tuesday looked down at herself. “I’m going to run up and get dressed. I’ll be right back. Keep an eye on the tea.”

“I will but don’t think this discussion is over.”

“As if I’d ever think otherwise. You’re bossy and nosy. But I expect you have some stuff to talk to me about, too. I need a Paddy update.”

Natalie’s features softened with love and it made Tuesday so happy to see it. “Deal.”

Her best friend’s joy was genuine. Even if tinged with worry. Tuesday kissed Natalie’s cheek. “Good. Be right back.”

Tuesday dashed up to her room to change. At first she tried to ignore the way the room smelled like him. Like sex and sin and hot, hot man. She’d made herself a promise not to think about what anything meant until they’d got past this situation with Maddie’s surgery and it all rushed in anyway.

But then it hit her.

She stood in her doorway, her hand on the light switch, and realized the step she’d taken by letting him up there and between her thighs was way bigger than she’d intended to make. Tuesday wasn’t sure what she thought before she’d led him up to her bed. Well, okay, she’d been thinking about riding him like a horse. But...

A man like Ezra marked a place with his presence. He filled up a room just by standing in it. But on top of that he emanated so much charisma and energy; a dark, wounded heart wrapped in so much talent it was a little intimidating.

He’d swept her up. She got caught in whatever it was between them. So powerful. He made her feel things more than just momentary pleasure. But he didn’t appear to be looking for anything long-term. Like her. Right? Was that even still the case?

Tuesday shook her head to stop that train of thought as she flicked off the light. There were other things to focus on.

* * *

PADDY WAITED UNTIL Ezra had tucked the phone back into his pocket before he got close enough to speak quietly.

“Hotel reservations made.”

“Good deal. I just spoke to Vaughan. Maddie is out of surgery and in recovery now. She’s stable and if all goes well they’ll let her go home tomorrow. I told him you were making hotel reservations.”

Paddy’s brow rose with appreciation. “Bravo. You cleverly made him think that he needed to be sure Mom and Dad got rest so he’d need to go with them. And it gave me something to do, as well.”

As if Ezra’d ever let on just how much he tended to manage them all. He just gave Paddy a bland look until his brother rolled his eyes and relaxed a little.

“Why don’t you call Mom and let her know about the room and then text Vaughan the details?” It would give Paddy something else to do, which would keep him busy, not feeling helpless.

Paddy nodded. “I just remembered, I called Damien but got his voice mail. Can you try again?”

“Handled. I called on the house phone. It woke him up. I told him there was nothing to be done so he needed to keep Mary in bed. I’ll call him now and fill him in on what Vaughan told me.”

Within ten minutes Ezra had got it all taken care of. All bases covered. Pregnant sister-in-law sleeping, all brothers accounted for and okay. His parents were headed to the hotel with Vaughan once they’d wrapped things up at the hospital.

Ezra had heard in Vaughan’s tone that his brother had a lot going on. More than just the immediate situation. Ezra planned to head to the hospital around noon so he could speak with Vaughn a little then.

“I’m sorry.” Paddy looked out the front windows. “For coming here and interrupting I mean.”

At first Ezra had no idea what his brother was apologizing for. He scanned his memory until he realized Paddy meant sex.

“Shit happens, Patrick.” He kept reminding himself of that because he was going to be nauseated all day from blue balls. He was trying not to even glance back into the kitchen because if she still had that scarlet robe on all silky next to her skin he was going to weep.

“But you guys...well finally, right?” Paddy waggled his brows.

Ezra’s laugh may have sounded a little less than amused. “Don’t worry about it. She and I know where the other lives. We’ll pick it up again once this is all behind us.”

“Shit. Now I’m really sorry.”

Ezra snorted, slapping his brother on the back. “I’ll let you make it up to me. Come on. We’ll fill Nat and Tuesday in and then I’m going home for a while to sleep before I head down to the hospital.”

“Should we cancel the show?” Paddy looked at his watch. “Tonight, I guess it is already.”

“I left it up to Vaughan. I’ll call Jeremy in a few hours to let him know what’s up. Vaughan says if she’s stable and fine, he thinks we should do it. He said we can play tonight and then he’ll head straight to the hospital from the arena.” And if he was smart, he’d be working on figuring out how to win Kelly back and get this new guy out of the picture.

When he and Paddy got back to the kitchen, Tuesday had changed into jeans and a T-shirt but she still looked sexy and gorgeous and his dick hurt at the memory of how she’d looked less than an hour before.

Ezra filled them in. Paddy sweet-talked Natalie into going home with him and Ezra wasn’t sure what to do with his disappointment at the idea of his own empty bed. He liked his bed. He liked sleeping alone, in the middle of his gargantuan mattress. But he bet Tuesday was warm and soft in the mornings. That might be worth sharing his mattress for.

Paddy and Natalie left and Ezra turned his attention to Tuesday, moving to her. “I’m sorry we got interrupted.”

“Well, all things considered, it’s all right. For me anyway.” She grinned a moment. “You? Well, I can help you out.”

He groaned at that. Her hands or mouth on him, quick and hard so he could get off. Yeah, that’d be fantastic, as it happened. And yet, not what he wanted. Not his first time with her.

He pulled her close, kissing her for a while until he felt a little better. “Are you coming tonight?”

She nodded. “Nat and I are driving out together with Mary.”

“You and me.” And like someone else spoke from his lips: “Come back to my house after the show. We’ll start over and do it far better this time around.”

He liked the smile he got.

“All right. Go home and rest awhile. I’ll see you tonight. I’m glad Maddie’s okay.”

He hugged her once more at her door before he headed out to the porch. He stepped away, pausing. “See you tonight, Tuesday.”

* * *

EZRA DROVE HOME with the windows rolled down. A thousand things he needed to do raced through his head. He went through them all one by one, assigning them some measure of importance and by the time he pulled into his garage, he’d tidied his thoughts.

Loopy, his sweet, silly Lab, woke up when Ezra came in from the garage. She looked slightly guilty, which meant she’d been on his bed until she heard the garage door open. “I got your number.”

That he said it while scratching her behind her ear meant her guilty face faded, replaced by her normal happy-go-lucky goofiness. She groaned when he moved to her chin, which sent Goldfish and Peanut into the room as fast as their paws could take them.

He tried to move, but was unable to avoid the pain of kitten claws in his jeans as they climbed him like a tree.

“You were in my bed, too, weren’t you?” He took a cat under each of his arms and headed toward his room.

Ezra’s house had been the last to get finished because he’d had the first one torn down and a new one rebuilt when he’d got out of rehab. This place was his home. His refuge from the insanity of the world outside.

A cedar-log home, it was open and bright. The central core of the house soared up to the bare-beamed ceiling with a gallery at the second floor.

The master was on the first floor at the rear of the house, behind beautifully carved oak double doors. Doors he usually left open as they were now. He dropped the cats carefully as he headed toward his bathroom.

“Sorry, kids, but Dad needs to be alone.” He shut the bathroom door and knew they’d be getting back on his bed the minute he was out of sight.

When he’d come back from tossing his dirty clothes, the water was hot and he stepped under the spray with a sigh. He didn’t need to shower then. He could just sleep, clean up before he headed to the hospital with his stuff in the trunk and get ready at the arena.

But a riot of energy coursed through him. It wasn’t about getting clean. He needed to jerk off so he could fucking sleep.

He worked soap into his palms, turning the bar over and over until his hands were nice and slick. Head back, he let the water hit him from all three directions as he trailed slippery hands over his nipples, tugging the bar through the left one. It wasn’t like he had to do much to get close again.

The memory of how she’d been just a few hours before came easily. Tuesday Eastwood was alluring. Sexy. Smart and funny. She was beautiful and vibrant and so totally in charge of her shit.

Her taste was on his mouth as he licked over his bottom lip. Right before he wrapped a fist around his cock and pumped slowly.

Fuckyeah.

He imagined her back arching as he slowly pressed into her body. She’d wrap her legs around his waist...if he took her missionary. Maybe he’d thrust a few times and roll her over and start again.

Yeah, that worked.

She had a great back, a fantastic ass; he’d look his fill as he got closer and closer. From that angle he could take her in slow, deep thrusts.

He drew close but he didn’t want to let go of that image. Tried to slow down but the time he’d spent with her earlier that night had pushed him too far.

All the adrenaline and sexual energy he’d been pumping out for hours and hours built up in the balls of his feet and barreled up his legs, lodging in his gut.

He thought about her. Remembered her voice. Remembered the sounds she’d made as he’d driven her to climax. Licked his lips to get one last whisper of her scent and taste as he came so hard he had to slap a hand against the tile to keep from falling over.

When he crawled into bed—yes, around two cats and a dog—it was four already. He’d wake up at nine and check in with Vaughan and depending on what his brother said, he’d head to the hospital after that.

There wasn’t anything else he could do right then so he let himself fall into sleep.

CHAPTER SIX

TUESDAY WAS AT her worktable when Natalie came into the shop the next morning just before eight. She looked up, switching off her work light. “Hey. I just put on a new pot of coffee. It should be done in a few minutes. Any word on Maddie?”

“I’d say I couldn’t believe you’re here, but that’s a lie. I wish you weren’t but I knew you would be. Anyway.” Natalie held up a hand to stop Tuesday from arguing. References to Tuesday’s chronic insomnia weren’t new. “Maddie’s awake and in good spirits according to Paddy. He, Ezra and Damien are heading to the hospital and will meet us at the arena later. Mary is riding with us but I can tell you she’s currently in her kitchen cooking for everyone at the hospital. I’m going to guess she’ll want to go early so we can all eat together and then go to the show. Would that work for you?”

It had been a little odd to see Natalie make a friendship with Mary. She was part of Natalie’s life in a way Tuesday couldn’t be. Which was so good for her to have that sort of support within the Hurley family ranks. But there were times it smarted just a little.

It was also undeniable that Mary was a lovely person who cared about her family and Tuesday liked the Hurleys very much.

“Sounds like a good idea. I’m sure it’ll make Mary feel better. It’ll give everyone a chance to rest and eat after the stress of the hospital. Also, I can’t lie—I want to peep at this Kelly character.” Tuesday put her tools aside and came around to where Natalie had dropped into a chair near the counter.

The coffeemaker beeped. “Hold that thought. Coffee’s ready.”

Tuesday poured them both a mug and brought them over with some sugar.

“Just let me know when you want to leave. I managed to finish two pieces this morning and a customer picked up some frames a while back. So I’m good to close up whenever.”

Tuesday had finally accepted Nat’s invitation to visit the small town her best friend had moved to because she needed an anchor or she was worried she’d float away. Or to be fair it was more like she was beginning to not be worried about floating away and that brought her to the person she knew would see just how messed up Tuesday was and how much she needed to have someone refuse to let her spin bullshit anymore about being fine.

She hadn’t been fine then. Though she’d got better since, when she’d first slept in Natalie’s guest room and let herself accept that it could be her reality, that she could move to Hood River. It had been a step back into a life she actually lived instead of something that happened while she hid from it.

She knew how to frame things. Did a lovely job with it because she had a knack for what looked right for each person and back in high school she’d worked for a frame place at the mall so she had the skill set. Her custom work and the other pieces she sold on consignment of preframed art brought in enough to pay her half of the mortgage.

But what she really truly wanted to do was make jewelry full-time. Big, chunky pieces of a wide variety of shades, shapes and textures. She had a stall at a local farmers’ market and had been slowly building a customer base that way. She also had heard recently that a big outdoor market in Portland had given her a spot for a stall starting the following month. The exposure was on a far broader scale. She felt more alive and full of hope for the future right then than she had since about a year before Eric had died.

“I’ve seen a picture of her.” Natalie leaned an elbow on the counter, tearing Tuesday from her memories. “Kelly. Did you know she was a model?” Nat wandered off topic. “You know what would be really good with this coffee? A cinnamon roll. Even a cookie. Oatmeal, which is healthy even.” Natalie smiled brightly and Tuesday snorted.

“I have almonds and some apples.”

“I said good, not apples and almonds.” She frowned, still managing to look gorgeous. “So for God’s sake, tell me about it. Tell me how you feel after last night,” Natalie burst out.

“I’m hungry. Come on. Let’s lock up and I’ll make pancakes.”

“Wow, you so don’t want to talk about it.”

Tuesday put a cloth over the work she’d been doing and slid the tray into a drawer. “I’m still processing it. I feel fine. He’s...well, you know.” She threw her hands up, frustrated that he was so appealing. “I don’t know. We haven’t even actually fucked yet. We barely know one another.”

Natalie washed out the coffee stuff as she spoke over her shoulder, “You and Ezra know each other. You have since that first meeting. I see the way you look at each other, the way you circle and get all flushed. I’ve been going out with Paddy since July of last year and in all that time I’ve never seen Ezra with a woman. Or talk about a woman. Other than you.”

“Pause the lecture.” Tuesday turned off the interior lights except the security ones and then hit the alarm before returning to gather her things and lock up.

“I’m sure you walked so I’m up here.” Natalie pointed to her car.

Natalie started in again once they got on their way home. “And you, well you’ve built a wall around your heart.”

Tuesday held up a hand Natalie couldn’t see because she was driving. But her friend would know it was happening anyway. “I don’t want to talk about this.”

“Too bad. I’ve let you avoid it for way too long.”

“Natalie, I can’t do this right now. Everything is fine. We will eventually have sex and I will fill you in on it and that will be that. We’ll do it awhile and it’ll wear off and we’ll be those people who fuck every once in a while when they need it from someone they can trust to be a good time but not develop feelings.”

“Oh god. Seriously? This is how you’re going to play this thing? You and Ezra are fuckbuddies? You bang awhile and then you see each other all the time and it’s totally hunky-dory?”

“I’ve seen people I’ve had sex with in town or around and I don’t burst into tears that I never bore their children, Natalie.”

“Don’t get defensive with me. I know your tricks. When Paddy first came around, you told me to let him in because I didn’t have anything to lose. I’m saying that to you now. Let this be good. You deserve that. You can’t just let that part of you die.”

“I’m not some sort of defective goods, Nat.”

Natalie parked and they went into the house, heading to the kitchen, where they began to ready for the pancakes Tuesday had promised.

Neither of them spoke as they moved through the kitchen, washing hands, tying on aprons, getting the griddle heating and then mixing up the pancake batter. Natalie was a horrible cook so she gathered ingredients and then cleaned them up when Tuesday finished.

As they did all this, Natalie put out all the items they’d need with just a little too much force because she was pissed off. Normally, this was the place Natalie had stopped when the topic of Tuesday beginning to date again came up.

But things had shifted over the past year or so and it seemed pretty apparent to Tuesday that Natalie was going to push some more.

The problem was that Tuesday could lie to herself better than she could lie to Natalie. Which was also a testament to the friendship they’d had since the first day of college. They’d celebrated so many things together, grieved others, like the unthinkable when, four years prior, Tuesday’s husband had been diagnosed with cancer and had died three months later.

Through it all, through grief so deep it was simply inescapable, through that numb place she’d floated into, it was Natalie who’d grabbed hold and gave her roots. Friendship that saw everything and loved because of it saved her over and over.

So she couldn’t lie to Natalie because Natalie understood Tuesday’s grief and her avoidance behavior, too.

Once they’d settled at the table with a heaping platter of pancakes between them and two big glasses of orange juice, they began to talk again.

“He’s sexy. I like him.” Tuesday poured warmed-up boysenberry preserves on her pancakes. “Before you get huffy over there, I know it’s more than that. There’s this intensity between us that...” That she’d never in the entirety of her life felt with anyone. “I get caught up in it. It’s like he gets near and all my parts samba. He’s powerful. He takes up oxygen and space. He’s big and sexy. So. Sexy. I can’t even with how sexy he is.”