Inked devotion, p.4
Inked Devotion, page 4
Mom: See you soon. And I can still bring the Jackson boy if you want.
I groaned, knowing that this was only the start. It was going to be an excruciating yet fulfilling weekend.
Me: It’s a family reunion. Stop setting me up on a date.
Mom: It’s a family reunion where we could make a new family. I’m going to invite him. I don’t want the tables to be uneven.
I groaned, my cheeks heating as I looked up, and Benjamin walked forward, he had a large duffle, a small cooler, and that was it. How the hell had he had packed so little when I seem to have packed the rest of the world?
Men.
As soon as I looked at him, the way he smiled at me, even with a little embarrassment on his gaze, I knew I would do something stupid.
Me: I’m bringing someone—no need to invite strangers for food.
My phone rang even as I got out of the car and opened up the back hatch. Benjamin nodded at my phone and went to the back to put his things away.
“Who are you bringing? What is his name? What does he do? How long have you been together, and when are you getting married?”
I ignored most of her questions since she was mostly joking. Mostly. “Yes, my friend Benjamin is coming with me. We’re driving together.”
“Benjamin? As in Beckett’s Benjamin?”
“As in my Benjamin,” I said, and Benjamin’s brows winged up, and I held back a curse. “As in my friend Benjamin. Beckett’s twin. He’s coming with me on the trip.”
“Oh, oh, oh, when did this happen? You’re going to have to tell me everything, and I love you so much. And don’t worry. We will make sure that he gets everything that he needs, and I will tell everybody that he’s on his way. Now, no one needs to worry about you.”
And that was the crux of it. Everybody was always worried about dear old Brenna, the last single Garrett, just like Benjamin was the last single Montgomery.
I cringed, knowing that I had put my foot in my mouth, and frankly, I had probably signed Benjamin up for far more than he had thought when he asked me if he could come.
“We’re just friends, Mom.”
“Oh, shush, you wouldn’t be taking a friend to a family reunion across state lines if you were just friends. But don’t worry. You don’t have to tell me if it’s something serious. You just take your time with that. I’m just so happy for you, Brenna. I love you so much, and I can’t wait to meet him. Of course, I met Beckett, but he has to be different than Benjamin. Are they identical?”
“I’ve got to go, Mom. We’re loading the car now.”
“We. Because you’re a we. Oh, I love it. I love you.”
I groaned as the line went dead, and I leaned my forehead against the car. “I fucked up.”
Benjamin chuckled beside me. “Let me guess. Your mom went my mom’s route with being overbearing when it comes to being single.”
I opened an eye and glared. “At least for a guy, it’s not as bad, right?”
“As I haven’t seen your mom in action, I can’t tell you that. I don’t think it crosses gender lines, as much as it depends on the person hemming you in.”
“My mom was about to bring the neighbor boy over for me to have a date for a family reunion when I accidentally on purpose said that you were coming with me. As my friend, but you heard my mother, there may be an officiant for a wedding.” I put my hands over my face and screamed, and Benjamin reached out and gripped my shoulder. I startled, looking up at him. “I’m an idiot.”
“You’re not an idiot. You have a mom who thinks she knows what’s best for you, and I understand that. I’ll play your fake boyfriend if that’s what you want, though I don’t think I’m going to be very good at it.”
I shook my head even though my heart swelled at the thought. “I don’t need you to play my fake boyfriend. You do need to go, even though we said you might not have to, you’re going to have to.”
“Okay. I don’t mind. I think I’ve met your mother, haven’t I?”
“Maybe? She seemingly remembers Beckett, but I don’t remember her meeting Beckett at all.”
Benjamin snorted. “No, that was me. I stopped by your bakery to pick up something for Mom, and your mom was there.”
“Oh yes, that was you. And she mixed you up. And I might have done that too. That’s weird. I never do that.”
“It’s fine. You’re not the first, though I guess that is the first time you ever have. I’ll go. We’ll be friends. We’ll make sure that your mom doesn’t have any secret dates for you, and then we’ll come back.”
“You know, you’re amazing.”
“You’re the one that’s letting me tag along on your road trip out of the blue. I think you’re the amazing one.”
“Then we both can be amazing and neurotic together.”
“I didn’t add the neurotic, but I don’t mind.”
I shook my head and gestured towards the SUV. “Now that you have packed your meager allowances, we should go.”
“We’re only going for a little over a week.”
“A week means how many outfits?”
“I have enough. Don’t worry.”
“Well, I sure hope you do. Though, of course, I guess we could go shopping if you need it.”
He shuddered as he went to the passenger seat. “Don’t say shopping.”
“Stereotypical much?”
“The last time I went shopping, Beckett was the one that made me try on a thousand different things even though we’re the same freaking size.”
I eyed him as I sat in the front seat. “I think you’re a little bigger.” And then I blushed as Benjamin threw his head back and laughed. “Oh God, I’m so sad that Beckett wasn’t here to hear that.”
“Please don’t. Never say that again. Don’t ever tell him I said that.”
“Oh, I’m telling Lee.” He pulled out his phone, and I snatched it. “No phones.”
“Really? No phones for the entirety of the trip, so I don’t mention the casual remark you just made?”
“Okay, we can have phones. Just don’t tell him.”
“I won’t. I was never going to. Do you want me to drive?”
I narrowed my eyes. “Excuse me?”
“Not right now, as I got into the passenger seat, but touchy much?”
“Sorry,” I mutter.
“I meant in general. You sent me the road trip plans, and we have GPSs and phones that should be good to go, but you do not have to drive the entire time if you don’t want to.”
“It’s a long drive to Virginia.”
“It’s going to be a twenty-seven-hour drive? Then we’re taking breaks.”
“It’ll be worth it. I hope.”
“I don’t mind. We have the week.”
“A little over.” I let a breath. “I guess we should go.”
“I guess we should.”
We started out on the road, and I told myself to calm down. There was no going back now—time to think, breathe and take a friend to a family reunion.
“Are you’re letting me pay for half the gas?”
“Yes, though I have a hybrid.”
“And a beautiful hybrid it is,” he said, admiring it, and I beamed at him. “It’s the first big thing I got after my business did well.”
“It’s a great car.”
“Your truck is a gas guzzler,” I muttered, then winced. “Sorry.”
“You’re right, it is, but it’s what I need for work. I was thinking about getting a small sedan or something to save on gas, but I don’t fit in them very well.”
He shifted in the seat, and I raised a brow. “I’m not making a comment on your size again.” He laughed outright, and I smiled. “This is turning out to be an okay drive.”
“Glad I could help.” He paused, let out a breath. “Thanks for letting me come. You never asked why I wanted to go with you,” he said, after a minute or two on the highway.
“I didn’t need to. You said you needed to be here, or wanted to, and I didn’t mind.”
“I guess I should tell you. I need to tell someone, and I can’t tell my family because then they’re going to have opinions, and I’m not in the mood for that.”
I glanced at him and he let out a breath. “Okay then, we’re not even out of the state, and yet I don’t think I can keep it in.”
“Are you okay?” I asked, my heart racing.
“I am. At least I hope so, considering what someone asked of me.”
I settled on the cruise control, with my hands on the steering wheel and my eyes on the road, even though most of my attention was on him.
“What is it?”
“Do you remember my ex? Laura?”
I frowned and nodded as I took the next exit onto the other highway. “Yes. You were in her wedding to Michelle.”
“Good memory.”
I smirked. “I made the cake.”
“Oh yeah, I forgot.”
“It was a good cake. Buttercream frosting, lemon filling, with a cheesecake on the side, and it was so yummy. Nice and airy for one and very rich and dense on the other.”
“The perfect blend of them,” he said.
I smiled again. “I was always sad when you two broke up.”
“I wasn’t,” he said.
That made me snort.
“I meant only that we weren’t right for each other. She and Michelle are. However, they came to me with a request.”
“What is it?” I asked, though an odd feeling spread over me, and I knew he couldn’t be about to say what he was going to say. Right?
It would be too eerie.
“They want a baby. And they want the donor to be someone that they know and trust.”
“They asked you!” I nearly skidded off the highway but kept my calm as a truck hit their horn beside me, and Benjamin put his hands on my knee. He looked down at his hand, let out a breath, and I swallowed. “Sorry.”
“I probably shouldn’t have said that while we were on the highway and you were driving.”
“No. No. When else would you tell me that somebody wants your sperm? I can’t believe I just said sperm. Again.”
“Yes, sperm. It keeps going through my mind over and over again. I had a dream that there was a little sperm having a conversation with me about the pros and cons. It was like the devil and the angel on your shoulder, but instead, they were in my brain, and they were actual sperm. And I have no idea what’s going on, and I have to stop saying the word sperm.”
I snorted, my whole body shaking as I did my best not to drive us right off the highway.
“You’re going to do it, aren’t you?” I risked a glance over at him before I looked back at the road.
“Yeah, I am.”
The astonishment in his voice surprised me. “You’re good people. You don’t need to sound so shocked that you want to make that decision.”
“It’s a big fucking decision. Part of me wanted to do it right away, but I needed time to think about it. I knew if I were around my family, they would keep pestering me until they figured out what was going on, and then they would have opinions.”
“Are you not going to tell them?” I asked, frowning.
“I will. Just after the fact. That way, they can’t talk me out of it.”
“You know, that’s probably a good idea, though I don’t think they would necessarily talk you out of it.”
“Maybe not intentionally, but they would bring around different ideas and opinions even if they were on the side of doing it, it would still twist my thoughts off enough that I just…I want it to be about Laura and Michelle, not about me.”
“You’re a good man,” I whispered.
“I hope so. I hope it works. They’d be great parents and deserve it.”
He talked about them some more, and I leaned my head against the headrest as I kept driving, thinking what he was doing and why he was doing it. I wouldn’t know the father of my child, but I was going to have to pick a donor soon. It wouldn’t be Benjamin, but hell, what were the chances? I was never going to ask him or anybody that I knew, but he was giving another family an opportunity to build a family.
I was always going to be on his side because I needed someone to be as selfless as he was being. I knew I needed to tell somebody. Soon.
It might just have to be the man beside me.
Maybe.
Chapter 4
Benjamin
* * *
I stretched my muscles before I turned around and remade the bed. I hadn’t slept too well, but I never did on hotel sheets. We stayed at a decent hotel, not a motel off the side of the road, one that might not have room service, but had doors that went to a hallway rather than the outside, and the place didn’t smell of smoke, and there weren’t water stains everywhere. I counted that as a win.
The fact that they had had an extra room for me at the last minute was a plus, considering that Brenna had had her trip mapped out for a couple of months now, so her rooms had been settled. I was tacked on and might be paying the higher rate, but it was still worth it—just time to get away and to think. What was funny is it hadn’t taken me much time at all to make my decision. We hadn’t even left the state yet, and I knew what I was going to do.
I was going to donate to help two people very close to me have a baby. I didn’t know what the legalities of it would be or exactly how everybody else would understand it, but Brenna understood it.
I would tell my family. Just after the fact, as I had mentioned.
Honestly, I knew that they would all support the decision. Only I hadn’t wanted to deal with all of the pros and cons of it with them. Then it would be a thing, and knowing Paige, there would probably be a color-coded list and a planner of when I should make my deposit and all of that.
I shuddered, and yet couldn’t help but smile. My family was fucking weird, but I loved them.
I knew that while I wasn’t leaving them in a lurch because I had scheduled myself possible time off, I still hated going as quickly as I had.
I looked down at the clock, made sure it was late enough in the morning they’d be awake, and picked up my phone.
Me: You guys doing good there?
Beckett: Yep. Just getting to the site now. Clay’s going to be late. One of the kids has a dentist appointment.
Me: An emergency one?
Beckett: No. Something that was on the books already. I didn’t mention it to you when you said you needed time off because, hey, you never ask for time off. You and Brenna doing good?
I didn’t want to read anything into that because I knew nothing was going on between them, except for the awkwardness of whatever fight they had had. The two said that they were fine, but I didn’t know anymore. After all, I had been one of the ones that had thought that Brenna had been in love with him.
Me: We’re fine. Long first day, but pretty quiet.
I didn’t go into detail as this conversation wasn’t meant for texting. I would tell my twin my stories later when I needed to, but person to person. Donating sperm really wasn’t discussed by text.
Beckett: Good. Just take care of her. And yourself too. We’ll be here when you get back.
Me: I know.
I ignored the odd ache in my chest since I didn’t usually get sentimental with the family.
Beckett: Try not to strangle each other.
I frowned at that but shook my head and put my phone in my back pocket. I looked around, making sure everything was packed up, and headed out of the room. I’d told Brenna I would meet her in five minutes down in the lobby. There was a complimentary continental breakfast, so I’d pick up a bagel or some fruit, as well as some coffee, and call it a morning.
I wasn’t sure why Beckett thought Brenna and I would want to strangle each other. We didn’t have that kind of relationship. We were friends, yes, but we didn’t fight with each other. I didn’t know if we hung out separately enough to make that happen. Yesterday had been nice. We had stopped for lunch to stretch our legs, and I had driven a few hours before we had stopped to get gas, and then she had taken a turn. I didn’t know who was driving first today, but I didn’t mind. I liked her SUV, and she was a good passenger.
She had even unwrapped gum for me so that way I wouldn’t have to do it myself. We both laughed since she hadn’t even realized she was doing it until she had already been doing so. It was something that her mother did for her father, and therefore all of the siblings did for each other as well.
I remembered my mother had done something similar for my father a couple of times on our road trips, and now that I thought about it, probably the rest of us too.
It was just inherent. When I had wanted something to drink or snack, Brenna had gotten it for me, just like I had done the same for her. We worked well together, and it was a good trip so far, even though I still wasn’t sure why I was here or how I ended up sitting in a car with Brenna.
We had dinner last night at a local chain restaurant next to the hotel, so that way we could each have a couple of beers and then walk to our rooms. We said pleasant good nights, and we’d see each other in the morning, planned out our trip, and hadn’t spoken. It hadn’t been awkward or weird. It had just been…normal. There was no pressure, nothing pushing at me to be one way or the other.
I liked it.
Brenna stood in the lobby, her rolling bag next to her, as she frowned at the bagel selection. I had my duffel bag beside me and set it next to hers. She looked up at me. Her wide eyes were bright, though I didn’t know if that had to do with the lighting or the fact that she might’ve gotten some sleep the night before. She’d piled her hair on the top of her head, little tendrils going down her neck, and it made her neck look long and inviting.
I needed a coffee if I was going to let my thoughts wander down that particular path.
She smiled at me and gestured towards the bagels. “I can’t make a choice. Either way, I’m going to want cream cheese. And since I want to get on the road, that means there’s going to be cream cheese in my car.” She cringed, and I held back a smile.
“We’ll use napkins.”
“Then I was thinking about getting a banana, but I can’t eat a banana while in the car if you’re in it, because if we make eye contact, eating a banana with other people watching is weird.”
