Page 7 of Yours, Unexpectedly

I wrap up and let everyone go early. Between that and Bex’s late arrival, we’ve only been in the same room for about ten minutes, but my skin feels like it's on fire. I turn my back to gather my things and take a deep breath, avoiding the weird looks that Callahan is throwing my way.

Bex and I definitely need to have a conversation if she’s going to be in this class with me. What I should do is convince her to drop and find another arts credit.

I’m warring with this thought as I turn back around and see that she’s gone.

I come home to find Gabe in the kitchen making margaritas for Margarita Monday. I place our Chinese takeout—don’t ask—on the counter while he pours the mix into a glass, handing me the non-alcoholic version before adding a hefty dose of tequila for himself.

We’ve had the tradition of Margarita Monday since our first year living together, and when I decided to get sober, Gabe was willing to do whatever it took to continue the tradition, going so far as to say he would stop drinking too.

Everyone’s sobriety journey is different but I didn’t need him to stop just because of me. So now I drink this mediocre virgin margarita and eat takeout every Monday because it makes him unreasonably happy.

Tonight might get awkward, though, because I have to bring up Bex being in my class. Gabe is not an angry guy. In fact, he’s generally happy-go-lucky and just a giant goofball. However, he is extremely protective over the youngest, and only, Bardot sister. She’s a grown ass woman and can make her own decisions, but I also know that she’s had a rough go of things, and Gabe just wants her to be happy.

It’s understandable, albeit extremely inconvenient.

We were at a party one time when Bex showed up. She had to have been a junior or senior in high school at the time. She looked sexy as fuck—which is not a thought I should have been having. A guy walked over and started hitting on her and before he got a complete sentence out, Gabe was there knocking the guy’s drink out of his hand and grabbing Bex by the elbow to escort her out. Don’t get me wrong, I wanted to do the same thing, but I’m not her brother. The look on her face was priceless, but Gabe’s message was loud and clear: no one puts their hands near Rebecca Bardot without answering to the three elder Bardot brothers.

She has had a boyfriend since then, but I was in New York at the time and missed most of how the brothers Bardot reacted.

“Happy first Margarita Monday of the semester!” Gabe cheers, breaking me out of my thoughts.

“I’ll cheers to that. I’m so fucking ready to be done with school.” Our glasses clink and we each take a sip. I wait less than a minute before asking, “So… have you heard from your sister today?”

Real fucking subtle.

His brow shoots up. “No. Should I have heard from my sister today?” He starts to dig around in the takeout and hands me a fortune cookie.

“Well, lo and behold, there is someone who looks suspiciously like Rebecca Bardot in my Intro to Acting class this semester.”

The spit take he does would be comical if it weren’t for the fact that I think Gabe has always suspected that I had a thing for his sister. He definitely thinks it’s more of a “want to get in her pants” kind of thing versus a “imagine myself raising kids with her” kind of thing, though. But honestly, I would settle for anything I can get.

“Bex is in your class this semester?! So she’s, like, your student?” he asks, mouth falling open.

“I mean I am only the TA so I wouldn’t technically describe her as my student.” Though I should keep her firmly in that category because it means she’s even more off limits. Then maybe my dick will get the message.

Maybe.

I crack open the fortune cookie and take a bite while he processes. He thinks for a minute and then lets out what can only be described as a cackle. “This is amazing. Will she have to do a scene or something?” Gabe pretends he knows anything about what I do, when in reality his knowledge is extremely limited.

“The final project is typically a scene or a monologue, yes.”

“Can people come watch?! Oh fuck, Ben and Jules are going to lose it when they hear this.” He pulls out his phone and starts texting his brothers.

Snatching it out of his hand I stop him. “Wait a second, okay? If she didn’t tell you, she probably doesn’t want your, ahem, over-zealous brothers to know either. Really, the problem is just you and Ben—we all know Jules would be supportive.”

Pouting, he downs his margarita. “Look, I was just asking because she left before I got a chance to talk to her. I didn’t know if she wanted her classmates to know that she knew me, and really it’s probably best if she finds a different class to be in.”

“I’ll just text her then,” he replies.

“Actually…” Oh shit, am I going to do this? I’ve purposely not gotten her number in all the years I’ve known her just to keep the temptation away. “Can you send me her number? It needs to come from me. She doesn’t even know that you know.” I keep chewing the fortune cookie and glance down to read it, hoping I’m giving off a chill vibe that I’m definitely not feeling.

An unexpected relationship will become permanent. Weird fortune.

Looking up, I see Gabe narrow his eyes at me for a beat before turning back to his phone and typing something out. Next thing I know, my phone vibrates in my pocket. I pull it out and read a text from Gabe. It’s his sister’s contact and three ominous words.

Gabe

Off. Fucking. Limits.

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