Page 46 of Forever Never
“There’s nothing wrong with my face,ass!”
She could feel the breeze from his exhale across the bar.
“I meant, you made a face like you were upset,” he clarified. “Do you want something else to eat?”
She propped her elbows on the bar and put her face in her hands. “No. The sliders are great. And the broccoli is necessary. Thank you.”
“It concerns me when you’re agreeable.”
She dropped her hands. “Brick, I just need to escape for a little bit tonight. Okay? No questions. No worrying about consequences. I need out of my head.”
He gave her a long, charged look. “Fine. But you’ll eat. You’ll drink an entire glass of water between every drink. And you’ll let me walk you home.”
“And you won’t try to pry anything out of me?”
“I won’t try.”
“Promise?” she pressed.
“As long as you let me walk you home,” he agreed.
14
Remi Ford was shit-faced. She was one of those charming, adorable drunks who just got happier and more excited to talk to people until she fell asleep.
By Brick’s guesstimate, she was about ten minutes from falling facedown on the bar and snoring.
She didn’t notice when he took the half-empty glass out of her hand as she questioned the Ashburn twins about island gossip.
“I’m going to walk our little problem home,” he told Darius, nodding in Remi’s direction. She was so close to Walter Ashburn’s face, it looked like she was trying to breathe the same air.
“Sure you don’t mind?” his partner asked.
Brick shook his head. “She’s less of a pain in the ass when she’s drunk.”
Unlike Sober Remi, Drunk Remi let him take care of her. Besides, there was no way he was letting anyone else see her home. He didn’t trust anyone else to pour her into bed.
He ducked into the office to grab his gear. When he came back out, she had wandered over to a table of two couples on their monthly date night. Apparently they were discussing the craziest things they’d ever done and whether or not they’d do them again. A topic no doubt broached by Remi.
It was yet another thing he appreciated about her. She abhorred small talk. If she walked up to a stranger at a party, she was more likely to ask them about the complexities of their relationship with a parent or what had been the best thing to happen to them that week. They’d had a lot of those conversations in his first year or two on the island.
“Come on, Remi,” he said, steering her back to the bar. “Time to go.”
She leaned way back to look up at him and then grinned. “Hi, Brick,” she said in a singsong voice.
“Hi.”
“You’re so tall,” she said earnestly.
“You’re very observant,” he said dryly, stuffing her into her coat and zipping it up to her chin.
“It’s one of my favorite things about you. Do you want to know what the other ones are?” she asked.
“No.”
He searched her pockets and found only one glove. Not a surprise. He put his own gloves over her tiny hands and led her out the back.
“Where are we going? Are we going to go do something crazy?” she asked, bouncing on her toes and looking hopeful. Drunk Remi was also Do Something Crazy Remi, which was exactly why no one else was going to get the chance to walk her home.
