Page 94 of Joey

“And Huck likes you, and Joey likes you too, and we already know that we like each other. But Joey refuses to let anyone inside that Boston Brother wall they’ve built around each other.”

“I don’t really understand what your point is, Wald.”

He turns his body towards mine. His fingertips land on my shoulders and drag the straps of my bra down my arms. Then his hands brush the cups down my breasts until they’re exposed.

He squeezes them with both hands as he leans in to kiss my mouth. And in that kiss he tells me his point.

“My point is,” he whispers, “he’s angry. He’s sad. He’s lost. He’s always been these things. Ever since the first day we met. And I don’t like it. I want to fix it. I want him to be happy. No,” he pauses. “No, that’s not it. It’s so much more than that. I want him to realize he’s already happy.”

I close my eyes. Our lips are fluttering against each other as our kiss turns into these words, and these words turn into an admission.

“Help me, Brooke.”

“Help you do what?” I ask.

“Help me make him see that he’s right where he needs to be.”

“What about me?” I ask.

“What do you want?” he asks. He’s unclasped my bra now. And he’s sliding it down my arms. “Tell me what you want.”

“I don’t think it works that way.”

“I think it does. You should listen to me. I’m kinda smart.”

A small laugh slips past my lips.

“No,” I say. Because I know I’m right about this. Doesn’t matter how smart he is. “That’s not how friends work.”

“Friends,” he says, lowering his mouth to my nipple. He bites it. Not hard, but enough to make me hiss. “We’re way past friends, Brooke. We’re partners. So tell me… what do you need? How can I help you?”

“Love doesn’t work that way,” I say, my fingers threading into his hair, my heart beating hard and my breath coming out in ragged fits.

“You want me to love you?” he asks.

“I want you to feel whatever it is you feel.”

“But you want that to be love?”

I hold my breath as I nod. And then I whisper, “I need it.” And suddenly my eyes are filling up with tears. “I need someone to tell me to love them. I need to take someone’s place again. I need… I need…”

“You need to love me,” he says.

“No,” I say. “Yes. I don’t know what I need.”

“You want me to tell you what you need?” he asks.

And I can’t answer that. There is no way to answer that. Because no answer makes sense. It’s not logical.

“You want me to tell you who you are?” he adds.

I just look at him.

“OK,” he says. “OK. I’ll tell you who you are. You, and me, and Huck, and Joey… we met yesterday at Bright Berry Beach Cosmetics. We were looking to hire an actress to pretend to be Joey’s long-time girlfriend and you mistakenly got swept up in our scheme. But funny how fate happens when you least expect it. Because we’re together now and it’s not even fake. And if you only need to know one thing, Brooke, know this. We are one hundred percent on your side. And you’re one hundred percent on our side. And… and we’re going to get this little girl back and be a family.”

He whispers that last part.

“Do you hear me? That’s who you are. That’s what I want. And if you don’t know what you want, then I’m telling you, this is what you want.”