if we walk down this road...

if we walk down this road... by ssaarah 

  

“I just don’t understand why you won’t let me set you up with anyone.” Ava said shaking her head as we walked past the Eiffel Tower. We had a standing brother sister date once a month and even with our busy schedules we managed to make it work for a few hours. I was pretty sure there was no one I loved more than my sister but her taste in women? It wasn’t mine.

“Because I don’t need to be set up with anyone Ava.” I smirked, shaking my head as she blew her bangs out of her face and shook her head.

“I had two kids by the time I was your age Ames I just want you to be happy, have a family.”

“I think you just got a sample of what more babies would be like with Gabe and now you’re wanting more” I teased and Ava gave me a sly grin.

“Well I can’t exactly have any more of my own!” she exclaimed, making me laugh as I shook my head.

“Go bother Chloe about babies.” Ava sighed.

“If Chloe could find a man who’d give her babies and stick with her? Half of my life’s worries would be solved.” She chuckled and I gave her a weak smile, a part of me feeling really guilty she didn’t know the whole story about her daughter. I was just about to recommend she set away some time for her when I saw a familiar face.

"Mila?" I smiled her and her face lit up.

"Hey Ames!" she said, standing up and wrapping her arms around me,

"Hi Mrs. Lindsell."  Mom shook her head.

"You know I hate being called that Mila, it makes me feel older than I am." She grinned.

"Who's this?" The guy she was with stood up next to Milena and sized me up, clearly not caring about my sister as much as finding out who the guy was that had just hugged his girl. He wrapped his arms around her waist and glared at me, marking his territory as if he was a dog peeing circles around her.

"Ames Alere." she grinned, "Aka my Disneyland partner." She joked  as the guy raised a brow.

"What do you mean?"

"After you couldn't come, Ames offered to go with me so I wouldn't ride alone. Very good understudy." She said with a small laugh.

"Huh…" Braden said simply as his phone started ringing, "I gotta take this." He said walking away. Mila rolled her eyes,

"I swear he would marry his nightclub if he could."

"There's a big issue babe." He said walking back up to me, pulling her to the side, "I have to go." Ava nudged me and I looked back to question her but she was just smirking at the sight in front of us. They seemed to argue a little more before he kissed her forehead and bolted, leaving Mila to walk back to us.

“Is everything okay?" I asked her and she shrugged.

"Work beckons him…" she trailed off, "Oh well." she said, picking up the blanket.

"Well, that doesn't mean you should leave. I'm sure there's something good in there. We can hang out."

"Actually Ames, I have to go. My husband beckons me." Ava said, sliding away her own phone with a wicked grin as she winked and I groaned. I was pretty sure 50’s was too old for phone sex. Someone should tell them. "Have fun you two."

“I hope to be that disgustingly in love with…..fill in the blank when I'm in my fifties.” Mila said as she tilted her head to the side and sighed like most girls did whenever my sisters epic love story was brought up. Women.

“Fill in the blank? Braden isn’t in the cards when you’re old?” I smirked, then looked around to make sure Ava wasn’t still there. If she heard me calling her old she’d never forgive me. Not that she even looked a day over 40 at the oldest.  At least Alere’s aged gracefully.

“He’s not here now.” she pouted and my body instantly reacted to the sexy look on her face so I looked away and shook my head. Hating myself.

“Well I'm here if you want some company.” She smiled and nodded before she looked around.

“Actually I’ve got quite a spread over there if you’re hungry.” I grinned.

“Always.” I nodded, walking over to the blanket and plopping down next to her as she laughed and shook her head.

“Men.” She teased and I looked around.

“This looks romantic.” I pointed out and she sighed.

“Yeah it was supposed to be. I should be ending the night making love on my balcony not alone in the most romantic place in the city.” I choked as she said that, the thought of that assh.at of her boyfriend  even touching her suddenly made me fucking pissed off.

‘He doesn’t deserve you anyways.” I said seriously, my voice sounding a little more curt than it should of.

“He’s not that bad.” She replied, taking a sip of champagne and sighing.

“What are you thinking about?” I asked, a part of me dying to reach out and push back her hair. I always had those little temptations around her. You’d think they’d get easier to resist…but they just got more difficult.

"How I wish Braden was here…" she pouted still having no idea how low she was settling by being with him. "I mean I understand he has work, but I want him to want to be here. Does that make sense?"

"I understand… He's an idiot for not spending more time with you…" I assured her with a small smile as I tore off a piece of bread for myself.

"Thanks… I'm just wondering about him. I'm 25 years old. It's not terribly old, but still I want to find the one… Everybody that cares about me seems to hate Braden…."

"How do you feel about him?" I asked her, swallowing my food.

"I thought I loved him… but I'm not sure if it's love anymore…" she shrugged.

"I just wish he could be the guy that I saw him as when we first met. He leaves whenever we're together to go to work and now he's started talking down to me…"

"How do you mean?" I raised a brow since no one should talk down to a woman. Especially not one that was my friend.

"He embarrassed me in front of Cam and her date… It was awful. I cried in the bathroom." She said shaking her head, clearly embarrassed it even happened. "And I took the blame… God it was stupid." I shook my head.

"Sounds like he was an ass."

"He was a bit of an ass." She admitted, smiling a little at the word.

"I'm serious Squirt." I smirked, "You're amazing and any guy you date should worship you…" Hell I wasn’t sure how any guy lucky enough to date Milena ever even let her out of his bed.

"That's a lot coming from you…" I raised a brow,

"What do you mean?" Mila smirked,

 "C'mon, don't tell me you didn't know that I had a major crush on you when I was in high school." My chest thumped and I felt my eyes widen.

"You did?" she nodded,

"God, yes. I mean did you not notice how I could barely form a sentence? Or the way I was constantly blushing? Were you that oblivious?" I grinned.

“I just figured you were shy like Cami.” I shrugged and Mila smirked.

“I'm not.” She smirked and I nodded.

“Well I know that now.” I agreed taking another bite and then looking back at her. “A major crush huh?” I smirked and she tossed a piece of bread at my head.

“Don’t worry I got over it.” She replied, scrunching up her face at me as I laughed. I had to admit, I was a little flattered.

“I bet it was difficult.” I teased back and she rolled her eyes.

“Apparently every man I’ve ever liked has issues with his giant ego.” She said to the sky making me laugh even more.  “Keep laughing at me and I’ll stop sharing my food.” She glared and I shut my mouth, struggling not to smile as I held my hands up.

“I'm done.” I agreed. “I swear.” She shook her head and reached forward for some grapes, her long dark hair curtaining over her shoulders.

“How’s babysitting going anyway?” she smirked. “What’s the kids name….Charlotte?” I narrowed my eyes on her.

“You do know she’s only a few years younger than you are.” I pointed out to her. She shrugged.

“I'm too young for you too.” She said looking up at me as my chest tightened. “And too good for you.” I let myself laugh a little.

“You got me there.” I agreed. “She moved to the states.” I replied seriously, a part of me relieved that I didn’t have to break her heart and the other part actually kind of missing her company.

"You sound upset..." she trailed off, eyeing me as I shrugged.  

"She was a good girl."

"A good girl?"

"She was nice… She got my mind of Odette…" I shrugged again,

"Now I'm thinking about Odette and Charlotte…"

"You shouldn't be thinking like that. You're a catch and they're the ones who are missing out. Not to mention you are a handsome successful lawyer! Seriously, how are you not just screwing an endless line of women?" she smirked and I laughed because she didn’t exactly know that I’d done that already.

"Because I want a little more substance than that?" I smirked.

"Okay, maybe not that gross, but stop focusing on finding the one. Just find the right one now. You don't need to be trying to settle down, just have fun!" she grinned.

"You're younger than me; why are you trying to settle down with a.ss face?" I asked, seeing as how she was younger than me. Double standard!

"It's different for women!"  That was silly.

"You're gorgeous and young! Why settle down?" I winked, repeating her words.

"I want to be in love… and be serious. I want a love like my mom and dad…" she trailed off, averting her eyes from my gaze, "At first he had a hard time dealing with the idea of having a child, but he fell in love with my mom… I want a love that knows no bounds. It's just love." I knew the story of Harper and Miles, it was almost as romantic as my sisters with Corey. Love that overcame odds and lasted as long as theirs had? That was the dream. "Call me a hopeless romantic or a complete nerd, but I want an amazing love…"

"It's not nerdy…" I trailed off. "I can see why you'd want that. I look at Ava and Corey and they were like parents to me and it's amazing how they found each other and how it worked so well. I just wish that I can find something that's even a fraction of that. I mean, I thought Odette was that for me, but then everything happened and it just fell apart." she smiled,

"We sound like two romantic idiots. You never know about Odette, she might get better…" I used to think that too….now? I wasn’t so sure it would matter. I shrugged,

"I can only hope. If not to be with her, but for her just to be better."

"You're an amazing guy Ames…. If Braden only acted as half as amazing you are, I'd be set." I grinned,

"Maybe we should get married then." I joked.

"I'm too young for you, remember?"

“I dunno…you’re the one who had a crush on me.” I teased with a grin as she rolled her eyes.

“I'm going to seriously regret telling you that.” She said shaking her head. I gave her a slow grin, wondering if it would make her feel any better to know that once I had come home from college and saw how she’d grown up? I hadn’t exactly had pure thoughts. She had been a cute teenager but now? She was fu.cking gorgeous.

“I always thought you thought of me like a brother.” I shrugged. “It’s flattering.”

“You mean like how you think of me as a sister?” I forced the thought into my mind.

“Baby sister.” I added, trying to convince myself as much as I was convincing her.

“See at least Braden hits on me instead of treating me like a baby.” She stuck out her tongue and I laugh.

“Well I should hope so, since he’s dating you. Though telling you the obvious doesn’t make him a good guy.” I added.

“The obvious?” she asked, looking back at me. I swallowed and then ran my hand through my hair.

“You’re stunning Mila. You know that.”

"You think so?" I just nodded.

"Now are you going to get a big ego?" I played it off but Mila just shrugged her shoulders,

"Maybe, but you have no idea how much my teenage self would be dying with happiness right now. She'd go crazy at the thought of you calling me that." She was clearly joking, so why did I think there was a slight flush on her pretty features?

"Well, even then you were gorgeous…" I trailed off since I had clearly lost my mind.

"You should stop, I might have to jump you. My teenager self is fighting to come out." she joked again.

"Oh really?" I rose a brow, trying not to think about what the hell I would do if Milena Schon jumped me. Would I ever have the kind of self control I needed to turn her down? Probably not.

"Yes." She nodded, "She can't control her hormones."  Fuck.

"Well, she should realize that you already have a boyfriend. That should satisfy her enough." We really really needed to change the subject.

"You don't know her. Her hormones are raging. No joke." Damn it…..

"I don't need to think of you that way." I shook my head and she rolled her eyes making me realize I’d said that out loud and not in my head.

"What are you? My dad? If you're a friend and not my father, you should be okay hearing this. I'm not a virgin, big surprise." She sounded exasperated. “It's okay! Everybody does it."

“I didn’t think you were a 25 year old virgin Mila.” I replied in a voice of forced steadiness.

“I should hope I don’t seem that pathetic!” she exclaimed, wincing as I shook my head.

“You do understand this is like you hearing about Noah’s sex life.” I lied and Mila scrunched up her face…looking so fucking adorable a part of me was aching to pull her closer to me.

“I know too much about Noah’s sex life already.” She shook her head but then raised a brow at me. “But you’re not my brother Ames.” I bit back the urge to groan and pulled farther away from her.

“You don’t know what you do to men do you?” she blinked.

“What do you mean?” she tilted her head to the side in question, causing all her silky dark hair to fall over her shoulder temptingly.

“I mean when men….look at you, you’re beautiful, but damn classy and it makes them wonder how you’d look beneath them, wonder what they’d have to do to make those classy lips lose total control and beg them for more.” Mila’s eyes looked a full shade darker and I realized I had run my mouth one step too far.

“Ames….” She trailed off in a light breathy voice that had me wondering way more than just that so I pulled away from her completely.

“Which is why you could do better than a guy like Braden.” I finished, going back to the food because apparently even though I’d spent most of my life learning how to talk to people and win conversations? With Milena I forgot all my training and acted like the witnesses and clients I interrogated for a living.

"Thank you." she breathed out slowly.

"It's the truth Mila… I wouldn't tell you any lies." I said, looking into her doe eyes that were looking back at me with an intensity I didn’t see that often from her. She barely even blinked when her phone started to ring.

"Mila… You're phone is ringing." she blinked and shook her head,

"Sorry about that." she took it out of her bag and looked back at me. “It's Brae, just give me a second." I bit back a curse that she was actually answering that asshole. "Hello?"  I strained to hear the rest of the conversation but all I heard was a cocky voice.

"Actually I can't… I'm with Cam and Gabe… I was upset after you left." I blinked at Mila. I mean I was proud that she was telling him off for once. But she was also lying about being with me. What did that mean? "This will teach you to not ditch me for work babe. Next time spend your time with me if that's what you want. Bye." she said, hanging up without any other reply.

"You're with Cam and Gabe?" I smirked, testing her a little. She shrugged.

"I didn't want to see him… I ditched him like he ditched me."

"Did it feel good?"  she nodded as she bit down on her lip,

"Very. It felt good to put him through the shit he put me through."

"I'm proud of you squirt."