Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

B J sat at the table in the back of the distilling area where he and his siblings had their weekly meetings. Something still bugged him about last night with Penny. She'd seemed…off. He knew there was something on her mind. He wished she'd tell him, but she kept saying everything was fine. Even when he pressed her, she simply avoided his gaze, thanked him for the food and shoved him out the door. Well, not shoved shoved, because physical aggression was not Penny's style. That was more his sister's forte. But she'd opened the door and politely nudged him out, causing him to go home and worry about her all night.

"Hey space-wasters, how's it hanging?"

He glanced up to see Del stride through the door, a big ass goofy grin on his face.

"Hey man, how'd the vacation go?"

"More of a staycation." He winked. "We stayed inside all week. Didn't get out of bed for anything but food."

"We don't need details, Delta." Ace sighed, never looking up from the paperwork on his clipboard. "Just tell us you have everything set for your wedding so you can focus on the restaurant opening."

Good old Ace, business first, foremost, and always. His twin really needed to take that giant stick out of his ass.

"All set." The youngest Jackson's smile grew wider. "Flowers ordered, centerpieces made, and I have my final tux fitting next week."

"Are we going to that too?" Ace asked. "Mine's fancy right? Since I'm the Best Man."

Del hadn't been able to choose between the twins who his Best Man should be, so they'd done what the Jacksons always did. Made it a competition. A mountain bike race down Mountain Lake Trail, which Ace had won by five seconds. The bastard.

"I still say you cheated," he grumbled.

"And I say you're a sore loser."

He flipped off Ace, who never even glanced up from the clipboard he'd been studying since they sat down.

"Girls, girls, you're both pretty," Del said.

At that, Ace looked up. Identical eyes glanced at BJ, silently communicating in the way they had since birth. He nodded, feeling a grin tug at his mouth.

"Oh shit."

Del barely got the words out before BJ and Ace pounced, taking their little brother to the ground for another Jackson family tradition. Two on one wrestling. The only thing capable of making hard-ass Ace loosen up. They rolled around the floor, knocking into the table. Ace's clipboard fell off, along with a few papers.

"You see, this is why we can't have nice things," Charlie's voice rang out in the air.

The roughhousing stopped at the chiding sound of their sister's reprimand.

"Are we having a meeting, or do you boys need a time out?"

"No, mom ." Del stuck his tongue out at her.

"Bite me." She flipped him off.

"Can you two act your age for once?" Ace sighed, scooping up the fallen papers and reclaiming his seat at the table.

Charlie crossed her arms, raising a brow. "Excuse me? I wasn't the one rolling on the floor like a ten-year-old after watching a WWE marathon."

BJ chuckled at his siblings. They were a close family, loved each other fiercely and would fight to the death to protect each other. But they also loved giving shit. Dumbass was synonymous with ‘love you' in the Jackson household.

"The WWE is fake," Del commented, hopping up to claim his seat at the table. "We fight like real men. Though you wouldn't know it from BJ's weak-ass chokehold."

He smacked his brother upside the head before taking his own seat at the table.

"I can make it real, dickhead. I didn't want to bruise your baby soft skin before your big day. Cassie would kill me, and that woman terrifies me." He was only half joking.

Ace's scowl deepened. "All right, enough guys."

At Ace's command, they all settled down to start the meeting. As they went over the usual weekly items and delved more into the restaurant opening and what still needed to be done, BJ found his mind wandering back to Penny. The thought that she might be in some kind of trouble ate at him. He had no idea what could be bothering her, but he needed to find out.

The worried look he caught in her eyes last night when she thought he wasn't looking tore him up. Since the day they met, he'd felt a strong need to protect Penny. Maybe because she had been this young, scrawny little thing with more brains than the hundreds of light brown freckles covering her face and arms. She'd been so quiet and smart. She was still quiet and smart, but she'd outgrown her scrawny phase.

BJ had enlisted right out of high school. After basic, he'd been shipped off overseas. He'd emailed Penny every chance he got. She'd replied to every email, also sending care packages every month. She didn't know, but her letters and gifts got him through some dark times over there. When he'd come back stateside, he'd been surprised to see his best friend had filled out, in amazing ways. At first, he'd felt bad for looking at Penny in a sexual manner, after all she'd barely turned eighteen, but he chalked up his reaction to being in combat for so long where physical release with an actual woman had been few and far between.

They'd never taken their friendship to the next level, but that didn't mean he was unaware of his best friend's appearance. He knew Penny had a smoking body, with curves just right for a man to hold on to all night long. Though she bemoaned her freckles, he thought they were beautiful, like a map of the stars on her skin. And her hair, what she called carrot color, was in reality a brilliant fiery sunset crowning her in a halo of reds and oranges.

Yeah, his best friend didn't know her appeal and thankfully, neither did a lot of men. Not that he didn't want Penny to be happy, but he was a guy. He knew how guys thought and acted. Penny was sweet and far too trusting. It wouldn't take much for some jackass to break her heart.

Like her bastard of an ex.

He was still pissed at that guy. Wanted to teach the asshole a lesson on how to treat women. But Penny had begged him not to make things worse by confronting Lance. He'd refrained from killing the bastard. Barely.

Since then, Penny really hadn't dated anyone. He didn't think her current problem was with a guy. Then again, she had been talking about wanting a baby and family a month ago. Maybe she'd been on the prowl for someone who was husband material. For some reason, that caused his gut to clench. Had she met a guy? No. She would have told him, right?

Great, now instead of listening to the important meeting he was supposed to be having with his siblings about their business, he was lost in thought on Penny and her possible new boyfriend upsetting her. He shook his head, clearing his mind to focus on the task at hand. He'd check in with Penny later and find out what was upsetting her and if it was a guy, he'd put on his ass kicking boots because no one hurt his best friend.

No one.