Chapter One
Georgie
Three weeks before the BIG wedding...
“WHAT THE FUCK?!”
Shooting up out of my bed, I quickly scanned my room to find Granny holding an empty bucket in her hands as fire and brimstone shot out of her eyes like I imagined the flames of hell did many times.
I loved my granny. The woman was the salt of the earth, but God help anyone who got on her bad side, and at this very moment I was pretty damn sure my ass was in the doghouse.
Problem was, I didn’t do shit!
However, I wasn’t willing to challenge my suspected alleged crimes because the furious look on her face told me I was toast either way. Plus, she just doused me in ice cold fucking water.
Talk about a rude awakening.
“Don’t you curse me, boy! I can still put you over my knee.”
Yeah, she probably could too.
“And put some damn clothes on,” she grumbled. “It’s wintertime. Shrinkage is not a good look on a man.”
“GRANNY!” I shouted, quickly cupping my junk as I searched my room for something to cover up with. God, it’s like I was a fucking teenager again, only this time I had no fucking clue what I did wrong. Finding the towel I used last night after my shower, I grabbed it and wrapped it around my waist.
“There,” I snarked. “I’m covered. Now would you please let me in on what burr has crawled up your butt so I can remove it,’cause I just got off a forty-eight-hour shift at the hospital and I’m tired.”
“What’s this I hear about Josephine being mad at you?”
Groaning, I rolled my eyes and plopped my ass down on my bed. Rubbing my hands down my face, I muttered, “Granny, please tell me that’s not why you woke me up?”
“Well nailing your ass down is like nailing Jell-O to a tree. It was either this or walk in while you’re in surgery. And stop evading the question and answer me. What happened between you and that cutie patootie sweet angel, who by the way is too damn good for you?”
“For the last time, Granny. Josie and I are just friends. There was a minor misunderstanding that I’m sure will be rectified soon.”
“Misunderstanding my ass,” Granny huffed. “I heard she caught you with one of your trollops!”
“Granny, Josie and I are just friends. We are not dating.”
Huffing again, Granny narrowed her keen eyes at me and snarled. “You fix this shit with that girl before I take matters into my own hands, young man. I ain’t getting any younger and I need me some more grandbabies!”
With that, my five-foot nothing grandmother marched her ass out of my room, leaving me wide awake and speechless.
This wasn’t the first time Granny marched her cantankerous ass into my room, and it wouldn’t be the last.
I loved my granny. I really did, but there was no gray in Gran’s life. Everything was black and white. She firmly believed that her grandsons were destined for greater things and made damn sure we had every advantage growing up.
What she meant by that was she wanted us settled, in a suitable career, with a wife and two-point-two kids and possibly a fucking dog.
My parents were professors at the University of Nebraska. Dad was a professor in archeology who was always looking for some place new to dig. And well, Mom went with him because she firmly believed that if by chance Dad ever found some ancient civilization, he would need Mom to decipher the dialect. Yeah, my mom was good at languages. One of the leading professors in ancient dialects, to be exact. Because they were the best in their fields, that left little time to raise me or Frank.
Well, that’s where Granny came in.
After our parents died in a car accident on the way home from giving a lecture at NYU, my brother Frankie and I went to live with Gran, our only living relative.
As a professor in her own right, Granny was whip smart with a wicked tongue. I generally loved spending time with my gran. When I was a child. But like most children, I grew up and preferred spending time with my friends more than my grandmother. I had just turned thirteen when my parents died, and Gran simply told me and Frankie that we were going to live with her forever. She didn’t mince words and firmly believed that the truth was best, no matter how hard it was to hear.
Frankie was happy.
