Whole Lot More

Chapter Twenty Seven

Chapter Twenty Seven

Brynne took a sharp intake of breath, before looking at Martin with a deer caught in headlights look. Her eyes wide and unblinking. "Shit Martin," she whispered, "I didn't realize there were going to be so many people here."

Martin smiled apologetically before shrugging his shoulders. "I don't get home very often, so anytime I do my mother takes it upon herself to throw a big ass party. You should feel lucky, this is nothing compared to the shindig she had last time. I swear last time the whole town was here."

She scanned the crowd. Wasn't this the whole town?

Martin's name and greetings had begun to be tossed from all around the yard, and he looked at Brynne and smiled slightly, "It's better if we get going now. Everyone's going to want to talk to me and meet you. I'm sure that after Talladega we were all the talk around here, since I'm sure everyone saw you in Victory Lane. And even if we weren't really "together" yet back then, everyone will more than likely comment about the Victory Lane kiss."

She took the warning to heart, and scanned the crowd warily. Immediate family was one thing, but this looked to be as if it was anyone he'd ever met before in his life.

"Where do we start?"

"How about with my father and my little brother?" he asked, taking her hand and pulling her away from the back doorway, "Dad, Squirt!"

His father and little brother were one of many men hovering over the grill -- obviously cooking -- and Brynne felt self-conscious as she followed behind Martin. To her, it felt as if everyone was looking at her. And she knew more than likely they were just trying to figure out who she was.

"Martin, son." Martin Truex, Sr. stood at the grill telling one of his endless stories. He always seemed to have stories to tell anyone who was bored. "It's good to have you home."

Martin hugged his father and stepped back so Brynne slipped into view. "Dad, this is my girlfriend Brynne. Brynne, this is my father Martin, Sr. and my little brother Ryan."

Brynne smiled, trying to gauge what the look was in Martin's father's eyes, before she was pulled into a hug by the older man. "It's nice to finally meet you," he told her, "Martin constantly talks about you."

"Oh no..." Brynne gave Martin a look and he held his hands up in surrender.

"Nothing bad, I promise," the older man smiled, "Martin tells me you own a bar in Boston?"

This got a genuine smile from Brynne. "Yes, Fusion. That place is my life; I don't know what I'd do without it."

"How'd you end up with a bar so young? You can't be that old."

She laughed. "I'm only twenty-two, but I inherited it a couple years ago."

Martin felt an elbow jammed into his side, and glanced over to stare at his younger brother. "What's up, Squirt?"

Ryan grinned, "She's hot, dude."

"Well you can just back off, she's too old for you, not to mention she's mine already."

"She got any sister's?"

Martin just shook his head and turned his ears back to the conversation between Brynne and his father. The two were immersed in a conversation about the bar, and Martin could tell just how much pride Brynne held in that club.

Heaven forbid if anything were to happen to it.

Suddenly out of nowhere, Martin's father turned to the group of men hovering around the grill, and introduced Brynne to them. Everyone was incredibly polite, and he knew that's because there wasn't enough alcohol in them yet.

Later on would be fun.

"Where's Mom?" Martin asked his father during a lull in the conversation.

"Oh you know," Martin Sr., answered with a roll of his eyes, "She's more than likely in that kitchen of hers with your aunts. You know how she gets to make sure everything is perfect."

Martin laughed, knowing exactly what his father meant. His mother was a perfectionist at the heart. "I'm going to take Brynne in there and introduce her to Mom, I'm sure we'll be back around later on."

"It was nice to meet you, Brynne," he told her, giving her a hug, "I'm sure we'll be talking once again sometime this afternoon."

"I'll be looking forward to it," she smiled.

As they walked away from the group of men hovering over the grill Martin took her hand and smiled, "See, was it really that hard?"

"Your little brother thinks I'm hot."

"And I told him to back off because you're too old for him and you're mine."

"I'm yours, huh?"

"Oh yeah, and it's going to take a whole hell of a lot more than my little brother thinking you're hot to run me away from you now, baby."

*~*

They snuck back into the back door and headed towards the kitchen; Brynne a little more at ease now that the first initial meeting with someone close to Martin was over with, and they hadn't run her out of their house.

She figured that had to be good.

As soon as they neared the kitchen, they could hear female voices talking about what all there was going to be to eat. The minute they appeared in the doorway though, all conversation halted and Linda Truex smiled at her son, immediately walking towards him and enveloping him in a hug.

"You need to come home more often," she told him, "We all miss you too much when you're not around here."

"I know Mom," he sighed, "This is going to be my last week off for a while, though."

"I know, Martin. I just miss you."

He pulled back away from her and tugged Brynne up alongside him, his mother's half frown turning into a smile when she realized he'd brought someone with him.

"And who is this, Martin?"

"This is Brynne, my girlfriend. Brynne, this is my mother Linda and that there is my sister Marcia. Next to her is my Aunt Tracy and Karen. Their kids are running around here somewhere."

"Oh, it's so great to finally meet you, Brynne! Martin has been talking non-stop about you for the last few months. I didn't know how long it'd be before I got to meet you though, because he doesn't like bringing girl's home with him."

Linda hugged her, just as Martin, Sr. had and once they'd pulled back, she cast a glance at Martin. "I assume it was all good stuff again?"

"Of course," he grinned.

"Well, good. I'd have to kick your ass if it wasn't."

Marcia walked towards her and hugged her too, grinning along with Martin. "I like you already. You're willing to keep my brother in check and you're not scared that if you threaten that you're going to kick his ass he's going to leave you. That makes you good in my book."

"Oh, she keeps me in line, alright."

Linda just shook her head at her two children. "So, Martin says you own a bar?"

"I do, in Boston. It's my life, I don't know what I'd do without it."

"You can never be too safe in Martin's profession, there's so many girls out there who would do anything to get their hands on him and his money." She turned her gaze towards her son. "What do they call them again, Martin?"

"Pit lizards, Mom?"

"Yes, pit lizards. Let's just say, Martin's gotten involved with a fair share of them, which is why I'm glad to see he's now with someone who can sufficiently support themselves and not latch onto my son."

Martin grabbed Brynne's hand and laughed, "So before we get talking more about pit lizards and my bad history with the opposite sex, Brynne and I are gonna head on back out there so I can continue the introductions."

"It was wonderful meeting you, dear," Linda said, "And hopefully we'll be seeing a lot of you in the future."

"Plan on it," Martin smiled.

Brynne could only smile, too.

As they were walking back through the kitchen entryway, his mother's voice could be heard. "Have you warned her about your Grandmother, yet?"

"Oh," Martin said, "Stay away from Grandma Truex. She's a little... different."

*~*

"Oh boy," Martin said the minute they got back out into the yard.

"What?"

"My old buddies are here, now."

"Well then, let's go meet them."

Martin winced, "I'm not so sure that's a good idea."

"Why not? I want to meet your friends."

"Well they're... different from the type of people I hang out with in North Carolina. They're my high school friends, and that should give you enough of a reason why you don't want to meet them."

"Well, I'm going to have to eventually, why not just get it over with now?"

"You asked for it..."

"Besides, it'll keep me from getting swept away by Grandma Truex, wherever she may be."

"True," Martin nodded, "But don't say I didn't warn you."

Brynne didn't figure it could be that bad. They were Martin's friends after all, and she didn't think he'd hang out with the wrong type of people.

Martin took her hand and led her across the yard, over towards where the beer was located and his friends were magically hovering around. He took one more deep breath and sighed, knowing that this could definitely not go good.

"Look it's Mr. Big Shot Race Car Driver."

"And look it's Mr. Lazy Ass."

"That hurt, MT."

"Liar."

He pulled Brynne alongside him and tried to smile. "Brynne, that smart ass is David. That's Ryan next to him, Zach in the red shirt, Brian with the glasses, Tommy with the dopey ass look on his face and Andrew bringing up the rear. Boys, this is my girlfriend, Brynne."

"Damn man," Tommy said, "Just damn."

"Told you this wasn't a good idea," Martin whispered.

"No, it's fine," Brynne smiled, turning her attention to Martin's friends. "It's good to meet you all, and it's good to meet a part of Martin's wild youth. I'm sure you've all got stories."

"Oh, do we ever!"

"Good, sometime you're going to have to share them; I'm sure we can all get a good laugh out of it." She squeezed Martin's hand, and he couldn't help but be amazed by her. She was making an effort with some of his loser high school friends. She was trying to make conversation with them and trying to be nice, and it was all for him. "And now if you'll excuse me boys, I'm going to leave you all to go catch up and head into the kitchen and help Linda."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," she kissed him lightly, "Have fun, catch up and if you need me you know where I'll be." She turned towards his friends. "It was good to meet you all. Maybe we'll be seeing a whole lot more of each other in the future."

"Count on it," David said with a wink. The minute she'd walked away, David turned his head towards Martin and grinned, "Damn. How'd you end up with one like her?"

"Fate," Martin smiled.

*~*

Brynne let herself back into the kitchen and was met with a smile from Linda and Marcia, who were now alone in the kitchen.

"Get bored?"

"Nope," Brynne said, "Martin introduced me to his friends and I left him to catch up, figured I'd come in here and see if I could be of any help to the two of you."

Linda smiled, "It's so good to see Martin with such a nice girl. Most times he ends up with the ones that are after his money, and that last girl... she was terrible."

"His last one?"

"Yeah," Linda said with a shrug, "Her name started with a K. Katelyn. Kandy. No, it was Kaleen. Kaleen. She was terrible. I swear she was only after his money. No one liked her, either. She came off as way too fake to me, and even his friends in North Carolina and here didn't like her."

"Kaleen, he's never mentioned her."

"Last I saw her was last summer sometime. I don't know when they broke up, but I'm glad they did. You have so much more couth than she did, and manners."

Brynne smiled, "I only am how my parents raised me."

"Well, she must have been raised in a barn."

*~*

Brynne laid her head back against the seat and sighed. It had been a long day, but she'd thoroughly enjoyed it.

"That was fun."

"Who are you kidding? My family wore you out!"

"There were so many of them there, and once your Grandma got ahold of me, I thought it was all over. Until my knight in shining armor came running."

"I felt bad for you. David pointed it out, though. He might be a loser sometimes, but he knows Grandma Truex, well."

"Did you really have to tell her you needed help in the bathroom, though? Heaven knows what that made her think."

"I'm sorry, it was all I could come up with on the spot."

Brynne rolled her eyes, "Liar."

"So, maybe I enjoyed it. Sue me, okay?"

"That's okay. Then your whole family might think I'm like most of your girlfriends and after your money."

"And we wouldn't want that, huh?"

"No, we definitely wouldn't." She yawned, and closed her eyes. "Damn, I'm tired."

"Go to sleep then. Because tomorrow is going to be even more tiring."

*~*