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“Yeah.” I watched them go. “Later.”
A whole uneasy feeling took root in my chest. I had no clue if I wanted Bonbon as an ally or an enemy. She was terrifying in both cases.
BREN
We had another shocking moment when a month later, after Cross went on a bail jump with me, after he was in the wrong place at the wrong time and he was alone against the bail jump. Cross got in the way. The guy outweighed Cross by two hundred pounds, but hadn’t mattered.
Cross took him down, but he didn’t get out of that fight unscathed. And Brock swore that all my guys would get the right training because we couldn’t take in our bail jumps already roughed up. Shit happened, but apparently that was frowned upon.
That night was when our surprise happened.
CROSS
Someone was pounding on the door, and at the same time, ringing the doorbell.
They sounded as if they were alternating. Pound. Ring. Pound. Ring. They were jabbing at the bell.
Bren and I were coming out of our room, and at this point we weren’t hurrying to the door as fast as we would’ve a few days ago.
Zellman got there first and yawned before nodding at the door. “It’s your brother.”
My brother.
I was jolted at hearing that, but I didn’t know why.
As soon as he said it, he turned back to his room and we heard a female speak from inside.
Bren and I shared a look.
Zellman was drowning his sorrows the only way he knew.
The basement door swung open and Jordan came out. “What’s going on?”
Bren asked, “You alone down there?”
“What?”
Pound.
Ring.
I went for the door, flipping the light on as Bren commented, “Never mind. It’s Blaise.”
“Oh. Gotcha.” And Jordan swung around, the basement door shutting once again behind him.
There was a pattern here.
As I opened the door, I glanced at Bren. “You can head to bed, too, if you want?”
Her answer was to take a perch on the couch’s armrest and she smiled, the same bags under her eyes that Zellman had. Yeah. We all looked the same.
It’d been a trying month, lately with Zellman since he learned Sunday was already in Florida to be with her aunt.
Then I turned around, and my brother was standing frozen on the front step.
His gaze was stuck on my face and he sucked in his breath. “Holy shit.” His jaw clenched. “Who did this?”
That jolt happened again, but this time it was harder, faster. It spread through me.
I was rattled.
“What?”
“Who the fuck did this to you?” He jerked his chin up, indicating me.
Bren came to my side, her hand resting on my back and she walked around me. Looking out at his truck, she asked him, “It’s two in the morning. Why don’t you come in?”
He clipped his head to the side, jerking back a step. “No. No. I’m good. Just need to know who did this to you.” He was looking at me, speaking to me, but his answer was directed toward Bren. “Got an email. Who did this to you?”
A full ten seconds.
That’s how long it took before it penetrated, but—my brother gave a shit about me.
He cared.
That knowledge warmed me, and that shocked me.
Blaise.
I had no idea how to process this.
“You can’t touch this guy—” Bren started to say.
“Cross,” Blaise growled.
“Seriously. It was a bail jump. Cross hurt him worse.”
He cared. The motherfucker actually cared.
“I’m fine.”
“You shitting me?”
“Yeah. I’m fine.”
He looked me up and down. “You don’t look fine.” He let out a curse, his hands in fists. “I’m going to have to go to the soccer field and do drills till the morning now. I can’t hurt someone.”
Bren’s hand pressed into my side and she looked up at me.
Her gaze was beseeching, and crap.
I said before I really thought about what I was saying, “I’ll go with you.”
His eyes narrowed. “You look like you can barely stand.”
I grinned. I didn’t look that bad, just not quite as pretty as before. “I’ll be the prettier one of us real soon. The guy only roughed me up a little. And I’ll come with. I can just sit or whatever. I can retrieve the ball for you or something if you do shots on goal.” My grin deepened. “Because we both know you’ll miss. Your aim is for shit.”
He half-laughed. “Fuck you.” Then, a cocky smirk. “You can be goalie.”
I barked out a laugh and groaned right away. My ribs were hurting from that, too.
He raked his hand through his hair. “Okay. Yeah. I’ll drive and bring you back.” He said to Bren, “Don’t worry. I won’t work him over too bad. Can’t. The fucker’s half-incapacitated.”
She waited as he left before pressing both hands to my chest. “You sure about this?”
I drew her in, holding her. “Yeah. I didn’t see it till just now, but he cares. Guess I got a brother out of this after all.”
