Page 8 of Her Defiant Warrior

She reached up on her tiptoes and gave him another kiss. Then she did the same to her dad. “I’ll be home by eleven,” she smiled, then whirled away.

Jase looked over at his brother. “You’re going to have your hands full. But wait until Lena starts dating. She’s going to run circles around you.”

“Nah, she posts on snapchat every half hour. I’ll get a play-by-play of what’s going on. If she doesn’t post for over an hour, then I’ll be worried.”

Jase chuckled. “I like it.”

“I’ll give you step-by-step instructions on what to do when you’re ancient,” Malik promised.

Jase looked around his brother’s big backyard. He enjoyed seeing how far he’d come from the frail, scared kid he’d been when their parents had first brought him into their home, damn near thirty years ago.

“I see that look in your eye. You’re being all nostalgic.”

“Yeah, it happens. Is that Renzo I see over there?” They both looked over at another Drakos brother.

“Well, hell. I invite him to every family function. I never know what country he’s in. The bastard rarely replies. I can’t believe he graced us with his presence.”

They both watched as a tall dark-haired woman went streaking across the lawn and flung her arms around Renzo and pulled him in for a tight hug.

“Is that Angelica?” Jase asked Malik.

He nodded.

“When did our sister become a flower child? Her hair must have grown down to her ass.”

“Nah. Farah clued me in. Those are extensions. I think it’s for some TV show or something.” They both watched as she started chattering a million miles a minute, her hands flying in all directions.

Jase chuckled. To this very day, it made his heart melt to see their Brazilian ‘angel’ so confident and happy.

“How long should we let that go on before we rescue him?” Malik asked.

“After he’s been gone this long? I say make him suffer. At least forty-five minutes before we bring a beer over to him.”

Malik laughed.

“I’m going to wander around a bit, but I’ll meet you back at the grill in twenty.”

Malik nodded.

Jase headed to a quiet corner that overlooked Chesapeake Bay. It was blocked off by tall potted plants so he could have a little alone time and think about what his brother had asked. He took a pull on his beer. On the other side of the potted plant, a woman began to speak.

“Hi, Bradley. Sorry I didn’t call earlier. It’s been a bitch of a day.”

The woman’s laugh was warm and musical, like she was inviting Bradley to share in a joke.

“No, nothing like that. It’s just that I had to put on a dress, slather on make-up, remember how to wear heels, all while keeping the terrible twosome clean for ten minutes before we headed out the door.”

There was a pause, then this time she laughed longer.

“I’ll tell you why, because I lost a bet with Farah. She bet me she could talk the next customer who came into the salon into dying their hair purple. It was a good bet. She promised to watch the terrible twosome for an entire weekend if she lost.”

There was a pause.

“My side? I agreed to go on a blind date with her brother-in-law, but I had to dress up and actually do my best to be flirty. You know I don’t do flirty. Hell, I don’t know how to do flirty. But that was the bet. I desperately needed a weekend off, so I took the bet.”

Oh shit, does she mean me? How many times have I told Farah, no more set-ups!

The woman paused.