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I shut the door to my office and made my way out. “Karen, before you leave for lunch, will you put Hemi in her crate? I already took her out to pee.”
“Why do you always make me put her in the crate? You walk out and leave her all happy on the bed and then I have to go in like the mean aunt and lock her up in jail.”
Staring at her, I shrugged. “Cause I’m the boss.”
Hemi barked from my office. I swear Harley had taught the damn dog to do it every time I said that.
“The boss!” she scoffed. “Huh!”
I decided to not engage with Karen on this one. “I’ll be back in a few hours. Enjoy your lunch.”
Karen mumbled something as I headed out the door, the word asshole standing out.
As I walked over to Lilly’s place, I saw Mallory outside her store. She was talking to a man in a business suit and her hands were flying all over the place. She didn’t look angry, more determined. We hadn’t talked since that day at lunch before the benefit dinner. I had figured she was going to be angry. I hadn’t expected she would tell me she saw it coming. Especially since I hadn’t touched her since that last time we fucked in my office.
The bell on the door of Lilly’s rang as I stepped inside. Glancing to my left, I saw my brothers, plus Wade, all sitting at the large round table in the back corner.
I pulled out a chair and looked at each of them. They wore cowboy hats and smiles on their faces. Almost as if they knew something I didn’t.
“How’s it going? Y’all look like you’re up to no good.”
Cord spoke first. “I finally fucking figured out your Smurf name.”
I rolled my eyes. “Christ, not this again.”
“Yes. This again. You joined the rest of them. You’re a fucking Smurf.”
“Welcome to the mushroom, dude,” Steed said as everyone else laughed. “We only have two more to go.”
“Fuck that,” Trevor said. “No, thanks. Women are nothing but a goddamn pain in the ass.”
All eyes turned to Trevor.
“Oh hell,” Cord whispered as he closed his eyes. “Son-of-a-bitch.”
With a frown, Trevor stared at Cord. “What’s wrong with you?”
“You fucked her, didn’t you?” Cord asked.
We all leaned in to watch Trevor’s reaction.
“What?”
Mitchell jumped back and pointed to Trevor. “Oh hell! Dude! You did!”
“What are you talking about? Let’s move on,” Trevor said, and I could have sworn I saw beads of sweat appear on his brow as he tried to derail the conversation.
“Don’t even try to hide it, Trev. They can smell it,” Wade said before taking a bite of the loaf of bread the waitress must have brought out.
Trevor looked confused. “Smell what? There’s nothing to fucking smell. All I said was women are a pain in the ass.”
“It’s the way you said it,” Mitchell replied. “Clearly, you slept with Scarlett. She got under your skin and now you don’t know what to do about it.”
Our baby brother’s mouth dropped open. “The fuck?” he whispered.
Cord reached for the bread and broke a piece off and used it to point to Trevor.
“You see, normal girls we sleep with? They don’t get under our skin. We fuck ’em and move on.”
I shook my head. “Real nice, Cord.”
The bread pointed my way. “No judging. That was you a year ago, so no comments from the peanut gallery.”
My hands came up in defense. “You’re speaking the truth, but can you keep it down, and maybe not be so damn blunt?”
Cord lifted his eyes in thought before agreeing. “Yes. I can do both.”
He focused back on Trevor. “Alright. The way I see it is, you promised yourself you wouldn’t sleep with her. One, because you actually felt something for her. Two, she’s Mom’s best friend’s daughter and you wouldn’t do anything to hurt Mom.”
“But…you did sleep with her,” Mitchell added. “And if I were a betting man, I’d say you’ve slept with her more than once.”
All our heads turned to Trevor.
“I hate you. Both of you fuckers.” He tried to hide the smirk, but failed.
We all laughed.
“Ah hell. Another Parker brother has been bitten,” Wade said with a laugh. “Hell, I knew you liked her, Trev, but I didn’t think you liked her that much. Why didn’t you tell me?”
Trevor shot Wade a dirty look. “I don’t tell you every time I fuck a girl.”
Wade chuckled. “You pretty much do, dude. But this one you didn’t utter a word about.”
Trevor huffed. “So what? We fucked. It wasn’t a big deal, but she is making it something it’s clearly not.”
Cord jumped and pointed to Trevor. “I knew it! I freaking knew it!”
Rolling his eyes, Trevor let out a frustrated sigh.
I leaned in and looked at my younger brother. “Trev, listen to me. If you don’t see anything happening with Scarlett, clear it up with her. Sleeping with her more than one time is going to send her mixed signals. That’s not your normal thing. This isn’t like a one-night stand with a girl who’s in town on spring break or a local girl with a crush. Don’t lead her on. I already warned you about this shit.”
