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I didn’t want to be creepy. I just… I wanted her to stop questioning my motives and stripping me emotionally bare. I’d worked damn hard these past few years to close myself off and not let any of my thoughts or stupid feelings show. Why did she need to crack me open? And why the hell was I letting her? I didn’t want to be open, anymore. I wanted—
Fuck.
I didn’t even want to admit what I really wanted.
When a knock fell on my apartment door, I stopped flipping out and running my hand through my hair to scowl at it.
This time, I wasn’t even expecting it to be for me. I strode over and pulled the door open to find four women I’d never met before—one of them very pregnant—along with a boy who was maybe five or six years old, standing on my doorstep.
They were chatting freely with each other until they saw me and then they all fell mute.
And stared.
A moment passed before the pregnant blonde gave a low whistle. “Damn. Cress was right. He’s almost too gorgeous for his own good.”
The other three nodded dumbly.
The gorgeous comment caught me off guard, especially coming from four women who were all supremely attractive themselves. But then the name Cress filtered through my memory banks, and I sighed. “You guys are here to see Haven, right? More cousins?” I guessed.
“Oh, he’s a smart one,” the blonde murmured. “I’m liking him already.” Stepping inside, she patted my cheek seductively. “Teagan Hamilton,” she greeted. “You must be Wick.”
With a nod, I agreed, “I must be.”
“Aww, he’s kind of snarky, too,” she cooed back to the others. “Just like JB. It’s confirmed; I like him.”
“Yeah, yeah, quit hogging him already,” another girl with hair as dark at Haven’s and eyes just as blue-gray as hers muttered as she nudged Teagan aside so she could stop in front of me and grin with a brightness that reminded me of Izzy’s energy.
“Hi. I’m Bella.” She grabbed my hand and pumped it heartily. “Aunt Sarah said you wouldn’t even tell her where Haven was until she passed some kind of test with you first.”
“Uh.” I cringed, my face heating with embarrassment. “Well, I just wanted to make sure they—”
Not giving me a chance to come up with the right word to use next, another girl nudged Bella aside. “Dude, that is badass. Aunt Sarah scares the shit out of me when she goes into interrogation mode.”
“Did you really tell Haven you didn’t want her living here because of her boobs?” the redhead with the boy asked.
I glanced at all four of them and gulped. “I just…um…”
Shit. This was mortifying. I hadn’t expected that stupid comment to turn into hot family gossip.
“Don’t worry,” the second brunette who hadn’t introduced herself to me yet assured as she stepped inside behind Bella. “We’re not here to threaten you like our stupid brothers did yesterday. Gah.” She rolled her eyes. “Those bumpkins couldn’t even find Topher Nicholl and kick his ass, which was their sole reason for coming into town in the first place. Or so they said. Honestly, I think they were secretly worried about HayHay and just wanted to check in on her.”
“You mean, your stupid brother,” Bella shot back with a degrading glance. “Mine wasn’t even here yesterday.” She turned to me. “I’m
sure Gray would’ve been able to find Topher and suitably pummel him if he’d been with yesterday’s crew.”
“That’s just because your stupid brother had to work, so we got stuck with him today. I seriously doubt he’ll look Topher up either.”
I frowned, confused, before glancing down at the kid, who was the only male present. “They’re not talking about you, are they?”
The boy blinked up at me with big blue eyes and then shook his head no. “I didn’t work yesterday,” he finally answered. “I don’t even have a job.”
The women laughed.
A moment later, Haven appeared in the entrance to the hall. “I thought I recognized that laughter,” she announced, wiping her hands on a dish towel as she shook her head at her guests.
“HayHay,” they screeched in return, descending on her with hugs and kisses. “Our baby cousin. I can’t believe that worthless bastard cheated on you.”
Haven pulled back with a tense sigh, and I could tell she totally didn’t want to talk about it. To distract them from the topic, she rolled her eyes. “I’m not the baby cousin. Cress is two years younger than me.”
