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“No. There will be no parties, no girls, nothing that will cause any trouble of any kind.”
“If you’re not looking for trouble, then you invited the wrong guys to come and live with you.”
“You are no longer in Sterling Heights.” He frowns. “Things are different around here. I think it might be important for you to remember that.”
“Whatever.”
“School starts in two weeks. Your uniforms are already in your closets. I suggest you familiarize yourself with the place before the hard work starts, because there is no way you’re not graduating this year,” he jibes, knowing full well that I fucked up what should have been my senior year last year. Not my fault that someone had to earn some goddamn money to support my brothers.
I look to the other side of the room as if his mere presence is boring me.
“Dinner will be served in an hour. I expect you all to be cleaned and dressed appropriately.” I see his gaze from out of the corner of my eye drop to my ripped jeans and oil-stained shirt. “My girlfriend and her daughter are coming to welcome you to town, and I shouldn't need to tell you that you will be nice to both of them.”
Well, doesn’t that sound like a fucking fun way to spend our first night in Sterling Bay? A nice, cozy family meal with the man who only wanted us when we had no parents left in this world.
He makes out like he wasn’t aware of what our lives were like.
He’s a fucking liar.
“An hour. I’ve already warned your brothers. We’ll be waiting.”
I do shower and change—not because he told me to, but because I fucking stink, and to be honest, I can’t deny that the rainfall shower in my en suite wasn’t appealing. It was a shit load better than the open pipe we had in the trailer.
Wearing a different pair of ripped jeans and a slightly cleaner shirt, I step out into the hall at exactly the same time both Cole and Conner do. They’re dressed similarly to me; it seems they took Uncle’s warning about as seriously as I did.
The sounds of voices direct the three of us toward the dining room. My curiosity as to what hides behind each door we pass is high, but I don’t look. I don’t want to seem
like I care, because I really fucking don’t, I’m just intrigued as to why a man who’s always lived alone needs so many fucking rooms.
As we join them, all conversation stops and three heads turn our way. I know our uncle is here but don’t pay him any mind. The brunette, however, captures my imagination quite nicely.
He might have warned me about no girls already, but he didn’t mention one who clearly already spends time here.
He walks over and wraps his arm around both the brunette and her mother. “Ace, Cole, Conner...” He grins like the cat who got the cream, and I fucking hate it. “This is Sarah, my girlfriend, and Remi, her daughter.”
Chapter Two
Remi
“Hello, boys,” Mom sing-songs. “It’s nice to finally meet you. James has told me all about you.”
“He has, has he?” One of the boys slides his narrowed gaze to his uncle. His tone is cold, icy even, sending a shiver skittering up my spine.
A beat passes, then James clears his throat. “Ace,” he warns, flicking his head to where Mom and I are standing.
According to Mom, Ace is the eldest. He and his twin brothers lived with their mom until she died suddenly. Since they had nowhere else to go, and the twins are still minors, James offered to take them in.
“Hey,” Ace replies, his eyes gliding down my body and back up. Another shiver works its way through me, only I can’t decide if it’s a nice one or bad one. Ace looks like he either wants to throw me down on the table and do very bad things to me, or murder me with his bare hands.
It’s unnerving.
He’s unnerving.
They all are.
But then, what did I expect? Kids from Sterling Heights aren’t like kids from the Bay.
“Hi, I’m Remi,” I say. “I go to Sterling Prep, so we’ll all be in the same class.”
