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Jeez, has she already fallen for this guy?
“Are you dating him or something?” Because she has been “practicing soccer drills” a lot lately.
“No,” she scoffs, but her blush deepens.
I trade an amused grin with Payton and Bailey, but my grin erases as my gaze lands on the card.
Bailey tracks my gaze then leans over the seat. “You think they fixed your tires as a prank or something?”
“What kind of a prank is that?” Payton points out as she draws her seatbelt over her shoulder.
“I’m not sure.” I start to press on the gas, but then hesitate. Pushing the shifter back into park, I fasten my seatbelt. “Put your seatbelt on, Bailey.”
She eyeballs me warily before sitting back and doing what she’s told.
“What exactly do you think’s going to happen?” Londyn asks with mild concern.
“I don’t know.” I really don’t either. All I know is that, according to the note, my neighbor put new tires on my car sometime last night while I was asleep—I would’ve noticed if it was before last night. But maybe Blaise had Alex, the mechanic of the brothers, put on the tires to distract me from something else they did to my car. Something bad.
I do a quick brake check before backing out onto the street. Then I hold my breath as I drive forward. I continue to hold my breath for a few blocks. The farther we get without any mishaps, the more I question if maybe I’m being paranoid.
That theory seems more plausible when we arrive at school without any mishaps and quite a bit early, since we were originally planning on walking.
When I turn off the engine, a breath of relief escapes my lips.
“Well,” Payton says, “guess you were wrong about Mr. Fine Ass next door, which means I can ask him out, right?”
I swiftly shake my head. “No dating any of them, understand? They’re way too old for you, and from what Londyn’s told me, they could be dangerous.”
“They are so not too old for me,” Payton argues. “Jaxon, the youngest, is a little bit older than Londyn. And Blaise is just a bit older than you.” She points at me then pulls a tube of lip gloss from her pocket. “And Alex and Rhyland are just a couple months younger than Blaise. Rhyland and Alex are twins and half-brothers to Blaise and Jaxon, who are not even a year apart in age.”
“And we thought our parents had us close,” I mutter to myself.
“Yeah, I know,” she agrees with a nod. “They all have the same dad and everything, but he’s a big-time player from what people say and considering they’re all close in age, but Jaxon and Blaise have a different mom as Alex and Rhyland, I can see why people think that.”
I rotate around in the seat and gape at her. “How in the hell did you get all that information?”
She applies a coat of lip gloss and shrugs. “Miss Clammersin—the lady we’re babysitting for—likes to gossip, so I asked her about the Porterson brothers, you know, in case we need some intel on them. And she was more than happy to oblige.”
I lift a brow. “The Porterson brothers?”
“That’s what people around here call them.” She stuffs her lip gloss back into her pocket. “Rhyland and Alex are twins and, from what Miss Clammersin said, Blaise is pretty much like the parent of the household. I’m not sure why. But she did say they have quite the reputation for causing trouble. Even worse than us, probably.”
“Blaise is like the parent of the household?” I question, stunned. “Well, doesn’t that just sound lovely?”
“You’re basically like the parent to us,” Payton reminds me as she checks her phone.
“But I don’t go around slitting people’s tires because they didn’t swoon at my feet when I called them baby,” I point out, tucking the keys into my pocket.
Payton’s brow curves up. “What about the time you keyed Will’s car?”
“That was different,” I protest. “He cheated on Londyn.”
“What?” Payton shrieks. “I didn’t know that. I wish you’d told me. I would’ve helped you keyed that jerks car.”
“Which is why we didn’t tell you,” I say, and Londyn nods in agreement.
Payton rolls her eyes as she slips her backpack on. “You’re always trying to protect us.”
