AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He sits down on the couch and kicks his bare feet up on the ottoman, then smirks. “So... I’m gone less than a week, and you’re having sleepovers?”
“Excuse me?” I squeak.
Brandon leans forward and waits for me to sit down. But I hold my ground, already uncomfortable with where this conversation is going. “There was a Kingston in my kitchen when I got home this morning. Care to tell me why,little sister?”
“I was unaware I needed to clear my friends with you,big brother.” I plant both hands on my hips and meet his glare, unsure if he’s angry or joking.
When his single dimple pops deep in his cheek, I know he’s not actually mad.
At least, I think he’s not.
“I’m all for you and the girls having sleepovers and pillow fights. All the pillow fights. Maybe add Chloe and Carys’s lingerie to the mix too. The more, the merrier. But I wasn’t expecting to come home and see one of my team owners strolling out of your bedroom, Madison.”
“First, eww. You’re disgusting. I’ve never had a pillow fight in my life”—I grab one of the throw pillows I insisted on after he bought the world’s most boring, masculine couch and smack him in the face with it—“until now.”
Brandon picks the pillow up and smacks my hip with it. “Damn fucking shame too. You’ve got some hot friends, and if I block you out of the equation, that’s basically most men’s fantasies.”
“Hey,” I bristle, completely unsure of how exactly we got to this point in the conversation. “Are you saying I’m not fantasy material? I mean I might not be a model or anything, but I don’t think I’m hard on the eyes either, you jerk.”
He yanks me down by the arm until I’m sitting next to him on the couch. “I’m not a Lannister, Mads. Incest doesn’t do it for me. And if some guy said he was saving you for spank-bank material, I’d have to kill him.”
“Wait...spank bank?” I scrunch up my face, utterly grossed out. “Please freaking stop. I’m begging you. I can handle you talking about fantasies—to an extent. I don’t want to know my friends are in yourspank bank.”
But when he laughs at me, I remember how the conversation started. “Stop distracting me, Brandon. I’m a grown woman. I run a successful business, and I’ve managed to navigate life just fine, thank you very much. I don’t need your permission to spend time with whomever I want. Man or woman.” That might have been more convincing if I didn’t have to remind him I’m a grown woman.
“I wasn’t saying you needed to ask for permission. I was saying I was surprised to see Hudson Kingston this morning. That’s all. I’m not used to guys sleeping here.” He throws his arm across the back of the couch and tugs on my hair.
“Watty crashes here all the time,” I pout.
“Watty’s crashing on the couch after too many beers. He’s not telling me he left my baby sister sleeping in her room. Just promise me you’re being safe.”
“Oh. My. God.” I hide my face in my hands, remembering ten years ago when he asked me that the first time. “Are you really giving me the birds and the bees talk...again?”
“Maddie...” He waits for me to look at him.
“Not that you deserve to hear this, but we just slept. We turned on a movie and fell asleep, fully freaking clothed, Brandon.”
“That doesn’t sound like you.”
My eyes go huge and bug the heck out of my head. “What?”
My brother practically stumbles over himself to fix his words. “I mean, you let him get that close? Close enough to fall asleep in your room? That doesn’t sound like something you’d usually do.”
“It doesn’t, does it?” And with a deep breath, I fill him in on everything that’s happened since last Thursday night.
The break-in.
Hudson’s knee.
The crazy confrontation at Kingdom.
All of it.
When I’m finished spinning the crazy week, Brandon sits back on the couch and just stares at me until I finally break under his intense scrutiny. “I knew you’d be mad I didn’t tell you right away, but I wanted you focused on your game, not me. I was fine.”
And then he breaks, jumping to his feet, enraged. “You’re not going to Crucible. You don’t need that fucking job, and Cade St. James obviously can’t keep you safe.”
Slowly, I stand and take his hand in mine. “It was a break-in, Brandon. It could have happened anywhere.”
