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“Thought you left already,” Carter says, a brow raised like he’s truly surprised to see Cole.
“Thought about it, but Janey likes you fuckers, so . . .” He trails off, making it sound like I’m the only reason he’s still here.
Carter nods, not looking like he believes that for a second. “What happened to your face?” He touches his cheek, right below his eye. “It’s red after one of your usual disappearing acts, but it wasn’t this morning.”
Cole squeezes my hand beneath the table, and I press my lips together so I don’t ramble out the whole parking lot story in one breath. “Must be the lighting,” Cole says dismissively as he turns his head to the dance floor, purposefully giving Carter the good side without a bruise.
“We already saw the video, asshole.” Carter rolls his eyes when Cole’s head whips back around. “You think Kyle didn’t tell us at the first possible opportunity?”
Cole doesn’t say anything. Nobody says anything for a long minute.
Finally, gritting his teeth, Cole asks, “Chance? Samantha?”
Kyle shakes his head, pointing across the room to the smiling bride and groom who are in the middle of the dance floor. “Chance, yeah. That’s how we saw the video. But he’s not telling Samantha today. He said thanks and that he’d take care of it from here.”
“Then why the fuck are we talking about it?” Cole bites out.
Kyle chuckles, completely unbothered by Cole’s gruff response. “Because you went all Liam Neeson with a special set of skills on his ass and it was cool as fuck. Do me next. What do you know?” He makes it sound like Cole did a psychic medium reading trick on Glenn and seems genuinely excited to hear what secrets Cole knows about him.
“Nothing.”
Cole’s trying to shut down the conversation, but Cameron’s not having any of that. “Do we need to be worried about you? I know we joke around, but is what you do legal? I don’t care about the family name or any shit like that, but you know Mom would bankrupt herself to save you. Don’t make that necessary.”
He sounds like a true older brother—bossy, worried, loyal, caring, arrogant.
Cole turns a full-force glare on Cameron. “No need to worry about me, man. You never have in the past, so why start now?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Cameron demands, his eyes narrowed.
“It means you don’t know me at all. You never have.” Cole says it to Cameron, but I can feel all his brothers and Kayla recoil at the accusation.
Kayla’s the first to recover, replying, “And whose fault is that?” When Cole turns angry eyes on her, she doesn’t flinch in the slightest. In fact, she leans into it, her blue eyes shooting daggers too. They really are two sides of the same coin. “We don’t actually think you’re some assassin criminal, Cole. But a complete and total asshole? Yeah, you’re definitely that. You don’t share the most basic of information, you disappear for days at a time without telling anyone, missing dinners and events, which makes us all worry where the hell you are and what the fuck you’re doing. And now you’re sitting here, acting like we’re supposed to be chasing you down, begging for your attention and any morsel of information you deem us worthy of. I fucking cried when you told me your assistant’s name and number!” she reveals, bitter anger woven through every word. “Do you know how ridiculous that is?”
She doesn’t wait for him to answer, barreling on, “Newsflash, we’ve all got our own shit to deal with, so if you want to be a hermit and distance yourself, we’re gonna respect that. Not because we don’t care but because we do. So if that’s what you want, we give it to you because for some asinine reason, we love you. And it’s not only because I shared a womb with you.”
With that, she pushes back from the table and stomps away.
The brothers turn angry glares to Cole. Luna and I meet wide-eyed gazes, her eyes behind black-framed glasses that amplify them, and I can read that she feels like an intruder into this family situation the same way I do. I should’ve given Cole some privacy, but he wrapped his arm around my back several minutes ago and has been squeezing my hip like he wanted me to stay.
“Oh, you dun fucked up now,” Kyle drawls out, sounding slightly amused at the drama. “I hope you know her Amazon password because you’re gonna need to buy her entire wish list to apologize for that.” He waves his hands around, indicating the entirety that is Cole.
Cole sighs, watching Kayla make her way through the room and out into the hallway.
He leans over and whispers into my ear. “Wait right here. I’ll be back, okay?”
I nod, and he presses a quick kiss to my temple before following after Kayla. I’m glad he’s going to make amends with her, except when he leaves, I’m stuck with four Harrington brothers who’re staring me down like I’m the enemy.
