AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Uh…” She gulps when he brings her hand up and kisses the top, her panicked eyes swinging around to mine.
I merely beam. Because she’d better get used to four annoying brothers, now that I’m claiming her for myself. “You remember Cato, I’m sure.” I take their joined hands and peel his off to free her. Then I link our fingers together and lob my arm over her shoulders so she’s forced to stay close. “Tim is here, too.”
“Tim?” Her body stiffens against my side. Her long limbs rigid, the way they were when we first formally met. “T-Timothy Malone is here?”
“The alive one,” I chuckle. “Not the one currently rotting in the backyard. Come on.” I pull her close and start toward the stairs. “There are five Malone sons, Darling. You’ve only met four, and for most of them, you were delirious and unwell at the time.”
“We’re having family dinner…” She drags us to a stop so I almost stumble on my way up the stairs. “With your family?!”
“That’s usually how these things go. Don’t ask Tim about his love life, though, okay?” I touch the tip of my finger to the end of her wrinkled nose, then start walking once more. “He’s sensitive about it.”
“Aubree’s hot, though,” Cato gushes, racing ahead of us. “She’s got brains, since she’s a doctor like Mayet, and this wild streak, with the way she colors her hair pink and purple and shit. Her eyes are bright blue, like she bottled up the Caribbean and kept it for herself. Now Tim’s calling dibs, even though she’s honestly closer to my age than she is to his.” He turns to us at the top of the stairs and grabs his cock on the outside of his jeans. “She sure is pretty.”
Christabelle’s face turns a sickly shade of green. Her chest, heaving like she might physically be sick.
“You okay?” I lower my voice, though I know Cato will still be able to hear. “You look like you’re gonna puke.”
“She’s nervous,” Cato interjects playfully. “She’s realizing there arefiveMalone brothers. One of ‘em is married, and of the other four, she’s attached to you. That’s called missed opportunity.”
“I can’t…” She turns on her heels, shaking her head, and attempts to escape. “I can’t have dinner with him while he’s talking about sex and opportunities.”
“Cato!” I pin him with a glare that brings him up short. “Shut the fuck up.” Then I tug Christabelle around and deny her the chance toleave. “He’s an idiot, but the more you react, the stupider he gets. He’s like a feral cat you don’t want to keep around. Don’t pay him any attention.”
“Don’t speak about him like that.” Surprising me, her brows pinch tight in anger. “He’s just a boy. A boy raised byyou.”
“Yeah,” Cato laughs, dropping his hands into his pockets and rocking on his heels. “I’m just a boy, Lix. Innocent of mind, and with role models weknowdid a poor job.”
I shake my head side to side and deem this the most confusing fucking conversation of my life.
She can’t be around him, but she’ll defend him. She’s white when she thinks of Tim the Third, and green when Cato touches his dick.
Pretty unfortunate circumstances, considering Tim is staying for the night, and Cato isalwaystouching his dick.
I lead her up the stairs and through our front door into air-conditioned cool, but instead of letting her flee up to my room—she tries, angling her body as we pass the staircase, so I know she would dash if I let her go—I bring her through the house, past soldiers who are aware there are five Malones here today, then into the kitchen to find it bustling with noise.
Mary at the stove, preparing a meal to feed us all, and Minka Mayet, sitting on the stone counter and resting her feet in Arch’s lap. She eats sweet potato fries, and he watches her do it like she hung the moon and all the stars.
She used to be the prettiest woman I knew. The sexiest. Her brain, the most intriguing to me. Fuck, I know it’s not okay to lust after your brother’s wife. But when you’ve met quality like her, it’s tough getting her out of your mind when you’re feeling a tad lonely.
That was the old me. The me before Christabelle.
Now, I look at Minka, and though I know she’s still pretty, still smart, still witty and challenging, I no longer stare at her legs or picture them resting on my shoulders. I don’t watch her talk, and think of her lips wrapped around my cock.
I’ve evolved.
The right woman will do that to you… according to Arch.
“We’re here,” I announce, drawing eyes and holding Christabelletighter when she attempts to bolt. “Arch. Doctor Delicious.” I flash a smile when her sparkling brown eyes peel away from her fries and stop on me. But when I wink, she flattens her lips and looks to Christabelle instead.
She’s doing that doctorly thing: assessing her patient. Checking that she’s still alive and well.
Shrugging, I peer to Micah next, then to Tim, who stands in the doorway with his arms folded and his scowl heavily pronounced.
Unlike Arch, who married the girl he loves, Tim is yet to make an actual claim on Aubs. Which means he doesn’t get to bundle her onto a plane and drag her across the country for dinner whenever he feels like it.
That reality, I think, makes him a very unhappy boy.
“Christabelle Cannon…” Since he’s the only one she hasn’t met, I lead her closer and gesture his way. “Timothy Malone the Third. Tim, Christabelle.”
