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I bent down and wrapped my hands around her, pushing my fingers through her fur as Ford and Cade followed her in.
“So it’s your dog, Ford?” Dad asked, his voice low.
“Yeah,” Ford replied, and just hearing his voice had my hairs standing on end and my stomach dipping. “I told you that last night.”
“PB still asleep?” I heard Cade ask, and I grinned up at Aria and pressed my finger to my lips to tell her to keep quiet.
“She is,” Aria replied to him, and then moved around the counter. I had very different relationships with both of my brothers. Cade was sixteen years older than me, which meant we hadn’t grown up together, but we were really close. Whereas Asher and I had the kind of relationship where everything was a fight, but we protected each other fiercely. Although he may have been my little brother, he’d been taller than me since he’d turned twelve.
Conversation flowed as I stayed in my hiding place, and then I slowly moved around the counter, spotting Cade’s feet and then diving for them. He jumped in the air and squealed like a girl, and I laughed so hard I could barely breathe.
“I’m gonna get you for that,” Cade warned, his blue-eyed-gaze meeting mine.
I jumped up and ran around the counter, trying to get away from him, but he had a foot of extra height on him, so one of his footsteps was equal to two of mine.
“No, Cade!” I weaved in and out of Mom and Dad and then spotted Ford. I grabbed him around the waist and spun us so he was between Cade and me. “Ha!” I looked over his shoulder at Cade. “You can’t get me now.”
Ford’s hand touched my waist, and although to anyone else, it would have been innocent, when my gaze slid to his, I knew it was anything but. He hadn’t kissed me since we left my apartment yesterday afternoon, and all I could think about was how his lips would feel against mine.
“You’re always cheating,” Cade groaned out and stepped back. “No fair.”
He turned around, and my shoulders drooped, but at the last second, he darted for me and grabbed me around the waist and threw me over his shoulder. Lottie started to bark, and I thought Cade would put me down, but Ford commanded her to stop.
“Cade,” I warned as he stepped toward the sliding doors. “Don’t you dare.”
He gripped me tighter and stepped out onto the balcony. “This is what happens when you scare me, PB. You do the crime, you gotta do the time.”
My eyes widened as he walked onto the dock. “No, seriously. Stop. Cade. Don’t you—” He let go of me with a push, and for a second, I was flying in the air, and then my back was hitting the cold water, sending shocks through my body and having my breath catch in my throat.
I spluttered as I came up to the surface and gripped on to the dock. I couldn’t believe he’d actually done it. “I’ll get my revenge,” I ground out as I stared up at Cade, who had a shit-eating grin on his face. The fluffy robe was absorbing water like a sponge and trying to weigh me down.
He widened his stance and crossed his arms over his chest. “Shouldn’t mess with the big boys, should ya, PB?” He chuckled, and I flicked my gaze to the right and tried my hardest to keep a straight face. Asher—who was now just as tall as Cade—tiptoed down the dock in his bare feet and sweatpants. It looked like he’d been up for hours, and it didn’t surprise me. Out of all of us, he was the early bird. I couldn’t remember a time where I’d woken up before him. Since he’d started training in martial arts as a kid, he was always up early practicing.
I dunked my head under the water and then pushed my hands through my hair to get it off my face. “You’re mighty cocky there, old man.” Cade narrowed his eyes at me and let his hands drop from his chest. If there was one thing I knew Cade hated, it was being called an old man. He was only thirty-six, but it didn’t hurt to come at him about his age, especially not when he used his height as an advantage.
“PB—”
Asher’s hands collided with Cade’s back, and Cade windmilled his arms, his eyes as wide as saucers, and then he fell, stomach first into the lake.
I threw my head back, my laugh echoing in the vast open space, and then held my hand up for a high five to Asher. He slapped it with a grin on his face. “Hey, big sis,” he greeted at the same time Cade spluttered above the surface.
“Should have known you were around,” he gritted out, but his tone was different from the look on his face.
“Make way!” Asher shouted as he backed up a couple of steps and then ran and jumped into the lake with us. I couldn’t remember the last time we’d all been together like this. It had to be this time last year, and it made me sad to think about it. There was a time where our being together happened at least once a week, but as we got older, we all drifted apart. Asher was a teenager, about to take his last year at high school, and Cade had his own life to live.
I peddled my feet under the water, trying to keep my head above it, when Asher grabbed my legs. “Get on,” he said, and he sounded so much like the little boy who used to jump from one sofa to another as we played pirates and argued about who was going to be the captain. I didn’t hesitate to wrap my arms around his neck and attach myself to his back so he could keep me above water.
“So…” I pressed the side of my face to Asher’s and looked directly at Cade. “How’s things?”
Cade laughed and splashed water toward us. “Same old, same old,” Cade replied, but his brows furrowed. “I think we should be asking you, PB. How are you?”
I shrugged, not really wanting to talk about me. I’d had enough time to overthink everything that had happened, and I still hadn’t sorted through it in my mind. “I’m okay.”
“Yeah?” Asher asked, and even though I couldn’t see his face, I knew he’d have a look of concern etched onto his features. He may have been my little brother, but he acted like he was my older brother. So many times he said he’d have come to my rescue at school after witnessing me crying when I came home, but because he was four years younger, we never attended at the same time. “You should have seen Dad’s face when he found out you’d been to a club.”
I couldn’t help but laugh because I could imagine it perfectly. “Yeah, well, I’m a party animal, what can I say?” I was anything but that, and they both knew it. I blew out a breath and held on to Asher tighter as he moved us back toward the dock. “I didn’t know what the place was,” I murmured. “I never would have gone if I had.”
“We know, PB,” Cade confirmed, placing his hand on my head and ruffling my wet hair. “Ford said he about shit a brick when he first saw you.”
