Ruthless Charm (Ruthless Devils #3)

Chapter 1 Ash

“No.”

“Ash,” Jett began, but my hard look cut him off.

“I said no. You just gave me shit for screwing her, now you want me to live with her?” I looked at my two cousins in disbelief. “Are you both crazy?”

Gray was watching me, assessing, calculating, and I knew he was going to say something that would make me want to punch him. I was already close, every single fucking day, to wiping out his smug fucking smirk since he and Quinn got together. He did not want to push me. Not on this.

“Fine,” Gray said with a small shrug to Jett. Jett returned his look, but he was doing a shit job at hiding his surprise.

“What do you mean?” Jett asked him in confusion. “Ava needs to be here. She won’t come here if Mia is left there alone. I need Ava to be here,” Jett stressed to his twin emphatically.

“We’ll sort it out,” Gray said as he headed to the door of my bedroom. “If he thinks he’ll be okay here, then . . . fine. We’re family after all; we all need to get used to it.”

Jett and I exchanged a glance before I caved and asked him. “Used to what?”

Gray turned back to me and crossed his arms over his chest. “Well, Quinn is coming here; there is no fucking question that she’s going to be here. In my room. I know you’re not stupid, Ash. I don’t plan on just sleeping in my bed with her.”

Bastard.

Jett grimaced as his brother laid out in brutal honesty that I would be next door to my cousin and my ex, screwing each other’s brains out.

“You’re an absolute prick, you know that, don’t you?” I scowled at him. Gray said nothing before he turned and walked out of my bedroom. I turned my attention to Jett. “Wanna swap rooms?”

“No.” Jett scratched his chin as he thought about it. “Even if I did, Quinn’s still going to be here. He’s right, you will need to accept it . . . eventually. I know it’s probably shit for you, but he’s made it very clear Quinn’s it for him.”

I sighed, knowing he was right and knowing that I would accept the two of them together. I also knew I just didn’t need to do it today. Or tomorrow. Actually, space may be the best thing for me.

“And Ava absolutely needs to be here?” I asked again for maybe the tenth time.

“Yes.” Jett wasn’t fucking about either. “Quinn was sure they’ve been watching her, which means they’ve seen my girlfriend with my best friend, so they’re both coming here. It’s non-negotiable.”

“But yet we’re negotiating.”

“No,” he corrected me. “We’re trying to make sure it’s painless for us all. Ava won’t come without Mia. Mia can’t come as we have nowhere to put her, unless you want to share your bed with her on a permanent basis?” he asked me shrewdly.

Running my hand through my hair, I looked away from him. “Fuck off, she’s just a hookup.”

“Exactly. You going to her means my girl comes here where I can watch out for her twenty-four seven. Mia gets someone to look after her, while you sleep in a different room, and it means you don’t have to see, or hear, Gray and Quinn daily. It all works.”

“It’s still awkward,” I muttered. “I mean, my dick’s only been out of her for a few hours.”

“Yeah, well, we told you not to go there, but you did anyway.” Jett grinned with too much amusement. “Now you have to live with that . . . as you live with her.”

“I hate you both, I hope you know that. You’re shit for family.

” Walking into my bathroom, I locked myself in, and sitting on the toilet seat, I closed my eyes and counted to ten, hoping to cool down.

I knew I should have stayed away from the redhead, but she was smoking hot, had come fuck me eyes, and her body was made for sex.

I knew it the first time I saw her and every time thereafter.

She was flirty, and she was as eager as I was. We both knew it was just sex, nothing more, and screwing her, well, it was everything her body promised it would be.

Casual and cool, that’s how we’d played it, and now I had to go stay with her until the Quinn thing was over.

The Quinn thing. That was harsh. Her fear had been real earlier, and my own need to protect her and keep her safe was the same as Gray’s.

Okay, maybe not the same as Gray’s — he was bona fide obsessed with her.

How I never saw it for the past five years meant he was either better at hiding the truth than I thought, or I was just fucking blind.

Had it been in front of me the whole time, and I refused to see it? If Quinn had wanted him, why the hell had she gone out with me? With a groan, I stood and realized I was hiding in the bathroom, which just made me a complete loser.

God, this was going to be awkward. Fuck awkward, this was going to suck balls. My mind wandered to Red’s lips and tongue on my balls, and I hesitated before I berated myself for daydreaming about her talented mouth.

Grumbling, I started shoving some clothes into an overnight bag. I hated being forced into anything, and now I had to go keep an eye on her while keeping my hands off her.

Jesus.

The things I did for this fucking family better be appreciated.

* * *

This couldn’t possibly be it? Standing in the living area, I looked down at Red. Her eyes were flickering around the room, never resting on mine, and I would have been impressed by her ability to deflect had I not been reeling in shock at the size of her apartment.

I was six-four and weighed two hundred and forty pounds, and I was pretty sure that if I lay down on this floor and stretched my arms over my head, I would be the entire length of the living space and the kitchen.

“Tell me the bedrooms are bigger,” I muttered, and Red flinched as she turned on her heel and showed me to Ava’s bedroom. Opening the door, I looked once in the room and stepped back into the hallway. “No.”

“No?” Red asked me.

“Is that it?”

“Yes,” Red stressed with a roll of her eyes. Her arms crossed over her chest, and she glared at me. “I’m sorry we’re not the Marriott.”

Snorting, I opened the other door and realized this was her room, which was bigger. So was the bed. “I’ll take this one,” I told her as I walked into the room.

“This is my room,” Red hissed behind me.

“Now it’s mine.” I looked around. “You fuck anyone in here?” I asked as I dropped my bag on the white bedding, noticing the organized clutter. Clothes hung outside the closet, her desk was more makeup dresser than study area, and a wooden stand with sheet music stood in one corner of her room.

“No! What is wrong with you?”

“I’m six-four. You put me in Ava’s bed, I’m going to hang out of it.

This one fits. Just.” I sat on the bed — a bit soft, but I would manage.

“Plus, I know my cousin’s slept in Ava’s bed, and I don’t want to be that close to where he last unloaded.

” I looked up at her and winked. “You know what I mean, Red?”

Her face turned scarlet at my implication. “Well, too bad, this is my room. If you don’t like it, be my guest and leave.” Red stood there, glaring at me still. “Also, gross.”

“You can keep your stuff in here. I just need the bed.”

“Is that supposed to appease me?” Red asked me incredulously. “Should I say, ‘Well, okay then, thanks for being so incredibly generous’?”

“You’re welcome.” I lay back on the bed and tried the pillows. Soft, everything was . . . soft. Feminine. I knew this would be shit.

“This isn’t going to work,” she huffed.

“I agree.” I closed my eyes.

“Then why are you here?”

“Because I like your bestie, and she asked me nicely,” I told her. I opened one eye as I looked at Red. “You can thank me nicely if you want?”

“Are you hitting on me?” She looked pissed off.

“I’ve already been there,” I reminded her. “Last night, this morning, and this afternoon.” I opened my eyes and held her stare. “And the time before that, and the time before that.”

I watched as her eyes closed and she fought to hold onto her temper, her fists clenched at her sides. “I’m aware of how many times I’ve slept with you.”

“We slept?” I mocked her and was rewarded with her face turning the same color as her hair again. Sitting up, I stood and advanced toward her. Red froze, and I fought the grin as she tensed up at my approach. “Where’s the bathrooms?”

“Bathroom,” she corrected me, and turning in the tiny hallway, she opened the one other door.

Looking over her head, I saw a shower cubicle, a toilet, and a sink. “Are you shitting me?”

“This would be the place for that,” she snarked as she turned to look up at me. “But please don’t. Can you do your toilet business at the stadium or something?”

“I’m never going to fit in here,” I mumbled as I picked her up and moved her out of my way, ignoring her cry of protest. Stepping into the room — this was not a room. I’d been in public bathrooms bigger than this. “How the fuck do you live here?”

“Easily, I don’t usually have a giant in my way,” Red snapped. “I still don’t know why you’re here. They told me Quinn would explain.”

“She’s busy,” I said as I opened the shower door and stepped in. “This isn’t going to work.” My shoulder was still sticking outside, and when I looked back at Red, she was trying not to laugh at me.

“I think you would be better at the training facilities.”

“I knew this would be a nightmare,” I grumbled as I walked out of the bathroom and back to the living room. It took me four strides.

“Where’s the TV?”

“You’re being insulting. This is what we have; it suits Ava and me perfectly.” Red was pissed off and no longer hiding it well. “Not all of us are rich.”

“I’m not rich,” I countered, “my parents are.”

“That’s what rich people with a trust fund say,” Red growled in accusation.

“I don’t have a trust fund,” I replied. Her look was unconvinced, and I confessed, “Yet.”

“I tell you what, trust fund baby, take your massive body out of my home and go rent a room somewhere else.”

“I’m here for you,” I reminded her.

“I don’t want you here.”

“Final answer?” I asked as I raked my gaze over her tight body.

“Yes.”

“All you had to do was say.” Walking past her, I picked up my bag from the bedroom and headed to the front door. Eight strides.

“Where are you going?” Red demanded behind me.

“Somewhere bigger,” I replied over my shoulder. With a wave, I was out the door and heading down the steps when I saw my cousin and Quinn coming toward me.

“You didn’t last an hour,” Gray mocked me.

“She lives in a shoebox.”

“You’re exaggerating,” Quinn scolded as she looked past me to the door where I had no doubt Red was hovering. “I need to go speak to Mia. Will you stay?” She looked up at me, and I fought the familiar pull to do what made her happy. “Please, Ash.”

“Fine.”

Quinn squeezed my arm as she walked past me to go speak to Red, leaving me with my cousin, who was looking far too fucking happy at my predicament.

“It’s tiny.”

“Never been in,” he answered, but he did look slightly guilty. “It does look small.”

“There’s only one bathroom,” I told him. “And I don’t fit in the shower.” Gray huffed out a laugh but tried to hide it. “It isn’t funny.”

“Hopefully, it won’t be for long,” he said quietly. “They came after her.”

I thought of the bigger picture. “I know, I’m sorry.”

“Did you see the note?” His voice was low, and I could hear the fury building.

“I did.” We all had. Quinn had walked into his bedroom when Jett and Gray were giving me shit about screwing Red, and had been literally shaking.

“They’ve come looking for me,” she said as her wide eyes fell on Gray’s. He was at her side in a heartbeat as she held out a note to him. Tearing it off her, he had read it and then wordlessly passed it to Jett, who had stepped closer to me so I would be able to read it along with him.

Ms. Lawrence,

We learned of your loss not long after it happened, and please accept our belated condolences.

However, it has come to our attention that you may have friends looking into our organization, and we would cordially ask that this stop before any more of our mutual acquaintances or friends go missing.

If this continues, we may be forced to take action.

Regards,

Dr. Phillips

Gray had been apoplectic but had held it together, barely, for her.

“They won’t get to her or any of us,” I tried to soothe him, and he stared at the door to the apartment before his eyes flicked to mine, and I caught my breath as I saw the rage inside him. “You have to rein it in,” I cautioned him. “She needs you.”

“Why would they let us know that they’re watching, if it isn’t to hurt her?” Raking his hands through his hair, he shook his head in refusal. “They’re going to do something.”

“And we’ll be ready.” I reached out and clasped his shoulder. “We’ll show Onyx, maybe even our dads. I think the more who know, the better.”

“No.”

“No?”

“Onyx . . . maybe. He’s already looking into something.” Gray’s eyes flicked to mine before he went back to studying the door.

“Like what?” I asked him as I stepped closer, even though there was no one there.

“He wasn’t big on details.”

“Gray . . .” I whistled as I looked down at my feet. “That can only be bad.”

“I know,” he admitted. “You need to stay here. Jett’s sure they’ve been watching, which means that the girls, they’re on their radars. All the girls.”

“You have no idea how fucking small it is,” I muttered.

“I could put you in Quinn’s apartment, but then, there’s only one bed.” His look was more relaxed. “Would you prefer that?”

I shook my head. “No.”

“You’ll adapt,” Gray said with a confidence that I didn’t feel.

The door opened, and Quinn hurried down the stairs, eager to be beside Gray, who immediately hooked her under his arm. “You okay?” he asked her.

“Yeah, I made it brief and to the point.” Quinn looked at me and gave me a small smile. “Please?”

With a sigh, I turned and walked back to the apartment and walked past Red, who moved aside at the last minute, which was funny because it wasn’t as if she could have stopped me.

This was going to suck so bad.