7. Matthias
Chapter 7
Matthias
“What’s gotten into you?” Bash asks me, his voice bouncing off the polished black walls of our private room in the Elysium club. He’s sprawled out on a leather lounge chair, a crystal glass filled with whiskey dangling precariously from his fingers.
His sandy-blond hair is disheveled, falling loosely over his eyes, covering the gleam in them. He’s the youngest Everette brother and somehow the loudest. Xander sits beside him, his hair several shades darker, perfectly styled off of his face. At only eleven months apart, they’re thick as thieves. Xander’s the more sensible of the two, but Bash never fails to drag him into trouble.
The two of them are several inches below where I partially rest on the back of a chair. There’s too much energy running through my veins to allow me to relax.
Tinted one-way windows line one wall, overlooking the dance floor below, the noise from the club muffled in the soundproof room. We’d purchased the club several years ago, and Xander handled all the contracting to make it perfect, including this room designed specifically for my three brothers and me.
I glance up from my phone, where I’ve been looking at a picture of Scarlet leaving the gym Oliver sent yesterday. Her white shirt is see-through where her damp hair rests on her shoulders, and I can’t decide if I’m turned on or pissed off about it.
Things have been slow ever since the Ricci family’s failed attempt at a coup that nearly cost both Misty and Damon their lives.
We stripped the Ricci family of their seat in the Order of Saints, completely wiping them from existence, Sending a clear sign of what would happen if anyone else thought they could fuck with us.
My two youngest brothers are bored out of their minds and the bane of my existence. In the next few years, they’ll have to step up and take an active role in our family, but for now, I want them to have the freedom that was denied to Damon and me.
“You’ve definitely been distracted lately,” Xander adds, taking a sip from his amber-filled glass.
I’ve always been distracted by Scarlet. I’ve just been better at hiding it, but as the days tick down and I get closer to everything I’ve been waiting for, it’s been harder to keep from them. At least Damon’s still too preoccupied with his wife to give me a hard time.
“The both of you can fuck right off.” I flip to the next picture, done caring that I look obsessed. It’s about to become insanely obvious anyway.
“Come on, big bro. You can’t leave us hanging like this. The way you’re staring at your phone has me dying with curiosity. Do I know her?”
“Who says it’s about a girl?”
Bash snorts, and Xander smirks, giving me knowing looks.
I crack my neck. “Yeah…you know her.”
“Hmmm, that’s surprising…I haven’t seen you interested in anyone…unless…” Bash’s eyes go wide, mischief filling them. “It can’t be?”
For a little brat, he’s become more observant. I’m still debating how much I’m going to let them know when the door crashes open.
Scarlet’s holding a purple key pass in her hand that only our security has.
“Sorry, boss.” Our six-foot-four bouncer comes rushing in after her. His hand covers his nose, where it’s leaking blood. He’s looking down at Scarlet like she’s a viper and not the elegantly dressed woman that she’s projecting.
He looks almost as scared of her as he is of us.
I lean forward, captivated by her. She’s wearing a red dress that perfectly contours her curves, showing off the dip in her waist and the roundness of her hips. Hell, I even love the little softness showing in her stomach.
I had full intentions of tracking her down, but I’m enjoying the fact that she came to me.
Bash smiles up at her. Those two have a special relationship. They aren’t close, but he’s made sure it’s no secret that anyone who messes with her has to deal with him. Hell, all the Everette brothers have.
She marches right up to me, hands on her hips. To anyone watching, they’d see the adoration written across my face, but she’s blind to it. She’s sexy as fuck, standing inches away, chest heaving with her breaths. It’s clear she came here for a reason, and I’m dying to find out what my Scarlet needs.
This is the first time she’s actively sought me out since I was an asshole to her at sixteen, and I’m quickly realizing I would have caved to her immediately if she’d asked.
I lean back, opening my knees wide, enjoying how she steps between them without seeming to notice. There’s a pull between us that I’ve been fighting for years, but I’m done with that, and I’m more than willing to succumb to it now.
Scarlet came back from the West Coast, fierce and determined to take the world on her own. The way her blue eyes narrow on me has blood rushing to my cock.
She has no idea how close she is to me losing control.
“How can I help you, Little Sparrow.”
Her eyes widen briefly at the nickname before a wall closes, blocking out her thoughts. “I need you to do something for me.”
I cock my head to the side, loving the sound of that, but I also want to see how this plays out. There’s a lot of power in a favor.
I stand, crowding her back until she’s trapped in my stare. “What’s that?”
Pure blue eyes meet mine, the shield she just put up instantly gone. Curiosity, heat, and hurt swirl around her pupils as she studies me, weighing whether it’s worth the cost of asking. “The guy who proposed…”
A muscle ticks in my jaw. I definitely thought she’d have gotten rid of him by now. I’m fully aware that they’d only gone on a few dates. He just so happened to propose the day I planned to dispose of him.
I tilt my head to the side. “What about him?”
“He has a security camera video of me killing my father, and he’s trying to blackmail me with it.”
“Oh shit,” Xander and Bash say in unison. There’s a pang of jealousy, knowing they’d been there to witness my girl finally get her revenge.
The muscles in my neck strain, and my teeth grind together as I process what she said. A lot went down the night the Everette brothers eliminated the Laurents. None of which we want records of. Not that we couldn’t bury them if they ever did surface. I don’t tell her that. It’s much more fun to see how this all plays out. I rock back on my heels and grin.
“Is that all the help you need, Scarlet?” I move closer until the scent of her perfume fills my lungs with every breath.
“Y…yes,” she says barely over a whisper, her chest rising and falling rapidly.
She’s temptation incarnate with red-painted lips that are begging me to take them. I got around in my youth, but I haven’t touched anyone since her, and like hell I’m having my first kiss in ten years in front of my brothers.
I’ve saved it for her all this time. I can wait six more days.
“Consider it done.”
“That’s it? You’ll just take care of it?”
“Of course not.” I chuckle. “You’ll owe me.”
“What?” Her mouth curves in an adorable frown.
I run my thumb along my bottom lip, thinking of all the ways she can repay me. “I’m sure we can think of something in time.”
She huffs. “I’m not agreeing to that.”
I tilt my head to the side and raise one curious brow. “You don’t have a choice.”
She looks at my two brothers, who are luckily smart enough to stay out of this, and crosses her arms in front of her chest.
I wonder if she realizes that it’s pushing her already full tits up for me.
“Fine, just make this go away. Try not to kill him.”
I smirk, having no intention of fulfilling that request. “We’ll take care of it.”
Her shoulders sag with her sigh, all the spirit washing out of her.
I’ll make sure she knows in the future, she never needs to be tough with me. It’s my fucking pleasure to take care of her. I’m happy to be the devil she can lean on.
As if she finally realizes exactly where she is, her body goes stiff. “I…I have to go. Let me know when it’s done.”
“Don’t worry. You’ll know.”
She practically scurries out of the room when Bash whistles.
“So it is her.”
My gaze cuts to him. “Fuck off.”
Matching smiles form on my brothers’ mouths, more cruel than happy.
Bash claps his hands together and gets up. “So let’s go make this asshole pay.”
“We’re not really going to let him go with a warning, are we?” Xander asks as he follows after his brother.
“What do you think?”
“I think he’s going to regret this for the short amount of time he has left.”