Chapter 14 Kaylor #2
It took several minutes for the discord to die down. “You guys will get what I damn well order, and you’ll be grateful for it,” Grayson barked out. “And someone help Corvo over there brew some more damn coffee before we have a caffeine-related homicide.”
Grumbles ensued, but I loved it, loved being in the circle of their chaos. This was the only kind of mayhem I enjoyed. “So, what, are you guys like best friends now?” I asked the group.
“I don’t know if the world is ready for an Elite and Crew merger,” Fynn replied, stretching his long arms above his head, flashing a bit of bronze abs.
“But for now, a mutual truce exists,” Raine added from his position leaning against the counter, his fingers tapping the side of his mug.
“I guess that’s one good thing that came out of this nightmare,” I said.
“That and you being a complete badass.” Maddox smirked, softening a look of pride.
“I’m glad you think so.” I took another sip of coffee to hide my smile. “Does that mean no hard feelings about the cocoa incident?”
Maddox shook his head. “Hardly, menace. You’re definitely going to pay for that. I spent all night thinking about how you can make it up to me.”
I sighed. “Do I even want to know?”
Maddox leaned against the counter, giving up completely on the coffee machine. “How about we start with dinner?”
“Wait, you want to take me on a date?”
His grin turned wolfish. “That’s generally what dinner between two people implies, yeah.”
Raine snorted into his coffee. “You must have an actual death wish. Kreed is going to wipe the floor with your face if you try to take her out.”
“Something tells me it would be worth it,” Maddox said with a wink.
I choked on my coffee, the liquid going down wrong and making me cough. Several hands reached toward me in concern, but I waved them off, eyes watering.
“Anyone who thinks about dating my cousin,” Brock piped in, “has to get through us first. And we have a pretty extensive and in-depth screening process, isn’t that right, Fynn?”
Fynn’s boyish grin turned wicked. “Oh, extremely thorough. We’re talking references, credit reports, full psychological evaluation.”
I rolled my eyes. To think I’d been worried things might be weird between us. It was nice to know I could be spectacularly wrong, especially about the Corvo boys.
When the food arrived, the kitchen transformed into an absolute madhouse. The doorbell woke Mason and Micah. The pair stumbled into the kitchen looking rumpled and hungover. The room was big by normal standards, but it was rapidly becoming overcrowded.
“Morning, my little kitten.” Mason pressed a kiss to the top of my head before grabbing a plate.
These damn Corvos and their ability to slide into my heart. I thought I had closed myself off after losing my parents, but somehow, they each found the teeniest crack in my shield and wedged through without me knowing.
A plate materialized in front of me before I could even stand up, piled dangerously high with way more food than I could eat. French toast drowning in syrup, crispy bacon, scrambled eggs, and fresh fruit.
“Eat,” Raine ordered simply as he dropped into the seat directly to my right.
Two other chairs were claimed in rapid succession, Mason sliding into the one on my left and Maddox claiming the seat across from me. I was completely surrounded by Corvos, minus the one still sleeping upstairs.
The Elite turned from the kitchen island with their own plates in hand, and I watched their collective expressions shift from casual to what the fuck as they registered the seating arrangement.
It occurred to me with sudden clarity that Raine, Maddox, and Mason had deliberately taken the seats closest to me, a strategic move designed to send a message to the Elite that I was still under Ravens’ protection, still part of their crew.
My cousin caught my eye from across the room, and I held my breath, half afraid of what would happen next, but Brock surprised me. His mouth quirked in amusement or resignation, I couldn’t quite tell which. He shook his head slowly, grabbed his plate, and walked deliberately into the family room.
The Elite followed his lead without comment though not before Grayson, Fynn, and Micah each delivered pointed warning glares at the Ravens clustered around me. The message was clear: We’re backing off for now, but she was ours first.
I watched the silent power play unfold with something between exasperation and affection squeezing my chest. Some things, apparently, never changed, even when the world turned upside down and inside out.
And honestly? I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Kreed had slept most of the afternoon, his body finally claiming the rest it had been denied for I didn’t know how long.
When he finally strutted down the stairs, hair mussed and eyes still heavy with lingering exhaustion, he found me sitting cross-legged on the plush carpet in front of the fireplace, playing cards with his brothers.
He wasn’t precisely happy about the scene that greeted him.
I shot him what I hoped was a disarming smile, my hand of cards fanned in front of me. His stormy gray eyes tracked from my face down to Mason on my left, then to Maddox on my right, and finally to Raine sitting directly across from me with his legs stretched out and crossed at the ankles.
Kreed’s scowl deepened, carving lines around his mouth. There was no space for him beside me, and he wasn’t having it. “Move,” he demanded, but he didn’t direct it at any particular brother, leaving them all to decide amongst themselves who would yield.
No one so much as flinched.
Maddox called his turn by rapping his knuckles against the floor with three quick strikes. “Not a chance, brother. That’s what you get for sleeping the day away while the rest of us entertained your girl.”
“This game is far too important to lose my concentration now,” Mason added, his eyes never leaving the cards in his hand.
Mason’s comment seemed to flip a switch in Kreed’s brain. His focus sharpened. “What exactly are you betting on?”
“Don’t ask,” I groaned.
I didn’t even know how it had happened, really.
Playing cards with them had started as a simple distraction to occupy my mind while Kreed slept upstairs, but somewhere between the second and third hand, the stakes had escalated.
This game could lead to a very sticky situation if I lost, which I had no intention of doing.
I was confident in my poker abilities. I’d spent countless hours playing with the guys at my dad’s shop after school, but the Corvos were proving to be worthy opponents, no surprise.
“The winner gets a date,” Raine said casually.
Kreed loomed over our little circle like a dark thundercloud. “A date with who, exactly?”
I met his gaze, tilting my head back to look up at him. Even rumpled from sleep, he looked damn delectable. Unfairly so, really. What was it about a guy in sweatpants I found so attractive? Or perhaps it was just how Kreed looked in them.
I watched his brain put two and two together, saw the exact moment understanding clicked into place. His entire body went rigid. “No. Absolutely fucking not.”
Mason, Maddox, and Raine exchanged grins.
“Not happening,” Kreed reemphasized. “End the game. Now.”
“You don’t trust me to win?” I asked, batting my eyelashes with exaggerated innocence. I channeled every helpless damsel stereotype I could think of, playing the part of a girl who had no idea what game she was even playing or what the stakes meant.
Complete and utter bullshit, of course. I was a damn good poker player, and I knew exactly what I was doing.
“If you don’t win, little raven,” Kreed warned, “this room is about to get a very thorough and extreme makeover. Starting with three specific faces.”
“All in,” Mason declared with a grin, pushing his entire stack of chips into the center.
With nothing left to lose now, this would definitely be our final game as everyone else followed suit. Chips clattered against each other as stacks toppled into the growing pile. I hesitated for just a moment, long enough to let them think I might be nervous, then pushed my own chips forward.
One by one, Mason, Maddox, and Raine laid out their cards. Mason had a full house, kings over tens. Maddox revealed three aces with a smug expression. Raine’s flush looked impressive.
I was the last to reveal, drawing out the moment for maximum dramatic effect. “So... can we go now?” I asked sweetly, dropping my straight flush on the carpet with a smile of pure smugness. The cards fanned out perfectly, hearts running from nine to king in sequence.
The four Corvos blinked at my cards. Kreed’s lips twitched at the corners, fighting back a smile. “I think the three of you just got absolutely swindled by someone who’s been playing poker since she was twelve. Looks like the only Corvo taking her out on a date will be me.”
My heart performed a cartwheel at the mention of Kreed and me on an actual date. I couldn’t even picture what that would look like for us. Did we do normal? Could we?
“Fuck,” Maddox hissed, leaning back so his spine pressed against the couch leg. He ran both hands through his hair, making it stand up at odd angles. “That was impressive and infuriating.”
Mason flipped a card at me. “I think I love you. That was masterful.”
Kreed’s palm shot out, connecting with the back of Mason’s head in a crack. “Say shit like that again, and I’ll rip your tongue out through your throat.”
Mason’s head dropped back against the couch as he chuckled up at Kreed. “Promise?”
“How the hell am I even related to you?” Kreed muttered.
“I won fair and square,” I said, starting to gather the scattered cards. “Which means you can’t go back on your word. A bet’s a bet.”
“What exactly did the three of you idiots bet against her winning?” Kreed demanded, his attention shifting to his brothers.
“That she could leave the house and go see her friends,” Maddox grumbled.
Kreed’s brows furrowed.
I pushed to my feet, facing the guy whose frowns made my heart flutter.
“I need to see Kenny and Carson. They need to know I’m alive.
They’re probably losing their minds with worry.
” So many things swirled in my head, things I wanted to do, needed to say, had to figure out, but seeing my friends was nonnegotiable.
This was one thing that had to happen today, consequences be damned.
“There are risks involved with that, little raven. Rusty knows who your friends are. He could be watching them.”
“I know,” I acknowledged, meeting his concern with stubborn determination. “But it doesn’t change the fact that I need to see them.”
“We’ll go with you,” Raine started, already beginning to push himself to his feet with the clear intention of forming a protective escort.
“Uh-uh. That was not the deal,” I argued, holding up one hand as if I had any hope of making him do anything.
“I’m not bringing all four of you to intimidate my friends.
Kenny will have a complete meltdown, and Carson.
..” I trailed off, my stomach twisting uncomfortably. “Carson will shut down completely.”
“You’re not going alone,” Maddox said flatly. “That’s not even remotely on the table.”
“I never said I wanted to go alone,” I replied and glanced at Kreed with a silent question in my eyes. Will you come with me? Just you?
“There are a few things I need to discuss with Carson anyway,” Kreed said slowly.
My gaze narrowed. “I don’t like where this is going.
What things do you need to discuss with him?
What do you know?” The question tumbled out before I could stop it, and I immediately recognized my mistake.
My poor choice of phrasing might have been completely wrong, but I wasn’t thinking clearly.
How could I when I had four Corvos in my personal space, all of them now staring at me with varying expressions of curiosity and suspicion?
I’d jumped straight to the conclusion that Kreed might have discovered what Carson had done, and in doing so, I’d essentially confirmed there was something to discover.
Kreed’s head angled to the side. “What aren’t you telling us, little raven?”
“Nothing,” I said too quickly. “Absolutely nothing. Can we just go? Please?”
I needed to speak to Carson before Kreed found out the full truth.
As much as I wanted Carson’s involvement to be a horrible misunderstanding, he’d made his reasons for betraying me painfully clear before I stepped out of his car.
He was one of my oldest friends, someone I had trusted implicitly.
That trust had been broken, and despite being extremely pissed, I didn’t want to lose him from my life, but I also didn’t know if I could forgive what he’d done.
I wouldn’t know which way I would lean until we talked face-to-face.