Chapter 18
CHAPTER
EIGHTEEN
Weston
I twitch in my seat and Jude smacks my shoulder for the umpteenth time since we started.
“Hold still,” he demands and I huff.
The face paint feels sticky and awful on my skin. The way it drags against my skin as Jude turns me into a skeleton makes me want to crawl out of my skin. I’ve already had to sit on my hands to keep myself from smacking him.
“We’re almost done,” he promises, running his hand through my hair soothingly. It does little to help. All I can think about is thank god we only have to do this once.
Wearing the mask hasn’t been all that fun either.
It’s hot and makes me feel sweaty. It can even be hard to breathe in it and I hate the feeling of the fabric against my face.
Even so, I prefer it way more than whatever this is.
I’ve been sitting here for ages and my patience is wearing thin.
Each and every second that passes pushes me that much closer to losing it.
“Okay, okay. We’re done,” Jude says and steps away. A huge sigh of relief escapes me and I pull away from him. He hands me the mirror but I couldn’t care less how it turned out. If Jude says it’s good enough, then it’s good enough.
Ezra steps around the couch and looks me up and down. “You did good,” he praises and the look of desire in his eyes soothes some of the jagged edges.
“No,” Jude warns, waving his finger back and forth between the two of us. “You’re going to ruin the makeup.”
I scrunch my nose in displeasure. More reason to hate this fucking makeup.
Ezra sighs, taking my seat in front of Jude for his turn. “I know you don’t like it,” he soothes. “But it was the best cover for us. You know that.”
There’s nothing to say back to that. He’s right and I still don’t like it.
“It’ll be worth it,” he promises. “Think about seeing Berlyn tonight.”
I want to see her now. Ignoring my brothers, I grab my phone. They both chuckle, already knowing what I’m doing.
“Put her on the big screen,” Jude suggests.
Her and Summer are in the middle of getting ready and arguing about whether or not Berlyn should text Ezra. She needs my number. I would text her.
Why haven’t we done that yet?
I hold my hand out for Ezra to give me his phone.
“What are you going to say?” he asks, handing it over as Jude yells at him to stop moving so much. At least I’m not the only one who can’t sit still.
I type out the message, making sure to put Jude and I in the group chat so she can have all of our numbers. Now, I’ll have the perfect excuse for how I got her number and can text her whenever I want.
I show the screen to Ezra and Jude but Ezra’s eyes are closed as Jude smears black over his eyelids. Waiting for him to finish, Jude sighs. “You could read it to us,” he prompts, but I don’t mind waiting for their approval.
Ezra chuckles when I don’t say anything and it’s only a few moments later Jude is done with his eyes and they both read the text and nod their approval.
“They’re almost ready,” Ezra points out. “You need to hurry if we’re gonna pick them up,” he tells Jude whose only response is to flick his nose.
Hitting send, I wait to see Berlyn’s reaction. Both my brothers pause what they’re doing to watch the screen.
Her scream makes me jump and it takes a moment to realize the text is what scared her. A surprised laugh eddies out of me at her and her friend’s antics, but it turns into a full laugh as her friend looks around the room suspiciously.
What will Berlyn’s reaction be when she realizes her friend’s intuition is off the charts accurate? She might have a future working for the cops. Or we could have her work for us.
They’re joking, but even so, her instincts are impressive.
“Hurry up,” I tell Jude, texting back and forth with Berlyn and agreeing to meet in a little bit.
He glares at me and Ezra smiles, drawing Jude’s ire back to him. “Can you go make sure everything is packed in the trunk?” Ezra asks and I nod. “My car,” he reminds me, tossing me his keys.
A lot of plans all come together tonight. We’re only a week away from Halloween when Berlyn will finally have all the pieces to put together herself. A week before she’s officially ours.
If everything goes right.
Starting with tonight.
I check and double check we have everything we need. The masks, the sweatshirts, the gloves, the drinks. It should feel wrong to drug Berlyn, but it’s not to hurt her. Ezra knows what he’s doing.
Her and her friend were fine after the last time we used it. They only slept through the night and their hangover wasn’t even that bad the next day. It’ll be the same tonight. Only a little stronger.
Once I’m positive we aren’t forgetting anything, I head back into the house to check on their progress. Ezra is holding still and Jude is working much faster than he did with me. I narrow my eyes and glare. I knew he was taking his time with my makeup to piss me off.
“Don’t give me that look,” Jude threatens. “If you would have held still, it wouldn’t have taken so long.”
Liar.
“I’m not lying,” he huffs, even though I said nothing.
Ezra chucks. “Everything set?”
I nod and let my attention drift to where Berlyn is still on the screen. She’s already dressed in the short blue dress and Summer is tying a pink ribbon around her waist.
She’s too pretty.
Maybe we should keep her at home tonight, not let anyone else see how good she looks. Especially in that dress that barely covers her ass. One strong gust of wind and everyone will see what she has on underneath. I don’t like it.
If anyone stares a little too hard, I’ll have no choice but to relieve them of their eyeballs. Does she realize how damn good she looks?
I like her friend, but maybe not right now. This outfit was her idea after all.
“Stop glaring at the television,” Jude says, smacking the back of my head. “We know how to fight for a reason.”
True, true.
“Let’s go get our girl,” Ezra says, clapping and leading the way out.
Berlyn looks even prettier in person. Almost painfully so.
Jude glared at me when I slipped into the backseat with both of the girls but it’s his own fault for being slow.
I get to drown in the sweet scent of Berlyn as she’s pressed against my side.
It’s hard to even take my attention off of her, even as Jude and her friend’s chatter fills the car around us.
Berlyn taps my thigh and shows me something on her phone. I look down to see mine and Jude’s numbers on her screen.
“Which one is yours?” she asks, her voice soft and low. I point mine out to her and she taps on it, saving my contact to her phone before doing the same with Jude’s. The small gesture makes me smile, makes me want to pull her into my arms and have her ride the rest of the way in my lap.
It would probably be more comfortable than the middle seat anyway.
We pull up to the street the party is on and I already know I’m going to hate every minute of it. The street is filled with college kids walking in every direction, in every level of costumes one could imagine. From funny t-shirts to blow up costumes and everything in between.
Several houses on the street are lit up with music blasting from the inside and more people spilling out onto decorated and lit up lawns. Smoke crawls across the ground out of the front door and through the lawn on the house closest to us.
Jude snickers as if he can feel me glaring daggers at the back of both of their heads. They are both liars. They didn’t tell me it was going to be like this. So loud, with so many damn people. How are we even supposed to keep Berlyn in our sight?
Summer squeals, squeezing Berlyn’s hand. “I knew the frats were going to go all out.”
Berlyn looks more unsure as she stares at the chaos unfolding in front of us. Her eyes are wide as they meet mine and a laugh mixed with something like a sigh escapes her mouth.
“It’ll be even crazier next weekend,” Summer promises and Berlyn is already shaking her head.
“I don’t think I can handle crazier,” she says.
“You just need a drink,” Summer assures her.
I climb out of the car and hold my hand out to help her out. She has to hold the dress to her ass to not flash anyone and I have to remind myself of Jude’s words.
We know how to fight for a reason.
I keep her hand locked in mine, glaring behind her at some guys that stopped walking to watch her fix her dress and pull up long white socks or whatever they’re called. When they catch sight of me, they’re quick to scurry on like the rats they are.
Why do I feel like this will happen a lot tonight?
A small hand slaps my chest but it hardly has enough force behind it to really even be called such.
I cock my head to the side in question as I stare down at Berlyn’s friend’s finger wagging in my direction.
“How am I supposed to get laid tonight if you scare off any guy that comes close to Berlyn?”
That doesn’t sound like a me problem. Am I supposed to just allow men close to her?
Jude and Ezra meet us on our side of the car and Jude slides to Berlyn’s other side, inserting himself between her and her friend. “Did I hear that right? Seasons is trying to get laid tonight?” he asks.
She stares up at him with an unamused glare, but there’s a flicker of humor in the tilt of her lips. She doesn’t even try and step back in between him and Berlyn to take her spot back. “Clever,” she says dryly. “And yes I am. Though you three idiots may make that challenging.”
Jude is already shaking his head, and even Ezra looks pleased with this turn of events. Our biggest obstacle was always going to be separating the girls.
Jude slips one arm over Berlyn’s friend’s shoulders and the other around Berlyn’s waist. “Berlyn and I will wingman for you. Right, B?” he asks.
Her face flushes but she doesn’t let go of my hand, even as Jude pulls her closer into his side. Jerk. “Anything for Summer,” she agrees, before dropping her voice to a whisper. “I don’t know how to wingman though.”