Chapter 22
CHAPTER
TWENTY-TWO
Jude
Ezra walks back into the room with Berlyn on his arm.
I can’t help but light up as soon as I see her. She looks unsure, and like she’s not feeling a hundred percent herself. Not that anyone can blame her.
Especially not us.
Summer on the hand, looks like the cat that got the canary, grinning ear to ear walking behind them. You’d think she’d be the one of the two that had many, many orgasms the night before.
We may have over done it. I grimace. Hopefully, Berlyn isn’t too sore today. We were gentle after all. But her body has got to be exhausted from everything.
I pass out the burritos as everyone falls into what’s starting to feel like their normal positions in the living room.
Summer and Berlyn are on the couch with Ezra.
West is in the chair next to the couch, his eyes locked on every move Berlyn makes.
After everyone has their food, I plop to the ground and lean against the couch, closest to Berlyn.
She looks down and arches a brow. “We can make space for you,” she offers, but I’m already shaking my head.
“I’m comfortable here,” I assure her. I’ve always been comfortable on the floor. Especially if I have something to lean against, and even more so if it’s the closest I can get to her. There’s no downside to my position.
It’s quiet as we all eat our food. Never in all our time watching Berlyn has she ever been this quiet.
It’s endearing to see her still in her morning grogginess, even if I miss the sound of her voice and her insane rambles.
More than anything, I’m not loving that she’s been having trouble meeting any of our eyes since we got here.
She definitely remembers some things best on the color she turned when she first laid eyes on us. How much though?
She looks too cute, curled up with her burrito to disturb her delicate peace right now.
We’ll get there. For now, we can focus on something else. Someone else.
“Tell us more about your night, Vacation?”
Summer lightly kicks my shoulder from behind. “Abandoning the seasons thing?”
I grin and shrug. She was right, I ran out of options. “Told you I could get creative.” I gesture for her to get on with it. I’m ready for more gossip. She talked the guy up last night only to be alone in her own bed a few hours later.
She rolls her eyes, but throws a look sideways and sees Berlyn staring at her burrito like it has the answers to all her problems. It’s not the burrito but the men who brought her the burrito, she just hasn’t learned that yet.
Seeing Berlyn is okay, she starts updating me on everything after we parted ways.
When we first separated from the rest of the group, I wasn’t sure how things were going to go. It was my job to ensure we had Berlyn to ourselves for at least a little bit.
I never should have worried. It’s become increasingly clear, Summer is rooting for us. Even if it does bring her taste and morals into question.
We may have had a plan last night, but Berlyn’s best friend had one of her own. As soon as Berlyn was out of ear shot, Summer threatened me and my brothers within an inch of our lives. If we ever hurt her.
It was the first threat I’d ever received that I more than welcomed.
She even made me state my intentions and asked questions until she got the confirmation she was searching for.
Berlyn has been reluctant to see it, but her friend has already figured out what my brothers and I are set to do.
After she gave her approval, we had another drink and did a lap.
It was surprisingly easy to talk to her once we started going through her roster.
It was almost fun in a way I don’t know I’ve had before. My whole life has only ever been my brothers and Berlyn. I guess West’s uncle too. He’s like family. Is family, I guess. But we’ve never just shot the shit the way I was doing with Summer.
No one has ever really cared for my advice or input on anything that wasn’t work.
The other guys at the shop think I don’t talk much because I’ve never had much to say to them. Ezra deals with setting up all our jobs, and with clients, I keep it short and professional.
This shit isn’t so bad though. Kind of fun to hear her theorize and talk about these men.
Even though it wasn’t totally horrid, I didn’t want to be apart from Berlyn all night and I had shit to do. A mask to put on, a baby girl to taunt from the shadows, hints to breadcrumb her with. All without Summer catching on or getting too close to Berlyn and freaking her out too early.
Summer made even that easy for me. As soon as she saw her man, she made me promise to take care of Berlyn and was out of there. The rest of the night went even better than our plans. The timing, the moving pieces, handing the mask off, coming back here. Everything.
Too good for Summer—who unknowingly helped make it all possible— to have had anything less than a perfect night.
“You guys don’t have any other hot tattooed bad boy brothers, do you?” she asks, sighing after recounting just how awful the dude was in bed.
A disappointment to mankind honestly.
Even West looks horrified and embarrassed for our entire gender.
“I have an uncle?” West offers and I can’t contain my shock, scoffing in disbelief.
It’s not the first time he’s talked in front of her, but it’s definitely the most insane thing he’s said in front of her. Maybe ever.
Ezra chokes on a bite of his burrito and I don’t know if this feeling washing through both of us is from the fact he spoke. Or if it’s the entire concept and the fact he would even go there. Both.
Most definitely both.
“Oo age gap?” Summer ponders. “I think I can fuck with that. He look anything like you, big guy?”
West turns to me, now panicked. Yeah, didn’t think this through, did you? If you say something insane like that, there are going to be some follow up questions.
“Body? Yes,” I answer for him. “Face? No.” I hum, really thinking about the man who adopted us. He’s also a quiet guy, but not in the same way West is. West has always been soft around the edges. Tender. Cole is anything but. “Personality? Also no.”
Summer studies me, weighing my words. “But is he hot?”
My face scrunches in disgust. “He’s like my uncle. Ew.”
“But, objectively?”
Before I can argue there is no objectivity when it comes to family and reiterate the ew factor, Berlyn’s doorbell rings. I turn to Ezra and arch a brow, but he shrugs.
We did have more plans today than just checking on Berlyn, but whoever is at the door isn’t a part of them.
“B?” I ask, turning to her and chuckling when I find her burrito only half-eaten, still in hand, and now cuddled under her chin. “I think she’s asleep.”
The drugs may have been a questionable choice. Especially with alcohol. We can probably do without those next time. Even if the memories from last night alone are enough to get me hard all over again.
I shake the wayward thoughts off. Not the time, dickhead. “I’ll get it,” I offer, not wanting to wake her.
When I answer the door, I don’t expect it to be the mailman. Maybe it was a part of our plan after all. Don’t think we knew it was going to require a signature. I sign for her and take the box inside the house, almost too giddy to play it cool.
“It was a package,” I explain, lifting the box and looking to Summer on where I should put it. She gestures to the coffee table in front of us.
The commotion seems to wake Berlyn, who nearly drops her burrito in her sleepy confusion, but Ezra catches it and rests it on the table next to the box.
Berlyn sits up straight, yawning. “Sorry, I think I fell asleep,” she apologizes, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She still looks a little paler than her normal coloring. Maybe we should put her back in bed to sleep for a few more hours. She clearly needs it.
“You okay?” Summer asks. Berlyn nods, but none of us really believe her.
Summer gestures to her coffee and Berlyn is quick to cradle it to her, sipping on it like it’s the nectar of life.
Perhaps, in this moment it is. “Was someone at the door?” she asks after a few silent moments of us all watching her happily sipping on her coffee.
Summer points to the box on the table in front of us. “It was a delivery.”
Berlyn blinks rapidly, staring at the box a little too hard. Maybe trying to place what she could have ordered or who could have sent her something. She yawns once more before waving it off. “I’ll open it later.”
Just then, her doorbell echoes through the house once more.
Berlyn groans. “Who in the world could that be, now?”
Once more, my brothers and I trade looks. We hadn’t planned for anything else. Only to give Berlyn her present while we were here and could possibly witness her reaction.
“Want me to get it?” I offer, but she waves me off.
“It’s fine, I’ve got it.” She stretches her arms above her head, reminding me of a cat with the graceful way she moves, before walking towards the door.
We can all see the two men standing in her doorway as soon as she opens the door from where we are. But once we recognize that it’s cops, we all get to our feet and follow behind Berlyn.
I’m almost impressed with them. They tracked Berlyn down much faster than I thought they would.
“Hi, Officers,” she greets, her voice having lost the sleepy quality it only just had. “How can I help you?” There’s a nervous edge to her voice, her hands fidgeting in front of her.
We wanted this conversation to come. Wanted to see what she would tell the officers at this point. But we hoped she would have a little more time to grapple with the events from last night before being confronted with it.
It’s wrong to test a person, but it’s not like we’re big fans of doing the right thing anyways. It feels unfair to Berlyn though. To be pushed so soon. We may not get the results we were hoping for after all.
I won’t hold it against her if she fails this test. We’ll come up with something else. Another chance.