10. Grey
GREY
“C lean yourself up.” I tossed a rag at Andre’s bruise-mottled face.
I had a lot of anger to work out, and my more sensible side said that taking it out on Amorette and Lafe at the warehouse, or Parker when we got here, wasn’t the best idea. Fucking conscience. I hated it, and I had no idea where the fuck it came from.
“You’re a fucking bastard, you know that?” Andre spit blood on the floor. He must have cut his cheek on his teeth, because I hadn’t hit him that hard.
I smirked. “We’re all bastards. Try to find an insult that actually hurts.” I started working on unwinding the tape from my hands.
“Okay, how about second place? If Amorette liked your dick so much, she wouldn’t have jumped on mine. And she sure as fuck wouldn’t be cuddling up to Lafe right now.” Andre was heated, even after I beat his ass.
“Are you looking for round two? Because that’s what’s about to happen.” Straightening up, I glared at him in the mirror. He wasn’t looking at me, but from the way his shoulders tensed, he was watching and waiting for the attack.
Andre threw the used rag in the hamper on the wall and dropped down into one of the metal chairs. His body slumped as he curled over and held his face in his hands. “How did we get here, Grey?”
“Where’s here?” I asked as I hit most of the lights except one. It was around two in the morning, and a new moon. We'd be fumbling around in the dark as soon as the lights were all out.
He laughed, but the high-pitch was out of place for him. I glanced around to make sure it was really just us.
“Where we are with Vicente. Parker being a rogue idiot only out for his own interests. All of us getting our dicks in a twist over the same girl. Take your pick,” he said through his hands. Then he sat back and leaned against the mirror, scrubbing a hand down his face as he waited expectantly.
Damn. He wanted a conversation.
I glanced at the clock on the wall. I didn’t want a fucking conversation.
I wanted to go steal Amorette away from Lafe and fuck her senseless for scaring me like that.
The sparring with Andre helped, but the restless energy still sifted beneath my skin, and I had a feeling that it wouldn’t go away until I had my dick inside her.
“Parker’s always been like that. If you didn’t see it, then you’re a damned fool.
” I crossed my arms and leaned back on one of the posts around the mat.
He had always been like that, but lately, he’d been singing a different tune.
One where he wanted to share our wicked love.
He could just want a taste, but I wasn’t so sure that was it.
But Andre couldn’t be shocked that Parker got his feelings hurt and lashed out without a thought to anyone else.
“I’m still not convinced Vicente’s out to get us.
He told Lafe he didn’t want to kill him. ”
“But he still put a hit on me.” Andre dropped his hands, and his mouth turned down in a solemn frown.
“He said he did. But you don’t know the orders, and Lafe doesn’t either.”
“Then why do it? Why disrupt the Institution? We run four of his most successful operations. We police the Institution for him. He has my fucking mother under his thumb to make sure I stay in line. Why do any of that fucking shit if he doesn’t want us out?”
I shrugged. “Who the fuck knows?”
“I’m not sorry.”
What? What the hell was he talking about?
“About Amorette. I’m not sorry. She blew in and turned everything on its head. And you’re the asshole who let her get off in my lap. If you cared so much about keeping her to yourself, you never should have let that happen.” He glared at me like this was my fault.
Red tinted the edges of my vision and I pushed away from my post. Maybe my brother did want another ass beating.
“Stop that shit. You know I’m right. If you wanted her so much, why did you let it happen? Why let Parker practically salivate over you two fucking it out?”
I twisted my head to one side and then the other, trying to get a rein on my temper.
Why had I done that? I wasn’t any closer to figuring it out now than I was then.
The only thing I knew was that yes, it fucking bothered me to know that Andre fucked her, but I didn’t have the killing rage I would have when I pictured Anton in his place, or Jorge, or any number of our men.
When I thought about Vicente or Maikel getting their hands on her…
I about blacked out from the violence that assaulted me.
“I’m going to get Amorette.” I started to bolt from the gym. Fuck, I needed to hold her down and blow my load inside her. That was the only thing that would calm my nerves enough to do any fucking thing else.
For the last day, I thought about the hotel or Amorette.
Back and forth with no relief in sight. If I could have gone without Andre trying to kill me, I’d have left for the hotel once Lafe took Amorette to watch a movie.
But I’d talked to my guys, and there was nothing I could do.
They were rebuilding and didn’t fucking need me, as much as it stung. So I wouldn’t be stupid.
Andre jumped in front of me, pressing a hand to my chest as he searched for any sign of my thoughts on my face. “What will you do if you go in there and Lafe is fucking her brains out?”
Baring my teeth, I snarled my displeasure.
Shaking his head, Andre pressed harder against my chest. “I don’t fucking understand you. You let Lafe cart her away!”
I shoved him back, but I didn’t have anything to say. I would lose my mind if I walked into Lafe balls-deep in Amorette. But it would be short-lived. Like Andre, I was angry at first. Fucking furious. Then I calmed down just in time to learn Lafe had taken off.
“I don’t know, either,” I finally responded. My breathing was elevated and I wasn’t even sure why.
“You’re attached,” Andre answered for me, his brown eyes burning.
“Admit it. You’re fucking attached. And you’ve never, not once in your life, felt like this for a woman.
I can tell you I’m attached. Maybe not as much, but just the in little time I’ve been around her…
” He sucked in a deep breath and dropped his gaze.
Then he glanced back up. “I’m attached. Is that a problem for you? ”
It was. But it wasn’t.
Parker had made a good point. Our wicked little love was a hellcat.
She dove headfirst into things without thinking them through.
I couldn’t protect her on my own. No matter how hard I tried, I needed help because she was so fucking stubborn.
If my brothers were attached, they’d watch her just as closely as I did.
“If it comes to saving Amorette or Lafe, who will you choose?” I returned the inquisition back to him. He didn’t get to push the heat on me without getting a little bit in return.
He looked between my eyes and placed both hands on my shoulders. Then he released a shaky breath. “I don’t fucking know. Before…” his face contorted. “I would have slit her throat myself. I can’t now. I don’t know who I’d save, but I think I’d try to save them both.”
Silence fell between us.
“I also think…I think Lafe’s more attached than you realize. When have you ever seen him with a woman?”
“Never.” I didn’t have to think about it at all.
“And she shows him affection. He returns it awkwardly, but he returns it.” He huffed out a short laugh, and I smiled.
“After I placed him in a position to kill that girl, he’s never been the same.
That’s my fault. I know it, but him hating me was better than him dead.
That’s what would have happened. We didn’t know enough back then, weren’t strong enough. ”
“You don’t have to convince me. I’m aware.”
He nodded like he wasn’t sure he believed me. “He was damaged, and it’s my fault, but I couldn’t let him die.”
I squeezed his shoulder in agreement. None of us except for Lafe had ever blamed Andre for that. He made a split-second decision to save Lafe in the only way he knew how. By throwing the girl to the wolves. He wouldn’t have known Vicente would make Lafe kill her.
“He saw something in Amorette. Something he needed enough to place his throat and ours on the chopping block. He needs her. I couldn’t take him away from her now if I wanted to.” Then he glared at me. “If he wants her, you need to let him have her.”
My entire body locked up. Every cell screamed she was mine. I still let her ride Andre in the plane and allowed Parker to get close enough to salivate over her delicious tiny body.
“I never said I wouldn’t.” I tried to be affronted, even though it came out strained.
“Then we’re agreed? She’s ours?” He tightened his hold so hard, he’d leave bruises on my shoulders. I guess that was his payback since I destroyed his face.
“Yours, mine, Lafe’s, and Parker’s.” His lips thinned and his eyes flashed on Parker’s name, but he didn’t correct me. “No one else’s. I’ll rip the spine from any other man—or woman—” I added, thinking of Mia, “who touches her.”
“Good.” He stepped back and let me go.
Andre didn’t stop me this time when I left the gym. He’d close up. By the time I reached the hall to our apartments and the movie room, I was jogging. Every pound of my foot against the ground brought me closer to Wicked Love. I needed her in my arms like I needed to breathe.
And I’d been blocked one time after another since we reached the warehouse. But not anymore. I was stealing her, and she would be mine for the rest of the night. I’d already let Lafe keep her too long.
The door to the movie room was closed, and the well-oiled hinges didn’t make a sound as I slipped in. This door was smashed, but someone had fixed it recently. Probably Andre called someone in.
The volume was turned low and the light illuminated every detail of my brother and lover. I crept closer.
They shared the couch in the middle, with Lafe sprawled across it and his head propped up on the arm. Amorette was snuggled on his chest, her head tucked under his chin, and his arms were locked around her like he feared she’d leave him in his sleep.
I sighed and got down on my knees next to them.
Lafe’s brow furrowed like he knew someone was close, except he was too exhausted to wake up all the way.
Likely the effects of the pills if he took them.
They made a pretty picture. Of the four of us, Lafe was probably the most conventionally handsome with his blond hair and blue eyes.
Matched with Amorette’s fairy-like features, they almost hurt to look at.
The edginess I’d been fighting drained away as I watched them sleep. I moved to a more comfortable position and sat on my ass.
He really did need her. And I was the asshole that fucked her right from under him. If given the chance, he would have worked through his own shit. Maybe.
But like Andre, I wasn’t sorry. She was mine, but a part of her was Lafe’s too, damn it.
For the rest of the night, I sat there and guarded them. Amorette was right. We were shit brothers to Lafe; I just wasn’t sure we could be anything else. This was who we were.
Still, for Lafe and Amorette, I’d be willing to try.
We just had to take care of Vicente first.