Chapter 24
24
MAVERICK
I grip the steering wheel tightly, frustration coursing through my veins. I've been looking forward to this date all week, and now my fucking brothers have derailed it. I glance over at Cady in the passenger seat, and damn, she looks stunning. Every minute I spend with her, I want her more. It's taking all my willpower not to pull over and show her just how much.
"What did your brothers do?" Cady asks, her voice laced with curiosity.
I let out a sigh. "Honestly, I don't know. They didn't tell me. Knowing them, it's probably something stupid. Apparently, both Kade and Declan are in jail."
She raises an eyebrow. "Does this happen often?"
I nod, changing lanes. "More than you'd think. It's why I have a hard time turning off my phone. These kinds of calls aren't exactly unusual."
"Right. Because you like to help," she remarks.
"Yes, but also, I'm a lawyer. When they get arrested, they should call me." I pause, shaking my head. "It happens a few times a year."
Cady leans in, intrigued. "What kind of things do they get up to? Anything serious?"
Chuckling, because as pissed as I am it's still funny as hell, I tell her about some of the ridiculous shit they've pulled. "One time, Kade got arrested for trying to drive Colton's yellow Hummer backwards through a drive thru. He knocked over the board and then dragged the damn thing in circles around the parking lot to another drive-thru, where he successfully ordered himself a burger.
"Another time, Declan hacked into a billboard and changed it to display a giant middle finger. I hadn’t even finished my degree for that one. Then there's the time Jonas got into an argument with his science teacher about some chemical compound, and made a bomb in the middle of class. Holy fuck, that one could have gone badly, except the whole class backed him up. They all hated that teacher and they said the teacher egged him into it."
Cady tries to control her laughter at first, but as I keep going, the sheer absurdity of it all breaks her. Soon, she's belly laughing, and I can't help but join in.
As I pull up to the police station, the one closest to our apartment building, I'm still grinning like an idiot. We head inside, and I ask for my brothers. The older cop, who knows me all too well, just rolls his eyes. "We moved them out of holding and into an interrogation room. They were causing shit down there."
"Oh God. What this time? Was it the toilet again? Was it burritos again?"
The cop groans and scrubs his hand over his face. "Not, the way you mean, thank fuck. They were getting everyone to sing 'Bad Boys' in fucking twenty-part harmony. Fucking listening to cats mating would be easier on the ears."
Cadence chokes and covers her mouth with both hands. The cop smiles just the smallest bit, then clears his throat and leads us to the interrogation room. He pushes the door open. "Your lawyer's here, dumbfucks." Then lower, “Nice to see you again Cadence.” She murmurs something back.
I'm about to ask how they know each other, but then I get a good look at my brothers. "Aw fuck you guys. What the hell did you do this time?"
Cadence isn't even trying to hide her laughter. She's snorting with it, leaning against the wall. I turn on the cop again. "You said it wasn't burritos."
"I don't think they managed to eat any."
"No," Declan says mournfully. "We didn't."
Looking between Kade and Declan, I groan and ask the question I know I'm not going to like the answer to. "Can you tell me why you guys are covered in refried beans and smell like smoke?"
I pinch the bridge of my nose, trying to stave off the impending headache. Declan and Kade trade glances, then start trying to explain themselves. "See, what happened was..." Kade begins, his voice trailing off as he searches for the right words.
"Um, well, it was an accident," Declan interjects, his eyes wide and innocent. "A delicious, bean-filled accident."
I'm trying to keep my cool, but inside, I'm starting to see the humor in the situation, especially when a gob of cheese and beans falls from Kade's hair onto the table with a plop. I nearly lose it when Kade looks down at it and slowly leans toward the table as if he's about to eat it.
"Don't you fucking think about it," I snap in my best annoyed big brother voice.
Kade sighs and leans back in his chair, a look of pure disappointment on his face. "But I'm so hungry," he whines. All six-plus feet of him slumps over in the chair
Finally, they get the whole story out. "Cara and Becca are at the Dojo, and we were hungry," Kade explains, as if that justifies the entire situation.
"In a burrito mood," Declan adds, nodding sagely. "A deep, soul-consuming burrito mood."
"Big fucking surprise," I mutter, rolling my eyes.
"So we went to the corner store. The good one, with all the slushie machines. And we scooped out a bunch of burritos from the freezer, but we couldn't decide who got to warm theirs up first, so we decided to put them all in at once," Kade continues, gesturing wildly with his hands.
"How many?" I ask, dreading the answer.
Kade and Declan look at each other, then shrug in unison. "I don't know, man. It was like a burrito party in there," Kade says, a hint of pride in his voice.
I sigh and drop into a chair, the weight of their stupidity pressing down on me.
"Then what happened?"
"Well, we figured it would take a while, cause there were so many, so we set it for twenty minutes. Then we got some slurpees and waited next to the microwave, you know, just talking, mind our own business," Kade explains.
"Then some kids came in and were shit-talking us, so that took some time. We had to put them in their place, obviously," Declan adds, puffing out his chest.
"Then next thing you know, Boom! Burritos everywhere. That shit burns," Kade says, wincing at the memory.
"I don't really understand why it blew up. It was just burritos," Kade says, looking pitiful. "I mean, I thought burritos were our friends, man. They betrayed us." Declan nods solemnly.
Cadence lays her head against the wall, snorting with laughter. And I have to dig my fingernails into my palms to keep the fucking giggles at bay. My brothers are complete children, but at heart, I am too. And they look so pathetic, the both of them, a mixture of red patches from cheese burns, and burrito filling splattered all over them.
The door opens, and a plainclothes cop walks in. His nose wrinkles, and he shakes his head at my brothers before extending his hand to me. "Maverick."
I shake it, giving him an apologetic smile. "Thomas. I'm sorry to see you again like this." Detective Thomas Hilliard is one of the good guys. And pretty fucking patient. Maybe that’s why he always ends up being the one to handle our shit. I sometimes wonder if they don’t rock paper scissors it out, the loser has to deal with us. Either way, he’s not an asshole, and that’s saying a lot.
He grunts and drops the file he's holding on the table. "Yeah, well I hadn't seen you in a while. Figured you boys were due. But this?" He eyes Declan and Kade, grimacing. "This is a little much. It smells like the shitter in a Mexican restaurant in here."
Cadence wheezes behind me. Thomas shifts to look at her, and grins as we watch her slide down the wall into a slumped, laughing heap on the floor. "I see you brought a friend?"
Something in me rises up, something instinctive. I shift until I'm blocking his view. "We were on a date when dumb and dumbest called. And I'd love to get back to it. So what are we looking at?"
Thomas flips open the file, and I can see the charges listed. Criminal mischief, destruction of property, and disturbing the peace. Fuck. This is going to be a headache.
"The owner's pretty pissed, boys," Thomas says, looking between Kade and Declan. "She's talking about banning you from the store."
"What? No!" Kade protests, his eyes wide with horror. "That's the closest convenience store! They have the best selection of snacks!"
Declan nods vigorously in agreement. "Slushies! We can't lose our snack hookup."
Thomas levels them with a stare that could melt steel. "The poor woman is still trying to scrub burnt cheese off her ceiling."
Kade and Declan shut up real quick at that. I sigh, rubbing my temples. We need to fix this, and fast. I can't have my brothers getting charged with this shit.
"Look, Thomas," I say, leaning forward. "Let's work something out. No need to bring charges, right? Kade and Declan will personally help get the place cleaned up."
Thomas raises an eyebrow, and I can see the skepticism written all over his face. "You think these two can handle that?"
I glance at my brothers, who are looking at me with a mixture of hope and apprehension. "Well, maybe not as good as a professional crew. But we're happy to pay for the cleaning. We'll replace the microwave too, and cover her lost revenue while she's closed for clean up."
Thomas considers this for a moment, then nods slowly. "That might work. I'll have to run it by her, but if she agrees, we can probably avoid charges."
Relief washes over me. "Great. Let's do that."
I turn to Kade and Declan, fixing them with a stern look. "You two are going to apologize to that woman. Profusely. And then you're going to do whatever the hell she needs to get her store back in order. Got it?"
They nod, looking properly chastised. "Got it," they mumble in unison.
I turn back to Thomas. "So, can we take them home now? I promise, they'll be on their best behavior."
Thomas sighs, then nods. "Yeah, alright. But if they step one toe out of line, it's back here and I will file charges. Understood?"
"Understood," I say, shaking his hand. "Thanks, Thomas. I owe you one."
He grunts, then gestures for us to get out. I help Cadence up from the floor, where she's still trying to catch her breath from laughing so hard. As we walk out, I can hear Kade and Declan whispering behind us.
"Dude, we almost lost our snack spot," Kade hisses.
"I know, man. That was close," Declan replies.
I roll my eyes, but I can't help the small smile that tugs at my lips. My brothers are idiots, but they're my idiots. And I'll always have their backs, no matter how much tomfuckery they get into.
Kade and Declan wave to a bunch of cops as they leave, and get a variety of waves, middle fingers, and glares as they walk out. The cops are annoyed they have to waste time on shit like this, and I get it. Unfortunately, Hilliard wasn't wrong. Like fucking clockwork, every month, one or more of my brothers end up in here for something stupid.
I hold the door open for Cady as she settles into the passenger seat, still snickering at the way my brothers had to wedge their bean-covered asses into the back of my car. Even with the unexpected detour, she seems to be enjoying herself. Maybe this night isn't a total loss after all.
As I start the car, I glance over at her. I don't want this night to end. "I'll drop these guys at home, then you and I could continue our date, if you're still up for it."
Before Cady can respond, Kade and Declan start whining in the backseat like a couple of overgrown toddlers.
"But we're hungry, Mav!" Kade complains, his voice taking on a wheedling tone.
"Yeah, man. We never got our burritos," Declan chimes in, sounding equally pitiful.
I roll my eyes, glaring at them in the rearview mirror. "You two just got out of jail for blowing up a microwave with frozen burritos. I think you've had enough food-related excitement for one night. You're going to be cleaning out burrito from the back of my car for the rest of the night."
"I can't work on an empty stomach," Kade says with a heavy sigh.
"I think my blood sugar is low. See, my hand is shaking," Declan says, shoving his hand over the seat and as close to my face as he can. And of course, there's a very dramatic, very deliberate shaking happening.
"You know, I'm a little hungry too," Cadence says, falling for their drama. "I wouldn't mind going through a drive-thru."
Kade and Declan erupt into cheers from the backseat, their earlier complaints forgotten in the face of potential fast food. I look at Cady, raising an eyebrow. "You sure about this? You're enabling their bad behavior, you know. Look at them. They're not going to starve."
She shrugs, still grinning. "I didn't get to finish my pasta. I could use a burger."
"You hear that?" I ask my brothers. "I will take you through the drive thru, because Cadence is hungry. That's the only reason. Neither one of you deserve a treat after the shit you pulled tonight.
"The microwave was faulty," Declan mutters. "Maybe you can sue the company."
I shoot him the middle finger, and turn right into the parking lot of a fast food place. Kade and Declan start chanting "Burgers! Burgers!" like a couple of frat boys at a tailgate. I shoot them another glare in the mirror, but it's half-hearted at best. Cady's laughter fills the car. Head tossed back, eyes closed, belly laughs pouring from her lips, she's stunning.
We pull up to the drive-thru, and my brothers lean over the seat, the smell of old beans wafting ahead of them. They both start talking at once, giving me their orders. I'm prepared for it though, thanks to decades together. I already know their go to orders. Twisting in my seat, I use one hand to shove them back. "Cadence, what would you like?"
Still grinning, she gives me her order, and in a matter of minutes we're parked in the parking lot, diving into bags.
"You know, when I agreed to go out with you, I didn't expect the night to end up here. You're an interesting date," she says.
"It wasn't part of my plan either. Thanks for sticking it out. I wouldn't have blamed you for bailing. We're a lot, even on our best behavior. You add in food, and shit goes sideways sometimes."
She squeezes my hand, her smile softening. "I've been around you guys for a while now, so I'm kind of getting that. But I kind of like it. You guys aren't stuck up. You don't pretend to be anything other than what you are."
Something warm blooms in my chest at her words. Isn't that what everyone hopes for? Someone that likes you, burrito-covered brothers and all?
"Hey, I recognize this place," Kade says happily from the backseat, his words slightly muffled thanks to the giant wad of food he's chewing. "Did you know you can drive a Hummer backward through that drive-thru?"