Thirty-Five
Linc
Luther came walking out of the patio door, holding a six-pack in one hand and Maui in the other. I’d left Maui in Jayda’s care while we were gone, but it seemed he had stayed with Luther most of the time.
“Jayda made a grocery run. There will be more stocked in the fridge out here soon,” he said.
“Are they cold?” Mal Bowen asked.
“Did I bring them out here? Of course they’re fucking cold,” Luther replied.
“Then, I want one,” Mal told him, leaning back on the sofa and looking at the television, where ESPN was discussing predicted outcomes for the first game of the NFL preseason.
“Oz has more riding on this game than any previous first season game,” Hale Carver said as he stood up with a cigarette in his mouth to go get a beer instead of asking Luther to give him one.
“Are all the boys watching it over at Locke and Gathe’s place or the Cash hacienda?” Luther asked Mal.
Mal’s two sons, Locke and Gathe, shared a home that had belonged to Their grandfather. The rest of the younger generation lived in a house the Cashes owned. Bane Cash had shared it with his brother, Crosby, who had been shot and killed two years ago. Bane was married now with a baby, and I knew he was looking to get them a place alone. I doubted he’d kick the others out even if he did own it. I had a feeling he was going to build something.
“The hacienda. It’s bigger, and with Oz having to deal with all the betting going on, it’s easier for him to be there,” Mal replied.
“Than’s fucking attached to that kid, man. If Bane up and moves them out, he’s gonna have withdrawals. I sure as hell don’t want him getting locked down with marriage at his age and having babies,” Hale said, opening his beer.
Hale had two sons and a daughter. Ransom was his oldest, and Than was his youngest. The middle child was a girl, Opal, who had gone political in college and was a direct in for us at the White House. She lived in DC and wasn’t around a lot.
Luther laughed as he set Maui down to explore, then lit up a cigarette. “Than’s ass ain’t getting married. You’re safe. The boy is a slut.”
“If it keeps him from doing something stupid, then fine,” Hale replied.
“Speaking of babies,” Mal drawled, looking at me pointedly, “where is yours? All I’ve seen is her dog that Luther seems to have stolen.”
“Taking a nap. I had a new swing set put in while we were in Ocala, and she played on it all morning,” I replied, still not sure if I was ready to navigate Branwen around these two.
They were the only single men over thirty in this branch of the family. Hale’s wife had been dead for fifteen years, and he had no desire to get remarried. He hadn’t wanted to get married the first time, but that was a guilt he lived with now that she was gone. Mal’s marriage had ended much like mine. He was never meant for one woman, but Celeste had walked out on his cheating ass way sooner than Maggie had left me.
Luther took the cigarette from his lips and let out a laugh. “That ain’t a fucking swing set. It’s a damn playground. Fifty kids could play on the motherfucker at one time. Y’all go look at it,” he said, pointing in its direction. “It’s even got a two-story house on it with a kitchen and bedroom.”
Mal grinned and shook his head. “You having a daughter is funny as fuck, and you know it. First dick who breaks her heart for doing the same shit you’ve done to women, you’ll put a bullet in his head.”
I hadn’t thought that far, but, yeah, if someone broke her heart, I couldn’t say he was going to see the next day.
“Just wait until his baby momma struts her hot ass down here. You’ll understand why that accident happened,” Luther told them as he sat down in one of the seats and Maui came hurrying over to him.
Getting pissed off about him talking about her hot ass was not going to help anything. They wouldn’t understand, and then they’d all think this was something that it was not. I had to make sure she didn’t get it in her head that we had some kind of relationship. If she came out here and the men started talking like we did have something, it would give her the wrong idea.
Last night, when we had gotten home, I’d carried Stevie to bed and walked away with a simple, “Good night.”
That had been hard but required. I’d wanted to follow Branwen into her room and fuck her again, but I hadn’t. Because the urge to kiss her on the fucking plane had been like a wake-up call. One I’d needed before I did something stupid. I did not need to kiss her. I knew that was a road that I would not be going down. I didn’t trust myself if I tasted her mouth. Felt her lips move under mine. Fucking was one thing. Kissing was intimate. I’d only kissed one woman since Maggie, and it was Branwen. The night in Vegas. I had vivid memories of it that loved to come back to me in my dreams at night.
“I gotta ask,” Mal said, and I didn’t much care for the grin on his face. “Are you fucking her while you have her under your roof? I mean, I’m assuming you aren’t bringing women here to fuck with the kid here, and you haven’t gone to Glow with us in two weeks. So…”
Gow was the strip club we visited. It was members only with a price on it that made the place elite. I grabbed a beer and stuck a new cigarette in my mouth, then lit up. “We got a kid. That’s it,” I snapped, annoyed.
“She’d so open those sweet legs for him too,” Luther said. “I’m waiting until she gives up on his ass, and then I’m sweet-talking my way between them.”
My hand gripped the bottle as rage rolled through my body. “I’ll put a gun to your goddamn head,” I snarled without thinking about the words.
His eyebrows shot up, and he took a drink from his bottle as he looked at me. “Huh,” he said. “Thought so. Just wanted to hear you say it.”
“Pass me the nachos. I need a snack for this,” Mal said with a smirk.
“What the fuck does that mean?” I scowled at Luther.
He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his legs while Maui placed his paws on his knee, trying to get his attention. “It means you want to fuck her. That she was more than a high, drunken fuck in Vegas. Maybe she’s got a voodoo pussy. I don’t know. But there is more to this shit than you put on. Why?” He pointed his beer at me. “Because you have never ignored a gorgeous female in your goddamn life. You are charming. You work your shit. But this one? You will go out of your way to ignore her. Poor thing stood in the doorway of the kitchen, watching you and Jayda decorating those pancakes for Stevie, looking so dejected. Then, when you realized she was there, you didn’t even acknowledge her. I was ready to fucking cry for her. It was painful to witness.”
He was so full of shit. Half the time, I wondered why the hell I’d agreed to share a house with him.
“What does Jayda have to do with it?” I asked. “And Branwen wasn’t dejected,” I added. I’d seen her. I always saw her, even when I was trying like hell not to see her.
“You and Jayda were all close and touching while you made the face on the pancakes. It looked very intimate.”
“Jayda has a fucking girlfriend! You know she doesn’t want my dick or yours. She likes pussy as much as we do,” I was almost shouting.
He was pissing me off.
“Great. Now, I have a boner,” Mal drawled, taking another drink.
Luther nodded, then put his cigarette back in his mouth. “Yeah, I know that feeling. I worked up the image in my head the other day of Jayda going down on Branwen and had to jerk one off. Jayda walked in on me, and I shot off like a goddamn water hose.”
Mal started coughing as he choked on his beer. “Where were you?” he asked in a strangled voice.
“Great room. Branwen had just been in there, wearing a bikini, and I got carried away with the fantasy.”
Hale cut his eyes to me as my temples started pounding.
When the fuck did this happen?
“Don’t worry,” Luther said, holding out a hand to me, as if to stop me. “Branwen saw that I was gonna pull out my cock and ran out the door like it was a damn anaconda.”
The smack of my beer bottle hitting the table as I climbed over the chair to grab Luther by the collar was followed by an animalistic roar that tore from my chest.
“Shit, Luther,” Hale said as I shoved him against the wall.
“Easy,” Luther said as his eyes fucking danced with amusement. “I didn’t think you wanted her. You gotta tell a brother.”
“I said not to touch her,” I sneered.
“And I didn’t touch her. I touched my cock that she’d made hard.”
I slammed his back against the wall again. “DON’T FUCKING LOOK AT HER!”
He nodded. “Okay. Noted. We will both ignore her, and she can be sad and cry.”
“Jesus, Luther, shut up,” Mal groaned.
The door opened, and I let go of him, turning, afraid it was Stevie or Branwen. Jayda looked at the two of us as she held two cases of beer.
Her eyes narrowed, and then she nodded. “Ah. You told him about jacking off to me going down on Branwen.” She rolled her eyes and muttered, “Dumbass,” then brought the cases over and set them on the bar.
Luther straightened his collar. “I was unaware he’d react so strongly.”
Jayda let out a bark of laughter. “Yeah, right. She’s the mother of his daughter. Don’t share with him when you masturbate to her. But for the record, if I were single and Linc wouldn’t kill me, I would try my hardest to convince her to let me down there. She’s fucking gorgeous. A complete sexpot,” Jayda said, then pointed a sharp nail at me. “Don’t slam me against a wall. I’m just stating something everyone else is thinking.”
“This is so not helping my boner,” Mal said.
Jayda looked over at him and grinned wickedly. “What? The idea of me licking Branwen’s clit until she screams has you hot and bothered?”
“Fuck.”
“Jesus Christ.”
“Jayda!” I snapped as the other men groaned. “Don’t.”
She held up both hands. “Sorry, boss.”
“God, I love having a hot lesbian working here,” Luther said, then took a deep pull from his cigarette.
I was tempted to lock Branwen in her room until they all left, but that would be late tonight, and Stevie would need her. I was going to have to drink more before she showed up out here. The fact that all of them were going to get off to Jayda’s head between her legs the next time they jerked one off made me livid.