9. Silver
9
SILVER
L ucas walks out of my spare bedroom wearing his new light yellow shirt and shorts. He looks like an entirely different man than the one I found on my porch last night. His lips are quirked up into a smile on one side, and his eyes are bright. Even the swelling on his face has gone down, leaving only a light patch of purple on his skin.
“Wow,” I say, openly ogling him. His long legs in contrast with his baby bump are undeniably sexy. I probably shouldn’t be into that, seeing as how I’m not the one who got him pregnant, but here we are.
Lucas bites his lip nervously. “Thank you for the clothes.”
“Of course.” I hook an arm around him and pull him in close, until our lips are only a few inches apart. “Anytime.”
His chin tilts up, as if his mouth is made of magnets and mine are pure metal. I love how easily he melts into me, like Daryl never existed. “How much time do you think we have before your brothers get here?”
I glance at the clock. It’s five minutes to seven. “I don’t know. Fifteen minutes? Quin is coming, so they’ll definitely be late.”
Lucas kisses me. His lips are soft and taste of chocolate. I sink my fingers into his hair, holding him close, and his body sags against mine, surrendering to me completely. I wonder what he would do if I gathered him into my arms and carried him to my bedroom. Would he let me make love to him?
“Ahem.”
I release Lucas and pull away from him to find a very flustered Tin standing in my kitchen. His face is red as a beet.
“Sorry to bother ya’ll,” Tin says. He grasps his cowboy hat and tilts it in Lucas’s direction. “Evening, Lucas. It’s nice to see you again.”
Lucas hugs his body and lowers his head. Shame nearly radiates off his body. “Hi, Tin. That wasn’t what it looked like.”
“I imagine it’s none of my business what it looked like,” Tin says. “Just thought you’d like to know the others are coming.”
Right on cue, Link ambles into the kitchen. He’s wearing the signature ball cap he adopted the moment he was drafted, and therefore, recognizable to most people in Texas. Prior to that, he was only college-football famous, which is still pretty famous around these parts. He wasn’t aware of it, though. At least not as much as he should have been. His agent was the one who insisted he start wearing a hat and more clothing. If Link was left to his own devices, he'd continue to walk around wearing only a pair of jeans, like we did when we were kids.
“Lucas!” Link raises his arms to give Lucas a big hug. I watch Lucas closely, not sure if that kind of affection will still be welcome. But Lucas smiles at him shyly and lets himself be enveloped in my brother’s big arms.
“We missed you so much, man,” Link says, squeezing Lucas with a fervor that concerns me a little bit, considering he’s pregnant.
“Lucas?!” Quin stands in the doorway of the kitchen, his arms full of bread and cookies. “Silver, you should have told us—” He stops when Link steps away from Lucas, revealing his pregnant belly. “Oh my… congratulations!” He smiles wide, his dimples popping. “That’s so exciting!”
Lucas ducks his head bashfully. “Thanks.”
Quin deposits the loaves of bread and bags of cookies on the table and walks over to give Lucas a gentle hug. “It’s been so long. I’ve thought about you a lot, but I wasn’t sure where you ended up. You aren’t on social media anywhere. I checked.” Quin starts rambling about all the social media sites where he searched for Lucas’s name. “Oh my God, I missed you. Losing you was like losing a brother.”
I notice the way Lucas’s eyes well with tears, and how he brushes them away so no one can see.
“I was just, you know, busy,” Lucas stammers.
“How far along are you? Can I ask?” He backs up to eye Lucas’s belly. “I mean, obviously I’m going to ask anyway, because I’m nosy like that. You have the cutest baby bump ever.”
Lucas rubs his belly with his hand. “Thank you. I’m six months along.”
That’s when I notice Coin in the doorway. Unlike Quin, who either didn’t notice the bruise on Lucas’s cheek or chose to ignore it, Coin stares right at it. “Lucas is your houseguest?”
I nod.
“And you couldn’t be bothered to tell us?” he asks.
“Things are a little complicated right now,” I say.
Coin approaches Lucas slowly, reaching up and brushing his thumb just below the bruise on Lucas’s cheek. “Who?”
“No one. Silver’s taking care of me. Don’t worry about it.”
Coin lowers his hand. “Okay. But if you ever need anything…”
“I’ll be fine,” Lucas reassures him.
Coin holds out his arms to Lucas. Not above his head, like Link, but low and hesitant. He’s always been so careful with Lucas, even when we were little kids. It’s Lucas who wraps his arms around Coin first. Coin lets out a breath in relief and holds Lucas tightly in his arms. “Are you okay?” he asks softly.
Lucas nods.
Coin pulls away first. He stands there, his face etched with concern for a full beat. He opens his mouth to say something, then shuts it again.
Since when is Coin speechless about anything?
A loud, familiar giggle comes from the other room.
“Did you bring Chime?” I ask.
Coin rolls his eyes. “He brought everyone, even though I specifically?—”
An enormous, tattooed man walks into the room with Chime sitting atop his shoulders. Slade. Who invited him? Chime is grinning from ear to ear and singing something about a bear in a tree. He smiles back at her and sings along with his deep, booming voice. Quin looks up at them with such adoration, I almost forget that Slade is a murderer and doesn’t deserve my brother.
“You probably remember Slade from high school. He’s my mate now,” Quin says. “I mean, obviously I have a mate now.” He frames his face with his hands, calling attention to his new nose ring and dermal piercings. “That’s why I have all the bling.”
Lucas looks up at Slade, who is admittedly handsome, in a rugged, bad-boy kind of way.
I love the way Lucas smiles, like he couldn’t be happier for my brother. “That’s wonderful.”
“Slade, you remember Lucas, my long-lost brother. Well, technically he’s a wolf shifter, but he’s an honorary member of our family.”
Slade reaches out his arms, with Chime still in tow, and gives Lucas a careful hug.
“And this is our daughter Chime,” Quin says, gesturing to her.
“It’s nice to meet you,” Lucas tells Chime. “Do you like chocolate?”
“Yes!” Chime squeals.
“There are some peanut butter cups on the counter that you could have, if your dads say it’s okay.”
Quin rolls his eyes, but he’s still smiling. “You really are one of my brothers. Within two seconds of meeting my daughter, you’re already spoiling her.”
The inevitable chaos of my family takes over the kitchen. Link opens a loaf of bread and starts eating it out of the bag. Tin goes to get plates and glasses for everyone. Slade and Chime continue singing while he takes her over to the counter to find the chocolate. Sometimes this house feels horribly silent when I’m here by myself, and then my brothers show up, and they remind me of what this house could be if I had a mate and family of my own.
“Do you have cheese?” Link says, biting into two pieces of bread at the same time. “We could make grilled cheese.”
“Of course I have cheese. I always have cheese,” I remind him. I swear he asks every time he comes over. It’s probably because his fridge is always empty.
“Wait, wait. The whole reason we came over here was to have a conversation,” Coin says. “We can’t get distracted with chocolate and cheese.”
Link walks over to the fridge and opens the door. “Then have the conversation already. We’re all here.”
“Should we leave?” Slade asks.
“Yes. This should be a conversation for just the brothers. That can include you, Lucas.”
Quin folds his arms across his chest. “You said earlier that I didn’t need to be here, but now Lucas gets to listen to your secret? How does that make sense?”
Slade carries Chime out of the kitchen and into the living room. They’re still singing that silly bear song. As much as I hate to admit it, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Chime so happy.
“You can stay if you want to,” Coin tells Quin. “But you don’t need to because you already know what I’m going to say.”
Quin narrows his eyes. “What are you talking about?”
The sound of the front door opening and shutting echoes through the house.
“It’s about Slade,” Coin says. “I… sort of bugged his car. Well, my car. I bugged the car that I lent to him.”
“You did what? Are you fucking kidding me?” Quin lifts his chin and glares at Coin.
“I told him about the bug. I was completely transparent from the beginning,” Coin argues.
“Oh, so that makes it okay? Why do you have to be so mean to him? He’s a good guy, Coin. I know you think he’s this monster, but?—”
“You’re right,” Coin interrupts. “That’s what I came here to say. I overheard some things with that bug that changed my mind about him. And I just wanted to say, any reservations we had about him before were wrong. He’s a decent man.”
Everyone is stunned into silence, including me. What did Coin hear that would change his opinion of Slade so drastically?
“Didn’t Slade kill someone?” Tin asks carefully.
Coin opens his mouth to answer, but Quin shakes his head.
“Slade… protected his brother,” Coin finally says. “I think his actions in that particular circumstance were justified, and I don’t think he’s a danger to Quin or Chime. In fact, I think they’re safer living out in the middle of nowhere with him there. He would do anything to protect the people he loves.”
If it was anyone but Coin, I’d be skeptical. But he’s far more paranoid than I am. If he thinks Slade isn’t a danger to Quin, then I believe him.
“What did you overhear, man?” Link asks.
Coin shakes his head. “I can’t share that information with you.” He turns to Quin. “I already deleted the audio files and removed the bug from the car. I swear that I won’t tell a soul what I heard. But I thought our family needed to know that he isn’t dangerous.”
I wish I had overheard whatever was on that audio file. Something juicy, probably.
“If you tell us, we’ll totally keep it a secret,” Link promises.
Coin rolls his eyes. “Absolutely not. You’re shit at keeping secrets. Also, I’m still mad that you brought the taxidermy turkey. That thing is nasty.”
“You brought the turkey?” I ask.
Link grins and bobs his head up and down.
“What turkey?” Lucas asks.
Quin sighs. “Trust me, you don’t want to know.”
But Link is already on his way out the door, probably to go get it.
“It smells like the dumpster he got it from,” Coin says. “We had to suffer the stench all the way here. It was horrible.”
I can’t help but laugh.