4. Brynlee
Congratulations! You’ve successfully made it to the end of June.
Welcome to the next level of Jumanji.
—Brynlee’s Secret Thoughts
Ibegrudgingly let Maddox and Callen convince me to pick up cinnamon rolls from our favorite beach town bakery later that morning. Sugar and coffee is the easiest way to the twins’ hearts, and I’m about to tell Everly and Gracie that Gracie and I are swapping condos with Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Whore, so I need all the help I can get.
I walk ahead of Callen and Maddox, pissed at them.
Pissed at myself.
Pissed at my mom.
Basically, pissed at the world.
It’s too early to be this angry.
At least until Everly’s husband, Cross, opens the door, and their one-year-old son, Jax, runs between his legs, playing peek-a-boo. An utterly exhausted-looking Cross scoops him up and pushes the door wide open as he groans, “Hey, Brynn. They’re on the back deck.”
I lean over and kiss Jax on the cheek, then walk through the house, dodging big, fat, neon Legos meant to do severe damage to bare feet and slightly slutty-looking dolls that remind me of a few too many nights in college spent doing things I may be less than proud of but luckily don’t completely remember.
It’s official. I’d say I should go back to bed, but that would imply I’d been there already today, and that hasn’t happened yet. Fuck. It’s going to be a long, damn day.
Gracie and Everly both look up in sync with their nearly identical faces as I drop the sweets on the table.
Everly cocks a brow in question as Gracie very carefully lifts the blue bakery box lid, then looks at me. “What did you do that you’re bribing me with sweets, Brynnie?”
What did I do? I should tell her I made a deal with the devil, but I may be questioning whether said devil is my mother or my cousin.
Fucking Maddox.
“So?.?.?.” I pull out a chair and sit down, pulling a knee up to my chest and wrapping an arm around my bare leg after I adjust my shorts.
Apparently, I take too long to answer, though, because Maddox and Callen have joined me outside, and Satan opens his big, fat mouth first. “Listen.” He grabs a cinnamon roll and takes a bite. I love my cousin. Really, I do. But in this moment, I may be wishing for him to choke... just a tiny bit. “Callen and I are going to swap condos with Brynn. She doesn’t need all that space anymore, but we could use it. So you’ll be moving into our condo.” He takes another bite and then turns his traitorous grin on me. “See? Wasn’t that hard.”
“I’m getting coffee,” Callen grumbles, getting the hell out of the line of fire, and Everly laughs while I contemplate both their deaths.
Okay, maybe not deaths, but I could go for a good maiming.
I think that’s called for.
“It’s decaf?.?.?.” Everly calls after him in a melodic voice that’s way too chipper for this early.
“Fuck,” he mutters as he disappears into the kitchen, and Maddox takes the small distraction as an opening and sits down in the seat next to me.
My eye twitches while I try to fight the urge to stab him with the plastic fork he’s using to eat the cinnamon roll I paid for.
Meanwhile, Gracie is staring at me like I’ve lost my mind. Which might not be too far off at this point. “Did you just Friends us?” she finally asks, much calmer than I deserve for her to be, but that’s Gracie. Always the calm one. Always the peacemaker and people pleaser. I’m not even sure if she’s asking me or Maddox, but neither of us deserves her calm right now. “Because there’s no way you’d give up that condo for theirs. Is there?”
“Don’t ask,” I murmur as I stuff an entire pastry in my mouth, then shove one her way. “Try them,” I tell her around a mouth full of food. “They’re good.”
Everly laughs so hard, I think Gracie might actually kick her leg under the table to shut her up, but Everly doesn’t care. “Dude. You’re going to be sleeping where so many women have slept before. I hope you clean that place with bleach before you touch any surfaces. Seriously, girls. Beware of STDs. I bet some of them are even airborne.”
I turn my head slowly to my cousin with an uncontrollable twitch in my eye and hiss, “I fucking hate you.”
Maddox just grins, baring his teeth like the psycho he likes to pretend he is, and after this, I’m inclined to believe him.
“Honest to God, one of you had better tell me what I missed,” Gracie tries to demand, but it falls on deaf ears when we both ignore her.
Everly picks up Gracie’s phone with a little too much glee, and Grace finally glares. “What the hell are you doing?”
“Door Dashing bleach to your new condo. You’re gonna need a lot of it.”
“Time to wake up, Brynn.”
My eyes fly open, startled by Callen’s voice, and I look around to get my bearings. “Sorry,” I mumble when I realize I’m in his Escalade in the parking garage under our condos back in Kroydon Hills. I’d caught a ride down to the beach with Maddox, but there was no way in hell I was riding back home with him. Leaving Callen as the lesser of two evils. At least for today.
He and I have always been close. Hell, at one point I thought maybe it could have been more. But Callen spent most of college with his high school sweetheart, and once they broke up during his senior year, he’s spent time with every other woman who’s smiled at him since. I guess it’s safe to say I got over any thought of an us because we’re way better as friends than we would have been as anything else.
“I hadn’t realized I fell asleep,” I manage to say around a yawn.
“You passed out as soon as we got on the AC Expressway. Late night last night?”
I close my eyes and picture the sunrise, trying to get back some of that peace from this morning. Only instead of picturing the sun, an image of a handsome man with piercing blue eyes fills my memory and warms my cheeks. “Something like that.”
We get out of the SUV, and he grabs my bag and his. Callen might be one of the biggest manwhores I know, but he’s always been a gentleman... At least where I’m concerned. Not sure many women would say the same.
“You’re really not gonna tell me why we’re swapping condos?” he pushes, having asked the same question a handful of times already.
I glance over at Maddox’s still-empty parking spot and get ragey again. “Ask your roommate.”
I’m not ready to talk about this.
Not with him.
Not with anyone.
I’m not even sure I’m ready to talk to my mom, and I know that needs to happen sooner rather than later. She isn’t one to ever accept being ignored. Not from her children. Not from anyone. My family might be full of kings, but she’s the queen we all bow down to.
“Whatever.” Callen chuckles half-heartedly as he nudges me to walk ahead of him. “Your loss is my gain.”
Yeah, I guess it is.
Maddox wasn’t wrong this morning. The penthouse is too big for just me. There used to be five of us rooming together. And as of a few weeks ago, it’s just me now. Gracie’s here for the summer, but she’s going back to London after we get her rehabbed. Maybe I just need to put a positive spin on this. Maybe... it was meant to be.
Whatever.
There aren’t enough cinnamon rolls in the world to help convince myself of that bullshit today. Maybe I’ll try again tomorrow.
We stop at the coffee shop on the first floor of our building, and I try to prepare myself for the rest of this shit show of a day. Two large coffees, one bacon, egg, and cheese bagel for Callen, and a banana for me later, and the two of us head upstairs.
Might as well get this over with.
“You really not going to talk to me?” Maddox grabs my elbow as I walk past him with my last armful of clothes dangling from velvet hangers. A girl’s got to have some vices, and one of the very few I have is designer clothes. It just happens to be a very expensive vice.
We’ve been at this swap for hours, and as I’ve packed things up, it’s become even more obvious that I really didn’t need this much space. Not anymore.
But still . . .
Knowing the place was too big and knowing I lost it in a bet are two totally different beasts. Kinda like my cousin. And I’m not happy with either thought at this particular moment.
I lock my eyes on Maddox, glaring daggers, then slowly drag them between the two of us, down to where his hand holds my elbow, silently demanding him to let go and feeling immensely proud of myself for not stomping on his foot like I desperately want to do. Mentally, I may revert back to a five-year-old, but physically, I stand my ground, refusing to give him any ammunition.
“You’re going to have to talk to me at some point, Brynnie.”
“Do. Not. Brynnie me.” Fury runs rampant through my veins.
I don’t know who I’m more angry with. Him, my mom, or myself.
He presses his palm flat against the wall, blocking my path. “I won the bet, fair and square. What do you want from me?”
I lose the internal battle and throw an elbow into his side, then walk by. “I wanted you to tell me what you knew when you found out and not have used it against me in a bet. That was a shitty thing to do, Madman.”
“Brynn . . .”
I walk away, leaving him behind.
I’ll get over this. He and I have made a million bets in our lifetime.
But I sure as hell won’t be getting over it today.
My family owns this building, and half my cousins and I moved in once we moved out of our parents’ houses. So between my family and the twins’ family all helping, we get everything moved pretty quickly.
As quickly as you can pack up an entire penthouse.
But they’re all giving me a pretty wide birth.
No one ever said the Kingstons were stupid.
And anyone who’s ever met my mother’s generation should watch out. Because my cousins and I, the second generation of Kingstons, are even closer than the first. We put our parents to shame. That’s probably the only reason I haven’t already castrated Maddox.
Stupid family loyalty.
Grace has been quiet throughout the day. She knows I’m hiding something, but she won’t push it. I’m pretty sure she’s hiding something too, so I’m just going to go with it.
Hours later, once it’s just Gracie and me in the guys’ old condo, which I still refuse to call our new condo, I decide rage-cleaning may be the best way to channel my anger. It’s either that or going to Crucible, Dad’s gym, to sweat it out, and cleaning feels more productive.
“You’re really not going to spill the beans?” Grace asks from the other side of the modern kitchen that looks like it’s barely been used for anything other than takeout in the years since the guys moved in.
“Listen,” I stop her as I yank my green and pink rubber gloves up to my elbows and dump out the cleaning supplies on the shiny black granite counter. It’s masculine and cold and not at all like the pretty white and gray marble we’d picked out for the penthouse years ago. Stupid counter. “It doesn’t matter. What matters now is that this is the new condo, and I’m so excited you’re here with me for the summer, Grace. Now grab a pair of gloves and get cleaning. This place smells like Callen’s dirty gym socks.”
I was always the neat freak out of the five of us. I like to keep my life organized, and if my house is unorganized, my life feels chaotic. And I hate chaos.
Once she realizes I’m not kidding, Gracie pulls on a pair of purple gloves with a satisfying snap. “Whatever you say, crazy lady.”
I’m not being fair to her, and I know it.
Damn it.
Being mean to Grace is like kicking the cutest puppy dog ever.
And I can’t do it.
“Listen, it just made sense. That’s all. You’re only staying a few weeks, and I don’t need a five-bedroom condo all to myself. You’ve all moved out and moved on, and I’m the only one left here. So please help me make this place livable.”
I pass her a bucket filled with bathroom cleaning supplies and smile when she groans.
“Seriously?” she basically whines. “Can’t we hire someone to do this?”
I spray the granite countertop, then look up at her and snap a little. “Sure, we can hire someone. And while we’re waiting for them to get here, you can tell me what the hell is going on with you and the god of war because we haven’t had five minutes alone to talk since you got back. And you better believe I didn’t miss the fact that you two showed up together.”
Gracie showed up at Everly’s beach house, having flown home from London with Everly’s brother-in-law, Ares. And the tension coming off them in waves was enough to light up the entire city.
Grace blushes, totally busted but unwilling to have this conversation, which is perfectly fine with me. “Fine. I’ll scrub the damn bathroom.”
“Bathrooms, Grace.” I wait with both brows raised, then smile. “There’s two of them.”
“I hate you,” she grumbles as she walks away.
“We’re still going to talk about it, good twin,” I call after her, because while I might be in no shape to have this conversation right now, we’re going to have this conversation at some point. I might have had a shit day, but Gracie and Everly have been two of my best friends since I was three years old. And there’s definitely something going on with good twin that she’s hiding.
By the time I’ve got the kitchen clean enough that I’m not afraid to put my dishes into the cabinets, my arms hurt from exertion, but it’s a good kind of pain. At least that’s what I’m telling myself as I stand back and appreciate the shine of the streak-free stainless-steel appliances.
Grace
You are disgusting.
Everly
You’re going to need to be more specific, Gracie.
Kenzie
Ohh . . . Who’s disgusting?
Grace
Oops. I sent this to the wrong chat. Hold please.
Okay, Callen and Maddox have now been added to the chat.
Lindy
Dude. Make sure you remove their asses after this. I don’t want to talk about sucking my husband’s dick with the guys on the text.
Maddox
WTF? I don’t want to know that shit.
Callen
Sweet. Let’s hear it.
Everly
What is wrong with you?
Callen
I’m not related to her and she’s HOT AF. Come on, Lindy. Let’s hear it.
Lindy
Is this why they’re disgusting?
Maddox
Whose disgusting?
Grace
You! When was the last time you assholes cleaned?
Brynlee
Better question - Why don’t you have a cleaning lady?
Kenzie
Wait... I know the answer. Callen fucked her, then called her the wrong name.
Everly
OMG. Seriously? Your balls are going to shrivel up from some dirty disease, Callen.
Callen
I wrap it up every single time. Thank you very much.
Grace
And that’s why you’re gross. I found your condoms.
Callen
Safe sex, good twin. You should try it.
Grace
THEY WERE USED!
Everly
OMG.
Lindy
Shame on your house!
Kenzie
... I just threw up in my mouth.
Callen
But did you swallow?
Kenzie
I fucking hate you.
Maddox
You’re a doctor. You’ve seen worse.
Brynlee
I hate you too.
Callen Did you happen to find any unused condoms, Grace? I was looking for my box while we were unpacking.
Callen has been removed from the conversation.
Lindy
Get rid of Maddox too.
Maddox has been removed from the conversation.
Everly
Good. Never let them in our sacred space again.
Brynlee
Okay, Mother Earth.