Chapter Three
Three
Forge
My laughter felt foreign to my own ears as I lay back in the passenger seat. Turning my head, I looked over at my younger brother, Kash. It was fucking good to have him back home. Even if the circumstances sucked.
“Drink the water,” he told me, not taking his eyes off the road. “I mean, I get it, but Oz will be pissed about it.”
The it he was referring to was my intoxication at three in the afternoon.
I’d left Oz’s office at Carver’s Bootleg Whiskey this morning and ended up at a bar none of us ever go to so I wouldn’t be interrupted.
When I could barely stand up, I knew I couldn’t drive, so I called the one person who wouldn’t fucking bitch at me about it.
He’d shown up, just like I had known he would, and then informed me we’d all been summoned to the house. The one I lived in.
Bane Cash owned it, but several of us lived there. Although not as many as it had been when I moved in.
They were all getting fucking matched up with pussy and getting their own places.
I hated it. I wanted things to go back to the way they had been.
Although I did like Bane’s kid, and his wife, Halo, had made him tolerable.
Oz was better with Winslet too. So, maybe those two should keep their women, but the others had fucked shit up.
Than and Ransom had been just fine before their females. I liked them better single.
Gathe had said I could move in with him and his brother, Locke, seeing as they were still single and the good parties now took place at their house.
Before we’d found out Mom was sick, I’d been planning on making the move.
But now I was staying over at my parents’ house more often, and moving seemed unimportant.
It had fallen on my scale of priorities.
Kash picked up the bottle of water he’d brought with him and handed it to me. “Drink.”
I took it and laughed again. “I’m not scared of Oz,” I said before taking a long pull from the bottle.
“I know. But the less pissed he is, the less annoying it will be.”
Good point.
“Bane’s okay with this then? This chick staying at the house?” I’d have thought Bane wouldn’t want her there because of Halo and Hawkins.
“It’s the safest place other than Linc and Luther’s. There is plenty of room, and with him, Ransom, me, and—most of the time—you there, no one is getting in the gates. Oz is on the property too. None of Telos Kris’s men are that fucking stupid.”
I knew this. I just didn’t get why we were doing it. Mom wouldn’t care about some girl her nephew was attached to. I doubted Oz had even talked to her about it. But Dad would know. He had agreed with Oz if we were going through with it.
“Mom doesn’t need this. Her sister’s shit isn’t hers to worry about.” I was sobering up from anger alone.
“Mom isn’t going to be told about it,” Kash said. “You’re right. She doesn’t need to worry about anyone but herself. We are taking care of it for her. She’d want us to, and you know it.”
Maybe. Probably. Okay, yeah, she fucking would. She loved her sorry-ass sister even though the woman didn’t deserve Mom’s love.
“I’m moving to the Bowens’,” I said, deciding now was the time.
“No, you’re not. It’s part of Linc’s requirements. All three of us stay in the house. The family will protect her, but she’s our responsibility. Not theirs.”
Fuck. I should have moved out months ago.
Kash pulled up to the security gate and tapped in the code. I straightened in my seat as we continued the drive up to the house.
“I’m scared too. I’m angry. I want to be furious with the world. But that isn’t going to help Mom get better. She wants us happy,” Kash told me.
“And we are all doing our damnedest to act like it for her sake. When she’s not around, I can’t keep it up.”
Kash pulled into the parking spot that had become his in the garage. “Don’t take your rage out on Calvin’s friend. She lost both her parents suddenly and violently.”
I reached for the door handle and shoved it open.
I was aware of her situation. I just didn’t care.
She wasn’t mine to worry about. She was a stranger whose father hadn’t done his job and protected his family.
Slamming the door behind me, I stalked toward the house, wanting to get away from my little brother’s lecture.
While I wanted to just go to my room, I knew Oz would be expecting me in the great room.
His truck was parked out front, along with one of the family’s black Escalades.
Which meant that the girl and Calvin had been picked up from the airport and were already here. Might as well get this shit over with.
I stopped in the game room and went over to the liquor cabinet to grab a bottle of whiskey.
“Don’t,” Kash said behind me.
“Didn’t ask permission,” I replied, snatching one of the better bottles from Carver’s distillery.
“Are you trying to cause shit with Bane and Oz?” He sounded annoyed.
Shrugging, I opened the bottle and took a swig before responding. “You numb the pain with Cressida. I numb mine with this,” I replied, holding it up, then continued to the great room.
He muttered a curse behind me, but I kept going, staggering to the left a little, then smirking.
Maybe I was still drunk. I could hear their voices before I entered the room.
Oz’s gaze swung to me the moment I walked in and then to the bottle in my hand.
Although my eyesight wasn’t completely steady, it was clear that he was annoyed.
I chuckled under my breath and made my way toward an open spot on the sofa.
“Forge,” Oz said, and I plopped down, then glanced up at him.
“Yes, Oz?” I asked, grinning as I took another drink.
His jaw was jutted out as he clenched his teeth. He needed to lighten up. I shifted my focus to the guy to his left. It had been years, but I recognized Calvin. He had more of our mother’s features than we did, and that pissed me off. Why? I didn’t know, but it did.
“Long time,” I drawled, sticking the bottle between my thighs and stretching an arm across the back of the seat.
“Yeah, it has been. I appreciate y’all doing this for me,” he replied.
“We’re happy to help,” Kash told him.
I just laughed. Because, no, we fucking weren’t.
“Ignore him. He’s drunk,” Kash informed him, as if that wasn’t obvious.
My gaze moved over the room. I didn’t really care what else was said.
I wasn’t sure I’d remember it anyway. A pair of wide gray eyes stared at me.
I paused momentarily, forgetting that I was pissed and annoyed.
Thick black lashes made them appear almost like a pale silver instead of gray.
There was fear and something else I recognized, but couldn’t place. It was forlorn, lost, dark.
When they blinked, I snapped out of whatever trance I’d been in, and my gaze began to take in the owner of those eyes.
Hair the color of the blackest ink, parted in the middle and hanging in waves over her shoulders.
Skin that reminded me of porcelain yet not as pale in color.
Then, finally, I checked out the lips, and, mother of God, they were a perfect Cupid’s bow, unpainted yet a rosy pink.
There was no way that this was just Calvin’s best friend. That was utter bullshit. A man wasn’t just friends with a woman that looked like that. I hadn’t gotten past her damn face, and I was already imagining bending her over the portion of the sofa she stood behind and fucking her.
I reached for the bottle between my legs as my eyes traveled down what I could see of her body, then muttered a curse as I took a long pull of the whiskey. Big tits. Best friend, my ass.
Tearing my eyes off the girl, I looked back at Calvin, who was watching me with uncertainty.
You brought her here, dipshit. She’s a smoking hot piece of ass. We aren’t blind.
“Best friend, huh?” I asked with a smirk, and his gaze darted to her.
“Forge.” Oz’s tone was a warning, but I did not care. He could suck a dick.
“What?” I asked, grinning at him. “You don’t believe that shit either. Unless our dear cousin is gay.” I looked back at him. “It’s okay if you are. To each his own and all that shit.”
“Jesus Christ,” Kash muttered.
“You can just call me Forge, little brother,” I replied, then looked back at the girl. “Is it a best friends with benefits thing?” I asked her.
The instant reddening of her cheeks made me chuckle.
“Go sleep it off,” Oz barked at me.
I ignored him and winked at her. “I’m just getting to know our new housemate.”
“Forge, Kash,” Winslet said cheerily as she entered the room. “I didn’t know y’all had arrived.” She walked to the large coffee table and put a tray of cookies, muffins, and some slices of lemon cake down. “I just need to go get the plates,” she informed us.
“Why don’t you take Elsie with you?” Oz told her.
Winslet kept her smile, but I could see the question in her eyes as she looked back at my brother.
“He wants to get her away from me,” I drawled, then held up the bottle in my hand. “I’ve been drinking.”
She cut her gaze at me, and then without missing a beat, she looked over at Elsie. The name didn’t fit her. It sounded young and cute. She was more siren-like. I was gonna need to give her a new name.
“I can show you how to use the espresso machine. It’s fabulous once you get the hang of it. That is, if you like coffee,” Winslet told her.
She nodded. “I do.”
Winslet began to chatter on about nothing important as she walked back over toward Elsie. But Elsie wasn’t paying her much attention either. Her gaze was back on me. I puckered my lips at her as if to kiss the air, then took another drink.
This might not be so bad after all. I needed a distraction, and she was proving to be just that.