With a roar, she charged him, knife pointed directly at his chest.
He kicked it out of her hands, and then they were on the floor grappling.
Ash and I peered over the table as she elbowed Junior in the face. He bested her with a sucker punch to the gut, sending her sailing backward.
She was on her feet again.
Bleeding from her lip.
“Winner!” Ash yelled.
She still wasn’t done, though. She bared her teeth at Junior and then flashed him what looked like a pink lacy bra.
His eyes immediately dropped.
And then so did he.
“Son of a bitch, Serena!” Junior cupped his balls. “Are you kidding me right now?”
“Ha-ha,” She swiped the blood from her lip. “Oh, and PS I’m buying you an apron for Christmas now instead of that Rolex. You’re welcome.”
“Crawl, man.” I shook my head. “Just crawl right back to her, say you’re sorry, and give her a pony.”
Ash chuckled into his bottled water as Junior did just that, and then the kitchen was silent.
When they came back about a half-hour later, he had lipstick on his neck, and she was flushed.
“You got a little something.” I pointed to his everything. “Like everywhere, and probably places I don’t even want to know.”
“She likes marking her territory with bright things.” He winked.
Ash stood. “Yup, could have gone my whole life without that mental picture. Thank you for officially ruining red lipstick for me, man. Really, I appreciate it.”
“Anytime.” Junior shrugged, and then his eyes fell to me. “You said you needed a minute. It’s been nearly forty-five. Is this conversation private, or—”
“Kind of, yeah, it’s personal. Let’s go out on the balcony, it’s a nice day.”
“I’ll bring you guys a pot of coffee,” Serena said cheerfully, earning a weird glance from Junior. “What? I just don’t like being told what to do.”
Junior wiped down his face with his hands.
Ash snorted. “Don’t look so grumpy. You at least get sex out of this… with my cousin.” And then, as if remembering his gaze shot to mine. “And you with my sister.”
“Really, really not ever letting it go, are you?” I groaned.
“Never. It’s going to be on my gravestone.” He grinned.
“That’s… weird.” I pointed to the sliding glass doors. “Let’s go, I’ve got an appointment.”
Once we were nearly outside, Ash looked over his shoulder. “Should I be concerned that Maksim and Izzy haven’t even looked up from his phone?”
He glanced ahead again just as Maksim grabbed her hand and kissed her fingertips.
Junior and I both shared a look, then we both spoke at once.
“Nah man, he’s harmless.”
“Total science nerd, probably can’t even you, know… sex.”
I mouthed “sex?” at him.
Junior winced
Ash visibly relaxed. “Good, because I don’t want to kill one of her best friends. He’s the only one who will help her with her science homework.”
“That would be because he’s a genius.” Everything that seemed hard in school for any of us was like breathing to Maksim, and sometimes it made him an idiot when it came to all the other things like the fact that Izzy had been in love with him since he sat down next to her one day, pointed at her textbook and said, “Osmosis.”
As we all stood on that balcony, the breeze picked up, and suddenly I was pushed into the past, when I’d first met Junior, here at this house, when we’d finally become something more than friends—brothers.
“I have to do something hard today.” I licked my dry lips. “I just want you guys to know I don’t want to, and if something goes wrong…”
Junior’s head turned, his teal eyes narrowing. “If there’s potential for something to go wrong, then maybe we should come with you?”
“You can’t go where I’m going.” I looked down. “Not this time, man.”
Ash leaned up, crossing his arms. “Now you’re starting to freak me out. Did one of the bosses give you a job or something while you were here?”
“Yeah. And I can’t exactly say no because a lot of people will die if I do.”
“Shit, man, how deep are you right now?” Junior lowered his voice. “You know we got you, right?”
He was like a brother, the concern in his face was real, but that was the hard part; it had to be real, didn’t it?
And I’d sworn an oath I would do anything to keep her safe.
From them.
Wow, a year ago, I would have never thought it would come to this.
And now that it had?
I didn’t feel like me; I felt like someone else watching it take place, like a bad movie you can’t look away from.
“When do you take off?” Ash asked.
“Now.” My voice shook. “Look, if something goes… sideways, I’m leaving the briefcase on the table for you, call Phoenix, and make sure that you burn it all.”
“What the fuck, man?” Ash shoved me. “You can’t just say shit like this to us, not after Cl—” A spasm of pain claimed his face. He still couldn’t bring himself to say her name, and now he would hate me more than he hated himself for not protecting her—the hate that my brothers would have for me.