But she gave him an uncertain look. “Won’t the others be expecting you to show up with Daphne? After all the history you guys had?”
Was that what was troubling her? Cade smiled, imagining the reactions of the others if he had showed up with Daphne. “I think they’d question my sanity if I’d brought her. No one thinks Daphne and I belong together. And they can’t wait to meet you. Really.”
“Even Daphne’s sisters?” she asked, ever skeptical.
“Especially them,” Cade declared. Once she met brash Gretchen and efficient Audrey, she’d realize she was worrying over nothing. Neither one was a bit like Daphne.
Kylie’s hand tightened in his again, and he looked over at her. She was staring down the hall, where Hunter’s enormous bodyguard stood, guarding the door to the basement.
“I’ll get this,” he told her, and approached the door. He knew the man recognized him, but they still used the Brotherhood’s signal, since he had a guest with him. Two fingers, swept over his shoulder, then resting over his tattoo of the Brotherhood’s symbol on his bicep.
The guard nodded and stepped aside.
“Come on, love,” Cade told the hesitating Kylie. Wide-eyed, she followed him in.
Down below, he could already hear strains of conversation. Maylee’s thick southern drawl was mixed in with Gretchen’s louder, more boisterous tones to the right of the stairs. To the left, he could hear Reese smugly announcing his hand of cards. They’d already started without him. That was fine—he knew he and Kylie were late. And as they came down the stairs, he grinned at the changes below.
The men’s enormous basement room had been neatly halved. A wall had been erected on one side of the room, and the women’s voices could be heard from that newly created room. The walls of the men’s room had been painted a dark Kelly green, and inside the new “women’s room” he saw the walls were a fresh baby pink. An identical card table with six chairs had been placed in the new room, and he could see the alcohol and refreshments cart in their room, just like in the men’s.
They’d given the ladies their own club, so they could quit crashing the men’s. Everyone was delighted at the thought.
But before he turned Kylie over to the women, he wanted her to meet the guys. His brothers. So, squeezing her hand to reassure her, he led her down toward the table where the men were seated.
At the sight of them, five chairs scraped back and the men stood. Cade felt proud at the sight of his friends—here were five of the most influential men in the world, and they were standing up to greet Kylie and smiling. Smiling at her, though he noticed Reese had eyed her figure appreciatively. He’d have to knock Reese in the head for that, he thought with good-natured jealousy.
“Boys, this is Kylie. Kylie, these are my brothers.”
She gave them a shy, charming smile. “Hello.”
“It’s very nice to meet you,” Logan began, only to be interrupted by a feminine cry.
“They’re here,” Cade heard Gretchen bellow. “Everyone out! We need to meet the fresh meat.”
The women piled into the now-smaller men’s card room, and from there, things were a little chaotic for the next half hour. He introduced Kylie to his friends one pair at a time. There was Hunter and Gretchen, who insisted on going first (Gretchen more so than Hunter). He could tell that Kylie felt awkward meeting Gretchen, who looked extremely similar to Daphne, but when Gretchen gave her a bear hug and squealed with delight at meeting “Cade’s new boo,” he saw Kylie visibly relax. Then, he introduced Kylie to Maylee and Griffin, because Maylee’s sweet southern charm made her easy to talk to, and Griffin had unstarched quite a bit since meeting her. Brontë, Logan’s new wife, then gave some pithy quote about friendship, and Violet and Jonathan were polite and friendly. Jonathan gave Cade a knowing, approving look at the sight of Kylie. Jonathan knew all about Cade’s long-term despair over the Daphne situation, and it was clear he approved that Cade had moved on.
Then, Reese and heavily pregnant Audrey came forward. Kylie did a double take at the sight of Audrey, who held up a hand. “I know. I get that from some people,” she said wryly. “We’re twins.”
“I just . . . Oh.” Kylie bit her lip and looked at him helplessly. “It’s very nice to meet you.”
“You sure?” Audrey said. “It’s probably awkward as hell, considering that my sister beaned you with a flowerpot. Cade told us all about it.”
“She wasn’t in the right frame of mind,” Kylie said, her voice gentle. “I don’t hold it against her.”