Chapter 17

Lawson

“Where are you going?” Drew asks with a yawn from the top bunk.

I reach for the doorknob. “I need to find Delilah and explain that what she saw earlier with Rachel wasn’t what it looked like.”

He chuckles. “You’re screwed.”

“I hope not,” I tell him as I pull the door open.

“Why in the world didn’t you go find her then?” He shakes his head and looks back at his phone.

“I tried to find her. She just disappeared,” I explain.

“If Jaxon finds you in her room at two in the morning he’ll rip you to shreds.”

“You let me worry about Jaxon,” I mutter stepping out into the hallway.

“Famous last words,” he says with another laugh as I pull the door closed. I still hear him through the door. “Your funeral.”

I tiptoe down the hallway, grateful for the plush carpet under my bare feet. Her door isn’t pulled all of the way closed, so I stick my head in. The bed is made, and she’s nowhere to be seen.

I turn back and make my way down the stairs. If I’m caught in the common areas by Jaxon or Rob, the fallout will be less intense.

The sight of Delilah, bent over in her short skirt, is worth anything the men of the house can throw at me. I’d gladly spend time in jail so long as they have no way to pull these images from my mind.

Backlit by the light inside the fridge, her golden hair seems to glow in a curtain around her. Resisting the pull her body has on mine would only be in vain, so rather than announcing myself, I close the distance between us and wrap my arms around her middle. She stiffens, frightened at first, but soon settles into my embrace.

“I couldn’t keep my eyes off of you tonight,” I whisper in her ear, nuzzling into her soft neck.

She whimpers when I pull her closer. I never imagined the warmth of her skin against mine would be life-altering, but here I stand in the dark kitchen of my newly discovered father’s house a new man.

“Jesus,” I pant into the web of her tangled blonde hair. “I can die a happy man.”

“Well isn’t this cozy.” The kitchen light flips on bathing us in light that leaves nothing to the imagination.

Releasing Delilah, I turn to face a pissed off Samson, only to find the shimmering eyes of—

“Delilah?”

My stunned eyes flash from the devastation on her face to the blonde now standing directly against my side. I recoil, taking a few steps away from Rachel. She bats her eyelashes at me, and I move further away until my hip collides with the counter.

“What the fuck is going on?” Samson seethes through gritted teeth.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Rachel’s breathy voice makes my skin crawl. The look in her eyes dares me to tell him I’ve made a mistake.

“We were…” I sigh and drop my hands to my sides. I’ve got nothing. I can’t explain to Samson that I thought Rachel was his sister. The look in his eyes says he’s ready to snap me in half, and a week ago I would’ve welcomed the chance to beat his ass, but things have shifted for me since working with Delilah at the animal shelter.

“We were just getting to the good stuff when you so rudely interrupted,” she sneers at Samson. “You need to get over your little obsession with me. It’s never going to happen. I’m only interested in real men.”

I bite my tongue but stand stock still when her fingernail scrapes down the front of my bare chest.

I can’t even look at Samson. His anger is secondary to the pain that’s crushing me under Delilah’s devastated stare. She just nods, gives me a weak, sad smile, and turns and walks away.

“Don’t,” Rachel warns catching my arm when I take a step to go after her. “She’s upset that her twin is upset. She’ll be fine.”

I squeeze my eyes shut, only able to hear the soft retreat of her footfalls on the stairs. Even as upset as she is, I don’t even hear her door close with a thud.

“Was this your plan all along?” Samson says with fists balled at his sides.

I shake my head.

“You knew I liked her.” He jabs his finger in Rachel’s direction. She merely rolls her eyes, looking bored.

“Doesn’t matter, Sam. There’s no mutual attraction. We’re only friends.” She says it sweetly, but the twinge on his face tells me it doesn’t make things any better.

“You’re a whore!” Samson yells.

I take a step forward. Rachel may not be an innocent angel, but I wrapped myself around her, and he’s out of line. “Enough,” I hiss.

“Enough? You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. You show up out the fucking blue, with some devious agenda and you have the nuts to stand there and tell me enough?”

“What the hell is going on?” Jaxon’s booming voice circles around us.

Only now does Rachel step away from me, having closed the distance between us when Sam started ranting.

A menacing grin spreads across Samson’s face, and I just know the fallout from this is going to be awful.

“Lawson here is pushing up on my girl. Pretty sure they were about to fuck on the kitchen table.”

“She’s not your girlfriend.”

“I’d never touch you. Gross.”

Jaxon and Rachel speak at the same time.

Jaxon holds his hand up when Samson begins his rebuttal. “And watch your mouth.”

Samson’s eyes narrow as he looks at his dad, but he doesn’t make a sound. Jaxon commands respect, and I find myself standing a little straighter, even though what I’m about to face could end up with me on the street.

“Rachel, go get your things. Rob will give you a ride home.”

“But I drove?” she argues, stopping short when Jaxon’s glare lands on her.

“You can come get your truck in the morning. I’m not sending you out on the road this late at night.”

“Yes, sir,” she mutters and walks away.

Silence fills the room around us when she leaves. I’m not going to be the first person to speak, but I also haven’t been given permission to speak. Why I’m resorting to the things I learned in the probation boot camp last year, I have no idea. Yet, here I stand, waiting to be addressed like I’m still in that hell hole with a drill instructor in my face.

“Calmly,” Jaxon says with a warning in his voice. “Tell me what’s going on.”

He looks at Samson first, who crosses his arms over his chest and pouts for a quick second before he begins to speak.

“D and I came down to cut into our birthday cake early.” Sam looks at his father, who smiles at him? The hell? “We—”

“Didn’t want to wait for the family.” Jaxon grins wider before schooling his face back to impassive seriousness. “Just like every year.”

“Right.” Even pissed Samson gives his dad a quick smile.

Seems my impromptu need for Delilah has ruined a family tradition. And my night just keeps getting better.

“When we stepped into the kitchen, Lawson and Rachel were all hugged up on each other in front of the fridge.”

Jaxon looks toward me. All I can do is shrug in response and pray Jaxon doesn’t figure out that it was his gorgeous daughter I’d wanted in my arms instead. I have a feeling though, that if Samson saw my arms wrapped around his twin, he’d lose his shit even more than he is now.

“And they were naked?” Jaxon asks.

“No,” Samson cringes at the idea.

“Your yelling woke me up because your brother was hugging some girl in the kitchen?”

“We’re not brothers,” Samson insists while I say. “Not related at all.”

The only thing we can agree on.

“Semantics,” Jaxon says as he pinches the bridge of his nose in frustration.

“No,” Samson insists. “Not related.”

I nod in agreement. Adding, “like at all.”

Being related to Samson in any way would be more of a slippery slope with Delilah, and I have enough problems with that situation. More along the lines of needing her more than I should ever feel about any other human other than Drew.

“Fine,” Jaxon concedes albeit reluctantly. “Not related, but this is how we’re going to settle this mess.”

He turns to me. “No messing around with chicks in the house.”

I agree even though there’s the little issue of Delilah. “No problem.”

“Also, I think it’s best that you stay away from Rachel Grant,” Jaxon adds.

“That’s not a problem either.”

He turns to Samson. “You don’t just get to claim a girl because you think she’s pretty.”

“But—”

Jaxon holds his hand up, and Sam silences immediately. “It’s not right to stake a claim on another person. Besides, it’s creepy as hell. You have to let go of the idea of her if she isn’t attracted to you.”

“This sucks,” Samson mutters.

“She told you how she feels, son. Just let it go.”

“I’ve liked her for as long as I can remember, Dad. There’s no way I can just walk away from that.”

“You are blinded by her.” I shift from one foot to the other, not wanting to be anywhere near this little father/son moment. “So much so that you didn’t see the way that Kennedy followed your every move tonight.”

His eyes widen, a small smile playing at the corner of his mouth. “The girl with pink hair and huge tits?”

Wow, this boy is driven by his hormones. He even cups his hands out in front of him for exaggeration.

“Really?” Jaxon frowns. “Don’t talk about women like that. I’ve taught you better.”

“Double D’s dad.” Samson is full on smiling now.

“Is this over?” Jaxon asks looking back and forth between us.

I nod, the first one to extend my hand to Samson. I don’t miss the pride in Jaxon’s eyes, but it doesn’t exactly give me warm fuzzies.

“Sure,” Samson says, his smile faltering as he reaches out to shake my hand. I let him squeeze harder than necessary. He’s the one with the bruised ego, so I’ll give him the small victory. I have a girl I need to speak to, to explain what actually happened in the dark tonight.

“Kennedy fucking Farmer,” Samson sing songs as he leaves us and makes his way to his room.

“Rachel Grant? Really Lawson?” Jaxon’s full attention is on me, and I wonder if this is when the calm, cool, collected guy disappears and he slams my head into the cabinet for hurting his son.

I shrug. “What?”

“Nothing,” he says with disappointment in his eyes as he turns and walks toward his bedroom. “I just thought your interests were somewhere else.”

Rob walks into the room with Rachel right behind him, gives Jaxon a quick kiss, and heads out to take her home. She waggles her fingers and does that unattractive lip and teeth roll again before she disappears out of the door.

When I hear Jaxon’s bedroom door, I bound up the stairs, meeting Gigi and her twin on the upper landing.

“I thought you were staying the night?” Please be going home.

“She wants to be alone,” the bookish twin says. Gigi doesn’t even look in my direction. I appreciate the reprieve from her attention.

When Gigi is a few steps ahead of her on the way down the stairs, the other twin turns to look at me. The seriousness in her eyes makes me wish I could remember her name.

“You really hurt her,” she whispers before she follows her sister out of the house.

“Hey, Kennedy. It’s Samson Donovan.” I’m not surprised he ran up the stairs to call her, but it’s really putting a damper on the plans I have.

I groan, knowing I can’t go to her right now. Leaving her alone, letting her stew in her anger isn’t going to happen, but Rob will be back before too long, and there’s the possibility that he’ll check in on his little girl before calling it a night. Either he or Jaxon has opened our door and peered into our room at least once a night since we arrived. I figure they’re either making sure we haven’t snuck out, or it’s one of those parental safety things I’ll never understand.

I close myself into my room. Drew is snoring softly as I settle into the desk chair and hope that it doesn’t take the house long to fall into slumber. I have a girl to win back.