Chapter Twenty-Seven
Katie
In addition to cream cheese and giant dogs, Halen’s house had lots of Prosecco. It was like champagne, but they called it something else. The four of us had already gone through two bottles, and Landry had popped the cork on the third.
Halen brought out her holo-laptop and projected tons of pictures of all the Devil’s Spawn growing up. Between her mom and Beau, there were thousands of images. Each family had their own folder and we were currently going through the one marked Matthews.
“I still love that Jett looks nothing like Cash and Crue.” Landry’s chin was resting on her palm. “It’s fitting, you know, Jett is so different from both of them.”
“Did you guys ever have a hard time telling them apart when they were little?” To me, now, they didn’t even look like twins. I assumed that had something to do with their personalities, and how much time I’d spent with Cash. But in their toddler pictures, they looked identical.
“Nah. Their little temperaments were different from the get-go.” Landry was the oldest; she was over ten when they were born. “Cash was always sweet and quiet, and Crue was always wobbling around taking everyone’s toys.”
Halen took another swig from her fancy glass. “It’s a little hard to tell them apart in these pictures though. I wanted to embarrass Cash and show you naked baby pictures.” She squinted and moved closer to the screen. “But that might very well be Crue’s tiny baby pecker.”
I snorted into my glass, the bubbles making my eyes water.
“Did I just hear the words baby pecker?” Cash walked into the room, a playful grin on his face. “I can’t leave you alone for a second, can I?”
Landry rolled her eyes. “Apparently not.” She held her hand up and Halen high-fived it. “You’re interrupting girls’ night.”
Beau came in, stepping around Cash and plopping on the couch next to Halen. “If Cash is crashing girls’ night, then I am too.”
“Us too.” Brody came in with Wyatt on his hip.
“That’s not fair.” Landry held her hands out, reaching for her son. “You know I’d never say no to these chubby little cheeks.”
Avory frowned, looking over Cash’s shoulder. “Where is Crue?”
“Don’t know.” Cash came and sat on the couch behind me, resting his hands on my neck and tilting my head back to kiss me hello. “He was still being a dick earlier. I called him on it and he stormed out of the house.”
I glanced over at Avory to find her glaring at Cash. “You don’t have to give him a hard time. He’s already stressed enough.” She stood, pulling her cell out of her pocket and leaving the room without saying anything else.
Halen pushed my drink toward me with one finger, winking at me when I met her eyes. I heeded her suggestion and drank most of it. Beau picked Halen up and sat her in his lap, making room for Brody on the sectional. “You want to tell us what’s going on?”
The room was quiet now, the music playing the kitchen the only real noise. Even Wyatt was silent in his mom’s lap. “There is this chick trying to blackmail Crue for a date.” Cash scrubbed his hands down his face. “She has pictures of him and Avory.”
“Fuuuuuuudge.” Beau was obviously about to say fuck, but when Halen elbowed him in the ribs and titled her head toward Wyatt, Beau corrected himself.
“Yeah.” Cash leaned back against the cushions. “Last night he asked me to go in his place. I told him no, that he should come clean with the ‘rents. He got pissed, said a lot of fucked-up shit. So I decked him in the face.”
“Finally.” Halen raised her glass to Cash. “I love Crue, but you should have punched him the first time he asked you to switch places. He knew you’d say yes, he knew you’d do almost anything to protect Avory. He played on your weaknesses to get what he wanted.”
Beau hung his head. “I should have put a stop to this whole thing the second I came home.”
“Stop, man.” Cash put his hands on my neck again. “This isn’t anyone’s fault but my own. I should have said no, I should have put my foot down.” He shook me gently. “But none of that matters, not anymore. I’m not going to let Crue get in the way of what I want.” He kissed the top of my head. “And what I want is this girl, right here.” He stood up, helped me to my feet and slung me over his shoulder.
“Why don’t you two stay here tonight?” Halen poured herself another glass. “Take the downstairs guestroom and I’ll call my dad and let him know.”
“What? Sweets, come on, we just replaced the mattress from Landry.” Beau made a pleading face and I couldn’t help but giggle even though I didn’t really understand what he was talking about.
“Thanks, Hales.” Cash spun around and headed in the other direction.
I held my hand out, waving. “Thanks for a lovely evening.”
Once we were in the guestroom with the door shut he put me back on my feet. I grabbed the sleeve of his shirt when the room started to spin a little. Maybe I had one glass too many.
“You okay?”
I fell back on the bed. “Too much bubbly alcohol.” He lay down next to me on his side, his palm resting in the middle of my chest. I let my head roll to face him. “You okay?”
He frowned, letting out a tired sigh. “Too much brother bullshit.”
I used my fingers to smooth the wrinkles in his forehead. “You’re worried about him.” It wasn’t a question, because I already knew it was true. “It’s okay to be concerned for him, Cash. You can be his brother without being bogged down in his mess. You know that, right?” These people with their us against the world motto. Instead of having their own problems, they had theirs plus ten others. I wasn’t sure they even knew how to live any other way. Crue and Avory seemed selfish; they weren’t exactly like the other Devil’s Spawn. They were much more self-absorbed, and they took advantage of Cash. Of how kind he was, and of how willing he was to help.
“I saw him earlier and I thought we were done fighting. But then...” He took my hand, kissing my knuckles and then placing it over his own heart. Our positons’ mirror images. “I feel like I can’t win with him lately.”
“Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains.”
“Baby. Did you just quote Bull Durham?” His eyes went wide. “Did you?”
I nodded. “Think about that for a while.”
He covered my body with his, his hips between my thighs. “I am so hard right now.”
I dug my heels into his ass. “From a movie quote?” I shook my head. “For shame.” I put my hands on his cheeks. “I don’t like seeing you so sad. He’s your brother and you love him. You know it, and he knows it. And that’s really the only thing that’ll matter in the end.”
“You’re a smart one, you know that?”
“I do.”
Cash dipped down, taking my bottom lip in his teeth. Then he rolled over, reaching into the bedside table. “So earlier, when we were watching that stellar movie.” He smirked. “You almost killed me.” He held a condom up. “Wanna try again?”
“Do all of y’all keep a supply in every room?”
“Yeah.” He looked at me like I was crazy. “Of course we do.”
My phone started to vibrate across the nightstand, where I’d sat it when I was still upside down over Cash’s shoulder. I lunged for it. “It’s Uncle Pax.” Cash groaned in frustration and I sent him a sassy smile. “It’s a text. Calm down horn dog.”
“Me? Really? You jumped on my dick the second it came out of my pants this afternoon.” He pointed out toward the living room. “With most of my family within ear shot.”
Uncle Pax: Guess what Bug?
Me: You’re getting married?
Uncle Pax: Seriously?
Me: You’re having a baby?!
Uncle Pax: That one is probably more feasible, but no. I convinced your parents to let Kase come to Europe. You, me, Kase, and your stuffy boring mom are going to live it up across the pond.
Me: Really?! That’s so great! I’m so stoked you’re coming too. I’ll call you tomorrow. Night!
I set my phone face down. “My Uncle Pax is coming to Europe with us.”
Cash reached up and cupped my cheek. “Speaking of you leaving and breaking my heart.”
“Do we have to?” I unbuttoned his pants, dragging the zipper down ever so slowly. “Because I thought we could cross something else off the list tonight.”
He narrowed his eyes. “I didn’t think there was anything left on that list that we hadn’t done.” He waggled his eyebrows.
“Oh no?” I pulled his dick out of his pants and a hiss came out of his mouth. “Because I seem to recall there being a couple of things left…”