Hayden is suited and booted when I come down to make breakfast. He’s reading a newspaper and swigging from a coffee mug. It’s freaky as hell.

“Hey.” I announce my arrival, and he eyes me over his cup.

“Morning.”

I check my watch—an expensive and over the top watch Camden bought for me at Christmas—and look over at him as I pull out a skillet to fry some bacon.

“You got time for breakfast?”

He holds his mug up and quirks a brow.

“Bad habit to start, brother.”

“I’ll get something at the office.”

At the office. Damn, he sounds like Eric. It’s crazy how adjusted he’s become to the role. I always thought he would be the wild card—ride away from us all on a Harley with a fuck you thrown over his shoulder—but here he is, taking the bull by the horns. He has days when he slips back into the Hayden we all grew up with, the Hayden who fucks little redheads to hurt their best friends, but he’s entitled to slips.

It’s because of him Cam and I get to stay here. He knows when he’s being a dick and accepts when one of us needs to put him in his place.

“You seen Brock?” he asks me, putting down his paper.

“He’s like passing ships since Eri—Dad died. We should start paying Ethan rent and board for him.”

I crack some eggs into a bowl and whisk them.

Hayden rubs a hand over his neck and sighs. “Maybe we should try a family dinner?”

I stop stirring and stare at him. “What’s that?”

Pointing his finger and walking backwards, he says, “I’ll bring the food, you get Brock and Cam at the table.” He picks up his jacket and heads for the door.

“And Rowan,” I shout.

He takes a few steps back so he can see me again around the protruding wall separating the kitchen from the living area.

“Maybe just Pearsons tonight.”

Fuck that. She’s carrying a Pearson.

“Don’t fucking evil glare me, Nix. I need to talk to you three about the will without her there.”

“Why?”

“Because she’s not in it.”

“So, she won’t care.”

“That’s not the point, just don’t give me a hard time for once. Please.”

Narrowing my eyes, I nod once.

* * *

Brown wallpaper, green and blue furniture…I hope Dr. Winters didn’t pay a designer for this look.

“You appear agitated today.”

Oh, do I, Doc? Fuck, I’ll be glad when I don’t have to come here. I don’t like being under the control of anyone, and with Eric gone, I have rules I need to play by to make sure I get to stay put. Eighteen can’t come quick enough. The best part about that magic number is getting my inheritance. Trevor and Levi tried to have a say in when we would all get our dad’s money, but it wasn’t up to them. Good old Eric had a will. Our trust funds are nothing compared to the inheritance money we’ll each receive when we each hit that magic age. Hayden got Eric’s shares in the company with Eric’s wishes for Brock to later become part of the empire, whereas Cam and I got properties and just money—more money than we could ever need.

Eric knew I had no interest in ever becoming part of Four Fathers Freight. And Cam was going to rule the fucking world one day. He would never be happy sitting behind a desk doing something that didn’t have purpose. Cam wants to leave an impact.

I half expected to find a note in his will announcing him not being my real father and cutting me out. It’s weird always feeling like you don’t belong to someone while living in their denial with them.

If Eric did ever question my blood matching his, he didn’t stop naming me as his and giving me the same amount of assets as each of my brothers.

Eric didn’t make changes to the will in the last year, so Rowan wasn’t on it. She’ll never have to worry about money, however. She has her own trust fund. And if the house ever gets sorted next door, that should belong to her as well.

She hasn’t once ventured over there, though. It’s a tomb.

I’ll never let her worry about anything ever again.

“Tell me about Rowan,” Winters says, like she can read my mind.

“What about her?”

“Tell me anything.”

“Her ankles swell up lately.” I shrug. There, that’s something.

A genuine smile tilts her lips. “That’s common in pregnancy.”

“Is it?” I ask, but I know this. I know everything about pregnancy because I can read and read every book there is.

“Are you looking forward to the new arrival?”

I relax back into the suffocating couch I hate.

“Rowan will be a good mom.”

“I’m sure she will,” she agrees. “And you and your brothers are all close. Will that be the same with the new arrival?”

“This is different.”

Fuck, I wish I could stuff that back in my mouth. Her pupils dilate and she shifts her pen over her paper briefly.

“Why is it different?”

She’s such a cunt. Like she doesn’t know why it’s different.

“Age gap.”

I smile. And she squints.

“How are the dynamics in the house with Rowan there?”

Nice try.

“Feels the same as it always has. In one way or another, Rowan has always been there.”

“What about when you bring girlfriends over to the house? Does this cause any problems for Rowan?”

What the fuck kind of question is that?

“Maybe you should ask her?”

“Tell me how you see Rowan—as a sister, a friend?”

“I don’t want to talk about her anymore.”

“What do you want to talk about?”

“Nothing.”

“That would be a waste of our sessions.”

“I think Camden has a girlfriend.”

Her perfectly shaped brow peaks at this information. Camden comes here too. Maybe he hasn’t mentioned this to her.

Sike, bitch.

“What about you?”

“What about me?”

“Do you have a girlfriend?”

Girlfriends are a chore—one I don’t have time for. The only girl I ever let me talk into being her boyfriend betrayed me and made me almost lose my grip on reality.

Nixon nine months ago.

The world has always been a question mark to me. I’ve never understood where my place in it is. The only people I give two shits about are my baby brother and her, Rowan, my best friend and the girl I just saw kissing Eric.

Nausea was my first response, followed by undiluted hate for Eric.

He’s fucking old and disgusting. Rowan just turned eighteen—eighteen. She may be legal, but he’s a fucking pervert. End of.

Plan…I need a plan. This can’t be happening.

“Nix, here are the notes you asked for.” A girl from my English class hands me her booklet and coyly smiles up at me. The skirt she’s wearing shows more thigh than suitable for high school, and her tits are pushed up so far by a bra too small, they’re creating a four - tit impression through her shirt. When I don’t speak, she talks again.

“So, I was wondering if you wanted to hang or something tonight?”

Images of Rowan flash through my mind, and I think maybe two can play that game. Maybe if I try getting with someone else, I can forget about her and let it go—let her go. Fuck that. I’m used to winning what I want, and this… “What’s your name?”

“Roxy,” she states, like I should already know that. Well, Roxy, you’re going to be a distraction while I let this stupid infatuation Rowan has for Eric runs its course.

* * *

I hate bringing Roxy back here, but I need the distraction from Rowan running around the place shacked up with fucking Eric. Images taunt me—of what he’s touching, kissing…

“I’ll suck you off.”

I blink and look up at Roxy, who’s straddling me on my bed. I’m trying to read a stupid chem book for a test tomorrow, but she’s needy as hell. Wiggling her ass, she groans from the friction she’s creating. Her hands lean down onto my hips, and her eyes widen. “Is that something in your pocket, or are you just glad to see me?”

It’s actually my new flip knife I bought off the internet. It arrived today, and I haven’t had time to play with it. I told myself I was buying it for a camping trip, but truth is, it just fascinated me.

“Go get us some drinks.” I slap her ass, and she giggles. It’s fake as fuck and makes me want to gag her so she can’t speak, laugh, breathe…

“Okay,” she sighs, slipping off me.

Watching her leave, I debate getting up and locking the door so she can’t come back in, but I’ll just settle for getting a drink and sending her on her merry way for the night.

Girls are horny. People always assume boys are, and in fairness we are, but fuck, Roxy is like a nympho at times. It’s hard work faking attraction for someone all the fucking time.

I can hear her outside my room talking to Hayden, then their voices fade and a door closes. Motherfucker.

I don’t particularly want her, but she’s my distraction—not his. No one makes a fool out of me. Sitting up, my chem book clatters to the floor as I swing my legs off the bed and get up.

Brock almost collides with me as he exits his room at the same time.

“What’s up your ass?” he asks, but I don’t stop to chat. I boot open Hayden’s door to find him and Roxy fooling around on his bed. Hayden, the prick, doesn’t even get up. Roxy screeches and giggles like she’s not in here cheating, and these bitches wonder why I don’t date high school chicks.

“You’ve been a bad girl,” I tease her, and she grabs her shirt and runs past me out the room and down the stairs.

“Thanks for the loan, bro.” Hayden smirks. I give him the middle finger and give chase to Roxy.

We hit the foyer, and she throws her shirt at me, swaying on her feet.

I chuck it to the floor and shake my head at her.

“You can’t have us all.”

“I only want you,” she coos, making me want to slap the shit out of her.

Her nipples harden and peak through the lace of her bra. She slips her shorts down her legs and kicks them over to me.

“Run,” I warn, and jolt forward.

She takes off out the front door and across the drive onto Rowan’s property.

Excited chortles ring from her as she tries to out run me. It’s a pathetic attempt on her part. She’s desperate to be caught. I wrap an arm around her and lift her feet from the ground, swinging her around and covering her fat mouth with the palm of my hand.

She wriggles her ass on me, and I release her. I half expect her to run again, but she doesn’t. “You want to suck my brother’s dick instead of mine?” I admonish her.

Shaking her head, she hums, “No.”

Pushing down on her shoulder, I guide her to her knees. Her small hands come up to untie my shorts, and my hand goes to the knife in my pocket.

I pull it free and imagine holding it to her neck, letting the blade cut in enough to stop her from talking—enough to make her cry and question whether she’s going to die.

“Nixon,” Jaxson Wheeler barks, stepping onto his porch.

Nice timing, old man. Roxy gasps and screams, jumping up and running back to my house. I grin over at him.

“What do you think you’re doing?” he asks, but there’s an understanding in his eyes. Like he knew my thoughts in that moment. I take off after Roxy, ignoring his question.

Roxy is standing frozen in the foyer when I come into the house. Hayden is standing opposite her, wearing just a towel.

“I was just asking your friend if she wanted to have a late-night swim. Pick up where we left off.”

Hayden winks at her, and she turns an extra dark shade of red.

She looks over at me and folds her arms over her tits like she’s now a prude.

I nod my head at my brother. “She loves getting wet. Have at it.” And with that, I saunter past them into the kitchen to get my own drink.

“Nix?” Roxy calls out to me, but I ignore her. I’m done with her. Trying to use her as a distraction is pointless. She only makes me want to kill things. Mainly her.

Present

“Where do you go when you zone out like that?”

I shrug my shoulders. “Just thinking about the question.”

“I think you’re reliving moments in your head and I wish you would share them with me instead.”

“I don’t like having girlfriends. I pretended Rowan was my girlfriend once.”

One of her brows dip.

“Why?”

“Because her dad was suspicious of the time she was spending over at our house.”

“So, you protected their relationship?”

I cringe at the way she says it.

It wasn’t to protect Eric from being a pervert; it was to stop her from getting in trouble with her father. He would have stopped her leaving his house if he knew she was seeing Eric. He could have packed her up and moved away from him—from me. I couldn’t allow him time to plan. We needed more time. It had to be in the moment of discovery so he reacted in the moment, ending Eric, not taking my Rowan away from me.

“I’ve always wanted to protect her.”

I knew losing Eric would hurt her. She was infatuated, and it’s normal for girls to go through that, but she’s getting over it now, and we’re all better off without Eric around.