Page 38

And he looked all too pleased by it. I grabbed a piece out of the box and started munching it, even as a curl of anxiety twisted in my guts.

Apparently with good reason.

“Same clothes, Mouse?” Clinton said, reaching over to tug my sleeve, only for Brock to knock his hands away. “So you did have a sleepover. Pay up!”

Ken muttered something as he pulled out a twenty dollar bill and handed it over as Gary shook his head. He wasn’t the only one to respond to that. Hayden was sitting on an old crate by the garage doors with a couple of coffees in hand. He got to his feet when he saw us, but all that tanned skin went pale when he heard Clinton.

“Remind me when I started paying you to give commentary on my love life?” Brock’s dry tone contained a kind of steely threat that had everyone shifting restlessly, but then he opened the door and let us in.

“So you were at Brock’s last night?” Hayden asked me, but his brother shouldered forward.

“Tell me how it’s any of your business and I’ll let you know what happened,” came Brock’s growled response.

“I thought we weren’t going on dates for a day or two?”

“Hayden—” I started to say.

“Ooh, plot twist.” Clinton stood with an unlit cigarette between his lips, his lighter in hand. “You dating all the brothers, Mouse?”

I knew that look. It was the same one the guys wore when they found out one of the female apprentices was sleeping with one of them. One part voracious curiosity, one part salacious interest, and I hated it all. Right as I was about to open my mouth, explain, put Clinton off with an excuse, anything, someone else had to arrive to complicate things.

“Well, look at this. The gang’s all here.” I turned to see Hunter strolling up the driveway, his eyes dancing until they settled on me. “And just the girl I was looking for. You didn’t answer my texts, so I thought I’d drop by and confirm what we were doing tonight.”

Shit, that’s when I remembered I’d planned to go on a date with Hunter. I was ready to kick past-Jamie in the butt, because all three men stared at me right now.

“Tonight?” Brock and Hayden asked.

I swallowed hard, wishing we’d had time to grab a damn coffee this morning.

Chapter 19

Hayden

“Tonight…?”

All the blood in my body felt like it was rushing to my head, it throbbing in time with my heartbeat. It was one thing to grab a coffee and come over, hoping to see Jamie. It was another to see her walk up the driveway late with my brother’s arm around her shoulders. Her hair was wet and recently combed back, making clear what had occurred.

She’d gone out with Brock last night and stayed at his place.

I knew what had to have happened. The same thing that would happen if I ever managed to get her back to my place, but if Brock hadn’t fallen to his knees and worshipped every inch of her, I’d belt him in the face.

Fuck, I’d do that if he had.

Jealousy and protectiveness warred inside my heart and I wasn’t sure which was winning.

“We had a date booked for Friday night, remember?” That tiny twitch of his jaw muscle made clear how Hunter felt about being forgotten. “I brought you a coffee. Strong enough to put hairs on your chest and ridiculous amounts of syrup to compensate for that,” he said, offering her the cup.

“So did I.” I pushed forward to offer her mine. “From the bakery.” I picked up the bag full of food. “Kendall, the baker, sent a bunch of baked goods along with it.”

“Oh, I—” I watched Jamie consider both cups, but Brock decided to take the choice away from her.

“Guess I’m drinking one.” My brother’s smile had an edge to it as he grabbed my cup. “We didn’t have time to pick one up on the way to work, seeing as we were running late.”

My eyes narrowed. He used to pull the big brother bullshit all the time at home, overruling the rest of us, but we didn’t live together anymore. I watched him wink at me as he took a sip, then I smiled as he winced at how sweet it was, but my brother wasn’t my focus. I turned to Jamie, staring at her, glad for a legitimate excuse to do so for once, and then made my play.

“Come out with me tonight,” my twin and I said.

Sometimes it felt like Hunter and I were one person in two bodies. We often had the same thoughts, saying them at the exact same time. The family thought it hysterical, but I wasn’t laughing right now. I stared at my twin, willing him to remember. We were going to pull off that old trick, this time when I pretended to be him, making her think she was dating the both of us, when it would just be me. Instead, he stared steadily at Jamie.