Page 118

Story: Climbing Everest

Hell yes. Easier access. Plus, I’ll get to watch those gorgeous tits jiggle and bounce with every step.

“Nothing,” I say, still staring at her, even after she’s tugged on a pair of jeans, pulled up the zipper, and closed the top button.

Shit. We really need to have this conversation with her, really need to come clean. Except, I’m scared the second we –I– tell her all of it, she’ll no longer look at me the way she is now, no longer trust us.

Although…

Technically, it was Kato’s idea to remove the implant.Katowho hired Nick. I could always play dumb, or even lie and tell her I was completely against the idea.

Nah. I can’t lie to her. I’m a shit liar as it is, and I’ve never been able to lie to Everest.

“We removed your implant thing,” I blurt out before my brain has a chance to catch up to my mouth.

Her hands halt as she pulls her long, wet hair from the back of her sweater. Eyes wide, she stares at me. “What the fuck did you just say?”

“What?” Shit. I seriously said it out loud. This should have been a conversation between the four of us. We should have sat her down and explained then begged her forgiveness.

“Are you talking about my birth control implant? You had it removed? When?”

Her eyes are no longer wide. No. Now they’re narrowed, and those arched dark brows are pulled together so tightly there’s a deep furrow between them.

Shit. Fuck! How the hell do I fix this now? And how the hell am I going to keep my brothers from beating the shit out of me for possibly screwing it all up because I was struck dumb by E’s beauty?

“It was that first night. When we brought you here. We didn’t know – we were going to…fuck,” I ground out.

“You were all three going to try to knock me up without my permission,” she says through clenched teeth. The sound is more like a growl as she glares at me, and I swear I see her trembling with her growing rage.

She tries to shove me out of her way – though I only move because I don’t want her to hurt herself – then stomps down the hall in search of Kato and Brix.

“Kato!” she yells while I chase after her.

“E, wait. Hold on. I can explain it better.

I hear Brix leaving his bedroom and glance at him over my shoulder as I continue chasing after Everest. For someone so much shorter than me, her little legs sure do eat up a lot of space when she’s pissed.

“The fuck is going on?” Brix says, tugging a shirt over his head.

“I fucked up,” is the only explanation I give him as I follow Everest directly to the door leading into Kato’s office.

As I step in behind her, I almost run into her back when she stops. Kato is on the phone, one hand in the air to stop her, his brows puckered together tightly as his gaze bounces back and forth between Everest and me.

Oh, he’s going to be pissed. So is Brix. I’ll be lucky if they don’t take turns beating on me like a fucking pinata.

Kato’s eyes are glued to Everest as he listens to someone on the other line, then brusquely says, “I’ll call you back,” and hangs up without waiting for a reply. “What happened?” he asks, his gaze bouncing to all three of us in turn now.

“You removed my fucking birth control? What the hell is wrong with you, asshole?” she screams. Not like,raises her voice. She’s literallyshoutingat him to the point her face is red; even the tips of her ears are pink.

Kato scowls at me for a series of moments and I do my best not to fidget. Lifelong friends or not, he’s still the boss, still the Don. With a snap of his fingers, he could easily order the end of my life.

With a shrug, I say, “We were going to tell her eventually. I just…shit came out of my mouth before I could stop it.”

He shakes his head, his nostrils flaring as he tries to reign in his temper. He might be Don, but he’s still a twenty-four-year-old with a temper problem who just found his wife after four years of thinking she killed our kid and ran away with some Russian fucker.

In some eyes, we arestillkids. Hell, two of us are only twenty-three with E’s birthday coming up soon, making three of us the same age.

Huh. We kind of are kids.

Why the fuck am I thinking about this kind of shit when I’m getting a death glare from Kato while Everest looks seconds away from going full nuclear?