Page 24

Cole flicks his gaze to me finally. He doesn’t outwardly show it, but I know today meant as much to him as it did to me.
“That’s nice,” Finn says. “What about you?”
He’s looking at Cole. No one talks for a few moments, and then it’s my brother who grunts, “Fuck off.”
I press my lips together to stifle a bubble of laughter once again. It’s just so typical of my brother.
Finn doesn’t take it personally. “Cool. What about you, Jax?”
“Fuck off,” he scowls, and I swear by the immediate expression on his face that he didn’t mean to mirror my brother exactly.
I. Fucking. Lose. It.
I start laughing. I laugh so hard I start to choke on my favorite dish, and Cole gets up to whack me on the back a couple of times. I get the noodle up but continue to chuckle. Finn is right there with me. Tears glisten in the corners of his eyes. All the while, the two serious ones at the table glower at us.
Cole sits back down, grumbling under his breath about giving him a heart attack. I can’t help it though. Maybe it’s just to let loose from all the tension, but damn, that was just too fucking hilarious.
I drink down all the water in my glass, and then Finn reaches over to fill it for me, giving me a wink.
Once I’ve calmed myself down enough to continue eating, Cole pushes his plate away. He uses a napkin that came with the food and wipes his fingers and face before throwing it on the empty plate in front of him.
The tone in the room switches again, and eventually, we all stop eating to stare at my brother since it’s obvious he’s running this show. “Colleen had an idea earlier, and I decided to take her up on it.”
“Cole,” I grumble, trying to infuse a warning into my tone without pissing off the gang leader in him.
He smiles at me. “Sorry, sis. I gotta do it. It was a great idea.”
I glare at him as he says, “I’m leaving for an indefinite amount of time, and Colleen needs a babysitter.”
Oh no, he did not just fucking saybabysitter.
10
Oh, hedidjust fucking say babysitter.Everybody step back because it’s my turn to be Medusa.
The corner of my brother’s lip twitches. He knows how much I want to hit him right now. In a way, this is typical, pre-Dragon Cole. We were always picking on each other. Practical jokes. Humor. Anything we could think of. We loved to laugh.
I can see it in his profile now. He’s loving every second of this. Teasing me at the highest level. He’s just hiding under his gang leader status to do it so I can’t retaliate.
“I’ll be fine,” I say curtly, trying not to freak out on him.
I’m immediately cut off from any further reassurance when Finn asks, “Why? What’s wrong?”
I close my eyes and take a deep breath while Jax argues, “What’s that got to do with us?”
Man, Finn’s brother is surly, isn’t he? Not that I can blame him under these circumstances but damn, talk about needing a chill pill.
“Actually, it has a lot to do with you.” Cole manages to give one of his threatening looks. It’s as easy as breathing to him now. “Out of respect for our mutual friends, I haven’t asked you for one thing since taking over the Crew’s territory.”
Jax’s shoulders bunch. The already sharp edges of his jawline seem to come to a painful point as he glares at my brother.
“Is Leenie okay?” Finn asks, concern written all over him. He doesn’t even notice the staring match between his brother and mine. “Did something happen?”
Cole switches his gaze to Finn. His eyes narrow almost imperceptibly as he takes in the sexy trainer’s form who leans over the table, pressing his fingers into the surface until his nails turn white. Cole lets out a breath. “What I’m about to say doesn’t leave this room.”
Finn nods. However, his brother looks increasingly agitated. Me? I refrain from rolling my eyes. I may as well be a fly on the wall.
“Being who I am, there are constant threats. Some are unfounded, some aren’t. One recently caught my attention because it wasn’t directed at me, it was about Colleen.”