Page 49 of Brazen Defiance (Brazen Boys #4)

Jansen

E vie squeezes me like she’s trying to kill me, and to be honest, it might be what she’s aiming for. “You’re a piece of shit, baby brother,” she mutters against me, then yanks me even closer before finally letting me go.

“Happy to be back,” I risk, not sure what tact to take, already wary of this reunion.

I spent all afternoon researching Switzerland, but it’s not like I’ve ever actually been there.

And Evie is a “take no prisoners” kind of person.

As far as I know, only my mom and I have ever gotten away with fucking up around her.

Everybody else gets a single chance, and then they get the boot.

“So, tell me about your escape to the mountains,” she says, sitting on my bed like she owns it, one of the practice locks in her hand as she idly picks it.

“It was totally unexpected. I’d forgotten I’d even applied,” I say, knowing that it’ll sound honest. It was entirely unexpected.

“You stole one of mom’s cats. And abandoned me with your girlfriend’s friend.”

“Yup,” I say, Flufflington crawling across my shoulders before curling himself around my neck like a scarf, his heat as good a cover for the sweat that coats me at her interrogation. “Sorry about that.”

“Mom was pissed.” Of course she was. “Don’t animals need, like, health records and like, pet visas to travel?”

“Do you really think I told them I brought a cat with me? Especially when I didn’t realize I had him?”

“And he made it through security?”

A lie. I need a good lie. “There was some commotion with the sniffer dog while my bag went through the x-ray machine. They must have missed him.”

She squints at me as she pushes her bangs to the side, her sister-lie-detector at full power. “Right. And you brought him back...how?”

This one I looked up. “I went to the embassy and explained everything. They gave me special papers for him.”

She harrumphs and pops the lock she’s working on. “Fine. I’ll buy it. The friend, though, that one I can’t be pissed at you over.”

I grin, spinning in my chair, Fluffington’s tail whipping in my face at the affront. “I knew it. You like her. You love her. You’re going to get married. ”

The tiniest twitch of her lips has me on my feet. “No way. Really?”

“God, not like, now. But yeah. Emma’s, she’s something. Something really great.”

Now it’s my turn to grip her like I’m trying to squeeze the life out of her, and she laughs right up until Fluffington launches himself at her back, likely clawing it the whole way down before darting into the closet.

“Ow! Seriously, cat?”

I pull back. “Sorry. He’s a bit of an attack cat.”

She twists, trying to see the damage. “Am I bleeding?”

“Not yet.”

“So helpful.”

“My best trait.”

She shoves me, then plops herself back onto my bed. “And your girl? Clara?”

Last night comes to the front of my mind, and I’m pretty sure I’m grinning like an idiot.

“So, still going strong, then?”

“I can’t imagine life without her,” I say, the honesty tying my stomach in knots instead of soothing me like it usually would.

“Then let’s go find her. I hardly know the girl, and you look just as smitten now as you did at Christmas, so I suppose I should make an effort.”

We go downstairs, and soft voices lead us to the kitchen. Pushing open the door, I find RJ and Clara so clearly in a moment that I stall out in the doorway, barely giving them a second to step apart before Evie barrels in after me.

Clara turns, ducking into the fridge. “We have so many leftovers. Do you want something, Jansen? Evie?”

“What leftovers?” Evie asks, joining her at the fridge, and I hop up on the counter by RJ. “Everything okay?”

He shakes his head, looking between me and Evie. “No. The countdown’s started.”

My heart clenches. “How long?”

He closes his eyes, his jaw tight. “Probably fifteen minutes at this point.”

“Have you told Trips?”

“I’m on my way now. Oh, and I found my research into Evie’s stalker that I started last winter. I have a short list for you. Do you remember how to pull it up? For later, of course.”

“Yeah, I remember.”

We stare at each other, then take a moment to watch Clara acting so normally with my sister when she has to be panicking on the inside.

Fifteen minutes.

Maybe less.

“Where’s Walker?”

“I’m telling him after Trips.” Then he pushes through the door, the thunder of his feet on the stairs echoing the pounding of my pulse in my ears.

“Let’s go chill on the couch,” I say, wishing I could just shove my sister out the door and take these last minutes to say goodbye. To hold Clara close and make them drag her from me, keeping her for every second possible. Forever if I could.

But I can’t, so instead, I drag her into my lap on the couch, and Evie rolls her eyes, but lets me get away with manhandling her conversation partner.

Clara’s fingers press against my sternum, the tension in them felt, but unseen.

Trips joins us next, leaning back in his chair with a practiced casualness that sets my teeth on edge.

RJ and Walker come down a moment later, but head to the kitchen, and during the first break in the conversation, Clara jumps up to get Evie and me drinks, disappearing from the room to say her goodbyes.

She’s just coming back with water when there’s a knock on the door. Trips pushes to his feet, and I drag Clara back into my lap, burrowing my face into her hair, my arms banding around her waist as fear, a kind I can’t turn into something fun, claws at my insides.

I’m not ready for this. I’m not sure I ever will be.

The next sound, a crack and thud, has Evie on her feet, running for the door, RJ barely getting there in time to hold her back, his silent stare enough to cool even my sister’s natural inclination to run toward trouble instead of away from it.

There are grumbles from the front, angry sounds without words, and I inch back farther into the couch, wishing there were some way to turn us both invisible.

Evie glances my way, and I can’t lie in this moment.

She might be confused, but she’s surrounded by people who know what’s happening, and none of us are happy about it.

And I’m sure it’s written across all our faces, Walker coming and kneeling next to Clara and me, his hands in tight fists as he keeps himself from dragging her out of my arms in front of my sister.

“I don’t know if I can do this,” I whisper, desperation making my voice quake.

The pounding of boots hits my ears before the door swings open, but then Clara twists in my lap, straddling me, holding me as tightly as I hold her.

“You have to, Jansen. You have to, and you will. We can do this.” Her palms cradle my face, her dark eyes burning with force, giving me no choice but to nod as she presses her lips to mine.

Then she’s yanked from my arms, hauled over the shoulder of a gigantic man in black tactical gear, and they’re gone, only the conviction of her gaze lingering as the house falls eerily silent.

“What the fuck just happened?” Evie hisses as I wipe tears from my face.

“The plan,” I mutter, explaining nothing.