Page 6 of Jaxon (Stone Brothers #4)

JAXON

T he three of us stood as still as statues watching the stretch limo roll down the dirt road.

Crusoe looked my direction and was about to open his mouth.

I held up a hand. "Not if you value your life, Cru.

Just keep it to yourself." I turned around, yanked open the screen door hard enough to inch it off one of its hinges and walked back inside.

My phone rang as I headed to the kitchen for a much-needed beer.

It was Dad. Last person I needed to talk to at the moment.

"What?" I asked as I answered.

"Fuck, real nice greeting for your old man … and your boss, I might add."

"Not sure if you need to add it at all because you never let me forget it."

"Shit, someone's in a bad mood. I need you in early tomorrow. Your mom is packing up some orders, and she's going to need you to take them to the post office. They're too heavy for Minnie Mouse to carry around."

"Fuck off, Hunter Stone!" Mom yelled from somewhere in the shop. My dad owned a custom motorcycle shop, and I worked for him. Sometimes, it felt like a good decision, and sometimes, I wished I'd chosen a different career path, any path but working for my dad.

"I meant a very cute sexy Minnie Mouse," Dad called back.

"Okay, before this side conversation goes off the rails and the two of you start making disgusting kissy, flirty noises—I'll be in early. Anything else?" I asked.

"That's it. What did you get up to on your day off? LaLa said you two were out riding the WaveRunners, but it seemed like she was leaving out key details."

"Nope, she's right. We were out on the WaveRunners. Well, gotta go, Dad. See you in the morning."

"Guess I'm being dismissed. Later."

I pulled a beer out of the fridge. Theo's truck started up in the driveway.

They were heading to the protest. They badly wanted this beach takeover to go their way, but that wasn't the way of the world.

Evil always seemed to triumph. And that thought brought me back to Bridget.

Her sweet scent still lingered on my skin, and the feel of her in my arms, underneath me, was not going to be easy to forget.

Figured I'd fall for a woman who was literally the enemy.

I sat at the table and stretched out my legs.

The paper plate holding her nibbled pizza crust was still on the table.

How could someone like her be the daughter of Nathan Walsh?

Walsh had developed at least half of Oceanview.

He was one of those elusive, evil supervillain types who managed to wreak havoc and cause hardship wherever he went, but people rarely saw him in public.

I still had no idea what he looked like, and the tinted windows on the limo had kept him conveniently concealed.

There was a knock on the screen and then it opened. "Where are you, butt face?"

"In here, LaLa," I called back.

LaLa's light green eyes stared out from a darkly tanned face. Men in town practically twisted themselves in knots whenever she walked down the street, and she absolutely hated the attention.

"Got another beer?" she asked.

I motioned toward the fridge. She opened it and made her usual tongue clicking sound to let me know that she was profoundly disappointed with the food choices.

She took out a beer and joined me at the table.

She popped open the can, took a sip, set it down and then propped her elbow on the table and her chin on her hand.

"Well, that was quite a day out there on the water. Pugsley spotted me on my way over here and asked if I'd seen you, so I assume that there are some legal ramifications to your brilliant decision making."

I shrugged. "Whatever happens—it was worth it."

The screen door opened and shut. Griffin stomped down the creaky hallway in his work boots. There was a white line at the top of his forehead where his hardhat blocked the sun and dirt from the workday.

Stella laughed. "I guess that's what they call the construction guy tan."

It took Griffin a second to figure out what she was talking about and then he rolled his eyes. "Yeah, ain't that great, and since I recently chopped off my hair, I can't cover it."

"I think Jules has some spray tan," Stella suggested.

"Think I'll just go with the construction guy tan." Griffin looked pointedly at the can in Stella's hand. "There'd better be more beers in that fridge."

"Don't look at me. I'm just a guest." She lifted the can and took a sip. My sister tended to drink only a third of a beer before getting tired of it or complaining that it was making her too full.

Griffin leaned into the refrigerator and groaned. "Whose turn was it to go to the grocery store?"

"Theo's," I said. "And—" I glanced pointedly around the kitchen. "You're on dish duty, and since we're down to paper plates, I'd say you did a shit job."

"Yeah, fuck off." Griffin popped open a cold beer and sat down at the table. "So, you know that guy we call Bear at the worksite?"

Stella laughed. "Let me guess—a lot of body hair?"

We both looked at my sister. "How the fuck would I know about his body hair?" Griffin asked.

Stella shrugged. "Just made sense to me. But please, do continue about your good friend Bear." She smiled smugly.

Griffin shook his head. "Never used the phrase good friend, Miss Smugly.

" The Stone cousins, all seven of us, had grown up so close we were more like siblings than a mix of cousins.

Our parents had been basically inseparable since their twenties, and that same untouchable, unbreakable family tie had continued right through to our twenties.

There was nothing we wouldn't do for each other, and the older ones, me, Griffin and Theo were all fiercely protective of Jules, Stella, Cormac and Crusoe.

Griffin downed the beer. "Now, where was I before LaLa's interruption?"

"Bear with the possible body hair," Stella reminded him.

Griffin laughed. "Now every time I look at the guy I'm going to wonder if he's got fur under his work shirt, so thanks for that, LaLa."

Stella wriggled on her chair with self-importance. "You're welcome."

"All right, someone had too much sun today. Get to the fucking point, Fin," I said.

"Shit, guess I'm not the only one who had too much sun today," Griffin said. "Or was it too much fun? You had the day off, didn't you?"

"Yes, he did, and he had quite the adventure." Stella looked over again with that smug smile that was starting to get on my nerves. "You should tell Fin all about it."

"Don't you have some place to be?" I asked.

She sat up straighter. "Wait, I do. I promised Jules I'd help her make brownies. She's got some party tonight."

"Uh, you should make two batches," Griffin said. "We are in a fucking food desert right now."

Stella got up and dumped the rest of her beer in the sink.

"Nice, real nice," I said.

"It got flat. And no brownies because you guys are being supreme assholes today." Her long, dark hair fluttered behind her as she hurried out the door.

Griffin got up and walked over to the cupboard. He opened it and pulled out a box of Frosted Flakes.

"We're out of milk," I noted.

Griffin shrugged, opened the box, leaned his head back and let the cereal fall into his mouth.

"You were trying to tell me something about Bear? But fucking swallow first so you don't spray cereal everywhere."

He chewed and washed the cereal down with beer. "Bear got a second job working as a bouncer for this club over in Oceanview. It's one of those swanky places filled corner to corner with rich fuckfaces."

"And how is this supposed to interest me?"

Griffin tilted his head. "You really are grumpy today. Thought you'd be in a better mood after your day off."

"Yeah, well, it was kind of a roller coaster day, and you bringing up rich fuckfaces reminded me of the worst parts of it."

"Really? What happened?"

I shook my head. "Not in the mood to rehash it right now, but finish your thought. It's like talking to Cru."

"Right, well, now don't laugh or say no right away—Bear said he could get us in tonight because the owner is out of town for two days. It's really hard to get into that place unless you're wearing a ten-thousand dollar Rolex and your name is Biff and you're rambling on about stock portfolios."

"Yeah, that sums up the crowd in a nutshell, only I know at least one Biff who isn't going to be wearing his ten-thousand dollar Rolex."

Griffin looked at me, confused. "What?"

"Part of my roller coaster day. You don't actually want to go to that snooty club, do you?"

The chair creaked as Griffin relaxed back.

Like his dad, he was blessed with those Hollywood bad boy, leading man good looks that made him extremely popular with women.

It also gave him good camouflage when he walked into a place like a club in Oceanview.

Dressed up right, he could hold his own in any crowd, wealthy or not.

I, on the other hand, looked far more like the guy from the wrong side of the tracks, no matter how much time I took to get spit-shined.

"Sure, why the hell not? Good booze, some dancing, what have you got to lose?" Griffin gulped back some beer.

"Uh, my dignity for a start. Besides, I've been ordered to get to work early tomorrow."

"Big fucking deal. We'll probably only be able to afford one beer anyhow. I hear it's a big hangout for those rich assholes and frankly, I wouldn't mind a little taste of some honey-money-pot women."

"Honey-money-pot?" I asked wryly.

"Hey, I was in the sun all day. What do you say? Probably our only chance to see what it's like inside."

"Yeah, all right, let's do it. But after my day, I can't be responsible for any possible shit that might happen when one of those Biffs looks at me the wrong way."

"Hmm, well that adds another layer to the adventure, but hell, just adds to the fun. Well, I'm starved. Think I'll head over to the burger stand after I shower. Where are the rug rats?"

"They're at the protest on Croft Beach."

"Shit, those poor idiots think they can somehow fight money and power. That fucker Walsh is going to bulldoze that strip of land, and there ain't nothing they can do about it."

"I told them that, but you know how hardheaded my brother is. I'll get a burger with you. Might need fortification for tonight."