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CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Gray

“Shots!” Axel thrust one at me, handed one off to Holden, and lifted his up. “To surviving the week without Gray going postal and killing us all!”

I laughed and tipped the liquid back. Tequila. Whew. It burned a trail to my gut.

“And to a very good start on growing the business,” Holden added, taking a small sip.

“Dude, you don’t sip it like a granny,” Axel said after throwing his shot back. “You gotta down that shit like a man.”

Holden set his drink on the table we’d claimed far enough from the pool tables we could hear ourselves over the clacking of balls. “I prefer to stay clearheaded and not do things I regret.”

Axel snorted. “When do you ever do things you regret?”

“You’re making my point for me.”

“Whatever.” Axel snatched up Holden’s shot. “You want it, Gray? We’re here to celebrate a bike job well done.”

“Nah, I don’t want to get wrecked tonight. I’ve got plans.”

“I’ll take it,” Bailey said. “I helped Gray more than any of you bastards.”

“Nice try.” Axel threw back the shot, his grin a little unhinged when he slammed the glass down on the table.

“Fine. On that note, I’m heading to the table. I see a walking dollar sign over there.”

“Bailey, no hustling,” Holden warned.

He grinned. “It’s not my fault if they assume I’m some dumb kid.”

I went back to my loaded fries, seasoned with salt and pepper, covered in melted shredded cheese and bacon, with a sprinkling of jalapenos. Perfection.

Every few minutes, I glanced at the door, eager for Emory’s arrival. He’d said he was finishing something up before he could join us, and I was trying to play it cool.

But nothing got past my brothers.

“Are you anxious to leave or waiting for someone to come through that door?” Holden asked with a smirk.

Axel slung an arm around my neck, hanging on me. “Are we not good enough company? I’m hurt.”

I rolled my eyes. “I like hanging with you guys.”

“But not as much as with Emory,” Holden guessed.

“Oh, Emory, how I love you.” Axel wrapped his arms around his head and pretended to make out. “Mm-mmm, you taste so golden and perfect, Emory.”

“Shut up,” I said as Emory came through the door.

Axel was too caught up in his performance to listen. “I love you, Emory! I need you. You’re so pretty and so sweet, and so sexy with your perfect golden hair and your perfect smile and your perfect fucking life?—”

I clapped a hand over Axel’s mouth, forcefully muzzling him as Emory arrived at the table. “My life’s not perfect.”

“He’s drunk,” I said, grunting as he elbowed me. “And an asshole.”

Axel wrestled free of me. “No offense meant, Emory. It was a compliment. Gray’s in luuurrve?—”

I jumped from my chair, giving Axel’s head a shove. “C’mon, Em. Let’s go get you a drink. Maybe Axel will be done running his mouth by the time we get back.”

I gave him a pointed look that he better knock it off. Axel held up his hands in peace, snickering. “Sorry, I’ll be good. Scout’s honor.”

“You were never a Scout,” Holden said.

I put my hand against Emory’s lower back, urging him toward the bar. “Sorry about that, golden boy. He’s been doing shots.”

Emory waited with me at the bar while I waved over the bartender and ordered a couple of beers on tap.

“Do you call me golden boy because you think my life is perfect?” he asked suddenly.

“No.” He raised a challenging eyebrow. “Okay, maybe at first, I did. You’ve got it pretty good. Upper-class family, banking business. You were the prom king, for fuck’s sake.”

Emory winced. “That was a million years ago.”

“More like ten, but who’s counting?”

“Me, actually.” Emory picked up the pint glass the bartender delivered and took a swig. “I was planning our high school reunion tonight.”

“No kidding?”

“Yeah. I’ll make sure you get an invite. Sasha didn’t have you on the list because you left town, but now you’re back.”

“School was never really my thing. I don’t think anyone will miss me there.”

“I would.”

I raised an eyebrow. “You didn’t look twice when we were in high school. No offense, but I don’t need a reminder of those days.”

He bit down on his lip, looking away. Damn, had I hurt his feelings?

“I don’t mean to be a dick. It’s just…it’s not really a place I fit in.”

“Okay.” Emory hesitated. “I know as foster kids, you all had it tough, and we didn’t make it better for you. I wish we had. I wish I’d known you back then.”

Damn, I wanted to kiss him when he said shit like that. I settled for tapping his foot with mine. “I wanted to know you back then. Had a pretty embarrassing crush.”

“No, you didn’t.”

“I did.”

Emory laughed, his whole face lighting up. “You’ve got to be kidding. You were always brooding in a corner, looking like you’d rather be anywhere else.”

“So you did notice me,” I joked.

Emory smiled faintly. “I was stuck in my little bubble, or maybe I’d have realized what I was missing.”

“Well, I knew what I was missing, golden boy.”

Emory’s forehead creased at the term, and I lifted my thumb to smooth it out.

“I know your life’s not perfect. No one’s is. I call you golden boy because you’re pretty damn perfect to me. So please don’t ask me to stop.”

His breath caught, eyes catching mine. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” I picked up my beer. “You saw my brother mocking the shit out of me for being all swoony over you.”

Emory chuckled. “Pretty sure I’m the one swooning.”

“Maybe it’s a mutual swoon.” I nodded my head toward the table. “Come on, let’s have a drink with them. Then maybe we can blow this popsicle stand. Get the house to ourselves for a while before they come home.”

“Good idea.” Emory fell into step with me. “Allison and her boyfriend are borrowing my apartment tonight. Do you mind if I stay later than usual?”

I shrugged, keeping my tone casual. “Stay as long as you like, Em. There’s no time limit on my bed.”

He brushed his shoulder against mine. “Good to know.”

Holden and Axel were arguing about work when we returned to the table, but what was new? When you lived together and worked together, you tended to talk shop a lot.

“I can’t keep covering all the dang towing,” Axel said. “The junkyard?—”

“Isn’t that busy,” Holden said. “We need Bailey on vehicle repair because Jose isn’t up to doing as much as he used to, and I’ve got paperwork coming out my ass.” He flicked a glance at us as we sat down.

“Sorry,” Emory said. “That’s at least partly my fault.”

“Nah, you saved our asses,” Holden said. “We appreciate it. And thanks to Gray’s bike skills, we’re building up the business. It just means more work for us all.”

Axel frowned. “The junkyard doesn’t run itself. I know it seems like passive income, but I have to track down the parts people want to find—including the shit Bailey needs for repairs—and I have to examine all junk coming in and assign it a value, not to mention maintaining the place.”

“It’s a lot of work,” I agreed, remembering a few shifts out at the junkyard as a teenager. I’d disliked it because the old man always had some maintenance project or another out there.

“Thank you,” Axel said.

“I’d bring in Jose more, but he’s semi-retired. He just can’t handle more shifts, and he’s moving slower than he used to.”

“Are you all looking for help, then?” Emory asked.

Holden hesitated. “Well, I don’t know. What we need is some part-time help as we expand. Maybe it can be more later, but…it’s one of those Catch-22’s, you know? You’ve got to put money into the business to build it, but there’s risks to that too.”

Emory nodded. “Well, I might know someone who’d be interested in some work. He’d take anything you could offer.”

“What’s the catch?” Axel asked, eyes narrowed.

“No catch, except, well, he’s an ex-con.”

Holden looked considering. “We’ve all made mistakes. Axel has spent a night or two in a jail cell for drunken and disorderly.”

“Deputy Handsy was just looking for an opportunity to feel me up,” Axel protested, shooting a look over his shoulder.

Sure enough, the deputy—Dalton Harvey—sat at the bar again tonight, nursing a beer, gaze flickering over to Axel more than seemed necessary.

“Are you fucking the deputy?” I asked incredulously.

Holden choked on his beer while Axel laughed. “In his dreams, maybe.”

“In your dreams too,” Holden said. “That’s what worries me. You’ve got to stop trying to get his attention. It’ll just lead you to a jail cell again.”

“You worry too much,” Axel said dismissively, then turned to Emory. “Tell us more about this ex-con. What did he do? Murder is one thing, but we can’t hire any rapists.”

“Nothing like that,” Emory said, eyes widening. “According to Allison, he was driving the car when his cousins robbed a liquor store. He told her he didn’t know they were going to do that, but he did some time for it. Four years.”

“Ouch,” Holden said. “But you can vouch for this guy?”

“Well, yeah, but not personally,” Emory said. “Allison trusts him, and I trust Allison.”

“Allison Prince?” Axel said. “Weren’t you two practically married before Gray stole you away?”

Emory rolled his eyes. “No, smart-ass.”

I grinned, damn happy to see that Emory could hold his own with my acerbic brother. Axel was the type of guy who could steamroll you if you didn’t push back.

“Allison is dating Matteo,” Emory continued. “His dad is controlling his life, making him work at the fire station for free and just suffocating him, so?—”

“Tell him to come by,” I said.

“You calling the shots now?” Holden asked.

“No, we’re all calling the shots together,” I said. “Besides, we know what it’s like to have an asshole father shoving us down in the dirt. What does it hurt to give the guy a chance?”

“If it gets me out of tow duty, I’m all for it,” Axel said.

“Of course it’s all about your personal convenience,” Holden said dryly. “You’re spoiled by those?—”

“Uh, guys?” Emory broke in. “Is Bailey in trouble over there?”

We all looked toward the pool tables, where a beefy guy with a neck as thick as Bailey’s thigh was poking a finger in our brother’s chest, face red.

“Uh-oh. Our hustling baby bro is about to get his ass handed to him,” Axel said, jumping out of his seat.

He tore across the room while Holden cursed. “This isn’t going to end well.”

I pushed my chair back. “Should we?—”

“No, you stay with Em. I’ll go rein them in.”

Holden charged after Axel. But it was too late. The beefy guy shoved Bailey, and then Axel shoved him, and then ? —

“There goes the deputy,” Emory said. “I hope Axel doesn’t end up in the jail cell tonight.”

Deputy Harvey charged into the chaos by the pool tables.

He pressed one big hand to Axel’s chest, pushing him behind him. With his other hand, he pointed a finger in the angry guy’s face and gave him a lecture that had him backing off with a sullen glare. Last of all, he turned to Bailey, who reluctantly handed over a wad of bills. Damn, how much had he hustled the guy for?

“What Holden said about Axel wanting the deputy’s attention. Is he also…?”

“Axel’s pan, I think. He told me he doesn’t label it, but he gets around.”

“Oh.” Emory gave my brother a second glance. “Interesting.”

“Not too interesting, I hope,” I said lightly. “I share a lot of things with my brothers, but boyfriends ain’t one of them.”

Emory whipped his head back toward me. “What? No, I— Wait. Boyfriend ?”

I clamped my jaw shut and glared over at Axel for being so damn hot that I went and said something so stupid.

“Gray?”

“You know what I mean,” I grumbled. “We said we’d be exclusive.”

“We are,” Emory shook his head, looking baffled. “Don’t you know that I can’t think about anyone but you? I’m not ever going to mess around with your brother. This might be casual, but it’s not that casual, is it?”

“No,” I said, reaching for his hand. “It was a stupid thing to say. You just…you’re worth so much better than me that I get a little unsure of myself.”

“That’s not true at all, Gray. If anyone deserves more, it’s you. God. I’m in the stupid closet because I don’t know how to break out of this ‘perfect’ life of mine,” he said, using air quotes. “I’m so afraid of disappointing people that I just settle for disappointing myself again and again. But you’re the one exception because I can’t walk away.”

I stood up, grabbing his hand to pull him from the table. “Okay, I’m convinced. Let’s get out of here so I can kiss the shit out of you.”

Emory laughed as I half dragged him toward the door. “What about your brothers?”

“We already established you’re not fucking them.”

“Gray!”

I cast a look back to see Bailey getting a lecture from Holden while Axel got his own telling off by the sexy deputy—and looked fairly happy about it too.

“Show’s over. They’re fine. Axel looks like he’s going to eat Dalton Harvey with a spoon.” I pulled open the door. “I’m more interested in a private show, if you take my meaning.”

Emory’s eyes glinted as he went out the door ahead of me. “Well, I’d be a fool to argue with that.”