Page 13 of The Bad Brother

C ROSSING THE brIDGE TO LOOK FOR MY brother was a reckless thing to do. Trespassing at my parents and confronting my mother was reckless and stupid.

With any luck, she kept drinking after I left and with the help of her medication , passed out. If she did, there’s a very good chance that when she wakes up, she’ll forget that I was even there.

As much as I’d like to lean on that hope, the more likely scenario is that she called my father as soon as I left and told him that I showed up, unannounced and threatened her and her precious baby boy.

You should have seen him, Nathaniel. He was yelling and screaming—threatened to kill me and our son. He was obviously on drugs.

The irony is almost laughable.

As laughable as it is, I watch my rearview the entire way home, sure that my mother followed through with her threat to call Colt.

No matter what I said to her or what Cade seems to think, I have serious doubts that Colt’s family loyalty extends beyond the tight Montgomery circle.

He doesn’t bust up what’s going on in my basement because Cade not only works for me, he’s a regular in the ring.

If he busts me, he’ll have to bust his twin brother.

Since Cade is on parole, that would mean a trip back to prison.

No matter how straight his arrow is, Colt isn’t willing to be the reason his nephew loses a father and his mother loses a son.

Pulling into the dirt lot in front of the mill, I breathe a sigh of relief.

The fact that I made it all the way through Clearwater and across the bridge means that while she more than likely called my father and told him I’d been there and demanded he call the Sheriff and have me arrested, my father opted to do what he does best.

Nothing.

Noting that Cade and River are both here, I flick a look at my rearview to assess the third car in my otherwise deserted parking lot.

A shiny red compact I’ve never seen before.

Probably someone from the county, making sure we’re not serving on a Sunday or a liquor rep looking to boost their sales for the month.

Killing the engine, I palm my keys and climb out of the car, slamming its door behind me on a sigh because right now, I’m not in the mood to deal with either.

All I want to do is go upstairs, eat leftover pizza, watch the Rangers game, and forget this day even happened.

Scratch that—I want to forget about this whole fucking week.

Stalking across the parking lot, I shove my keys into the front pocket of my jeans, prepared to kick whoever’s in my bar who isn’t Cade and River, out on their ass, I stop just inside the open front door, giving my eyesight time to adjust to the sudden light change.

I can’t see shit but I can smell fried food, and I can hear Metallica—and women laughing.

If I didn’t know any better, I’d say we are serving on a Sunday.

Before I can ask what the hell is going on, the laughter abruptly cuts off, just as the spots dancing in front of my eyes start to fade.

Cade is behind the bar, loading a case of longnecks into the cooler while Gunner plows his way through a basket of chicken wings. Almost directly in front of me, River and another woman—probably the driver of my mystery car out front—stare at me from their perch at the bar.

“There you are!” River exclaims before a brief, hushed exchange with the woman sitting next to her. Looking at me again, River smiles while the woman—a cute brunette with whiskey brown eyes and a nervous smile—watches me make my way toward them. “We’ve been waiting forever .”

It's four-thirty in the afternoon. River promised me she’d go to a meeting today. Stopping in front of her and her guest, I shake my head. “Since you had somewhere to be at three o’clock, I really hope that’s not true.”

“I went to the early meeting instead.” Sighing, River rolls her eyes. “You can even call Sandy to check.”

Sandy is the grade school’s librarian. She runs the Sunday NA meeting at the rec center.

“I don’t need to call anyone, Riv. If you say you went, then you went,” I tell her, flicking a quick look at Cade, who’s switched to wiping down and facing the liquor bottles that line the shelf behind the bar.

He might look like he isn’t paying attention but I know him.

He’s waiting for the fireworks to start.

Certain that whatever he's waiting for has everything to do with River’s new friend, I look right at her.

The second our eyes lock, I feel like someone punched me in the gut.

Did I say cute? I meant knock-you-flat gorgeous. “Who’s your friend?”

“I’m glad you asked.” Flashing me another quick smile, River gives her companion a here we go kind of look before she refocuses on me. “Remember what we talked about last weekend?”

We talked about a lot of things but only one of them involved meeting one of River’s friends.

Hoping to God this is the woman she wants to set me up with because I’m suddenly feeling every second of that dry spell Riv’s been harping me about, I nod my head while I hope to god she’s here to end it.

“Yeah.” I aim another quick look at Cade.

He’s not even pretending to work anymore.

He’s blatantly watching the three of us from behind the bar, arms crossed over his chest and a barely there smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth. “I remember.”

“Great—” Lifting her hand, River gestures to the woman next to her. “This is my friend, Sloane.” Dropping her hand, she looks at me. “Sloane, this is my boss, Jensen.”

Three things happen simultaneously.

The brunette I’m praying is my mystery date, lifts her hand from her lap, offering it to me with an it’s nice to meet you while River says, Sloane just rented the loft—she’s your new tenant ?—

And then I see it.

The diamond encrusted clasp on her simple, silver chain-link bracelet, circling the wrist that’s attached to the hand the woman is offering me. It’s not silver—it’s platinum and it’s from Tiffany. Simple or not, it’s worth more than some people around here make in a year.

She’s a creeker.

And once I realize it, nothing else matters.

“The fuck she is.” Instead of taking her offered hand, I take a step back while my face folds into itself on a scowl.

“Get rid of her.” Looking away from the woman who’s staring at me like I just spit on her, I turn my glare on River.

“ Now .” Without waiting to see if she does what I ask, I give the woman staring at me a final fuck you look before I turn away from both of them to make my way upstairs.

“Don’t leave,” I hear River tell her before scrambling off her stool to come after me.

I’m up the stairs and halfway down the hall before she catches up to me.

The door across from mine is standing wide open.

I can see what I’m assuming is the woman’s suitcase sitting on the floor, next to the couch. Guess she travels light.

Convenient.

Changing direction, I head across the hall, intent on retrieving the suitcase and tossing it down the stairs.

Before I can, River beats me there, rushing forward to throw herself between me and the open door.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” she hisses at me in an effort to keep her voice down.

“You said I could rent the loft out, so that’s what I did. ”

“ Move ,” I tell her even though I know she won’t. River can be a pain in the ass when she wants to be.

“No,” she bites back, completely unafraid because she knows that no matter what, I won’t put my hands on her. “Not until you tell me why you’re freaking out.”

I’m freaking out because you invited a creeker to be my next-door neighbor, less than a week after my asshole brother decided to kick off his latest round of Fuck with Jensen.

Crossing my arms over my chest, I nail her in place with another hard glare. “Who is she?” I ask, instead of answering her. “How do you know her?”

“I already told you,” River says, her jaw set at a stubborn angle. “Her name is Sloane. I met her at the coffee shop by the hospital. I stopped in to grab a coffee and a doughnut before the meeting because you know the coffee there sucks and?—”

“Wait—” I unlock one of my arms to swipe a rough hand over my face. “You just met her. Today ? Are you fucking serious?”

That’s not a coincidence. It can’t be.

“Yes.” River gives me a look like I’m completely overreacting. “I overheard her talking to some fancy realtor lady about looking for a place to live?—”

Definitely not a coincidence.

“—and she said she couldn’t afford anything they’d looked at and she seemed desperate.”

“ Yeah, I bet …” Muttering it under my breath, I shake my head. “What else do you know about her, Riv? Where is she from? Does she have a job? Fuck —does she have a last name?”

“Merrick.”

When we hear her, River and I both turn to see the woman we’re fighting about standing at the top of the stairs, watching us .

“Merrick?” I repeat the name she just threw at me on a bitter, of course it is laugh.

“Your name is Sloane Merrick ?” I’ve never heard of her in my life.

None of the families I remember from Clearwater are named Merrick but that doesn’t mean anything.

I’ve been on this side of the river for a long time. Things change.

“Yes.” She looks shaken—like she wants to run away, but she doesn’t.

Instead, she moves toward us, walking the length of the hallway on a quick, angry stride.

Stopping in front of me, she gives me the kind of look that, even though she’s a solid eight inches shorter than me, manages to make me feel like she’s looking down at me.

“My name is Sloane Merrick—as for the rest of it, that’s none of your business.

” Holding up a piece of paper between us, she shoves it against my chest. “Your copy of the lease—I paid three months in advance, in cash , and it’s been signed by your legal representative.

” She cocks her head at me, a smirk playing against the corners of her full mouth.

“Unless River was lying and didn’t have your permission to rent out your loft, in which case I’d be forced to call my attorney and?—”

“No.” I push the word through clenched teeth because I know what she’s going to say next.

What she’s getting at. If I say River didn’t have permission to rent her the loft, I’d be able to get rid of her, but at River’s expense.

What she did would be considered fraud and River would be arrested.

The signed lease would be all the proof this woman would need to get River thrown in jail on a felony.

“She had my permission to rent the loft.”

As soon as I say it, Sloane smiles. “Excellent.” Letting go of the paper she’s holding to my chest, she turns toward the open doorway River’s planted herself in. Moving out of her way, River stands beside me while Sloane takes her place. “Then I do live here—for the next three months.”

Before I can think of something to say, my new tenant slams the door in my face.