Bond (Klein Brothers 1)

That answered the question for me over whether Heidi was Nemi’s mom one hundred percent.

Pouting out her lower lip, Nemi pointed at me. “I want him.”

Call me twisted, but given how nervous I was about being around the kid, I liked that she liked me. Her mom had me tied up in knots for some reason, so maybe she’d see I wasn’t the dick I’d led her to believe I was this way.

Yeah, I’d stewed over the words I’d said to her when I’d met Heidi at the party, and I wasn’t convinced she’d ever see me any other way than the initial dick I’d been. It was playing on repeat inside my head, almost like a special kind of torture, and I was fucking over it. I didn’t dwell, I didn’t analyze, and I didn’t stew. I was the easy-going, happy-go-lucky Klein, not the one who ended up in hospital with ulcers because he didn’t want to be perceived as a shallow asshole.

Fuck, yeah, I’d been that guy. I’d been the guy in the past who knew how to charm women. I’d been the partier who stayed up all night getting blotto. I’d also been the one who didn’t take anything seriously when there was shit I should have. The situation with my sister-in-law’s grandmother, who’d died after being attacked by a psychopath when she’d had terminal cancer anyway that she was hiding so they’d only have good memories of her, had kicked me in the ass to get my shit together.

The one night I took off from responsible Bond, I met a woman who I wanted to see me seriously.

And now her daughter liked me. That could only be a good thing, right? Or did kids like the way adults smelled, like dogs did?

“Uh, we can’t just pick out humans like fish or puppies, Nemi. Life doesn’t work that way.”

I wasn’t offended by being compared to pets and animals. If it meant Heidi was lowering her guard a bit, I’d take it.

Sighing dramatically, Nemi held her hand back out to me. “I help you up, Bund.”

“Thanks, Nemi. The first time I stood up hurt, but all I needed was your strength to make it easy a second time.”

I didn’t need to be an expert on kids to read the look of ‘bullshit’ she gave me, making me burst out laughing along with my brothers. And as soon as I was standing again, she moved to help Canon do the same thing.

As my brothers said goodbye to her, I watched Heidi’s eyes widen, and her cheeks turn pink as she watched Jarrod. So, leaning into her side, I whispered, “You’ve got a little something on your chin.”

Her eyes narrowed, but then she smiled sweetly—too sweetly—at me, meaning I was the one watching her dazed by it now.

Well, that was until she said, “Hey, Nemi, Bond likes to dress up as a Trojan. Maybe next time he’ll let you paint his nails for him before he goes out in his costume? He’s got a hat with a red fringe like the mohawk hairstyle you wanted.”

My brothers' laughter followed her across the street, and once they were inside the salon, we resumed walking to the bakery.

“Laugh it up, fuckers. If that kid comes near me with polish, y’all bitches are going down with me.”

“Think she’ll have red?” Reid asked as we pulled the bakery door open. “I’m more of a warm on the color tone chart.”

“I like your style. I was thinking of going for a metallic turquoise,” Canon mused as he looked at the menu with today’s sandwiches and specials on it.

Doing the same as he rubbed his chin thoughtfully, I’d assumed Jarrod would adhere to his somber personality, until he said, “I kind of like the idea of gray.”

Just as I opened my mouth to call them funny fuckers, our phones went off at the same time with a text message. Assuming it was one of our parents, we all pulled our phones out and looked at the screens.

It wasn’t them. It was a family who brought insanity into life in both healthy and unhealthy ways—the unhealthy ways being with other people’s sanities.

Ren: BBQ and family day at ours on Sunday. Be ready.

Chapter Five

Bond

Family Day at the Townsends…

We were met at the entrance to the Townsend property by the men of the family, all of whom were arguing about something.

Pulling up beside them with Reid and Canon in the vehicle, I waited until it looked like it was calming down before getting out.

“Yo, Kleins part deux,” Cole yelled, finally noticing us waiting. “Sorry, we were just figuring out the finer details of today. Your brother’s just dropping Katy off with the women, and then he’ll come back down and join us. You can leave the truck here and drive it up after we’re finished.”