“He kills them,” I state.
“Amongst other things,” he says, laughing. “Like I said, death wish.” Then he walks off to where I have no care and I realize I’m not in the mood to deal with him any longer today.
When I get home after making a quick stop, Brody is about to leave. He throws on his jacket then slides his wallet into his pocket. He told me earlier he’d be heading to the bar to work, and to say I was furious would be an understatement.
“You can quit your second job now. Do the other full-time.”
“Not going to happen, because you can’t work for him,” I declare.
“Oh, by the way, I forgot to tell you earlier, Lucas said you need to come in and see him,” Brody tells me.
I reply with, “I’ve already seen Lucas once to many times today, so no, I won’t be coming in.”
Brody says, “When you see him, you need to call him sir, not Lucas.”
Ha! Not fucking likely. I’ll stick to that asshole.
“I got you something,” I say, handing him a bag.
Brody looks at it and pulls his brows together. “Um… we don’t do presents.”
“I know, but this time it’s special. The big one eight,” I say, smiling.
With that he nods and opens the bag. When he sees the box, he pulls it out like a kid at Christmas time. “Shit, sis.”
“Brody,” I warn him.
He smiles so big at the shoes that all I can do is smile right along with him when he pulls me in for a hug. I hug him back before he pulls away, takes a seat and changes his shoes. When he finally has them on, he stands in front of me. “Badass.” He nods his head.
“Totally badass,” I agree with him.
“Don’t be mad, okay? But I heard he’s actually good to work for. He pays well if his employees listen. And I’m a great listener.”
Instantly, I want to argue with him that he isn’t, but I keep my mouth shut. Because he does have to do things on his own. It’s time for me to stop mollycoddling him. He’s an adult now, as he so likes to remind me.
“Good luck,” I manage to say. “If you get yourself killed or hurt, I’m afraid I’ll be going down with you.”
Brody nods and pulls on his jacket, and when the door shuts beind him, I’m left to worry if I will see my baby brother after tonight.
Merci lets herself in about an hour into my attempt to distract myself with a movie. “So, where’s Brody?”
I’m sitting on the couch with my legs tucked under me when I answer her. “He’s at work,” I reply, not taking my attention away from the television, and she plops down next to me.
“You let him go? Wow! Didn’t think you would, and he would have to sneak out.”
“I thought about it, not letting him go,” I tell her honestly. “I went to see Lucas.” She reaches for the remote and switches off the television. My cell starts ringing, but I ignore it as I wait for her to say something.
“He’s dangerous. And…he is clearly interested in you.”
I go to argue, but I can’t because he is.
“What happened when he was here?” I look away and back to the dark television screen.
“He made me bend over in front of him.”
“Okay, that’s not too bad.”
“Then he smelled me.” Her eyes go wide and her head juts back, in a kind of disgust versus curiosity look. “Between my legs…while I was naked,” I say on a whisper.
“That boy has some kink, and I think that kink may be you.” She chuckles.
My cell starts ringing again, and this time, I get up to answer it. I have one of those cheap flip phones, not the iPhones everyone else uses. I can’t afford one and see them as a waste of money.
“Hello.” Music blares over the line and then my brother’s voice comes through.
“Come down, they’re throwing me a party.”
Okay…I look to the phone in confusion, then to Merci.
“He says they’re throwing him a party and I should join them,” I tell her, my brows furrowing.
It doesn’t take long before she’s standing with a smile on her face. “Right, let’s go.”
“You literally just said he’s dangerous.”
She claps her hands together. “But sometimes we all need to take a walk on the wild side, don’t we?” She heads to the door and calls over her shoulder, “I’m going to get changed, and you and me…we’re going to drink while the night is young.”
“I’m not changing,” I yell out to her but she’s gone.
I sit back on the couch and wait until she walks back in. She does a twirl and shows off the gorgeous yellow dress that sits at her knees and has a slit up the side. Yellow looks amazing on her. I get up and pocket my cell as I walk to the door.