Accidentally Family (Pecan Valley 1)

Honor adored her little brother. But this… On top of everything else? Fury kicked in, hard and fast. “I can’t believe you…” But her voice was rising so she broke off and clapped her mouth shut. When there wasn’t the fear of their mother discovering them, she was so going to lay into him.

“Honor,” Nick groaned. “I know I screwed up, okay? Not gonna happen again. I need to sleep it off.”

“Shut up,” she hissed. “You are not going to wake up Mom, you hear me? She has enough to deal with right now. So be quiet before I…I lose my cool.” Hands fisted, she glanced at Owen. “Why are you smiling?”

He shook his head, but his smile never wavered.

“This way,” she hissed, sliding across the floor in her fuzzy socks. “Fifth step squeaks,” she said, pointing at the step as she led them to Nick’s room.

She glanced back, angry and worried and completely clueless about what to do next. Was Nick okay? He looked terrible. All gray. His lips were white. And he was covered in sweat. Did he need a doctor? Sleep? A kick in the ass?

“He’ll be okay,” Owen said.

She frowned. How did he know? Did he have a vast knowledge of being stoned and the aftereffects? And why was he smiling at her like that?

“In here,” she said, pushing open Nick’s door.

Owen helped her brother to his bed. “Going down,” he said, lowering her brother slowly to the mattress.

Nick lay back, both hands pressed to his head. “This sucks.”

Good. Serves you right. But she couldn’t very well yell it at him the way she wanted to.

“Thanks, man.” Nick clasped Owen’s hand in that weird angled handshake thing guys did to look cool.

“No prob.” Owen put his hands on his hips. “That shit’s bad for you.”

“Yeah,” Nick groaned.

“I get you’re wound up, though. So, starting tomorrow, you’re going to the gym with me.” Honor’s anger was temporarily derailed by Owen’s offer. He did have the body of a professional athlete—all muscle. And he moved like one, too. Not that she’d spent a lot of time noticing. She hadn’t. Everything about Owen Nelson made her squirm. He was too pretty, too popular, and too…too confident. He’d always loved being the center of attention. And people loved making him the center of attention, so this newfound selflessness didn’t make sense.

“Okay?” he asked, still waiting for some sign from her brother.

Nick gave a thumbs-up.

“Good.” Owen waited until Nick nodded before leaving. “You owe me shoes.”

Nick’s chuckle ended in a groan.

“Shh,” Honor reminded them.

Owen held his hands up and headed her way, lingering in the door—beside her. Way, way too close to her.

She stepped back and whacked her head against the doorframe.

“Careful,” he whispered, his hand sliding between her head and the doorframe. “Don’t want to have to carry you to your bedroom.”

Tingles covered every inch of skin. He was close. And big. And staring down at her with a totally different smile on his face. She didn’t know what it meant but the hot, tight burn in her belly was delightfully foreign and totally unsettling.

“He’s going to be okay?” she murmured. “No doctor or anything?”

“No,” Nick groaned. “Sleep. Lemme sleep.”

She glared at her brother.

“Sleep should do it,” Owen whispered, his gaze never leaving her face.

Which was good because she was wearing a massive T-shirt, zebra-striped socks, and had crazy bed head.