“Understood.”
“I see you passed pistol qualification. Good. I’ll email the relevant department and organize a firearm for you. It’ll be ready for you to collect Monday morning. No heroics before then.”
“Of course, sir.”
“Okay. Get out of here. I’ll talk to you Monday.”
I check my cell as I make my way out of the building to my car, but there’s no message from Cheryl yet. I hope she hasn’t already changed her mind. Given the conversation that’s just taken place, I really need this meeting to go ahead with her. I need to apologize in order to get things back on track.
Let the boss man believe I’m doing it for my job.
But I’m doing all this for her.
I let Cheryl down once before, and I’m never making that mistake again.
My brother Kyler is the only one of my brothers waiting when I arrive at the Armani men’s store a couple hours later. “Isn’t Kade here yet?” I ask, raising my fist for a knuckle touch.
“He got delayed but he’s on his way,” Ky explains.
I sit down beside him. One of the store assistants rushes to offer me a beer, but I decline. I roll my eyes as I survey the large empty store. “Kade asked for the celebrity treatment, huh?”
“Nah, man.” Ky leans back grinning. “Wasn’t Kade.”
“Shit.” I scrub a hand over my prickly jaw. “Mom has definitely taken on the role of bridezilla in place of Eva.”
“Eva is as laid-back as Faye when it comes to wedding planning,” Ky says, his face lighting up at the mere mention of his fiancée. “Mom’s the one flipping out.”
“Doesn’t it make you want to elope?” I ask. Faye and Kyler got engaged at Christmas, and they’ve set a wedding date for August.
“No point. Kade and Eva did that, and Mom’s still insisting on the big white wedding.”
Truth. I was the only one from the family who attended the registry office ceremony last December. Kade and Eva had waited years to be together, so they wasted no time getting hitched once they were free to do so. I was honored Kade asked me to attend and even more honored he asked me to stand as best man at their forthcoming May wedding.
It’s going to be a lavish affair with over three hundred guests in attendance. If it’s freaking Eva out, she’s not showing any evidence of it. Kyler is right. She’s just taking it in her stride.
“Maybe, by the time you get around to finding a girl, Mom’ll have worked it all out of her system,” he teases.
I thump him in the arm. Hard.
“Shit, Kev. Relax.” He shakes his head before straightening up, turning to me with a strange look on his face. “Weirdest thing happened the other day.”
“Keep that kinky shit to yourself. I’m on a strict need-to-know basis, and I don’t need to know what you and Faye get up to in the bedroom.”
Now it’s his turn to thump me. Man, he’s so easy to wind up where Faye’s concerned. “Asshole,” he mumbles under his breath. “I’d never discuss my sex life with you or any of the fam, and you know it.”
Faye is technically our cousin, but only Kal and the triplets share a bloodline with her. James, the man who raised us, the one we all call Dad, is Faye’s uncle, and he became her legal guardian when she was seventeen.
Ky, Kade, and I have a different bio dad, so she’s only our cousin by marriage. There is nothing that prohibits Faye and Ky from being together though that didn’t stop some of the tabloids from spewing a ton of crap when they announced their engagement.
“Okay, I’ll bite,” I tell my brother.
He rubs a hand across the back of his head. “Faye asked me to set up an appointment with this photographer, and the girl who answered the phone sounded really familiar. It wasn’t until after I’d gotten off the phone that it clicked. She said her name was Cheryl, and I’m convinced it was your ex, Cheryl Keeland.”
“Was the photographer Sara Lewis?” I ask, and Ky nods. “Then it was Cheryl,” I confirm. “She works there part-time, around college.” Kyler’s jaw slackens, and he opens his mouth to speak, but he’s interrupted before he gets the chance.
“You’re tapping Cheryl Keeland again?” Kent asks, stepping into the room flanked by Keanu and Keaton. The triplets are the youngest of my brothers, but they’re not little kids anymore. They’re eighteen and graduating high school soon, and it makes me feel old.
“I thought she moved to Ohio or something,” Keanu says, perching on the edge of the couch beside me.
“Delaware,” Keaton corrects him, leaning back against the wall.
“She did, but she’s back in Boston now,” I supply.
“And you’re fucking her again?” Kent says, sprawling across the other couch like he owns it. Asshat has no boundaries and no manners.
“No, I’m not,” I growl.
“Pity. She’s hot. I saw her blowing you this one time and got loads of ammo for the spank bank.” He cups his crotch, rolling his hips, and we all groan in frustration.
Kent loves to provoke controversy, and he craves the spotlight like a true media whore. Sometimes, I wonder if he’ll ever mature. If he’ll ever find someone to love, because putting up with his shit isn’t easy. He’s constantly in trouble, and I know Mom is consumed with worry for him. It doesn’t help that it looks like Keanu is following him down the rabbit hole lately. Keaton’s the only one of the triplets with his head screwed on, even if something doesn’t seem right with him at the moment.
“Jesus Christ, Kent.” Kade swats him across the back of the head as he arrives, shaking his head. “Have you no filter?” He subtly gestures toward the four store assistants standing off to one side.
“Just keeping it real, man. And speaking of hot, where’s that sexy wife of yours?”
Kent’s a little shit, and Kade will kick him around the room if he starts talking crap about Eva, which is the last thing he should be focused on right now.
“Cut the crap, Kent. We’re here to get measured for suits for Kade’s wedding. For once in your life, can you think about someone else?”
He flips me the bird, but he keeps his mouth closed, so I’m counting that as a win.
We all get measured and wander to a nearby restaurant for dinner afterward. This is the first time in a long time that we’ve all been out together, just the men.
“Sucks that Kal lives in Florida,” Kyler says after we’ve placed our orders. “He should be here with us.” Kal attends UF where he lives in a family house on campus with his fiancée, Lana, and their son, Hewson.
“He’s meeting us in Nantucket for Easter,” Kade says, swigging from his beer. “He’s staying at his place with Lana and Hewson, and I think John and Greta are staying there too, but they’re all coming to Mom’s for dinner.” John and Greta are Lana’s parents, and they used to work for my parents, looking after our Wellesley house and grounds.
“I didn’t know we were going to Nantucket,” I say, frowning, because this is the first I’ve heard of it. “How come?”
“Mom said she wanted a change this year,” Keaton explains.
“Is Dad coming too?” I ask, figuring they must have decided this while I was away at my FBI training program and just forgot to update me.
“Yep. Everyone’s going,” Ky supplies. “Including Adam, the twins, and Whitney.”
All gazes swivel to Kent.
“What?” he snaps. “Don’t look at me like that.”
“What’s the deal with you and Whitney anyway?” I ask. “I can never figure it out.”
Faye only met Adam, her bio dad, when she moved to the U.S. Adam never knew she even existed until Faye’s parents passed. He’s become a permanent fixture in her life since then, and Mom usually invites him to our place for the holidays. He shares custody of his other three kids with his ex-wife, and he brings them along if it’s his year to have them.
Whitney is Faye’s half-sister. She’s a year younger than the triplets and the female equivalent of Kent—as in, she likes to be the center of attention, is always in trouble of some sort, and thrives on drama. They are drawn to one another like moths to a flame, and it’s combustible every time they get together. Last Christmas, they were caught fucking in Kent’s room, and Adam was close to murdering my brother, or so I’ve been told. I wasn’t around to witness it, thanks to an unscheduled visit to an FBI interrogation room, but Kade said it was like World War Three erupted in the house.
“She’s hot, and she sucks dick like a pro,” Kent supplies. “But it’s nothing serious. We fuck around when we see each other, but it’s not like we’re dating or exclusive or any of that shit.” He shudders as if the very thought makes him ill.
“Does Whitney understand that?” Kade asks.
Kent shrugs. “She lives in New York. I live in Wellesley. We see each other two, maybe three, times a year. What else needs to be said?”
Ky sighs and I sense his frustration. “If you don’t have feelings for her, and it’s only a casual fuck buddy scenario, do me a favor and stay away from her? Because I honestly think Adam will strangle you if he finds you screwing his daughter again. And I’m not sure Whitney sees things as casually as you do. This has the potential to be a major fuckup and that’s the last thing I need before my wedding.”
“Christ.” Kent drags a hand through his hair. “You’re all so damn serious. Lighten the fuck up.” He eyes my beer like it’s crack cocaine, and I know he’d kill for a drink.
“Sucks to be you,” I tease, gesturing at my beer before I lift the bottle to my lips.
“Maybe I’ll invite Cheryl as my guest,” he retorts, deliberately trying to wind me up. It’s his usual M.O. when he gets defensive.
“Go for it, bruh. I’d be surprised if she even remembers you.”
“Girls never forget this face.” He points at himself, puffing out his chest. “And once I’m fully tatted up they’ll be fighting in droves for a piece of this Kennedy.” He rolls up his sleeves, showing the considerable ink on both his arms.
Mom blew a gasket when the triplets came home the day after their eighteenth birthday sporting tattoos. It wasn’t anything new for Kent—he’s been getting inked since he was sixteen. There isn’t any law you can’t flout, or anything you can’t buy, once you have money. But I was surprised at Keanu and Keaton. Keanu claims his tats are getting him new modeling gigs because that look is all in right now, but it was really out of character for Keaton.
“Do you ever listen to yourself?” Keaton asks, shaking his head. “I swear you’re getting more immature as you age.”
“Screw you and your boring fucking life.” Kent flips him the middle finger.
“My life isn’t boring,” Keaton protests.
“Sure, it is,” Kent says, smirking. “You’ve stuck with the same pussy since you were sixteen, and we all know you’re going to marry Melissa and knock her up as soon as you get the chance. You’ll be old and gray before your time, I’m telling you, man. You want to take a leaf out of Keanu’s book, and start experiencing the world of pussy out there for the taking.”
“Don’t fucking drag me into this,” Keanu says, glaring at Kent.
Kev, Ky, and I share knowing looks. Things are gonna get interesting once the triplets start Harvard in the fall. We know there’s plenty of crazy mayhem to come and that we’ll have to look out for them, like we’ve looked out for one another all our lives.
Kent may drive me fucking insane, but he’s the one who needs the most guidance. Lately, Keanu has shown signs that his world is spiraling, and I’m guessing it’s something to do with Selena, his on-again, off-again girlfriend. And despite what Kent just said, I think Keaton’s in a very unhappy place in his life.
All three of my youngest brothers are trying to find their way in the world, and things are going to get messy.
But I’ll be there for them.
Because they’re my family.
And family is everything.
Chapter 7
Cheryl
“Do you want to tell me what’s wrong?” Lin asks later that night as we share a bottle of wine while watching the latest episode of Survivor. “You’ve been in a funk since lunch. What’s happened?”
“I’m not sure I’m up to talking about it.” I top my glass up and take a healthy glug. “I’d rather just drink to forget it.” Which is the truth because since my disastrous lunch date with Eva, I can’t keep the trip down memory lane from replaying on repeat in my mind. Not even the #HotCop, Daniel Rengering, the guy I’m rooting for on Survivor, has managed to distract me tonight; usually I’m glued to the screen, silently cheering him on.
“Is this something to do with Dan and the barn?”
I shake my head. “Not really, and I haven’t heard from him since I got that text.” Dan texted me to say he’s storing some equipment for work in the barn and I’m not to go in there. I don’t like his explanation and it reeks to the high heavens. What kind of stuff does an attorney need to store in a barn of that size? I fully intend to probe him about it when he comes home Monday night.
“What does not really mean?”
I sigh, tucking my hair behind my ears and stretching my legs out on the couch. “Don’t mind me. I’m probably just projecting because of …” I stop myself from saying his name in the nick of time.
Lin slides off the recliner chair, sinking to her knees in front of me. “Babe. Spill it. What’s on your mind?”
I take another glug of wine for courage. “I met someone from my past today, and it’s thrown me,” I finally admit.
“Someone like a friend or an ex?” she astutely surmises, rubbing my legs.
“An ex, although calling Kev that doesn’t come close to conveying how much he used to mean to me.”
“Oh, this sounds juicy.” She jumps up on the couch, placing my feet in her lap. “Tell me more.”
“You’ve heard of the Kennedys from Wellesley, right? Their mom used to own Kennedy Apparel.”
“Girl, everyone knows who the Kennedys are. They’ve kept the whole country entertained these past couple years with all those salacious scandals. Those boys are seriously hot.”
“I thought you didn’t swing that way,” I tease.
“I don’t. Doesn’t mean I’m blind though.” She bolts upright. “Hang on here a second. You don’t mean your Kev is Keven Kennedy?”
I nod. “Yep. I went to the same private school as the Kennedy boys although they didn’t even notice I existed until midway through ninth grade.”
She rubs her hands together. “Take your time explaining.” She winks. “I want all the details. Every single delicious one!” She’s only short of dancing a jig, but I can’t help smiling. If I’m going to unburden to anyone, it’s going to be Lin. She’s the most nonjudgmental person I know, and she doesn’t sugarcoat things either. She’ll tell it to me straight.
“Try and contain yourself. It’s a long and complicated story.”
She leans back, folding her hands under her head. “I’m going nowhere. And I love long and complicated, so let’s hear it.”
Her eyes shimmer with excitement, and I roll my eyes, but I’m grinning despite myself. This is going to be painful, so I’ll take any lighter moments where I can. “I was pretty shy back then and really self-conscious because I was a late developer compared to most of the girls at Wellesley Old Colonial High. I wore braces until I was sixteen, and I’m dyslexic, which made life challenging at times. I crossed paths with Kaden first. He was a year ahead of me, but he rescued me one day when a bunch of girls were getting up in my face, calling me dumb and teasing me over my dyslexia. I was attempting to defend myself, but I was seriously outnumbered, and they were pushing me around. Kade showed up and told them to fuck off. Then he insisted on driving me home.
He knew those girls would wait for me outside, and he was right.”
My mind drifts, and I smile as I remember meeting Keven for the first time. “When we got to his SUV Keven was already there. He was a freshman too, and although he was in a couple of my classes, he didn’t have a clue who I was.”
“Ouch.” Lin grimaces in sympathy.
“Ouch indeed.” I slurp my wine. “But he was really sweet and instantly every bit as protective as his older brother. Sat beside me in the back and demanded I tell him which freshmen had been picking on me. Then we chatted about school and my passion for photography, and he was really interested in hearing about the projects I was working on.”
I sigh, and a goofy grin slides across my mouth. “Kev has this way of looking at you that’s incredibly intense. When he puts his mind to something, he applies himself two hundred percent, and it’s like that when’s he talking to you. You get his full attention. His mind never drifts. I’d never had someone focus on me so completely, and I know I fell a little in love with him that first day. It was so easy to talk to him, and before I knew it, Kade pulled up in front of my house. I remember how much I wished I lived farther away because I didn’t want to stop talking to Keven.”
“When did you start dating?” she asks, clearly eager to get to the good part.
“Not until tenth grade. We were best friends from that day on, and both Kade and Kev looked out for me in school. Once the bullies realized the Kennedy brothers had my back, they changed their tune. They all wanted to be my friend purely to get to the guys.”
“Wow. I had no idea you even knew them. You never mentioned it.”
“Because I had to put it behind me, and I don’t go there for my sanity.”
“Don’t even think about not finishing the story,” she warns, her eyes flashing darkly.
I laugh. “This isn’t a book, Lin.”
“Could be. You’d make a fortune. Especially if you included photos.” She bolts upright, her eyes popping wide. “Did you see Keven on the cover of Men’s Fitness a year ago?” She fans herself. “Damn, that man is a fine male specimen. If I was going to try straight with anyone, I’d try it with him. Fuck, that man has an incredible body. Such sculpted abs, and he has an eight-pack! Eight! I tell you—”
Forgiving Keven: A Stand-Alone Second Chance Romance Page 6