I was halfway through my breakfast when Nevaeh walked blurry-eyed into the kitchen. She didn’t have her glasses on yet, and her left cheek still had the imprint of the lines from her pillowcase. Her long dark hair was pulled into a messy, tangled knot on top of her head, and she kept yawning in a way that was so damn adorable, I wanted to pet her.
“Where’s the orange juice?” she mumbled sleepily, looking around the table through her lashes.
“Here it is, Kitten,” I told her. Picking up the container, I poured some into the glass beside her plate that only had a single slice of toast on it.
As I set down the container, I noticed her jaw clenching and her eyes open fully. She shot me a glare before muttering her thanks and taking a sip.
Getting a hostile look from her set me on edge. What the hell had I done to earn a reaction like that just for pouring her damn juice?
Before I could ask what was wrong, Mia cut me off. “We have a little extra time, Nev. Momma texted me earlier to tell me Cole’s pilot had to delay takeoff because of the weather. It’s supposed to clear up this afternoon, so hopefully we can get in the air by then.”
“Perfect. Maybe we should just cancel and do this next weekend. My parents will understand.” She bit into her toast aggressively.
Yes, I wanted to shout.
But once again, Mia interrupted. “No, no. We should totally go this weekend. I mean, the jet is already here. It seems like a waste of resources not to use it like we are supposed to.”
“I don’t even care that it’s my birthday. This is more for my mom than me,” she complained. “I have so many finals to study for, Mia.”
“Oh, please,” Mia said with a roll of her big green eyes. “You already know more than your professors on every subject. You need to study like I need a hole in my head.”
“Whatever.” After another bite, Neveah tossed the toast back onto the plate and downed the rest of her juice. “I’m going to shower and finish up the rest of my packing.”
As she stood, she gave me a scathing look I didn’t understand.
“What did I miss?” I asked Barrick.
He shrugged as he shoveled food into his mouth.
No longer hungry, I pushed away my plate and stood. “I need to walk Sasha.”
As I left the kitchen, I heard Mia tell Barrick, “It’s going to be a really long weekend.”
“Yeah,” he agreed as the door shut behind me.
As I walked back to my bedroom, I saw Sasha going into Nevaeh’s room. The German shepherd adored her. From their first meeting, Sasha had accepted Nev and considered her part of our family. She loved Mia too, but Nevaeh was her second-favorite person in the house.
Bypassing my room, I stopped outside Nevaeh’s and watched them through the open door.
“Are you going to miss me, Sasha?” she asked the dog as she scratched the top of Sasha’s head, earning a soft whine in answer. Nevaeh kissed her snout. “At least someone will,” she muttered.
Straightening, she caught sight of me standing in the doorway. A sad look crossed her face, gutting me, before she masked it. She gave me a cool appraisal before walking to her closet.
“Are you mad at me?” I asked, walking into her room without asking permission. In the mood she was in, I doubted she would have given it anyway.
“What makes you think that?” she asked, not denying it.
“Just tell me what’s wrong, Nevaeh,” I told her, frustrated.
“There’s nothing to tell,” she said as she pulled a shirt off a hanger. Going to the case already open on the end of her bed, she folded the shirt and dropped it inside.
She made me want to pull my hair out. “Why are you being like this?” I demanded.
When she didn’t answer, I caught hold of her wrist on her way back to the closet and gently tugged her around to face me. “Did I do something wrong?” She twisted her lips, and I made a pained sound in the back of my throat. “Kitten, I’m not above begging.”
“Okay, fine.”
I nearly groaned because I’d lived with Mia long enough to know those two words were a deadly combination. She said them whenever she was about to tear into Barrick and make his life a living hell until he could get her to forgive him. Hearing them coming from Nevaeh was enough to make me begin to sweat.
“I’m tired, Braxton. Tired of fighting with myself because our friendship has been slowly killing me for the past two years. It’s fucking exhausting pretending like I don’t like you. So, no, you haven’t done anything wrong. This is all on me.” Pulling her wrist free, she took two steps back. She blinked those beautiful, hypnotic blue-gray eyes at me, fighting tears. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, looking down at her hands that she was clenching together. “I shouldn’t have said anything.”
Stunned by her confession, I stood there speechless. I wanted to grab her and kiss the breath out of her and make a few confessions of my own, but my conscience wouldn’t let me. Not yet. She was still seventeen for sixteen more hours.
“Nevaeh,” I rasped her name. “I—”
“No, don’t say anything,” she pleaded. “I don’t think I could bear it. I just… I need to shower. Yeah, shower. You should go, Braxton. I think I’ve embarrassed myself enough for one day.”
“Nev, just wait. Listen—”
“I really can’t.” Taking another step back, she shook her head, and twin tears spilled over her lashes. “Please, just go.”
“Fuck this,” I growled and grabbed her by the hips, jerking her into me roughly. “Do not run away from me, Kitten.” Her mouth fell open, but at least her tears seemed to dry up. Those damn things made me crazy, and I couldn’t think clearly whenever I saw them in her eyes. “Now, listen to me. You are seventeen, Nevaeh. Seven-fucking-teen. I know it’s only for a few more hours, but I can’t do what I’ve been thinking about and aching to do for too damn long. Not yet.”
“Wh-what have you been aching to do?” she whispered, her breaths already coming in little pants that pushed her tits up against her old T-shirt.
I pressed my forehead to hers and inhaled deeply, pulling her fruity-floral scent into me. Her smell always calmed me, but I knew it was because my brain knew it as her scent. “Things I should have been shot for thinking about because you were too young. Now please, stop thinking stupid shit, and just give me a little more time before you go breaking your heart because you imagine I don’t feel the same way you do.”
Chapter 4
Nevaeh
The entire flight to California, I felt like my entire body was humming, and I couldn’t seem to wipe the smile off my lips. All I could do was relive the moment in my bedroom that morning with Braxton.
For two years, I thought what I felt for him was unrequited. That I was the only one suffering in silence, wanting something I thought I could never have. Yet, Brax had hinted that he’d just been waiting until I was eighteen. He’d been aching for the same things I was.
I’d wanted to cancel my plans with my family and just stay home, see what would happen once the clock struck midnight and if Braxton would make a move after I turned the magical age of eighteen. But he seemed to know that and urged me to go, promising when I got back…
Well, he hadn’t actually said what would happen when I got back. I knew he had his family obligation to deal with later that night, and he was stressed enough over that for me not to want to add more pressure onto his shoulders, so I hadn’t demanded he tell me all the details I yearned for. Just knowing that something would happen was enough for the moment.
There was a black SUV waiting on the tarmac when the door of PopPop’s jet was opened. Marcus exited first, making sure everything was clear before sticking his head back in and letting Mia know it was safe to leave our seats. Marcus wasn’t expecting some sniper or a madman with a knife to attack us. It was more a horde of paparazzi that could jump out from behind some random vehicle he was concerned with.
Now that Mia and I were older, we were getting even more attent
ion from photographers and other reporters, wanting all the dirty secrets on us since we were leading more separate lives from our parents. They didn’t often get much, so they resorted to embellished half-truths. Their newest theory was that I had a secret addiction, saying the apple didn’t fall far from the tree since my dad was a recovering alcoholic. They didn’t seem to care that he’d been sober for twenty years.
As I descended the stairs of the jet, the back door of the SUV opened, and my mom jumped out. She screamed my name and started bouncing up and down, making me fear she would break the heel off one of her stiletto boots and hurt herself.
“Nev!” she squealed as I neared, and she threw her arms around me.
Her boots made her a few inches taller than me, and her eyes were a warm honey-brown, but other than that, we looked freakishly similar. Mom took great care of herself, and there wasn’t a single line on her face that suggested she’d birthed five children who’d kept her and Daddy on their toes twenty-four seven for the past eighteen years. Her long dark hair was pulled up into a simple ponytail. She colored it to hide the few grays, the only real proof of her age.
“Happy almost birthday, my baby,” she said as she pulled back enough to kiss my cheek. “Oh fuck, Nevaeh, how did you get to be eighteen so quickly?”
“Time flies when you’re having fun,” Mia commented from beside me, earning her a welcoming hug from Mom.
“How was your flight?” Mom asked as Marcus tossed our cases in the back of the SUV.
“Uneventful,” I told her with a shrug.
“I doubt you would have noticed the back end of the plane exploding, you were so lost in your own wonderland,” Mia said with a laugh. “It was so bumpy, I threw up for like an hour because of the weather over the Midwest.”
Mom’s eyes sparkled as we took our seats in the vehicle. “Hmm. I wonder why. It couldn’t be because of a certain retired Marine, now could it?”
I felt my cheeks heat, but I wasn’t about to lie to her. “Maybe.”
“So…” Mom crossed her legs and turned slightly to face me. “What’s the verdict on that avenue currently? The boy smarten up yet?”
“Mom,” I huffed. “Really, it’s none of your business.”
“Bullshit. I just want to know if you two are going to become a thing. And if so, are you still going to go to grad school here or back in Virginia?”
I sighed as I pulled on my seat belt, and Mia took her place beside me. When I glanced at her, I noticed she looked a little green, making me wonder just how upset her stomach really was from the flight. Sweat beaded on her upper lip, and she wiped her hand across it, giving me a grimace before snapping her own belt in place. I knew she didn’t always travel well when it came to flying, but I thought I’d heard her in her bathroom earlier that morning being sick…
My eyes widened when she winked at me, but I kept my mouth shut. Maybe she had a reason other than my birthday celebration with the family to want to come home to see her parents.
“Nev.” Mom pulled my focus back to her. “Are you going to come home or not?”
“As of right now, I’m coming home for grad school,” I informed her, storing away the possibility of Mia being pregnant for when we were alone.
My answer didn’t seem to assuage Mom’s curiosity. Instead, we were subjected to question after question about what was happening back in Virginia on the way to Mia’s house. The driver dropped her and Marcus off without us going inside, and then we made our way home.
Dad was in Downtown LA with the rest of the Demons working on some new music for a movie soundtrack they’d been asked to contribute to. Normally all my siblings went wherever either of my parents went. A nanny was never something I’d experienced growing up because Mom and Dad wanted to be fully hands-on with all of us. So it was unusual for Mom to show up at the airport alone, but she’d been asking Mia and me so many questions, I hadn’t had the chance to ask her where my brother and sisters were.
I finally got the opportunity a few miles from home. “Where is everyone?”
“They all had friends to visit. They’ll be home later tonight, though.” She said it so casually, but I was sure I’d seen something in her eyes. I couldn’t read it, and for some reason, that set off alarm bells inside me.
“I’m making all your favorites for dinner tonight,” she informed me, hurriedly changing the subject as the driver pulled into the driveway.
Mom normally drove a minivan and Dad had his SUV, but when she had to go to the airport or anywhere in LA by herself, she called for a driver—something she didn’t like to do often.
She liked a simple life, one in which she took care of every aspect of her own life. It didn’t matter that she and Dad had millions in the bank, or that she was PopPop’s only heir and would one day inherit all his money and everything else tied to Cole Steel’s name, including his share of the Steel Entrapment brand that still brought in a decent profit every year.
As expected, my room was exactly as I’d left it during my last visit, which had been for a few short weeks over the summer. The bed was perfectly made, with all my favorite stuffed animals against the pillows. My favorite Demon’s Wings poster, which had my mom and all the other Demon wives on it instead of Dad and my uncles, was hanging up on the wall over my desk, reminding me what a badass woman looked and acted like.
My desk had a stack of books on the edge along with my desktop computer. There wasn’t a single speck of dust in the entire room, telling me that Mom had come in at least once a week to clean. It also told me that Arella and my other siblings had thankfully stayed out.
Which was a good thing, so I didn’t have to kill any of them, especially Arella.
After washing up and changing my clothes, I walked downstairs to the smell of Mom already cooking. The scent of garlic bread and rich tomato sauce filled the air, and I followed my nose to the kitchen, where she was standing over the stove, making a huge pot of spaghetti.
As I entered the room, Mom didn’t immediately notice my presence, and I saw just how tense her shoulders were. Her head was bent, as if the weight of the world were pressing down on her and she couldn’t find the strength to hold it up any longer.
I’d never seen my mom like that before. She was a strong woman, my first and true mentor, and I couldn’t comprehend what could be so wrong that she couldn’t hold her head up.
“Mom?” I asked and watched her jump.
Turning to face me, she laughed and pressed a hand to her chest. “You scared the hell out of me, Nev. Damn, I guess I’ve gotten so used to you not being home that I forgot for a second. Sorry, sweetheart. Do you need something?”
“For you tell me what’s wrong,” I told her, not buying for a second that she’d forgotten I was in the house.
Her smile died, and she turned back to dinner. “Nothing’s wrong, silly.”
“Mom.”
“Okay, maybe I’m feeling my age because tomorrow I will actually have an eighteen-year-old child.” She laughed again, but I could easily hear the strain in it.
“Seriously, Mom. Since when do you worry about your age?” I knew she was lying, but for the moment, I would let her pretend. If she didn’t want to tell me, then maybe Daddy would let me know what was wrong with her.
“It’s a new development.” Mom played it off with a wave of her hand. “I’ve realized that with one child out in the world finding herself, the others will soon follow. And then all too soon, it will just be me and your father in this huge house with no babies to care for.”
There was real sadness in her voice now, and it made my heart clench for her. “Relax, Mom. I’m sure by the time Damien is out of the house, at least one of us will have given you grandkids to spoil.”
She shot me a wicked grin over her shoulder. “Maybe sooner than expected if you and Braxton figure yourselves out.”
“Mom…” I whined even as the thought produced the most unusual feeling of rightness I’d ever experienced. “Please do not say shit like th
at in front of Daddy.”
Laughing, she bent and pulled a pan of crusty garlic bread out of the oven. “Go set the table. It’s us and Dad for dinner, and he just called to say he was on his way. Should be here in less than twenty minutes.”
Doing as I was told, I grabbed the plates and silverware and set the kitchen table since it was just the three of us. There was a huge table that could potentially seat fifty in the gigantic dining room that we only ever used when we had family dinners with our extended family. But that didn’t happen often, so the dining room table was more often than not an arts and crafts table that Mom and Arella constantly had covered.
By the time Mom had placed a bowl of salad on the table, I heard the front door open.
Surprised that he hadn’t come in through the garage, I took off running and threw myself into Daddy’s arms the second I saw him. He let out a pained groan as I squeezed him, and I laughed, thinking he was playing around.
Until I looked up at his face and saw his skin was gray, and even though he was grinning down at me, he couldn’t hide the pain in his eyes.
“I’m sorry,” I hurriedly apologized. “I didn’t mean to be so rough.”
“It’s okay, sweetheart,” he assured me, kissing the top of my head and giving me a squeeze in return. “I’ve missed you so damn much.”
“Dray, dinner is ready,” Mom called out.
“Coming, Angel.” Tossing one arm around my shoulders, he guided me back into the kitchen. “Let me wash my hands, and we can eat.”
I took my place and picked up my napkin while Mom dished out the spaghetti onto each of our plates. As Daddy joined us at the table, he kissed her temple, telling her he loved and missed her. She leaned into the touch of his lips, and before she closed her eyes, I thought I saw a sheen of tears in her honey-brown eyes.
But when she opened them again, it was gone, making me wonder if I’d imagined it.
“How did work go today?” she asked as she took her place at the table and reached for the salad dressing.
“We finally decided on what sound we wanted to go with for that song Nik and I have been working on all week,” Daddy told her before stuffing his mouth full with spaghetti. “It sounds wicked.”
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