Best Friend's Sister (Slade Brothers Book 5)

by Alexis Winter

  His head turns and his eyes lock on mine. I’m surprised to see that they aren’t filled with anger or resentment.

  “But I was scared. I didn’t want to admit that I’d wronged you. So she broke things off. For two fucking weeks, I was a complete mess. I couldn’t eat or sleep and the only thing I could do was watch her, fighting with myself again to not touch her. But then the night before you caught us, I went out on that date and the whole time, I couldn’t do anything but think of her. I thought that I could get over her, but I couldn’t.” I shake my head, letting it hang. “When I got back from our date, I told her that there wouldn’t be another date. And when she asked why, I said, because she’s not you.”

  “You love my sister?”

  I nod. “I do, with everything I have.”

  “And she loves you?”

  Again, I nod. “That’s what she tells me.” I laugh out.

  He cracks his knuckled before opening his palms, letting his hands finally relax. “And you’re going to treat her with respect, love her, take care of her, marry her, and maybe one day start a family?”

  I smile. “Absolutely. She’s it for me, Brad. She’s the only woman I’ve ever felt this way about.”

  “You know she’s young, right? She’s wild and likes to act out. There’s a chance that as soon as I approve of this, she’s just going to dump you anyway.”

  “I don’t think so. She’s grown up a lot, Brad. I think you still see her as that little girl you helped raise. She’s not that girl anymore.”

  “I know,” he mumbles.

  There’s a long drawn out minute between us.

  “So, you forgive me? Her?”

  He looks at me and thinks it over. Finally, he nods. “Yeah, I forgive you both. But you better never hurt her. You better take care of her and make an honest woman out of her.”

  I laugh as I stand up. He does the same and we hug. “I will,” I promise. “I’m going to go tell Deven the good news.” I head for the door, but he calls out to me as soon as my hand lands on the knob.

  “Oh, Hudson?”

  “Yeah?” I ask, turning back to face him.

  “I may have made a little bit of a mistake.”

  I frown. “What does that mean?”

  He hangs his head, looking down at his shoes. “I was so pissed off about the two of you that I may have called Mom. She’s on her way here now to pick Deven up and take her back home since I ‘can’t handle her,’” he says, rolling his eyes on the last part.

  “You did what?” I ask, unable to understand his words. “Your mom is coming here?” I point at the floor. “And she’s going to try taking her back home, to her boyfriend’s house?”

  He nods. “Yeah, I guess she’s had time to cool off and she wants her back home where she can keep an eye on her.”

  “She’s eighteen, almost nineteen. She can’t make her go anywhere,” I point out.

  He shrugs. “She can’t legally make her go, but my mom has a way of twisting shit so she gets her way. Anyway, she’ll be here tomorrow morning. She’s expecting Deven here so we can all have a family breakfast before she breaks the news to her. Warn her, but make sure she comes, will you?”

  I nod before walking out the door.

  I’m driving toward the store where Deven works when my phone rings. I dig it out of my pocket to see Drake’s name flashing on the screen. I pull it to my ear.

  “Hello?”

  “Hey, man. Can you swing by? We’re all here and we have something to discuss with you.”

  “Alright, I’ll be by in ten,” I say, hanging up and wondering what they have to talk about. I make a left turn off Main Street, heading for Drake’s. This way, I have a little more time to think about what I’m going to tell Deven about having to see her mom. I know she hasn’t seen or talked to her since the day she was thrown out over being almost raped by her mom’s boyfriend. Her mom still doesn’t know the truth. She just thinks that Deven is troubled, and once she got kicked out, she went to Brad’s to cause him trouble. She doesn’t know that Deven was nearly attacked by the man who’s supposed to protect her. She doesn’t know how much she’s grown since she’s been here. She doesn’t know that she’s holding down a full-time job and making her own money or that she hasn’t done a single thing to get into trouble since she’s been here. She doesn’t know about me, a good man who loves her and wants to take care of her. I’ll make sure she knows all of this. She’s not taking Deven anywhere, most of all, back to the man who put his hands on her without permission.

  Ten minutes later, I’m pulling into Drake’s driveway. It’s nearly full with all my brothers being here. I haven’t even seen Wyatt or Clay since I’ve been back home. It’ll be nice to get to catch up with them.

  As I’m climbing out of the truck, the barn door opens, and I see Wyatt standing in the open doorway. I smile as I head in his direction. When I’m close enough, he pulls me in for a long hug and slaps me on the back harder than necessary.

  “I’ve missed you, man. How ya been?” he asks, pulling back.

  I smile. “I missed you too.” I move farther into the barn, and Clay grabs me by the back of the neck, forcing me into a hug. He slaps my back painfully as well. Brothers are rough.

  “Hey, little bro. How’s it been?”

  “Good. How’s life?” I ask, pulling away.

  “Oh, you know. Same shit, different day.”

  “Come on, guys. Let’s go upstairs and have a seat,” Drake says, leading us all up the stairs to the loft. The place looks brand new but unfinished. There’s a big circular table set up in the center and what looks to be a bar that he’s building behind it.

  “This is going to be my new man cave,” he says, grabbing us all a beer and a bottle of whiskey to share.

  We all take our places at the table, and Drake pours a little whiskey in five shot glasses. He spreads them out, giving us all one. He holds his in the air. “To us all finally being home at the same time and together,” he says as we all throw the shots back.

  Everyone slams their glass down onto the table.

  “Now, onto the important stuff.” He looks at me. “Hudson, there’s been some shit going on for a while now, and you haven’t been home to tell us what you think.”

  “About what?”

  “We have a half-brother out there,” he starts and the rest of the guys groan and roll their eyes, clearly tired of hearing about it by now.

  “What?” I ask.

  He nods. “Yep. Dad had an affair years ago, and the woman moved when he broke things off. She found out she was pregnant a little while later, and she never told dad or her son about any of us.”

  “Okay,” I say, trying to process what I’m hearing.

  “But then, that woman passed away and her son found some things when he was cleaning out her belongings. He found out who is father was. Did some researching and found out who we are, what we have, and about the money.”

  “Great,” I mumble.

  “Drake wants us all to give up a small portion of our share to create a share for this guy. What do you think about that?” Colton asks.

  I feel put on the spot. “I…um,” I start, unsure where I’m going with this.

  Drake looks at me. “He’s our brother. Wouldn’t you like to get to know him?”

  Colton buts back in, “If we give this guy his share, who’s to say he’s not going to sell it to some outsider? This is ours. We were born into this. We had to put up with dad’s shit for years. I’m not going to give anything up without a fight.” He leans back and crosses his arms.

  Drake looks at Colton. “We’ve been over this, Colt. He’s family.”

  Colton shakes his head. “No, you guys are my family. My wife and kids are my family. Dad, all my nephews. That guy, he’s not my family. Family is about more than blood, Drake.”

  It’s crazy how these two can be so different.

  Drake lets out a long breath before looking at me. “It’s time we vote.”

&n
bsp; “Whoa, wait a minute. Are you absolutely sure that this guy is who he says?”

  Drake nods. “We had a court-ordered DNA test. He’s dad’s.”

  “So what are we voting for here?”

  “We’re voting to see if we should give him a share or just buy him out.”

  “So we either have to lose a part of our share in the company or lose out on thousands of dollars? How’s that fair? I didn’t run off and have an illegitimate child.”

  “Thank you,” Colton says.

  “Look,” Drake breathes out. “I know it isn’t fair to us, but this isn’t fair to him either, okay? Now, we can address this now by voting, or we can tell him to fuck off and make him take legal action.”

  “Does the guy even have the money to take legal action? I mean, we could draw this shit out forever and bury him in court fees,” I say, annoyed that some guy that I don’t even know thinks he has some kind of claim to what’s mine.

  Colton laughs. “Man, I missed you, buddy.”

  Drake shoots him a look, but then his eyes are right back on mine. “You’re probably right, Hudson, but the fact of the matter is that we’re Slades. We do what’s right and taking care of our own is right. Dad may not have seen it that way, and Colton may not see it that way, but that’s the way we do things around here. Our name is finally just started to get clear from the shit that great grandpa pulled decades ago. You really wanna tarnish it up again…like this? Over a measly few thousand bucks? You can spare it. I can spare it. Hell, we all can. And if you think you can’t, let me know, and I’ll make sure it’s handled so that you can keep living the way you want without having a guilty conscious. And you know why I’d do that? Because it’s the right thing. I’m a Slade, and I take care of what’s mine.” He lets out a long breath and looks us all in the eye. “Now, let’s vote.”

  I take a deep breath. I know that Drake is right. This is the right thing to do, no matter how much I’d like to beat dad’s ass for causing all this shit.

  “Raise your hand if you want to give him a share of the brewery and bring him into the family.”

  Drake’s the only one to raise his hand. He shakes his head but doesn’t say anything. “Raise your hand if you want to buy him out?”

  Clay, Colton, Wyatt, and I all raise our hands.

  “It’s settled then. We’ll buy him out. I’ll talk to Celeste, and she will contact his lawyer and we’ll settle on a number. I’ll let you all know when it’s done.”

  It’s not that I don’t want to meet the guy or that I’m being stingy with my share. It’s just that I don’t know him and don’t trust him. That brewery has been in the Slade name since it opened. No way I’m going to willingly give up my share to some guy who could just turn around and sell it to anyone with deep enough pockets. If it’s money he’s after, I’ll gladly give him the money to protect the brewery and our family’s life work.

  Drake gets up and walks down the stairs, I’m guessing to go tell Celeste the result of the vote. He seems letdown by us, but the fact of the matter is that this guy can’t be trusted, not yet. He’ll get the money he’s after. And that doesn’t mean that Drake can’t get to know him. He can invite him to family cookouts and treat him like the long-lost brother he is. All it means is that the brewery is protected. That’s what’s most important to me.

  12

  Deven

  I lock up the store for the day and head back to the motel room. Every time I walk into this room, I get excited because I know who waits for me on the other side of that door, but it’s also just a reminder that I have no family left. I don’t know how long it’s going to take Brad to forgive us, but I hope it’s sooner rather than later. I don’t know how long I go can without fixing things between us.

  I walk into the room and Hudson is sitting at the table, a beer in his hand. When I walk in, he looks up, locking his eyes on mine as a smile takes over his face.

  “Hey, babe,” he says, standing and leaning over the table to kiss me.

  “Hey, how was your day?” I ask, putting my things down and taking my seat across from him.

  He reaches across the table and takes my hand. “I have some things to tell you.”

  “Okay.” I nod.

  “I saw Brad today,” he starts.

  “What? You did? Where? How’s he doing? Is he still mad?” All the questions rush out all at once.

  He nods. “He’s doing good. He was still pissed, but we talked and I explained everything. I told him that we aren’t just messing around, that we really loved one another, and that we’re going to get married and start a family someday.”

  “And?” I ask, needing the answer now.

  “And he said he’s okay with it. He was upset because he thought I was just another guy that was going to take you and throw you away. He was mad at you for getting involved with me behind his back because he was just trying to protect you. But once I told him that we’re together and staying that way, all his fears went away.”

  “So, he’s really okay with us? Like, we can be around him and be a couple and he’s not going to freak out?”

  “He’s really okay with it,” he promises.

  “That’s great! Let’s go see him,” I say, standing up, but his hand doesn’t leave mine. It holds me back and he drags me over to his lap.

  “There’s more.”

  “Oh, okay.” I wrap my arms around his neck as I stay seated on his lap.

  “He’s okay with it now since we talked. But he wasn’t okay with it before. He was pissed and he called your mom.”

  “He what?”

  He nods. “Your mom is on her way here. She’s expecting to have breakfast with you and Brad tomorrow morning. And then after breakfast, she’s going to try to take you back home.”

  “What? No!” I stand, moving away from him.

  “She thinks that you’ve just been here causing trouble for Brad. So she wants to take you home so she can keep an eye on you, help you stay out of trouble.”

  “No!” I shake my head. “I’m not going back there! I’m not going anywhere with her. And I’m not leaving you.”

  He stands up, holding out his palms. “I know. She can’t make you go anywhere, Deven. You’re staying here with me. And then, we’ll take the next step. We’ll start building our house or we’ll move anywhere you want to go. I’m never letting you walk away again. You hear me? I won’t let her take you.” He closes the distance between us and pulls me to his chest. “You’re mine, Deven.” His lips crash against mine and he kisses me deeply. I believe his words. I trust him.

  I kiss him hard until I’m breathless. “So, what am I going to do?” I rest my head against his chest.

  “We’re going to breakfast in the morning. You’re going to tell your mom that you’re not a child. You’re an adult and you’re not going anywhere. Tell her that you’re not getting into trouble, that you have a full-time job, that we’re going to get married and start a family of our own. I will be there with you. Understand?”

  I nod, looking up to meet his eyes. They’re the deepest, darkest blue I’ve ever seen them. They hold nothing but truth and honesty, protection and love.

  I wake to Hudson’s phone ringing at four a.m.

  “Hello?” he answers in the darkness of the room. There’s a silent pause. “I’ll be right there.” He jumps out of bed and scrambles to get his clothes.

  I sit up. “What’s going on?”

  “There’s a huge fire in the neighboring town. They’re calling in for backup. I have to go.” He bends down and presses a quick kiss to my lips. “Love you.”

  “Hudson, what about breakfast?” I ask as he grabs his phone and keys off the table and rushes for the door.

  “I’ll try my best to make it, babe. Just remember, she can’t make you do anything you don’t want to, okay?”

  I nod and he rushes out, leaving me alone.

  I throw myself back on the bed and look up at the ceiling. I know he’s right. I’m a legal adult. She ca
n’t force me to do anything I don’t want to do anymore. But this is my one chance to make things right with her, tell her my side of the story, and pray that she believes me. I would love to have my mother back, to treat her the way I should’ve been treating her my whole life. I won’t let her leave until she hears me out, believes me, trusts me and, maybe, even love me again.

  I somehow manage to drift off to sleep, but my alarm goes off at seven and I wake up to an empty bed. Hudson still isn’t back, and worry bubbles up my throat. I never thought about how dangerous this job is. What if something happens? I shake my head. No, I can’t think like this right now. I have to believe that he’s fine, that he’ll be walking in to interrupt breakfast minutes after it starts. He’ll be there with me. I know he will.

  I get up and shower, taking time to fix my makeup and hair. I pull on a pair of jean shorts and a cute red T-shirt I bought from Destiny’s. I slide my feet into my brown leather sandals and grab my things to head out.

  I knock on Brad’s door and he yells for me to come in. I walk in and find him in the kitchen, preparing breakfast.

  “Hey,” I say, leaning against the counter and crossing my arms over my chest.

  “Hey,” he responds, flipping the bacon. When he has things settled on the stove for a few minutes, he comes over to stand in front of me. He looks down at me and suddenly pulls me in for a crushing hug.

  “I’m sorry I wouldn’t listen. I was just so angry. I felt betrayed, not just by my best friend, but my sister.”

  I nod against his chest. “I know, and I’m sorry you had to find out that way. It wasn’t our intention. We were going to do this right,” I assure him.

  “I know. Hudson told me. I’m sorry for calling Mom. If it helps, I’ll make sure to clear things up with her.” He pulls away to head back to the stove.

  I nod and smile. “Thank you.”

  “Mom and Marco should be here any minute.”