Rattle His Cage: The Baxter Boys #4 (The Baxter Boys ~ Rattled)

by Charles, Jane

  “Any news on Jade or Noah?”

  I turn and look at her. “Mary didn’t tell you?”

  Mia shakes her head. “Mary just told us what happened with Nina, and she didn’t even want to tell us that, but Christian and I didn’t give her much of a choice.”

  “I would have thought she’d already told you how the meeting with Mrs. Kragen went.”

  “Nope. It’s your business and if you wanted us to know you’d tell us, according to Mary.”

  I can’t help but smile a little. I’ve been with these guys for so long that there are no secrets. Well, okay, there are some. The really dark and bad stuff, like Alex’s mom being a porn star we didn’t know about until the episode aired on the Reed Brothers’ reality show segment. Whatever is current, like my search for my family, isn’t exactly secrets we hold deep down.

  It’s nice to know that I do have someone I can talk to who isn’t going to turn around and tell one of the guys or girls the next time they are together. Not that I really have confidences I don’t share, well, other than my books, but it’s nice to know that when I do, it can be said to Mary and goes no further.

  “Well?”

  “Well, what?”

  “What the hell happened?”

  “Yes, what happened” Alyssa cries as she comes back into the apartment. “Mary wouldn’t tell us anything.”

  As I scrub the kitchen sink and then the inside of the fridge, I tell the girls all about the meeting with Mrs. Kragen, which isn’t so bad. The sucky part is when I tell them about the conversation I had with Mary when it was over.

  “She was only trying to be positive and supportive,” Alyssa says.

  “I know, but I was irritated and angry.”

  “As you should have been,” Mia says. “But that’s not Mary’s fault.”

  “I took it out on her, didn’t I?”

  Alyssa snorts. “Sounds that way to me.”

  “How bad did I screw up?” I finally ask.

  They share a look as if trying to weigh how bad this is.

  “We’ll have to see when she gets here, then we’ll tell you.”

  Great! Now, not only am I trying to not think about what happened to my family and where they are, I’m going to be worrying about Mary telling me to fuck off.

  Kelsey meets us in the back alley and grabs a box once the back is opened. “This is going to be so much better than living where we used to.”

  “I don’t care if it’s a shoebox, as long as the roommates are different.” I really don’t care where I live as long as I can have peace and quiet.

  “Though, I kind of wish you and Mia would have taken the basement.”

  “Why?”

  “I’m the only girl in that house, which isn’t so bad, but I kind of miss rooming with you.”

  I smile. “I missed you too, more so after your replacement showed up.”

  “Is she really just like them?”

  I have to pause and think. “Actually, I think she’s worse. Those two would have never considered partying and letting a bunch of strangers in before.”

  “Makes me wonder who they have in mind for your spot.”

  “They can all enjoy each other’s company for all I care. I am just glad to be out of there and back to regular normalcy and what I assume will be respect for those inhabiting the same space.”

  Kelsey laughs. “You already know Mia, and Alyssa is great, if not a bit wild.”

  “Wild? As in a partier?” Did I just jump from the skillet into the fire?

  “No, not like that,” Kelsey assures me. “She just likes to have fun, like Mia.” She stops and looks at me. “No more than you.”

  “Hey! I’m not wild.”

  She laughs. “No. But you aren’t backward and neither are they. It won’t be party central, but it’s not going to be a quiet timid place either.”

  I’m not really sure what she means by that.

  “You guys will have fun, I promise. Mia is a bookkeeper by day and likes to go out at night, and likes to date, a lot.” She bites her lips and thinks for a minute. “Well, maybe not so much at the moment, but she won’t stay off that horse for long.”

  “Do they bring guys home?” God, I so don’t want to deal with another Shelby. Use them, abuse them, and kick them to the curb. Not that Shelby abused them, she was just done with them after they had sex. If she were a spider, she’d have drained the carcasses of their blood.”

  “No,” Kelsey assures me. “She’d been dating Stone for a while, which is why he was at her apartment. Usually, she doesn’t even tell guys where she lives until she’s gotten to know them.”

  Well, that’s a relief. “What about Alyssa?”

  “Alex says she hasn’t dated anyone in a long time. Guys come on to her all the time at the bar, but she can take or leave them. But, she does go out and have fun, all casual, nothing is ever serious.”

  “You keep saying Alex says.”

  “That’s because I asked more details when I knew you’d be living with them.”

  “You knew them in high school,” I remind her.

  “But not through college so a lot could have changed.”

  “She’s the one who wants to be an actress, right?”

  “Yep. Auditions a lot, but nothing yet. What she really wants to do is run a theatre or direct a show, but needs creds under her belt. Can’t do that if she can’t get into a theatre, though she does do a lot of tech and backstage stuff for off-off-Broadway shows and community theatres, but she needs something that will pay as well as bartending.”

  “I didn’t think bartending paid that well.”

  Kelsey laughs. “She’s got brains, looks, and knows how to flirt. Her tip jar overfloweth. Trust me.”

  I guess I’ll have to and glance up at the back of the brick building. It’s four stories and our apartment is on the second floor. Kelsey opens the back door and we head up the stairs to the apartment, which seems more like two flights than one. “I thought we were on the second floor.”

  “You are,” she answers. “The first floor, where Just Ink About It is has really high ceilings and is more like two full stories.

  As I hadn’t been there, I just assumed it was a regular place with regular ceilings.

  Voices are coming from inside, so I assume Mia and Alyssa are here cleaning like they’d planned. Except, the two of them are sitting in the middle of the empty living room drinking wine out of coffee cups with the Skin Scribes logo. That was the name of the tattoo shop before Alex took over and was asked to rename it.

  I glance around. It looks pretty clean, so I guess they got it done quicker than they thought.

  “Welcome roomie,” Alyssa calls and grabs a cup and pours wine into it. “A toast to our new and improved living arrangements.”

  I take the cup, toast, and then sip. That’s about all I’ll do since I still need to unpack, it’s the afternoon, and I haven’t eaten today.

  “So,” Mia says, “before everything gets hauled up, we need to decide who gets which bedroom.”

  “Doesn’t matter to me.” I figured they’d probably already decided.

  “Well, I would like the back bedroom. It faces north and since I sleep during the day, less bright sunlight issues,” Alyssa says.

  “That’s fine.”

  “And, we think you should take the front bedroom.” Mia grins. “With the attached bathroom. Alyssa and I can share the other one.”

  “Oh no. I’m not taking the best room.” It would be nice to have my own bathroom, but it’s not really fair.

  “Hey, do I get some?” Kelsey asks and puts the box down before taking a seat.

  “Luckily we have more.” Mia grins and pours her a cup of wine.

  “You take the bedroom with the bath,” I tell Mia.

  “Nope.” She shakes her head. “It’s for everybody’s benefit that you are in there.”

  “Why?” her logic is totally lost on me.

  “Well, Dylan is going to get Nina to liv
e with him sometime next week.”

  “So?” I still don’t know what one thing has to do with another.

  “He sees himself as a parent more than a brother, which means he’ll probably get all prudish with her living down the hall,” Alyssa explains. “He isn’t going to want to be doing the nasty with you when his sister is so close because she might hear the bed squeaking or someone, hopefully you, crying out with pleasure, maybe screaming his name.”

  My face starts to heat. We haven’t had sex and I doubt we will after yesterday. “I still don’t see why that makes a difference of what room I have here.”

  “They don’t want to risk seeing Dylan’s naked ass coming out of your room if he has to pee,” Kelsey laughs.

  By now, my face is on fire. “Really, that isn’t necessary,” I assure them.

  All three of them look at me with various forms of skepticism.

  “We aren’t there and I’m not so certain we are ever going to be,” I insist.

  Kelsey snorts.

  “Who wants to take bets on when they will do the deed?” Alyssa asks.

  Mia grabs her phone and pulls up a calendar.

  Are they serious?

  “It will be after Tuesday. Of that I’m certain.” She scrolls through and stops. “January 20th.”

  “Why then?” Kelsey asks.

  “Well, he gets Nina on Tuesday and will want to spend the week and weekend with her and get her settled. It’ll happen the next Friday.”

  I can’t believe they are actually betting on when Dylan and I will have sex.

  “Give me Saturday, a week later,” Mia says. “I don’t think it’s going to happen that fast.” Then she looks at Kelsey. “When do you want?”

  She’s studying me. I can see the calculation in her eyes. Kelsey does know me a hell of a lot better than the other two, and she knows how I’ve been obsessed with Dylan since I found in him our kitchen. “March 3rd,” she finally says.

  I just sit back and look at them. “You guys are assuming that you’ll even know.”

  “We will.” Alyssa laughs. “He lives with the guys and now you live with us. No secrets among friends.”

  “What are we betting?” Kelsey asks.

  Alyssa bites the corner of her bottom lip as she thinks. “The losers have to buy the winner a drink at the Poison Apple.”

  “You know,” I point out. “I could make sure it doesn’t happen on any of those days and then nobody wins.”

  “Mary, when the time comes, the last thing you are going to be doing is looking at a calendar.” Kelsey laughs. “Unless you are really attached to that lipstick.”

  My face heats all over again. It’s one thing that Kelsey knows things about me, but I don’t even know Mia and Alyssa. Not really.

  “Whew,” Alyssa says and wipes her brow. “I’m just glad I’m not the only one with toys.”

  “I’m pretty sure that’s all I’m going to have keeping me happy for a while.” Mia says.

  Damn, we shouldn’t be joking about sex, not after what Mia just went through with Stone. “Sorry.”

  “Don’t worry about me,” she laughs. “I just need a little time, but I sure as hell am not planning on a celibate life.”

  “God, I hope not, you’d make a horrible nun,” Zach says as he comes in with boxes stacked on top of each other. “Where do these go?”

  “Whose are they?”

  “Mary’s.”

  “First room on the right,” Mia answers putting an end to any arguing about who gets the special room.

  31

  “Looks like the cleaning got done just in time.” Christian and Ryan are hauling a mattress up the stairs and I’m stuck between this floor and the next one up while they maneuver around the corner. Alex is behind them carrying a box.

  “Truck is full,” Alex says. “Better grab something. This is going to take forever.”

  If the truck is here, then so is Mary. I need to talk to her, but I can’t with everyone around. Hell, I don’t even know if I have a shot at it anymore, but I need to make things right.

  But, instead of going into the apartment, I head down to grab whatever needs to be carried up. Sean is just coming around the corner of the building when I get there.

  “Done with work?”

  “For the week, or longer,” he grumbles. “Not much work this time of year.”

  “Well, you won’t be bored. The girls started a list of things that need fixed.”

  “Maybe I should have Alex tattoo Honey Do across my arm.” He groans and grabs a box from the back of the truck.

  Mary, Mia, Kelsey, and Alyssa are leaning against the breakfast bar when we come in. They have cups in their hands and an open bottle of wine is sitting on the counter. “Shouldn’t you wait until we are done unloading?”

  “Just celebrating,” Alyssa grins.

  “Where do you want this?” I look down at the name. “Mary?”

  “First on the right,” Mia says. “My room is next and the back room is Alyssa’s.”

  “Thanks for the help.” They just take a sip and watch me walk by.

  “We should probably help,” I hear Mary say. “It is our stuff. But not you Mia. You just sit.”

  “I don’t have anything to sit on yet.”

  “Ooops, that’s right.” Then she giggles.

  Are they drunk? I’m not sure what Mary’s alcohol tolerance is, but Mia and Alyssa can put a bottle of wine away and hardly feel it.

  Mary hardly looked at me when I stopped. Is she that pissed? Done with me?

  I wish I would have had a chance to ask, but after the girls finished their wine, Mary and Alyssa started hauling boxes along with us and depositing them into the proper rooms so the truck could leave. By seven we are all in the living room, surrounded by boxes and furniture, and the truck is gone.

  “We have a lot of shit,” Mia finally says.

  “But at least you have nice shit.” Alyssa sinks down into a leather chair and sighs.

  “I guess I should finish getting my bed ready. Then it will be waiting when I can finally sleep,” Mary says before she walks into her room.

  Now is my chance so I follow her and close the door behind me.

  She’s bent over the bed, tucking in the sheets. Four corner and tight, which she probably learned as a nurse. “Hospital corners?” I ask.

  She chuckles. “Military, but they are basically the same.”

  “Bounce a quarter off them?”

  “You betcha’.” She laughs and grabs a pillow.

  At least she’s being friendly and not cold. It could be because she’s shifted me to the friend zone, or the wine isn’t out of her system, though it should be since she hauled boxes for two hours and didn’t drink again.

  “I’m sorry,” I blurt out.

  She stops and turns, frowning at me. “For what?”

  “Yelling at you the other day. I shouldn’t have.”

  Mary’s forehead wrinkles with her frown. “You didn’t yell at me.”

  “Did you forget about me being an ass outside of child services?”

  “You were frustrated, angry, and all kinds of emotions.” Mary shakes her head and comes forward. “Besides, I yelled right back if you remember.”

  “That doesn’t mean I should have taken it out on you. I am sorry.”

  “You didn’t. It’s not like you attacked me. I was your sounding board.” She takes my hands. “If you can’t vent to a friend, who can you vent to?”

  The word friend is like a knife to the gut. “Friends?”

  She shrugs. “You’ve got a lot going on. Nina, Noah, and Jade. Your family is your main priority right now and I get that.”

  “But that doesn’t mean I want you in the friend zone.”

  “Good, because I don’t want to be either. But, I get that you need to do what you need to do.” Mary grins and steps closer. “This is new. Us. I have school, you have your family. We both have our focus divided.”

  I squeeze her fingers. �
�Your classes start up again on Tuesday, don’t they?”

  “And, you’ll probably see Nina again that day.”

  “Timing kind of sucks for us.” I hate to admit it, but when will we have time to be together and build on what we may have.

  “So, we take this weekend and go from there.”

  “You think I’m going to switch you to a backburner?”

  “No more than I’ll be doing that to you sometimes,” she admits. “This last semester is going to be hard, and you have a family to rebuild.”

  “But we’ll still see each other?”

  “I’m so not ready to totally push you off the stove.” She bites her lip and looks at me. “And I hope you don’t want to do that to me.”

  “Hell no.” I wrap my arms around her and pull her against me. “We’ll figure it out.”

  “We’ll figure it out.” She confirms right before she kisses me.

  If Dylan thought his yelling at me was actually yelling at me, he has a lot to learn. He was frustrated and it was a mild argument. It’s not like he attacked me, called me names, or degraded me. He just didn’t want to be helped.

  Damn he’s a good kisser and I nearly melt. Open-mouthed delicious, exchange of breaths, slow sensual mating of his tongue. Already I’m getting damp. My body just automatically reacts as soon as he’s touching and kissing me. If he does anything more, I’ll be mush and have to lie down.

  He slides his hands down my back, to my hips and then grabs my ass, pulling me tight against him. His hard cock presses against my pussy, and I just want to wrap my legs around his hips and feel him inside me.

  As if reading my mind, Dylan groans and picks me up. My legs go around him as he walks to my bed. I’m falling until the mattress cushions my back and he’s on top of me. I lift my hips, pushing against him as he pulls up my shirt then my bra and bends to take a nipple into his mouth. My girly parts haven’t ached like this in…well, ever. He hasn’t even touched me there yet, but the minute he does I’ll probably come on the spot.

  Threading my fingers through his hair, I hold him close, arching, enjoying his mouth on my boob and the friction of his beard against my tender skin.