“I am long since old enough to wear what I want when we go out,” I replied.
“You are not going out in that!” Luther said more forcefully.
“Blokes will make all kinds of assumptions, Lu,” Oscar nodded, apparently back from work again, like he’d have any idea. “Especially with Tommy out of the picture now.”
“Tell her, Cade.” Carter motioned at him. “Tell her she’s just going to be some fuck to any guy that looks at her.”
Caden spluttered a little. It was the first time I’d seen him lost for words in the nineteen years I’d known him. I had to admit I was kind of pleased I’d made him speechless. Brit had dressed me up a little differently than usual, all to celebrate my newfound freedom so she said.
“Bloody useless you are,” Carter grumbled. “Seriously, no self-respecting guy is going to look at you twice, Lulu. They’re just going to be staring at your tits.”
Well, he’d know.
“Gee, thanks, Cart. You really know how to make your little sister feel special.” I grabbed Brit’s hand and headed for the door.
“Lucy, you are not going–”
“Shut up, Luther! I am twenty-one and I will do what I want. I’ll leave you lot to stare at Caden’s magnificent abs!”
I pushed Brit out the door and slammed it behind us. She barely kept up and, when I turned to yell at her, she was pointing back to the house and opening and closing her mouth like a goldfish.
“God, what?” I asked.
“Shit. I knew he was built, but that was incredible,” she said breathlessly.
I nodded. “Yes, it was.”
“That, Lucy Sykes, is the only guy you’ve ever loved in the flesh.”
“Shut up, Brit.”
“He’s built and you’re newly single.”
I sighed. “I know, Brit.”
She squealed and caught up to me. “Is Operation Seduce Caden back on?”
As I put my arm through hers, I laughed, “No, God no. I’m not fifteen anymore. I’m totally over him.”
“Uh-huh, that’s why I heard your ovaries screaming his name when you saw him just now.”
“Shut up.” I swatted her. “Caden has no interest in me. I’ll always be little Lulu, the pseudo sister he never wanted.”
“I don’t think so,” Brit scoffed. “Did you see the way he was looking at you? I thought I was going to combust right there just from the tension melting off you two. And that was just then? How about since he’s been back!”
“He’s some super secret agent dude now, what does he want with me?”
“Um, I think it starts with ‘f’ and rhymes with ‘puck’.”
“Puck you,” I chuckled.
“Hey, hey!” I heard Carter yell from behind us.
“Ugh, ignore him and he might go away,” I muttered.
“I’d really rather not ignore him.” She winked and I cringed.
“Ew. Don’t want to be reminded how desperate you are to sleep with my brothers.”
“Lulu! Brit!” And there was Oscar.
Carter was jogging towards us, a huge grin plastered on his face and I knew that spelled trouble for me. Oscar seemed trapped between running after Carter or hanging back with Luther and Caden.
“What do you lot want?” I asked, hands on hips.
“We thought we’d tag along, take Cade out,” Carter took my shoulders in his hands and beamed down at me, “give him a proper welcome back now his leg’s free, you know.”
I shrugged out of his grip. “And you decided to come out now, with us?”
“Can’t pretend Luther didn’t see it as a decent op to keep an eye on you in your skank uniform.”
I slapped him across the face, hard. “Speak for yourself. We’ll walk in there and you’ll have at least four girls clamouring to buy you drinks.”
“Darlin’, it’s not slutty when you’re me.” He winked at Brit and she giggled.
“God, you’re gross. You worry about me? What about all those girls you sleep with? They’re someone’s daughter or little sister too, you know.”
“Aw, come on Lulu, don’t be such a downer.” Luther smiled, having caught us up and seeming to be in a surprisingly good mood.
He and Carter took one of Brit’s shoulders each and steered her in the direction of the pub while Oscar trailed behind, leaving me to face Caden. I didn’t know why he looked so awkward. He’d had me on his lap earlier. With a raging hard on.
“Decided to do your shirt up, I see.”
“Well, we’re going out and all.”
I pouted. “Oh, shame. The girls will be missing out tonight.”
He gave me a crooked smile that made my heart flutter despite how often I’d told myself I was over him.
If you were over him, you would have had a better argument and Tommy wouldn’t have dumped you. I reminded myself, then promptly told myself to shut up.
He caught up to me and I hugged his arm.
“How are you doing?” he asked.
“Yeah, fine.” Except that I’m newly single and you’re freaking amazing.
“You know, I wouldn’t worry about Tommy.”
“I know you wouldn’t. That’s probably healthy.”
He laughed. “You know what I mean. If he wasn’t willing to fight for you, then maybe he wasn’t the right guy?”
“Yeah, maybe…”
“You’ll find the right guy, Lu.”
“And who’s to say I haven’t already?” I replied sadly.
“But?”
“But what’s the use in loving someone who’ll never love you back?”
“Yeah, I hear you,” he sighed.
I gave him a sad smile. He’d hinted he had someone special, but I never knew it was love. I was desperate to know who she was but also really didn’t want to know who held his heart when it would never be me. He might have shown an interest in my body the last week, but obviously that’s all it was, if it wasn’t a figment of my imagination. He gave my shoulder one more squeeze as we caught up to the others who were waiting for us outside the pub.
Brit took my arm and grinned like a madwoman. I knew exactly what she was thinking; she was super thrilled that we got to walk in with the Sykes brothers, of whom Caden was an honorary member and included in every woman’s – young or old – Sykes brothers fantasies.
I nodded to her, ignoring the stupidly tall boys surrounding us and we pushed the doors open. Unsurprisingly, we entered to yells of “Sykes!” and “Lucy!” and a few girls squealed Caden’s name. Carter was in his element. Oscar smiled politely at everyone. Luther grinned like the cocky bloke he was. And Caden seemed to slip back into his old easy charm.
Even the boys were thrilled we’d brought my brothers; they were something of legends apparently. Although, whatever kind of bullshit man-nonsense that was, I don’t want to know. Anyway, it meant that my brothers were busy and Brit and I could sneak away to the bar before they noticed.
Well, I say us. Brit would much rather have stayed with them, but I wanted to get some beers into me before my brothers decided I needed to take it slow.
I noticed Josh and a few of his friends were eyeing us as we crossed to the bar. As soon as I pointed this out to Brit, she stopped worrying about her fantasies of the Sykes brothers’ sandwich – I shuddered just thinking about it. We smiled and winked at the boys as we went to the bar. Josh and Lecherous Brett split away from the group and met us at the bar.
“You girls brought the Sykes out. Nice. I heard Caden was back in town.” Josh grinned and I rolled my eyes before turning to the barman.
“Hey Lulu, what’ll it be?”
“Beer and shot of Fireball, thanks Grant.”
“I still can’t believe you’re old enough to drink,” he said, shaking his head with a smile. He and my dad had owned the place before Dad died in a car accident nine years earlier.
“Yeah. Well, you better believe it. Can I run up a tab
and pay you tomorrow?” I batted my eyelashes at him.
“How about I take it out of your cut?” He grinned.
I nodded. “Deal.”
The boys and I all got a percentage of Dad’s half of the business, mine had been stored away until I reached eighteen. Which, aside from being pretty sweet, meant that I pretty much drank for free.
He passed me the drinks. I knocked back the Fireball and took a gulp of the beer.
“You planning on drinking that way all night?” Lecherous Brett asked, eyeing me up and down in the exact fashion the boys had told me about.
Not that I needed their insights, this wasn’t my first time out and there was a reason I called him Lecherous Brett.
“No. Just until my brothers notice I’ve started,” I replied, motioning to Grant for another.
Even with guys like Lecherous Brett, I always felt safe here. It had been our home away from home. Grant took care of me, and the boys would whether I liked it or not.
“Do you dance, Lucy?” he asked, leaning close.
“Yes, I do, Brett. But not until I’ve finished my drinks.” I smiled at him.
“All right.” He grinned.
9
Caden
Holy shit. Was that actually Lucy Sykes out on the dancefloor with some groping arsehat? I knew she’d changed since I’d left – I’d noticed it plenty myself in the last week – but that?
I watched as she ground against him, laughing and smiling, not even noticing when Brit headed over to us for a moment. Brit landed among the four of us like an exhausted tornado, batting her eyes at Carter and Oscar. I smiled as I realised she hadn’t grown out of that particular crush.
I smacked Luther on the arm and pointed at Lucy. “Are you not going to do anything about that?”
Luther followed my hand and grunted. “Ugh, I know it’s gross. Just don’t look. It’s what we do.”
I wanted to tell him it being gross was far from my problem. But I’d never known how to broach the subject of Lucy with them; how she made me feel more alive than any near miss on all my missions, how her smile lit me up inside like a Christmas tree, how I wanted to be more than just a brother to her. But, as much as I’d never known how I’d tell the three overly protective wankers next to me I was in love with their sister, it didn’t matter when she’d never shown any inclination to feel the same. Sure, she’d shown an interest in me physically this week, and it was a good start, but it wasn’t good enough to tell her brothers I was in love with her.
She was only fifteen when I started to see her differently, after all, feeling all wacked out and pervy and weird. But I hadn’t been able to help myself, my love for her had irrevocably changed and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it. Leaving had seemed like a good idea, so I’d packed my stuff and put some distance between us. We’d emailed now and then, and she chatted with me the way she always had with Carter, Oscar or Luther. Distance had helped, and I’d convinced myself I was over her.
But after a week of semi-flirting and seeing her tonight – wearing a denim skirt more suited to being a belt than clothes and a plunging red halter top, her hair spilling around her shoulders – I knew there was no way I was getting over her. And when I saw her dancing with those shithead guys who looked at her like nothing but a cheap score, I knew I had to tell her soon. In love with another guy or not, I couldn’t go on with my life without her knowing.
“At least Tommy hasn’t shown his face,” I said, more to take my mind off the way her hips were swaying than I really wanted to talk about that wanker.
Luther shrugged. “Yeah, total dick. Can’t believe he thought she was in love with someone else. Insecure wanker.”
“Ah, it’s not Tommy’s fault,” Brit giggled and I wondered just how many drinks the girls had had at the bar before they started dancing.
“How is disbelieving our girl not his fault?” Oscar asked. The only time I’d ever seen him get remotely angry or…well, like the rest of us, was when he was jumping to Lucy’s defence. The rest of the time, God knew I loved the guy, but he was a little bit of a sissy.
“Because there might have been a very good reason Tommy thought what he did. Not that Lucy will ever admit it.” Brit giggled again and looked very pointedly at me.
I frowned at her, but she just put a finger to her lips and winked at me before draining Carter’s beer and sweeping back off into the crowd.
“I swear, she gets weirder every month,” Luther said, popping a chip into his mouth, his mind obviously moved onto the sorts of things Carter was thinking about.
“Do you know anything about this guy?” I asked Oscar. I held a small, niggling hope, but I wasn’t going to fan it until I knew more.
He slid an odd glance at me. “Huh? Nope. If there was a guy other than Tommy, the last Lulu said anything to me was…” He paused, thinking, “probably a couple of years ago now. She asked me how to tell a guy she liked him. I told her you just go up to him and say ‘hey, I like you’ but she was adamant it wouldn’t work because he’d never like her. I told her he might but she just might not realise it. Then, she burst into tears and ran into her room.” Oscar shrugged. “That was the last time she said anything about anyone before Tommy came along.”
“How do you know she wasn’t talking about Tommy?”
“Not sure why you care all of a sudden,” Oscar raised an eyebrow at me, “but I just knew. Whoever this guy was, he was special to her – like special, man – and she was devastated he’d never like her back. Personally, I wanted to find the guy and bash his head in until he realised he was an idiot, but I never knew who he was. When Tommy came along, it was different somehow.”
I nodded and looked back over to Lucy. I was with Oscar on this one, I’d be quite happy to bash the guy’s head in until he realised how amazing she was. Funny how the Sykes boys didn’t actually want anyone dating their little sister but, if someone didn’t like her back, there was hell to pay.
Carter and Luther had disappeared, working on some ladies no doubt, bloody tossers. Although I was glad some things never changed, Lucy Sykes going from wonderful, beautiful and intelligent to also pant-tighteningly sexy was one change I had not bargained for when I came home. And it was getting worse by the day.
“Come and dance with us, boys!” Brit and Lucy appeared at our sides, grinning widely.
“And what about the bloke you were just wiping your arse all over?” Oscar asked.
Lucy laughed, her blue eyes bright, and my cock twitched. “Lecherous Brett? No thanks, palmed him off on some other unlucky girl.”
She grabbed my arm as Brit grabbed Oscar and pulled us to our feet.
“No, I really don’t think you want to dance with us,” I said, holding my hands up in surrender, watching Brit lead Oscar away.
Lucy laughed again and I felt the need to rearrange myself. “Come on, the Sykes boys always dance with us.” She sobered a moment and looked down. I panicked she’d seen my hard on – not that she hadn’t felt it before – then she spoke. “Unless your leg will hurt. Then I’ll give you a free pass for now.”
Something made me shake my head. “No, my leg won’t hurt.”
“Good.” She took my hand and pulled me along behind her.
Not for the first time, I marvelled at how well her hand fit in mine. We’d held hands hundreds, millions of time over the years for different reasons, and it had never not felt right.
She squeezed us through the crowd, almost getting lost until I brought her to my chest and manoeuvred her through with my wider body. I had to try very hard to think unsexy thoughts as I felt her against me, and resist the urge to pull her against me harder and let her know exactly what she did to me.
She spun before I realised she’d stopped and I kept walking, catching her against me as she giggled and put her hands on my chest. She was so tiny and she was in my arms again. We stared at each other for a few moments and, for a second, I had that hope that maybe s
he felt the same way I did. Then, damn it, I was distracted by the sight of her breasts pressed against me and threatening to spill out of her top.
She chuckled, “You like what you see, Cade?”
She’d had more to drink than she probably should have. But then again, so had I while I’d watched her dry hump a bunch of arseholes.
“I doubt I’m the only one,” I replied with a wink.
And the part where you don’t indicate you like her so she doesn’t freak out and you get jumped by the Sykes boys?
She bit her lip as she smirked up at me, but she didn’t say anything. She only turned around and started dancing against me. If I’d thought she was dry humping those other guys, I’d been wrong. What she was doing to me now…there was no hiding how hard I was with her pressed right up against me. I looked around for the Sykes boys in panic, but Oscar was dancing pretty similarly with Brit, and Carter and Luther were well busy.
“Come on, Caden. Dance with me,” she said as she brushed her hand down my cheek.
“I don’t imagine you usually dance with your brothers like this,” I replied, unable to stop myself moving with her.
“You don’t seem to be complaining.” She slid her other hand up my thigh.
I pressed my hand against her stomach, pulling her towards me. “How many guys do you know who’d complain with a sexy vixen like you doing that to them?”
She moaned softly. “You think I’m sexy?”
My hand slid down her stomach and pulled her into my crotch. “I think you know I do.”
Reece, you arsehole, what are you doing?
I took both her hips in my hands and leant towards her ear. “I need some air, I’ll be back.”
I hurried outside, avoiding looking towards any of the boys and leant against the wall, closing my eyes.
“What are you doing, Reece?” I sighed.
“I could ask you the same thing.”
My eyes flew open. “Fuck. Oscar man, you scared me.”
“Bloody useless secret agent you make.” He laughed.
I grinned. “Yeah, because I go on all my missions drunk and distracted.”
Caden (Loving the Sykes Book 1) Page 6