“Enjoy it.”
Both the Hayward brothers snort and look to each other. “I’m sure my brother would agree, as would my other two brothers, we enjoy very little. I enjoy time with my wife, she’s the most beautiful woman in the world, I enjoy my houses, the fast cars, the wealth, and at the same time, we’ve been at the top for so long because we understand that power isn’t to be enjoyed, not if you want to keep a hold of it.”
The room is silent for too long before his brother speaks up. “My brother is known for his dramatics but what he says is true. Power is the ultimate killer, but the journey is intoxicating,” Jamie Boy adds.
“I whole heartedly fucking agree,” Cas says and slams his hand on the table. “Now, let’s make a deal.”
Jamie Boy nods and Ritchie takes a beat before his eyes slide from mine and toward Cas.
“Our last arrangement was with a man called Weston Hill, we worked well together for many years. We’ll share the same deal with you we had with him, your club is further out than our old acquaintance, but it should only put an extra day on your travels. We’ll have our shipments hit you twenty-four hours before you haul them south. My brother’s right-hand man will sit and work out the routes with you.”
Yeah, it must be beneath them to sit and work out the smaller details. For another hour, Cas and Sparky, Dad and JJ hash out this deal. All I’m interested in is the cash coming our way. I’m prepared to get my hands dirty if it means my pockets are lined heavily.
My thoughts turn to Emma and what she’s doing while I’m here, stuck listening to club politics. I used to steer away from the good girls. Grumps would say unless you’re planning on dirtying them, leave them be. I thought I wanted to dirty Emma, but her kindness and her light is infiltrating deep inside me and once this baby business is sorted, my life will be fucking perfect once again. Cash and exploring Emma. Fucking perfect.
“Then we have ourselves a deal, let’s celebrate,” I hear Jamie Boy say and tune back into the conversation.
Out in the bar, the music is cranked up and I order my first beer of the day. If this kid turns out to be mine, I’m going to need every cent I can earn. She’ll have everything and anything she needs.
Today though, and tonight, is for partying and for the first time in fucking ages, brothers are relaxed and not looking over their shoulders for trouble coming our way.
I sink another beer and another, the damn stuff is flowing in every damn direction and I opt out and order a bottle of tequila.
It’s been a long time since the club was bustling with good times and I doubt I’ll remember it in the morning.
Gulping too much tequila, I choke on the bitter liquid and I vaguely feel the hands roaming on my back and hands squeezing my shoulders. Too many hands.
“If you carry on drinking like this, you’ll be no good to us.”
Blurrily, I pin my eyes on Zara on one side and Naomi on my other side.
“It’s a fucking party, we drink,” I holler.
“We can have our own party up in your room,” Zara purrs in my ear, running her nails down the back of my neck.
Shrugging them both off, I push away from the bar and sway far too heavily to stay on my feet for much longer.
When I think about getting my dick wet tonight, it’s not with either Zara or Naomi, it’s with the angel called Emma.
“Prospect, drive me home,” I bellow and hand the tequila bottle over to Zach as he passes by me.
I blink and I’m in the truck, the prospect hitting every fucking pothole in the road and sending my stomach into turmoil.
“It looks like your folks are asleep, you might want to keep it down when you get inside.”
I roll my head to face the prospect and there’s three of him moving about.
“You might want to…”
Fuck. I don’t know what he might want to do. Where was I going with this? Fuck knows.
Throwing open the door, I fall out and land on the ground. I’m sure my body felt the impact and it will probably hurt tomorrow, but tonight, I don’t feel a fucking thing.
In the blink of an eye, the prospect is grabbing at me and hauling me up to my feet.
My stomach rolls with the motion and then I’m by the front door. Shit, I’m losing time. I must be hammered. I start laughing, not sure what I’m finding so amusing and then the door opens, and my angel is standing there.
There’s another three of her, and I’d take every single one of her.
“How wasted are you,” I hear her say.
“I only had…one drink.”
I try to hold up one finger, but I’m pretty sure it’s my whole hand.
“The club has been celebrating,” the prospect tells her.
I was just smelling cigarettes and stale beer, now I can smell soap and faint perfume. I look down and Emma is holding me up or struggling to hold me up.
“Do you want me to help you get him upstairs?”
“If anyone’s putting me to bed it isn’t anyone with a dick,” I grunt and manage to slam the door closed.
“There’s no need to be rude, Myles.”
“Yeah, yeah, he’s only a prospect.”
I lift my foot to take the first step and end up falling on my face. Thank fuck the floor is carpeted and my fall won’t bust up my face.
“Fucking hell, Myles. Come on, try to help me out here.”
I think I’m rising to my knees, but her cursing has me off guard. Angels don’t curse. I don’t know if I’m helping her or myself, but after a couple of attempts, I’m swaying on my feet and she fits perfectly against me as she becomes my aid.
“Maybe you should sleep it off on the couch, the stairs might kill us both.”
“You’re funny, I like it. I like you.”
“So you keep saying.”
I’m flying through the air and my back lands on the couch. Lazily, I close my eyes and when I open them next, she’s hovering above me, covering me with a blanket from the back of the couch mom keeps here for times like this.
“You’re so beautiful. I want to fuck you.”
Her quiet laugh pierces through the drink and I swipe my arm to catch her hand. It lands on my chest with a soft thud, so I guess I missed.
“It’s nice to want things.” I hear then I close my eyes.
“I’ll see you in the morning, Myles.”
I shoot up and wish I didn’t. I think I’m going to hurl. I sit still for a beat and it goes away.
“Is the baby doing okay?” I ask.
“Your mom said she is, the medicine is starting to work. Goodnight.”
I lie down and look around for her and she’s gone. Within seconds of closing my eyes, I’m out.
Emma
“You’re beautiful.”
That’s what he said. He was steaming drunk and that’s when the truth comes out, or so I’ve heard. He followed it up with, “I want to fuck you” and ruined it, but still it was nice to hear what he really thinks when he was at his most vulnerable.
I can’t quit smiling as I butter my toast, sitting at the kitchen table. Victoria keeps frowning at me but I’m careful not to meet her gaze.
She’s learned so much in the few days I’ve been here, and her grandfather, or Pope as people call him, hasn’t been doing too badly. Ricky has been catching on okay, Kyla is finding it difficult and Myles hasn’t learned anything.
“Where’s the kid?” Myles asks, stumbling into the kitchen, yet again, only in his tight boxers.
I see Victoria moving in the corner of my eye, but I can’t peal my eyes away from Myles’ firm ass as he opens the refrigerator. She nudges my arm, and I give her my full attention.
Her fingers fly confidently as she tries to sign, “What did he say?”
She gets it a little wrong but it’s better than she should be at this time. I sign back, “He wants to know where the baby is?”
Her eyes follow my movements, which I’ve learned to slow down, but she isn’t getting it.
I reach for her board and marker when Myles joins us at the table.
I scribble down what he asked and she takes the board from me. Grabbing the pen, she erases my words and writes her own. I don’t see what she’s written when she holds it up for Myles to read.
I continue eating my toast as they write back and forth with each other, and I’m getting the impression Victoria isn’t impressed with Myles getting drunk when he has a kid in the house.
I catch his last message and act like I didn’t.
‘Maybe mine.’
He pushes the board away and drinks his coffee. His eyes turn to me and his words from last night come back to me.
“Do you want to go out again tonight? I’m sure you could do with a drink after dealing with my grampa.”
He’s not wrong but I shake my head. “It’s not a good idea.”
“I think it’s the best idea I’ve ever had. Tell me why? I thought we had a good time the other night.”
We did and then when we got back, I overheard what I did and it’s off putting.
“I just think you’ve got a lot going on you need to focus on.”
“What do you know about what I’ve got going on?”
Victoria’s eyes dart between us trying to catch what we say by reading our lips, but she hasn’t quite got the jist of it yet.
Tired of not knowing what we’re talking about she scrapes her board across the table until it’s in front of me. She uses the sleeve of her top to wipe away the previous message and hastily writes, ‘Don’t sleep with him!’
Myles leans over to read it and rolls his eyes at her. She widens hers in return and stabs the board with her marker to reiterate her point.
“Fine!” he tells her, moving his mouth clearly so she can understand.
She goes back to eating her breakfast and he turns his focus back to me before standing.
“I’ve got some shit to do today, I’ll swing back and pick you up at six.”
He walks out before I can argue with him, but if he thinks he’s getting the last word, he’s sorely mistaken.
After breakfast, I wash our dishes and get ready for another day in the greenhouse and garden. I’m learning she doesn’t like being indoors for too long. She prefers the outdoors with nature.
Only, it begins to rain and thunder rolls across the sky with a crack of lightening to top it off. We end up in the living room, sitting on the couch, facing each other.
We work on her fingerspelling signing throughout the morning. During the afternoon, we work on curse words and it makes her laugh. It’s the happiest I’ve seen her since we met and she’s eighteen next week so it’s not like I’ll get in trouble for it. I’ve heard her family members swearing every day since I got here.
I haven’t spent much time in their living room and a photo of three kids catches my eye, hanging on the wall.
The little girl is obviously Victoria and one of the two boys must be Myles. But what takes me off guard is the second little boy is identical to Myles. I knew he had a brother, but I didn’t know they were twins and identical at that.
I point to the photograph and sign, ‘Where is your brother?’
She looks at the photo and then thinks about what she’s going to sign back to me.
‘He’s away at another club, loves a girl, home soon.’
I piece together her stilted reply and write down what she signed and what she missed. She becomes easily frustrated when she makes mistakes and I try to assure she’s doing so well, much better than I anticipated.
She starts to sign and then leans down and grabs the board and marker from the floor.
She writes for a couple of minutes before pushing it my way.
‘He’s called Mason. Him and Myles were inseparable until Mason met Aspen. He stayed up in Mercy to be with her and Myles has been lost since we came home.
That’s where I got hurt and lost my hearing. Mason should be home soon and then Myles will be right again.
* * *
Taking the marker from her, I write,
What’s the deal with both of them being potential fathers to Penelope?
Again, this isn’t my business, but I can’t help myself. I’m dying to know all the details. She takes the marker from me and uses her sleeve to wipe away my words.
* * *
‘Before Aspen, they did everything together.
EVERYTHING!
* * *
Handing me the board, she raises her eyebrows, silently asking me if I understand. I do so I nod. It wasn’t because Penelope’s mom slept with both brothers within a certain time frame. It’s because she had them at the same time. Imagine being that close! She continues to write and I lean in a fraction trying to see what she’s writing.
* * *
‘At first, I warned her to stay away from them both, they cause trouble everywhere they went. They were one person in two bodies and liked to entertain themselves in any which way they wanted. But since her, they’re different. Myles is different and now the baby, I don’t know what he’s going to be like.
* * *
She continues to tell me stories about them when they were little, all the trouble and mischief they found themselves in and I find myself laughing along as she continues to write continuously, and I sit closer so I can read along.
I take the board from her and erase the writing. I ask another question.
* * *
‘What about you? Do you have a boyfriend?’
* * *
She shakes her head vehemently and gets up from the couch. I follow suit and stop her from leaving.
I sign, “I didn’t mean to upset you” slow enough for her to follow along and she must understand because she smiles sadly and points upstairs. She’s had enough and she’s escaping to her bedroom.
I fall back on the couch. At least I know there is a guy in her life and it probably got messed up when she lost her hearing.
I’m about to hide out in my room when the front door opens and Myles stalks in. He comes to a stop in the doorway and crosses his arms.
“You’re not ready?”
I look at the clock on the mantle and see it’s just after six.
“I busted my ass to get here on time and you’re not even ready.”
“I distinctly remember saying going for a drink wasn’t a good idea,” I tell him and he narrows his eyes.
“Give me one reason why.”
Just one?
“I’m not interested in being another girl you roll on, I overheard you and your mom the other night, you might have a baby, and the last time we went for a drink I was interrogated by your girlfriends.”
“Huh, I said one reason. Not a fucking list.”
I can’t help but smile, he never lets anything get to him when he has his sights set on something, or someone.
“Out of respect for my sister, I wasn’t planning on rolling on you, as you put it, although who even calls fucking that? Anyway, I liked spending time with you, the girls at the club are nothing to worry about. I can put them in their place if it will make you come out with me.”
Put them in their place? I don’t even ask, instead I ask, “What about the baby?”
His mouth opens and closes numerous times before he sighs and falls on the couch beside me.
“You didn’t have to lie and tell me she was your brother’s.”
“She might be,” he murmurs.
“Tell me about it, make me understand.”
I realise how nosy I’m being but I want to know about him if I’m going to go out with him again. I don’t want to be blindsided again.
“There are certain types of girls who hang around the club, it sounds all kinds of wrong, but they hang around wanting to be with us. It’s always been the way, and brothers get to unwind with beer and pussy whenever they like. Some of the girls have favourite brothers and Mason and me were favourites of this girl Hailee. The baby’s mom. The last time we…had sex, we shared her over the weekend and then we didn�
��t see her for months, not until she showed up with the baby.”
“When you say you shared her, you mean you had a three-way with her and your brother?”
My heart is racing anticipating his answer. I’ve never wanted to hear about someone’s life as much as I do his.
“That’s exactly what I mean, Emma. It’s probably not what you’re thinking though.”
“I have no idea what I’m thinking. How does it work, with you and your brother?”
“We’re not gay, we don’t touch each other, we don’t even look at each other. It was just something we always did. The thing with Mase and me is that from birth, we’ve done everything together, having sex with girls was no different.”
“I’m not judging you, Myles, but it is nice to know more about you. You miss your brother, huh?”
“More than I can put into words. Half of me is missing and the half I still feel is numb. I know I have to get over it, but it’s hard. I sound pathetic, don’t I.”
“Not at all.”
If anything, it’s making me like him even more. He’s opening up and I feel like I’m getting to know so much more than before.
“It’s understandable, it must be weird…”
He leans across and cuts me off by pressing his lips to mine. At first I don’t respond and then I melt against him, winding my hand around the back of his neck. He kisses like it’s going to be his last kiss and I sink into the embrace wanting more from him.
He breaks away first and I’m glad to see he’s as effected as I am. He falls back against the couch and silence sits between us.
Is it possible to have shared many kisses and one comes along and it blows every other kiss out into space just because it’s a certain person you’re kissing?
“You know that’s going to happen again?” he finally says.
“We’ll see,” I say with a smirk.
Their Fractured Souls: Sons Of Lost Soul MC Book Six Page 18