He reaches out and squeezes my thigh. “Not forever; just for now. Besides, not sure Mom and your brothers are ready for us anyway.”
“Will they ever be?”
“Fuck no. Nick is gonna be pissed. He always knew I had a thing for you.”
“Really?” I ask, shocked.
“Yeah, why do you think he’d never let you hang out with us when I stayed the night before I moved in?”
“Because he’s a jerk?”
He laughs. “True, but it’s because he could tell that once you were in the room, all my attention went to you. Drove him crazy.We never talked about it directly, though. When Mom adopted me, I think he assumed it went away. I tried to make it.”
“Me too,” I admit.
So many nights I begged, prayed, manifested that the feelings I had for him would go away. When he legally became my brother, I felt wrong, dirty, but all that fighting was no use. On both sides, clearly.
“Wow,” I breathe.
Kolter nods.
“And to think, we could have been hooking up for years.”
An amused snort escapes Kolter, then he smiles. “Guess we better start making up for lost time.”
Excitement surges through me as Kolter climbs on top of me and pins me to the couch.
“Be a good girl and scream for me, Peaches.”
Chapter Twenty
Kolter
The last few weeks, I’ve spent every free moment I’ve had with Naomi. She’s busy finishing up with classes, preparing for senior year and planning what she wants to do with her life after college. She’s still set on being an investigative journalist, but in this day and age, that could really look like anything.
I won’t lie: I’m more than against the summer internships she’s been offered. Mainly because one is in San Francisco and the other is in Miami. Both are fucking far—away from home, away from Mom, away from me. I’d never stop her chasing her dreams but… fuck, if she sets her heart on it, I’m gonna have to figure something out because no fucking way is my girl moving down the coast or all the way across the fucking country. Even for a summer. It’s not happening.
Most nights, she’s been staying at my apartment. She’s settled in quickly and has even suggested ways to warm the place up, make it feel more lived-in. I handed her a stack of cash from my safe and told her to go nuts. Whatever she wants to do, this place… it feels more like ours than mine.
With all the time I’ve been spending with Naomi, there’s been little to none left for the club, hence why I’m in a meeting with my dad and Bones right now.
“The fuck is going on with you, huh? You’re never at the club; I can never get you on your goddamn cell.”
“I’ve been busy,” I answer stiffly, regretting it instantly.
My father’s eyes flash with danger, and his jaw tightens. “Alright, you’ve been busy. Doing what, exactly?”
I look down at the table beneath my clenched fist; I don’t have an answer for him.
He reaches across in a flash, grabbing a fistful of my hair then smashing my face down into the table. Pain ricochets inside my skull, blood spurting from my nose as he releases his hold on me.
“Little fucking punk. When I ask you a goddamn question, you answer me. Now, what the fuck has got your head so far up your own ass that you aren’t prioritizing the club?”
“I haven’t missed church, or a drop. Does it matter if I don’t spend every moment here?”
He smashes my face into the table again, and I blink blearily up at him as he leans over the table and glowers at me.
“Yeah, it fucking matters. You’ll be staying at the club until further notice. Bones is gonna make sure of that. I’m heading over east for a few days, but when I get back, I think we’ll assign you some more duties. Clearly, you don’t have enough to do.”