Shaking his head, Archer’s eyes fill with steely determination. “Nothing. Fuckin’ nothing worth worrying about right now.” His eyes flick away from me. “Tonight’s about Cannon.”
I hold back the urge to scrub my hands over my face in frustration, and instead cup his rigid jaw with my hand. Nose to nose, I stare into his eyes searching for the answer. “Arch, come on—”
My gut twists as Alec’s annoyingly loud voice carries across the patio. “Sorry to interrupt you lovebirds”—Alec smirks, eyeing us with sick pleasure—“but what are you doing, Hawthorne? Following in your pop’s footsteps?”
I know what he’s getting at, but I dare him to say it out loud. Tearing my gaze from Archer, I release a growling groan as I face Alec head-on. “Speak your mind, Alec, like you always do. Go right the fuck ahead and find out where it’ll land you.”
Archer puts a light hand on my back. “Careful,” he murmurs, tilting his head toward mine, his words for my ears only.
I mutter from the side of my mouth. “It’s his fuckin’ ass that should be careful not to piss me off.”
“Not a chance of that happening.” Archer side-eyes me, then allows his gaze to flick back to Alec and crew, sizing up how much trouble we’ve got coming our way. With the way he’s toying with his suspenders I can tell he’s concerned some shit’s about to go down.
I grunt aloud because I know he’s fuckin’ right.
Alec gets up from where his lazy ass had been sitting, moseying toward us with Stuart and Joel following. The jackass chuckles, and I don’t know where exactly he got his big brass balls from, but he needs to be taken down a peg or two. He shoots me a devious smirk. “Not knowing what the fuck is going on around here. That’s what I mean. Don’t have any idea where Dane has been fucking off to. Just like your old man is clueless about what’s been going on in this house.”
Before I can do or say a damn thing, Cannon walks past Archer and me, directly to Alec, shoulder checking him hard enough to send him sideways into the pool. He falls with an undignified shout, water splashing everywhere.
Cannon steps up to the edge, looking down to watch as Alec comes up sputtering, madder than a wet hen. He spits water from his mouth, glaring at Cannon as he swims to the side of the pool before turning to his friends and barking, “Give me a fucking hand out of here.Fuck.”
Joel and Stuart each begrudgingly extend a hand to him. I see what Cannon’s about to do before he moves a muscle, maybe because I simply know himthatwell. He lifts his leg and boots Stuart right in the ass, sending him toppling toward the water. After that, he plants two hands on Joel’s back and shoves him in as well, completely blind to what was coming for him. It’s a thing of beauty, watching Alec’s face as he realizes Joel is about to fall on top of him.
I step over to the pool’s edge next to Cannon, Archer remaining close on my other side, as the three dickheads come up for air. They push and shove at each other in their anger. Fucking idiots.
“You fucking kicked me.” Stuart slaps the water, making it spray everywhere. His face is a mottled red as his beady eyes pin on Cannon, and he looks ready to spit tacks over what’s transpired. I don’t know why he doesn’t think he had that coming to him based on the fact that he knows I’m aware of him threatening Elliot. Add in that he and his asshole friends can’t keep coming after us? Fuck all of them. I don’t even fucking care anymore, and from his actions, Cannon doesn’t seem to either.
Alec lifts one hand to slap at Joel, stealing Stuart’s thunder, as the other comes up to rub at his neck. “You landed on my goddamn head.”
“Would you cut it the fuck out?” Breathing hard, Joel grits his teeth, looking for all the world as if he’d like to murder the other two as he shoves Alec away from him and begins to wade to the edge of the pool.
Cannon looks at Archer and me, crossing his arms over his chest with a smug happy-birthday-to-me smile splitting his face, because yeah, I bet he fucking enjoyed every second of that.
One look at Archer and I can tell he’s trying hard not to bust a gut laughing while trying to keep his mirth internalized. His shoulders shake visibly with it, and he’s got his lips pressed tightly together.
“Stop.” I hold a hand palm out, stalling Joel’s frantic exit, then bend down, bracing my hands on my knees and surveying the motley crew before I speak. Finally satisfied that I have their attention, in a low, lethal tone I grind out, “How about you fuckers shut up and listen for a sec. I did, and always will do, what I think is right for this brotherhood. Did I think it was in our best interest to explain every last detail of the shit that’s gone down here this semester to the alumni? I’ll give you a hint, you dumb fucks. No, I fucking didn’t. Still don’t. It’ll get Hawthorne Hall shut down. But you little pansy-ass motherfuckers don’t need to worry about getting into trouble for it because as head of our brotherhood, it was my decision, and I stand by it. Ultimately, they’ll lookto me,they’ll blameme.”I pound my fist on my chest. “And I accept that. So, get the fuck outta here with your stupid, unnecessary, head-in-your-ass opinions.” With anger flowing through me, I decide it’s best that I extricate myself before I throttle all three of them the moment they emerge from the pool. I back away, placing a hand on Cannon’s and Archer’s shoulders and lightly squeezing before I pivot on my heel and walk over to the grill, to Elliot.
Because she will calm me. Being near her does that for me now. Just when I think I’m about to lose my mind, I can look at her and instantly feel better. My eyes catch hers as I approach. Seeing concern slash over her features, I gently cup the back of her head and tilt her face to mine. Her teeth sink into the plush skin of her lower lip. Gruffly, I whisper, “Everything’s fine.”
She glances past me to the chaos exiting the pool and puts her hand on my chest. “You sure you’re okay?”
I give a brisk nod, then without turning around, I grind out, “Bridger, your sponsors are going to need to change before dinner. Make yourself useful and man this grill for us, please.”
From somewhere off to my right, he grumbles, “Yeah, but—”
My head whips toward his. “No buts. A simple fucking ‘Yes, sir’ will suffice.” His face blanches, and I continue. “Taggart will help you when he comes back down.” I point at Zeke, who is watching all of this with an odd sort of glee. “Make sure they don’t fuck up Cannon’s birthday dinner.”
Zeke nods, and I don’t miss the amused smirk on his face. This guy—I’m noticing more and more that he loves to watch others blunder and fall, make fools of themselves, then carefully sidestep the trouble. Smart, I suppose. And more than a little devious. Calculated, almost.
On a heavy sigh, I wrap my arm around Elliot’s shoulders, I catch Alec’s eye as the sopping wet trio moves toward the basement entry to the house. “Don’t make a fucking mess in there. Towel off before you go in. And say another word I don’t like, and you can eat cereal for dinner. Don’t test me.”
* * *
It’s notlong after that we get food on the table and settle in to eat, even though I’m not exactly in the mood anymore. But this isn’t about me. It’s about my friend, who has very seldom enjoyed a birthday in his entire life. It’s bullshit, really, what he’s had to put up with, and I’d go to great lengths now that he’s allowing us to celebrate with him to make sure I don’t ruin it for him. The good news is he seemed to enjoy sending the juniors into the pool. Can’t say it didn’t warm my heart to see it happen.
My phone buzzes on the table, and without looking, I know that it’s the man of the hour. I pick up my phone, glancing at the single line Cannon has sent me.
Hey. Between you and me. Archer.
