“Picking up Annie and taking her home. I thought I’d help my mom out around the house while I’m there. I’ll be back late Sunday. Don’t wait up for me, sweet cheeks.” I give a little wink in his direction.
“Don’t worry, I won’t.” He salutes me with his beer.
“Hit the Black Bear for me,” I say, taking a seat at the bar across from him. “Keep an eye on my brother—make sure he doesn’t do anything goofy like run off with the safe.”
“Will do.” He nods, caging me in with a hard stare. “Have you been keeping an eye on my sister?” Cole tilts into me while those ditches in his face invert with disapproval.
Fuck. I’ve been minding my P’s and Q’s around her as best as I can, and, as much credit as I give Aubree for being the wicked witch of the East, I don’t think this is her doing either.
“Your sister?” I ask like I’ve no clue who the hell she might be. “What are you taking about?” I snatch up a near empty water bottle and down it.
“Just wondered if you noticed the way she’s been looking at you.” He blows out a breath of relief and scratches at the back of his neck. “I’ve got to set her up with some nice kid. I know she’s got hormones, but I’m scared shitless she’s going to knock on all the wrong doors, you know what I mean?” His eyes drill into mine, and, for the first time, I see desperation in them. “It’s like all of a sudden she’s all hopped up. Just do me a favor, man”—Cole leans in with an earnestness I’ve never seen in him before—“if she shows any interest, just turn her down flat. She’s not another notch on the wall.” He’s practically pleading with me. “I wouldn’t do that to your sister, dude. I would hope to God you wouldn’t do that to mine.”
The thought of someone turning Annie into a notch sets my blood to an instant boil. But that would never happen to Annie, she’s too sweet—and so is Baya. The last thing I’m going to do is log our encounter like some barbaric conquest. She means everything to me, and I plan on showing her just that. At least up until her brother knifes my balls off.
“There’s no way in hell I’d turn her into a notch, dude.”
Nope. I plan on loving Baya in ways like I’ve never loved anyone, and there aren’t enough walls in the world to keep a record of the ways I plan on loving her.
The only notch Baya Brighton is carving is the one over my heart.
