I nodded. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I’ve had a lot on my plate during the past few weeks. I’ll do better, I promise.”
“A lot on your plate? You’re a twenty-nine-year-old single guy. What the hell could possibly be on your plate besides work?” Cade asked.
My family saw me as the bright and loveable fuck-a-bout kid brother. Even my younger sister, thereal baby of the family, had her shit together more than I did. Meanwhile I was out, night after night, chasing women, blowing my money on bottle service and fancy dinners. As much as I knew they loved me, I also knew they were all disappointed in me at some level. The worst part was I could do very little to change their opinions of me. I was the one writing the narrative of my life, and I’d be an asshole if I got upset with them for reading it correctly.
“Okay, maybe lay off our brother for five fucking minutes, huh?” Cricket snapped, taking my arm and pulling me aside.
Our sister was fierce, bossy, beautiful, and someone you did not fuck with. The only one who got the blonde hair and blue-eyed gene, she favored our mother and we would kill anyone who hurt her.
I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and gave her a squeeze. “Hey, sissy. When did you get here?”
“Just now. Bar was hopping. Really good tips.”
Christina was a bartender atBlush,a nightclub my brother’s club owned and she made a mint, but I wasn’t a fan of her employment choice. Mostly because she was a magnet for guys who were douchebags and since she’d lost the love her life (her words) a few years ago and blamed Hatch for that, she tended to occasionally push the boundaries with men.
I frowned. “Are you bein’ careful?”
She grinned. “No way in hell.”
“Cricket,” I admonished.
“Nope, we’re not doing that. Grown woman right here.”
I sighed. “It’s just that ever since Jase—”
“Do not say his name,” she hissed.
“Cricket, you have to deal with him leaving, sweetheart.”
“I don’t have to do shit. Hatch ran him out on a rail and Cade did nothing to stop it, so they can both burn in hell as far as I’m concerned.”
I ground my teeth, my jaw locking as she said those words. She didn’t mean them, but I knew she was hurt, I just didn’t realize she was still this angry.
“He left, Cricket. And he hasn’t reached out since. You don’t think your ex has any culpability in this? Hatch was trying to protect you.”
“Hatch can eat a bag of dicks.”
I couldn’t stop a snort. “Okay, maybe a bit harsh.”
She stared past me with a glare that could turn a man to stone. “No. He knows what he did. I’m ruined for any other man. Broken beyond repair and I will never forgive him for it. Cade is second on that list. You and Cullen are spared, but only just.”
“Well, thank god for small favors,” I deadpanned.
“Why do you look like you’re going to kill Cam?” Hatch asked, walking up to us, our brothers were close behind him.
“Oh, it’s not him I want to kill,” Cricket said.
Hatch sighed. “What did I do this time?”
“Jase,” I provided.
“Jesus Christ, Cricket, you wanna drop it?” Hatch snapped. “He wasn’t the guy for you.”
“How the hell would you know?” she snappedback. “You ruined my life. He was everything to me and you broke me. I am forever devastated. I will die a lonely, used up, old lady spinster because of you.”
“Sissy, don’t be dramatic,” Cade said.
“How about you eat chode?” she shot back.
