Chapter 1: Ash
“No.”
“Ash,” Jett began, but my hard look cut him off.
“I said no. Youjustgave me shit for screwing her, now you want me tolivewith her?” I looked at my two cousins in disbelief. “Are you both crazy?”
Gray was watching me, assessing, calculating, and I knew he was going to say something that would make me want to punch him. I was already close, every single fucking day, to wiping out his smug fucking smirk since he and Quinn got together. He did not want to push me. Not on this.
“Fine,” Gray said with a small shrug to Jett. Jett returned his look, but he was doing a shit job at hiding his surprise.
“What do you mean?” Jett asked him in confusion. “Ava needs to be here. She won’t come here if Mia is left there alone. IneedAva to be here,” Jett stressed to his twin emphatically.
“We’ll sort it out,” Gray said as he headed to the door of my bedroom. “If he thinks he’ll be okay here, then . . . fine. We’re family after all; we all need to get used to it.”
Jett and I exchanged a glance before I caved and asked him. “Used to what?”
Gray turned back to me and crossed his arms over his chest. “Well, Quinn is coming here; there is no fucking question that she’s going to be here. In my room. I know you’re not stupid, Ash. I don’t plan on justsleepingin my bed with her.”
Bastard.
Jett grimaced as his brother laid out in brutal honesty that I would be next door to my cousin and my ex, screwing each other’s brains out.
“You’re an absolute prick, you know that, don’t you?” I scowled at him. Gray said nothing before he turned and walkedout of my bedroom. I turned my attention to Jett. “Wanna swap rooms?”
“No.” Jett scratched his chin as he thought about it. “Even if I did, Quinn’s still going to be here. He’s right, you will need to accept it . . . eventually. I know it’s probably shit for you, but he’s made it very clear Quinn’s it for him.”
I sighed, knowing he was right and knowing that Iwouldaccept the two of them together. I also knew I just didn’t need to do it today. Or tomorrow. Actually, space may be the best thing for me.
“And Ava absolutely needs to be here?” I asked again for maybe the tenth time.
“Yes.” Jett wasn’t fucking about either. “Quinn was sure they’ve been watching her, which means they’ve seen my girlfriend with my best friend, so they’re both coming here. It’s non-negotiable.”
“But yet we’re negotiating.”
“No,” he corrected me. “We’re trying to make sure it’s painless for us all. Ava won’t come without Mia. Mia can’t come as we have nowhere to put her, unless you want to share your bed with her on a permanent basis?” he asked me shrewdly.
Running my hand through my hair, I looked away from him. “Fuck off, she’s just a hookup.”
“Exactly. You going to her means my girl comes here where I can watch out for her twenty-four seven. Mia gets someone to look after her, while you sleep in a different room, and it means you don’t have to see, or hear, Gray and Quinn daily. It all works.”
“It’s still awkward,” I muttered. “I mean, my dick’s only been out of her for a few hours.”
“Yeah, well, we told you not to go there, but you did anyway.” Jett grinned with too much amusement. “Now you have to live with that . . . as you live with her.”
“I hate you both, I hope you know that. You’re shit for family.” Walking into my bathroom, I locked myself in, and sitting on the toilet seat, I closed my eyes and counted to ten, hoping to cool down. I knew I should have stayed away from the redhead, but she was smoking hot, hadcome fuck meeyes, and her body was made for sex. I knew it the first time I saw her and every time thereafter.
She was flirty, and she was as eager as I was. We both knew it was just sex, nothing more, and screwing her, well, it was everything her body promised it would be.
Casual and cool, that’s how we’d played it, and now I had to go stay with her until the Quinn thing was over.The Quinn thing. That was harsh. Her fear had been real earlier, and my own need to protect her and keep her safe was the same as Gray’s. Okay, maybe not thesameas Gray’s — he was bona fide obsessed with her. How I never saw it for the past five years meant he was either better at hiding the truth than I thought, or I was just fucking blind.
Had it been in front of me the whole time, and I refused to see it? If Quinn had wanted him, why the hell had she gone out with me? With a groan, I stood and realized I was hiding in the bathroom, which just made me a complete loser.
God, this was going to be awkward. Fuck awkward, this was going to suck balls. My mind wandered to Red’s lips and tongue on my balls, and I hesitated before I berated myself for daydreaming about her talented mouth.
Grumbling, I started shoving some clothes into an overnight bag. I hated being forced into anything, and now I had to go keep an eye on her while keeping my handsoffher.
Jesus.
