My dick twitches in my pants just watching him turn around away from me shirtless. I watch his bare back, speckled in freckles and small scars leave the kitchen and disappear from view.
“Does this mean you’ll let me work with you?” I call after him, remembering what this whole thing was about.
I wait a second, not hearing anything until I’m grabbing my phone from my pocket.
“You’re on thin ice!” Carmine calls back.
I smirk.
That’s a yes.
“When I call you, you answer the bloody phone,” Eivor hisses at me not two seconds after I’ve walked into the house. He already cursed me the fuck out over the phone when I called him back after taking Carmine home. It doesn’t surprise me that he’s continuing it.
“If I’m not in the middle of cleanin’ up a mess, I do,” I remind him. I glare at him as he stands maybe a foot in front of me. Blocking my entrance into the living room where the Christmas tree still sits, sans gifts. It looks more and more like a rotting corpse of wood and flaking pine needles by the minute.
My uncle grunts out a grumble of some kind before taking a step back.
“You better tell me what trouble you were getting into,” he demands. “What is happening with the Dresvanni boy? You mentioned him on the phone. I want details.” His face crinkled and brow furrowed in his agitation.
Frustration boiled under my skin, in my blood, and urged me to react to him in the same way. With sharp words and spitting.
“Jackson Carvel tried to kill him,” I tell him, barely managing not to snap. Lately, I’m growing more and more tired of the tension between us, and I seem to be the only one willing to hold myself back.
“What?” Eivor asks, and my aunt comes up from behind as well.
“Why didn’t you let him?” she asks. “This is exactly what we need, Soren.”
My shoulders stiffen. I remind myself this is family. This is what they want. What is best for us. Isn’t it?
They think so.
“Alessio would never work with me,” I explain. “Carmine is the best option right now. I’m just gettin’ closer to him and you two want me to let him get shanked?”
Eivor sighs. “He’s right.”
Damn, hearing that could make me hard if it wasn’t coming from him.
“Let’s move this to the family room. I called you home for a reason,” my uncle says and waves me in. I almost expect to seemore of the family in here. He acts like it’s some big meeting. The only person in there is Rosalie, and she’s reading a book.
“You’re finally home,” she comments as she looks up from the book.
“Rose, go read in the library, would you, dear?” Patricia asks her. It’s clear that it’s more of an order than anything else.
“Why should I?” Rosalie asks. “I’m just as much of a part of this. I should be helping out more.”
Eivor sighs. “Your help isn’t needed right now. Soren is taking charge of this.”
I cross my arms as I sit down beside Rosalie. “If I’m in charge, then I’m fine with her staying. She should be in the loop.”
Rosalie smiles and elbows me affectionately.
“You’re in charge of getting closer to the Dresvannis, not deciding what happens in this house, Soren. Don’t forget that,” Eivor reminds me.
My face falls and I just look at him waiting.
He sits down beside Patricia on the couch opposite us. He motions his hand, and she moves to grab the bottle of whiskey and pour him a double.
“I’m glad you’re getting closer to Carmine,” Eivor tells me.
