“She up?”he asked.
“I am up,” I called out.“Come in, cranky brother.”
Swift stepped to the side.“You heard her.”
Tyson came inside, and Swift shut the door behind him before walking back to the kitchen like he hadn’t just done a whole silent male showdown on my behalf.
Tyson dropped onto one of the stools at the kitchen island while Swift came back to stand next to me.
“I’m surprised to see you so early,” I said to Tyson.
Tyson, however, was not looking at me.He was looking at Swift.“I wanted to make sure you were okay.”
I laughed and turned back to the coffee machine to make Swift his plain, boring black coffee.
“I’m happy to be back in my apartment.”
“You should still be at Mom’s,” Tyson said immediately.
There it was.
I glanced at him over my shoulder.
“There a reason why you didn’t tell me you were coming back here?”he asked.
“Because you think I should still be at Mom’s,” I said with a snort.“I’m too old to argue with you about where I should be.It’s easier to just do what I want and deal with your grumpy ass later.”
Tyson grunted.“Sorry for being grumpy, but my sister did get shot a week ago.”
“I know,” I said dryly.“I was there.”
That got a half-second twitch at the corner of Swift’s mouth.
I poured his black coffee into one of my less exciting mugs and handed it over.Then I picked up the latte-that-was-supposed-to-be-his-and-now-belonged-to-me and leaned against the counter while I took a sip.
Tyson watched the exchange with narrowed eyes.“Didn’t make me a coffee?”he asked.
I scoffed.“No.Because you don’t like coffee, and I didn’t know you were coming over.”
He looked offended.“I like coffee.”
“You like gas station sludge with too much sugar in it,” I corrected.“That’s not the same thing.”
His eyes slid back to Swift as he took a sip of the coffee I made him, and I knew exactly what Tyson was thinking.
He was struggling.
Not just with me getting shot.
But with the fact that he hadn’t been there.
Swift had.
The club had.
And now Swift was the one standing in my kitchen, acting like he belonged there.
Tyson hated that.I understood it.Didn’t mean I was going to rearrange my life to soothe his feelings, though.
