“There’s a lot of garbage humans out there, Wes.” My brother sneezes and glares at Sir Fluffy, who is at his feet staring lovingly up.
I snort.
“We need to prioritize. Some of these are just a few descriptive words. Like when you wrote‘Rhode Island murders—campus killer?’” I look up.
He shrugs and pours us each whiskey from the bottle in the middle of the table. “I’m not sure about that one yet. It was a tip from Scorpion, and I haven’t been able to vet it yet.”
“Just promise me you’ll control yourself. No sneaking away and trying to do any of these on your own.”
“I could totally do this on my own,” Noah says. “Well.After you help with the locating and hacking into systems and all that shit. Then I could do it on my own.”
“But it’s safer to do it with me.” Sometimes I can’t believe I’m the younger brother. “You need to have someone there to back you up.”
“For fuck’s sake, fine.”
A key jangles in the lock and a second later, Callie walks in. She’s got a reusable grocery bag in her arms, and it should have fresh garlic bread from the bakery in town to go with the lasagna.
“Calliope,” I say, my heartbeat skipping when she pauses on the welcome mat and meets my eyes. Honey Bunny hops over to greet her, and Callie bends down to pet her rabbit. Sir Fluffy notices the movement and follows Honey Bunny, as usual. Those two have some kind of bromance going on. Or maybe it’s one way, I’m not sure.
“Hey.” Callie smiles at me as she slips her shoes off, shrugs out of her jacket, and comes right over. I shift back in the chair to give her plenty of space to settle on my lap. Which she does, placing a sweet kiss on my lips.
“Hi, Callie,” Noah says, attempting to interrupt us.
“Hey Noah.” Callie pulls back from our kiss and smiles at my brother.
“We were busy before you came in and distracted Wes.” Noah pretends to be annoyed, but I know he adores Callie.
“So sorry I interrupted your murder talk.”
“You better watch out or I’ll put you on the list.”
Callie laughs. “Noah? You are the least scary person ever.”
“My god woman, that’s not what quite a few people would say, if they weren’t already dead.” Noah sighs. “But I actually love that Wes is so wrapped up in you that he can’t stalk me as thoroughly as he’s done for the past decade.”
“Wow, now we’re saying the quiet part out loud, huh.” I make an unimpressed grunt.
“You’re the best, Wes.” Callie nuzzles into my neck before hopping off my lap to unpack the groceries. Noah rolls his eyes.
These are the only two people in my life who understand my deep need to be their guard dog.
The front door opens again, and Meadow enters the cabin with a bottle of wine in each hand.
“Hey!” she calls in her cheery voice.
When Callie asked if her sister could stay with us for a while, the answer was obviously yes. I’d never say no to that woman. I am a little bummed that we can’t get naked in the kitchen or living room whenever we want, but Meadow gives us our space.
Noah lets out a frustrated sigh and closes the notebook.
“Be nice,” I whisper as a slight flush appears on his cheeks.
“She’s such a pain in the ass.” Noah’s not even trying to be quiet. But even though his words are negative, he doesn’t take his eyes off Meadow. “I can’t believe she just showed up at my cabin earlier. She can’t just do that. What if I was… busy?”
I cock my head at Noah. We might have sent Meadow over to his cabin earlier today so we could have alone time, and we might not have given him a choice in the matter, or even more than a five-minute warning that she was on her way. Both of us are highly entertained by the idea of forcing the two of them together. Callie seems to think they’d be perfect, but I’m not convinced. My brother seems to detest Meadow.
“Hasn’t she been helping you with plans for the upcoming renovation?” I say, also not softly enough.
“Help is a strong word.” Noah shakes his head and glares at Meadow as she approaches us.
