I exhale the smoke and watch as it slowly climbs above my head. “I know.”
“Well?” He raises a brow.
“He’s close. After Justin and Lance, he just needs space. We have to give it to him, you know the consequences of forcing him.”
“Fuck.” His hand scrubs down his face. “Georgie?”
“You’ll have to talk to him about that.” I shake my head.
“The girls are asking questions.”
“I know, I just left Faith’s.” I take another hit and pass it back. “I’ll see you inside.”
I'm grateful for the buzz I have going on because I know I'm going to need it to help me dodge the fucking firing line I have waiting for me inside. I close the front door behind me and Oliver steps out of the family room.
"Hey." He nods at me once. "They're waiting for you in there." He thumbs behind him.
"Cool."
I haven't really taken the time to get to know Oliver Ballon and for some reason I can't seem to make myself try. Maybe it's the thought that he's a guidance counselor who's fucking my best friend. Best friend, I guess that happened again without any warning.
I brush by him and enter the family room to Cooper smoothing down Kailey's hair as she gnaws on her fingernails. Her eyes look frantic as she quickly stands up and crosses the room towards me.
"Zeke," her raspy voice jolts my cock awake in my pants and I smother a groan into my fist. "I think someone has been in my house."
"Why? What happened?" I ask her and tuck her hair behind her ear before I can stop myself.
"I can feel someone watching me sometimes, I find weird things around the house." She seems unaffected by my touching her, so I curl my hands into fists at my sides.
"What weird things?" I look over to Cooper with my brow raised.
"There was an eaten apple core on the table today." He answers with a shrug.
"And last week!" Kailey exclaims.
"Shit." I wipe my hand down my face and exhale. "That was me. Sorry." I fucking hate apples.
The lie comes easy, that's what happens when you have a lying, no good piece of shit as a father, you pick up on the habits.
"It was you?" Her hazel eyes are large with worry and her voice is begging me to confirm the lies.
"Yes." I nod. "I'll try to..."
Before I can finish my sentence, she throws herself into my arms and my traitorous limbs pull her in tighter against me.
"Thank you." She whispers into my chest.
Fuck, there's no turning back for me. The smell of her hair, the feel of her skin, and the warmth of her body already feels like they're all mine. I don't know exactly what that means but I have to try my best to fight this shit. I won't be a fourth in this fucking equation.
I grip onto her biceps and gently move her back a few paces. More distance the better.
"Is that all you guys needed?" I ask Cooper because looking at her right now will crumble my whole resolve.
"I think Caine wants to chat with us both."
"Cool. I'll wait for you in the backyard." I nod and quickly turn on my heel.
As I walk out of the room, I hear Kailey's soft voice ask Cooper, "did I do something wrong?"
"No Sha, he's new to our dynamic..." I don't bother to listen to the rest as I stalk outside.
With Caine's constant teasing and Cooper's faith we'll all work it out, I feel myself softening. I can't let that happen, I could never be in a relationship where I am sharing the girl I love and watching as another man enjoys her. Yes, in the moment when I'm watching them together, I want to stay and I even want to participate, but what grown ass man wouldn't?
My head is clear when they're not around and I am realizing I need to build some distance between us before the fog of lust settles in for good.
"Did you say you ate those apples?"
"What the fuck?" I jump as soon as I hear Brody's voice coming from the left side of her deck.
"Well?" He asks calmly. It only makes me want to hit him more.
"Yeah, can you go fuck off before someone catches you?" I growl into the dark. "If Caine finds this out he will kill us both."
"Like he did my brother, right?" He sounds angry and maybe a little vengeful.
"Your brother fucking deserved it for what he did to Kailey and you fucking know it."
All I hear is his snort before the door behind me opens.
"Are you talking to yourself, brother?" Caine's deep tenor cuts through the dark.
"Just talking myself out of a bad idea." I grumble.
"I just wanted to touch base and see if there were any updates." He says as he throws himself into a chair.
I stare across the backyard at the overgrown wisteria and I feel saddened when I see how much of the gazebo is swallowed up by the vines.
"I have a new firm I'm working with this week, if everything pans out, they have a new technology that will shove my father's company into irreparable loss. I will be able to track every single person on his fleet."
The door opens and Cooper joins us on the deck.
"What's new with you this week, Coop?" Caine asks him.
"Oddly enough, I had a company come forward asking for a quote to beat the one my father gave a few months ago."
"What company and how did they hear about you?" Caine questions him. Fuck, I even want to hear his answer to this knowing it was all Brody.
"They are an affiliate of the Ballon's and they need a new clean up crew. Their previous one botched a murder scene and a few of their big guns got life." He exhales loudly. "I need to talk to Oliver and find out if it was him that suggested my company."
"How would Ballon know about you?" Caine asks.
"He has resources we don't even know about. Do you think it's time we brought him into the fold?" Cooper inquires.
I knew it would be just a matter of time, they are brother husbands after all. I know I sound bitter as fuck and I need to see this through unbiased eyes. Yes, Ballon would be an asset to us with everything he was trained for and what he can get his hands on.
"We'll take a vote when Brody reappears." Caine affirms.
"What's been goin' on at the assassin HQ?" Cooper asks Caine.
"I have a new recruit and weirdly he's a distant cousin."
"What? How the hell did that work out?" Cooper chuckles.
"His family sent him here, something about him acting up in Canada. He's staying with my mother's sister and her family. After that, I don't have a clue how he found me. He's a monster though, tall and fucking built like a tank."
"What's his name and how old is he?" I ask.
"Daniel or he likes to go by Danny and he's our age. He's finishing up high school online and refuses to attend school which works perfectly."