He waved the spatula in his hand toward the table. "Sit down. I just finished making breakfast."
"Oh, I'm not eating." The last thing she wanted to do was take anything more from Romeo and his family.
As it was, she hadn't paid him rent because she hadn't received her paycheck. So, she put sixty dollars on the coffee table in the living room before coming into the kitchen, knowing someone would find it. She hoped that would pay for the few nights she stayed at the house and slept in Romeo's room.
"Everyone eats in the morning." He took another plate out of the cupboard. "Besides, I always make more than enough for everyone, and apparently, we're the only two home right now. You might as well eat. French toast doesn't taste the same warmed-up as pancakes do. Unless everyone arrives home right now, I'll be tossing most of these away once I'm done. Don't let the food go to waste."
She was hungry, and she had no idea when the next time she'd get a chance to eat a meal once she hit the road. Stepping over to the table, she sat in the chair.
"Grab a stack." Brody set down a plate filled with sausage links.
"Thank you." She glanced at him while taking two French toasts.
While she busied herself spreading butter on the top, he dropped four sausages on her plate. She widened her eyes in question. How much had he intended her to eat?
"You're quiet." Brody grinned. "I like that after dealing with my brother's mouths going at me in the mornings."
She had noticed how loud they were when they were all home. Mornings were always quiet for her growing up with her mom gone. It'd been so long since her dad came around, but she remembered how he liked to talk—but the conversation always ended up in an argument that pulled her into her parents' fight.
Maybe men, in general, were more vocal. She cut her sausage in two and took a bite. She doubted that was true. The women working at the diner always had a stream of conversations going.
She swallowed. "None of you are married?"
"Nope." Brody smiled, already finishing up the last bite of his meal. "There are too many women out there for me to saddle myself to one for the rest of my life. I'm sure the others aren't hitched because they couldn't find a woman who would put up with all the bullshit."
All the Muel brothers were old enough to have their own families. Instead, they chose to live in the same house. She was curious about why they wanted to live under the same roof when their lives seemed chaotic, and each of them came and went on a different schedule.
They were certainly handsome enough to get a woman and have their own family.
"What about Romeo? Why hasn't he ever married?" She couldn't stop herself from asking, even though it was none of her business.
Brody leaned back in his chair and brought his coffee cup to his chest. "We had a rough life growing up. Romeo took the brunt of it on himself."
Startled into another conversation that grabbed her attention, she set her fork down and reached for her water.
"Our mom died when we were young. My aunt lived with us for a while until Romeo turned eighteen, and then she handed our care off to him." Brody inhaled deeply and then took a drink off the mug. "It wasn't an easy job."
She hummed, imagining how hard that was for them, considering how close of a family they appeared to be.
While her mom was still alive, she was never around to share her life with her. Sure, there were the odd meals when they happened to eat at the same time, but not once had her mom gone to her school during parent-teacher conferences or made sure she had lunch money or cared who she hung out with after school.
All permissions slips were forged by her to hide the fact that her mom wasn't around to oversee her formative years.
It only made the times her dad stopped by and her mom pretended to be a loving and caring mother in front of him more heartbreaking for her.
But she was done letting her dad break her heart. She'd wrapped her heart in stone. Nobody was ever going to hurt her again.
"What about you? Where are you from?" asked Brody.
"Seattle." She carried her plate to the kitchen sink and scraped off the half of French toast that she couldn’t eat.
"Big city." Brody joined her by the sink. "Are you in Spokane alone?"
"Yeah."
Brody whistled under his breath. "You're young to be by yourself. Spokane's a decent place to live, but there are always dangers if you're a single woman."
She turned and faced him, knowing that his advice wasn't needed but needing to get out of here before she stayed longer. Romeo could come home any minute, and if one of the brothers had something to say about her leaving, it would be him.
"Thanks again for breakfast." She smiled, hating how she was deceiving Brody.
He'd been nothing but welcoming to her.
She left the kitchen and grabbed the bag she'd dropped at the bottom of the stairs.
Having a full stomach slowed her down. Listening to Brody talk about his family had distracted her. She needed to get out on the road before the morning traffic slowed.
She opened the door, stepped outside, and almost ran into Sander and Axel.
Axel stood in her way. "Where are you going?"
"Out," she lied.
"Where's Romeo?" asked Sander. "I thought he was running over to the clubhouse."
"He is..." She cleared her throat. "He did. He's at Killere Truck Stop."
Axel cocked his brow. "Want a ride?"
"No, thanks anyway." She hefted the strap of the bag higher on her shoulder and stepped to the side to walk around him, and he shifted again, blocking her from taking the walkway. "Excuse me."
"Sorry, babe. You'll have to stick around until Romeo gets back," said Sander softly, planting his hands on her shoulders and physically turning her around. "Let's go back to the house. You can use the phone and call him if you want to talk to him."
She planted her feet. "I'm only renting a room in the house."
"We know that." Axel motioned with his chin for her to go inside. "But you belong to our brother."
"I don't belong to anyone."
"While you're here, you belong to Romeo, which means you belong to us." Axel shrugged. "It's not a bad thing. You're cared for. We'll take care of you."
Her eyes burned, and her vision blurred. His neanderthal thought process about her renting a room was both delusional on his part and endearing to her for how much she wanted to argue that she belonged to no one.
Nobody had ever wanted to take care of her. And the fact Brody had made her breakfast and Sander and Axel was willing to battle anyone who tried to hurt her made her stomach flutter.
They made her feel special, and she hadn't done anything to make them treat her that way.
She walked inside the house. All the fight left her.
Chapter Ten
Romeo crossed the room and shook Dice's hand. The swelling had gone down around his eyes, and he'd taken a shower.
"Good to see you up, brother." Romeo looked the other man over, ensuring nothing significant was going on. "Doc give you the all-clear?"
"Ah, he says I have a couple busted ribs and to call him if I keep pissing blood." Dice took a wad of snuff out of the container in his hand and pushed it between his teeth and gum. "I'm getting too old for this shit."