“No girlfriends?” I couldn’t stop myself from asking.
He shook his head. “None that he has ever mentioned and certainly never introduced me too. He’s a private guy but I would have known if he had a girlfriend.”
“He’s a good guy. I have a feeling he’s misunderstood.”
Kade nodded slowly. “Absolutely. I’m glad he has you. I hate the thought of him being all alone.”
“Aren’t you alone?”
“I’ve got my brothers. And I hate to admit it, but my dad stays in touch with me. Him and Xander don’t talk.”
“What are you telling her now?” Xander asked, coming back into the small clearing.
“I was telling her you were the victim of a small penis,” he said totally deadpan.
I almost choked. My cheeks flamed red. Xander looked at me with that sultry smile. “Yep,” was his response.
He didn’t argue or deny it. The three of us knew it was bullshit. I was certainly not going to jump to his defense and praise the size of his penis in front of his brother.
Kade was laughing, clearly enjoying himself. “My turn,” he said and started to walk into the trees where Xander had just been. “Do you want to come with me, Evie?”
“Fuck you,” Xander growled.
“I’m good,” I told him.
“I don’t even want to know what he told you,” Xander said once Kade was out of the way.
“Nothing bad,” I assured him. “I like him. I’m glad you have a brother. Trust me, you are lucky.”
He rolled his eyes. “You didn’t have to live with him.”
I could tell he was joking. It was pretty clear there was a close bond between them. They loved each other. It was evident in the way they teased one another and, whether they realized they were doing it or not, the way they spoke about one another with a sense of pride.
Kade came back a minute later. “Are we going to keep going or you too weak?”
I rolled my eyes as they started to compare stamina and then size and everything else two brothers could argue about. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Xander relaxed and having fun. By the time we made it back to our cars, I was sure they had covered every topic they could argue about.
“It was nice to meet you, Evie,” Kade said, giving me another hug.
I smiled and hugged him back. “It was nice to meet you. When do you think you’ll be coming back for a visit?”
He shook his head. “I’m not sure. These things can be hard to predict but I will most definitely be back.”
“I’m going to hold you to that,” I told him.
“I’ll give you two a minute,” Kade said before getting into Xander’s car.
“Thanks for being cool with him,” Xander said. “I know he can be a little obnoxious. It’s how he blows off steam.”
“He wasn’t obnoxious at all. I like him. I’m bummed we couldn’t hang out more.”
He stepped close to me, heat from his body emanating against me. “Don’t be too bummed. I don’t consider myself a jealous man, but I will kick his ass.”
“I am not interested in him like that,” I told him, leaning forward and brushing my lips over his. “I only want what you have, no matter how small it is.” I jumped away before he could grab me.
“Small, my ass. You can barely take me inside you.” His husky voice dripped sex.
Just like that, I was wet. “I should go. Your brother is waiting.”
He slowly nodded. “He is, but I bet he’d wait ten minutes while we climbed into the backseat of your car and I gave you that orgasm I can see building inside you.”
I felt flushed. “Stop!”
He winked. “I’ll call you tomorrow. I don’t care what we have to do, but we need to see each other this week.”
I nodded, gulping down the desire. “Yes. Definitely. Call me.”
I got into my car and blasted the AC. He always left me feeling hot and achy.
Chapter 33
Xander
I jogged downstairs. I had canceled my meetings for the day and was going to hang out with him until it was time for him to catch his flight back to Oregon.
I was going to make him breakfast. Something nice and greasy and completely unhealthy. I spoke to Alexa and asked her to turn on the morning news station.
While I was apprised of the events happening in the country and the city, I fried bacon and cooked hash browns. I cheated a bit and opened a jar of gravy and popped open a can of biscuits. The final touch was the scrambled eggs, a little on the wet side, just like Kade liked them.
I had thought he would be down by now. Neither of us was prone to sleeping in. Years of living on a military base and living with a military man stole away the whole sleeping in thing.
I went upstairs and knocked on the door to the room he was sleeping in. “Kade! Wakey, wakey, little brother.”
There was no answer. I opened the door and immediately noticed the bed was neatly made. I didn’t have to look around. I knew. He was gone. I walked into the empty room anyway and found a note sitting on the dresser. There was an old four-by-six picture resting on the dresser next to the note.
I picked up the picture first and was transported back to one of the few happy memories I had. I was probably ten or eleven in the picture. Kade would have been nine. My dad had his usual high and tight cut. I was holding up a large fish and grinning like I had won the lottery. Kade had his own fish as well. My dad looked so proud. I knew my mom was the one behind the camera.
I closed my eyes and let myself drift back to that day. My dad had just come back from a deployment. We went fishing and had a picnic. I could practically feel the cool breeze coming off the lake. I remembered the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches my mother had made and the chocolate chip cookies.
I remembered my father’s laugh. He never laughed, but that day, he had laughed a lot. My mom had laughed a lot as well. It was strange that I had not remembered that day until just now. Just thinking about it made me feel very nostalgic and very lonely. I missed that life and those days. Growing up sucked. Hormones and being stubborn sucked.
I put the picture down, cursing Kade for his little trip down memory lane. I preferred to keep memories that made me feel sad or melancholy for the good times way back in a corner. I preferred to keep things on a nice even keel with no highs and no lows. I picked up the letter, wondering what words of wisdom he was going to impart on me.
Hey big brother,
Sorry to cut and run, but I got a call late last night from a buddy of mine. His wife left him, and he isn’t handling it well. I caught an earlier flight. I should have woken you, but I didn’t. I didn’t want to see you cry. I know you’ll miss me. I’ll miss you too.
I had to laugh at his humor.
I left the picture because I think you need to remember more of the good times and less of the bad. I do. I like to think on the good stuff. You think about the bad stuff enough for both of us. I know things are rocky between you and dad. I get it. He’s not an easy man to get along with.
He loves you. I know he does. He doesn’t know how to relate to you. He wants to be a part of your life. I want you to be a part of his life and mine. Mom would have wanted us to make an effort to fix this. She would be pissed to find you and dad drifted so far apart.