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CHAPTER TEN

Brecken was excited to go apartment hunting but Tristan couldn’t be talked into joining us. He said he was taking the bus to meet some buddies at the mall. Yet he also refused to accept the ten dollar bill I offered.

“I have my own resources,” he announced before pulling a shirt over his head. Things had been a little stiff and formal since the argument over his late hours. I was eager to make things right between us. But the kid had to meet me halfway.

“Take it,” I said, pushing the ten into his palm.

Tristan barely nodded when I said we’d be gone all afternoon. I had a few places lined up that looked pretty promising. I wasn’t just looking for a slightly less derelict version of the Empire Motel. I was searching for something with a more family friendly vibe. No drug dealers skulking around the parking lot or skinny hookers roaming the corridors. If I only had myself to worry about none of that would have bothered me. But the boys deserved better. They deserved a real home. And I was committed to giving them one.

The first two places we looked at were no good. The rent on the third place was a little higher than I wanted to pay but the location was perfect; right near Brecken’s school and not too far from my work. More importantly, when we were given a tour I could see that the grounds were neatly kept, there were no sketchy fuckers prowling around and there were kids splashing in the pool under the watchful eyes of their parents. All those things added up to exactly what I had been hoping for.

I held my breath a little when the leasing agent ran my credit but either their threshold was very low or else my score wasn’t as bad as I assumed. After all, I’d been operating mostly off the grid for years. I didn’t even have a credit card these days and had just gotten around to opening a local bank account last week. But the leasing agent smiled and said, “You just squeaked in there to qualify.”

I tried not to exhale with relief too loudly. “Great. Where do I sign?”

They wanted an employment reference of course and I made a mental note to mention to Cord and Deck on Monday that someone might be calling to check up. For the deposit I had to hand over a check that comprised the bulk of my brand new bank account but I didn’t mind. I had a watch I could pawn to tide us over until next week’s payday.

The agent peered at her computer screen. “The first two bedroom unit we have available is 108. It will be ready to occupy three weeks from tomorrow.”

“We’ll take it,” I said. I’d been hoping to make a break from the scandalous Empire Hotel sooner than that but we could hang in there just a little longer. This move would be exactly what we needed.

Brecken was already all smiles as we walked back to the car. He kept glancing back at the pool. There hadn’t been a pool at the old Emblem house but the town pool had been only been a few blocks away and Brecken loved to swim. He hadn’t had a chance to be in the water since we left Emblem. There was certainly no pool at the Empire Motel.

“What do you say we go get some lunch to celebrate the fact that the Mulligan boys are moving up in the world?” I asked my little brother.

“I’m starving,” he admitted. Then he looked around one last time. “This is a nice place.”

“I agree.”

“I don’t think Tristan will be too excited to share a room with me though.”

“He’ll be just fine with it,” I said without really knowing if the statement was true. Tristan would have to admit this was a much better situation than a cramped single room for the three of us. As for me, as much as I loved my brothers I couldn’t wait to have a room to myself again. Our current state of communal living would test even the mightiest of brotherly bonds.

While Brecken and I stuffed our faces in a booth at Burger Heaven I paused in the middle of chewing when I saw a girl stroll up to the counter. For a split second I could have sworn she was Cassie Gentry. She had the same soft, petite figure and her long blonde hair was curled at the bottom just like Cassie’s. But then she turned her head and I saw her profile. No, this girl wasn’t nearly as pretty as Cassie. I looked away and continued chewing my food.

Cord’s daughter was already on my mind more than I wanted her to be. I didn’t need to run into her unexpectedly in the greasy dining room of Burger Heaven. Cassie and I hadn’t said much to each other the last few days at work. I got the feeling she was embarrassed that I’d spotted her hanging out with that ass clown who’d shown up in the Scratch lobby.

Right before I walked by the coffee shop and saw her smiling at that damn creep I’d been feeling fiercely protective of her. Whoever this fucker was, it seemed like he was not someone she wanted to talk to and she was visibly shaken up, even blinking tears away. I meant it when I said I would haul his ass right out the door. I despised men who bullied women in any situation. If he had stopped by just to cause problems I’d be happy to educate him on the consequences. And honestly, the fact that he was hassling Cassie stirred a special kind of anger inside me. Cassie and I still weren’t likely to be friends but any fuck nut that gave her a hard time had better hope I wasn’t around.

As for the guy, I had him classified as a standard snake within five seconds. Complete waste of oxygen. I wasn’t fooled by the careful words he fed to Cassie, a whole lot of garbage about how she ought to give him five minutes to apologize. I didn’t know what he was begging to apologize for and I didn’t care. As far as I could see he was practically waving a neon ‘I’m A Dick’ flag.

And yet not fifteen minutes later there she was batting her blue eyes at him and smiling. The scene threw me for a loop when I walked past the coffee shop. I’d noticed Freya was covering the front desk as I headed out to grab a quick lunch but I figured Cassie might still be upset and needed a break. I told myself that when I saw her again I’d let her know that if the fucker bothered her anymore I’d be happy to get rid of him.

Maybe I’d been wrong about his Dick flag. Maybe he was just some harmless turd with a crush. Yet I wasn’t usually wrong about such things. It was more likely that Cassie’s standards were a lot lower than I thought.

In any case, I couldn’t interfere if she was going to secretly crawl around after a bag of shit like that. I’d still keep my word and say nothing to Cord. It was none of my business. After Cassie and I locked eyes I pushed aside a vague feeling of disappointment and kept walking to the corner gas station to get some lunch.

Since then I hadn’t found a reason to say more than two words to Cassie. I still kept thinking about her but I wasn’t looking for extra drama in my life. Yesterday I even exited out the back door so I wouldn’t pass through the lobby and see her.

“You done?” I asked Brecken as he picked at the crumbs left from his fries.

He nodded. We ordered some food for Tristan and headed back to the motel to tell him the good news about the apartment. My gut tightened when I smelled the pot smoke right outside our door. The last thing I needed right now was for Tristan to get busted for doing something stupid.

He’s been smoking all right. The sweet telltale smell was thick inside the room and I wrinkled my nose in distaste as we entered. That shit had never done anything for me and the few times I’d tried something more hardcore I’d regretted it.

The lights were off so it took me a few seconds to register the fact that not only was the room full of smoke but my brother was on the closest bed with two naked girls. Everyone was in on the action. Tristan had one girl on the bed on all fours while he rode her from behind. Meanwhile, Girl #2 was pushing her tits in his face and fingering herself. I backed the hell out of there so fast I almost tripped over Brecken and slammed the door before he could catch a glimpse. He didn’t need to see that shit.

“What’s wrong?” Brecken asked.

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