Page 8 of Messing With My Brother's Best Friends

“But there are so many of them,” she replied, clasping her hands under her chin. “And each one is different, depending on what we’re doing. Like when we role play as teacher and student—”

“Gag.”

“Oh yeah, that happens too.” She fluttered her eyelashes at me. “Sometimes he gets a little too caught up with what he’s doing and then he—”

I slapped my hand over her mouth right as Connor and the others appeared in the hallway.

“So, what’s the verdict, Red?” he said, crossing his arms and looking the two of us over. That nickname… It had my heart racing, pulsing too damn hard in my chest. “Seems like you need a place to stay and…” His eyes slid down me slowly so that I could almost feel his gaze on my skin. That had me frowning slightly, but right as I turned to face him, he finished his sentence. “The Kendall I knew was no coward.”

“Coward?”

I was an adult, capable of having rational, reasonable conversations, but I bit that word out with way too much force.

“She gave as good as she got.” His lips twitched, forming an insolent smile as he looked back at the other two idiots. “Remember when you turned the garden hose on through Finn’s bedroom window?”

I didn’t want to smile, but the muscles in my face had other ideas, remembering exactly how it went down. They had been up late at night playing video games and I’d taken advantage of the open window to send through a stream of water into my brother’s bedroom. Mum was furious when she discovered the saturated beds and bedding, the carpet as well, but I’d just laughed when she tried to punish me and didn’t stop laughing, not even when she grounded me for a week and made me wash all of their bedding.

“You need a place to stay and there’s a nice bedroom you can have through there.” He nodded to a closed door. “Though, there’s a shed outside if that’s more your speed.”

“Ha fucking ha…” I said, then stared each one of them down. “If this is just you looking for another chance to torment me, I’ve gotta say, I’ve upped my prank game over the years. I can give back as good as I get.”

“That right?” God, I’d forgotten that smile. Connor Woods had all the girls sighing when he shot them that same smirk back when we were at school. “I’d like to see you try. So whaddya say, Kendall?” He held out his broad hand and it felt like right then I traced every callus with my eyes. “How about we do a free trial? You move in, see we’re not the same blokes who used to make your life hell, and then if you decide you want to stay, we can negotiate terms from there.”

Free rent… The room behind that door would have to be a cockroach infested cesspit for me to knock that idea back, and somehow, I knew it wouldn’t be. I felt Barbie pull away, ready to convince me, but she needn’t have bothered. Beggars can’t be choosers, and I was one hundred percent a beggar right now. Shit, maybe I could use a bit of the money I would normally use on rent to buy us that tequila to make those margaritas.

But that’s when I had a terrible thought.

“If this is just the biggest prank of all,” I said, trying to keep the desperation out of my voice and failing utterly. “I’ll kill each and every one of you in your sleep. There won’t be enough left to identify you from your dental records.”

I watched the three of them stiffen. Good. Let them be the one feeling the fear right now.

“No pranks,” Connor told me, all seriousness, though was there a little glint in his eye? “Honestly, we should’ve apologised a long time ago for what we did. If you need help right now, then we’re happy to give it.”

I don’t know why I was just standing here, staring them. I didn’t have a choice, because this was the perfect opportunity. To crash somewhere for a while until I worked out what to do next and… I looked the three of them up and down, catching the way they tried to play it cool, all as they edged closer. They say karma is a bitch. Well, so was I.

“OK,” I said, holding out a hand. “You’ve got a deal.”

Chapter 6

Connor

“OK.” I watched Kendall hold out her hand and it took everything I had not to grab it and yank her closer. “You’ve got a deal.”

But I didn’t touch her because I knew the minute I did, I’d get lost. I’d feel how small her hand was in mine and I’d… Instead, I nodded and then walked over to the bedroom door, opening it to show her where she’d be staying.

There was a reason why we were always invading Kendall’s room when she was a kid. It was her space, completely and utterly, and that always hit me the minute we walked in the door. Her scent, sweet and floral. Her things everywhere. The little feathers she used to find when going for walks with her mum. The rocks, polished smooth in pastel shades of blue, cream and buff that she liked to collect from the beach. A shell as delicate as her ear sitting amongst the clutter on her windowsill. And her books, so many books, lining the bookcase, piled up precariously beside her bed only to spill onto the floor. Coming into her room uninvited was like walking into her mind, her soul. As I walked into the spare bedroom, it wasn’t hard to see it, the big open space made smaller and more intimate with all of the details of her.

“Oh my god, it’s huge…” the best friend said, looking around.

“Girls always say that when they come into my room.” Gage and I shot Van a dark look, his eyes widening as his smile faltered. ‘What?’ he mouthed silently.

“You could get a new bed, a queen size this time,” the friend enthused, waving a hand around in the air. “Some bedside tables. A couple of nice lamps.”

I liked what she was doing a whole lot, imagining the space transformed for Kendall. It was what I wanted too, but this Barbie had an actual idea about how that would work. We gutted houses, transformed them, but when it came to making them liveable, that’s when the interior designers came in and used the company credit card to buy textured rugs and decorative elements.

“My bed is fine.” Kendall shot me a wary look. “This is only temporary. I need to get back to my place to pick everything up.”

“We’ll come.” I watched Van step closer. The bloke was like a puppy, his tail wagging furiously, desperate for a pat, and I barely resisted the urge to tell him to chill the fuck out. Kendall was ready to bolt and setting his Golden Retriever arse on her was enough to start her running. “I mean, we can help move you in.”

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