Page 56 of Double Dare

Gen blushes. “Am I stupid for trying with my parents?”

“Fuck no. If you don’t try, you’ll always wonder, and you’ll eventually blame yourself for not trying harder. But if you try, and they’re dicks about it, then you can blame them.” I grin. My logic is always a bit skewed.

Gen laughs. “Well said, Jedrek. Are you okay?”

I offer her the pack of smokes. “Oh, no, thank you…I’ve never…okay, I’ll try one.” Jesus, I feel like I just tarnished an angel. “Just suck in?”

I laugh, holding a lighter to it while she pinches her fingers around the filter like it’s a joint. “Yeah, just suck in.”

She coughs. And coughs. And coughs. Covering her mouth with the back of her hand, waving her tears away like some damsel in distress from a cigarette. “Holy heck! Do they get better?” she shrieks, eyes leaking.

“No,” I laugh. “Not even a little bit.”

“Gosh, I feel like a terrible medical professional for doing this.” When she says it, there’s a devious little glint in her eyes, like she wants to smoke just one cigarette as her act of rebellion. She does realize she ran away from fucking home like a true rebellious badass, right? “My head feels weird,” she says on her next drag.

“Head rush.” I nod. “That’ll go away.” Genevieve has become that person who grounds me. She’s so opposite from me that I crave her attention and love basking in the different way she thinks. I don’t know how she does it, but she’s remained herself while completely changing, and that is the strongest power play in the book. “You okay?” I ask her, my buzz finally calming down.

“I asked you first,” she counters, taking a tiny little puff.

I lean back in the chair, my head resting against the back. “Just miss Laken.”

“Everyone misses her. She’s like the glue around here.”

“She is.” Laken embedded herself into my family so hard that she’s become the go-to person for turmoil, like she’s my mom’s protégé. I love it. “Tomorrow.”

“Do you want to talk about whatever is bothering you?” Gen asks, coughing again.

“You don’t have to finish that.”

“I kind of want to. Just to say I did.”

Love her. “Got any advice on how two brothers can fuck the same girl without it being greedy and weird as fuck?”

Gen looks at me, confusion on her face. Does she not know? Surely, Four told her. “What?”

“Shit, I thought you knew.”

“Oh, I do know about that. I just don’t understand why you think it would be greedy. It’s not just sex you want from her. You love her, both of you, and because of that, you’ll never get greedy because you love each other, too. You won’t steal her because it’ll hurt her and Kade, and Kade won’t steal her because it’ll hurt her and you. Laken won’t choose favorites or desire one more than the other because…well, because she isn’t wired that way. She’s that person who can love with everything she has, and she loves you both, even if she hasn’t said it yet. Greed shouldn’t even be on your worry list right now, Jedrek. The three of you were meant to be.”

“Meant to be?” I laugh. “Two brothers were meant to fall for the same chick? Meant to fuck the same girl? Meant to fight over her?”

Gen takes a tiny puff. “Have you seen any movie ever? It’s a common trope, Jedrek. The only difference is that you three will defy the odds of tv shows and movies because you won’t make her pick. And you aren’t fighting over her. You’re working together to make it work, even if it feels tense sometimes. How do you not see that?”

I do see that, but it’s still fucking weird. “You falling in love with my brother, Genevieve?” She’s come so far since that night she showed up here in a pantsuit.

“I…maybe. Perhaps. Don’t tell him, though. It’ll go straight to his heckin’ head and he doesn’t need any more in his head. When the time is right…”

“You belong in this family, Gen. You know that, right?” I ask; she smiles. “He won’t push you away like I did to Laken.”

“You pushed her away?”

“Yeah,” I scoff at myself. “I freaked the fuck out because I got attached, pushed her away like a dick, and missed out on two months with her.”

“How’d you get her back?”

“I drove with all nine of my brothers to Ketchikan and admitted to her how big of a—”

“Pathetic piece of shit he was,” Four says, walking out the front door with Kade.

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