Page 28 of Clap Back (Carter Brothers)

When he held it up in front of me as if to tease me with it, I launched myself out of my chair to grab it. I actually managed to catch it, but he held on tight.

I pulled, and he pulled harder.

Finally, realizing I wasn’t going to win this the easy way, I let go.

I hated making a spectacle of myself, and stupid Scott always managed to make one.

The moment I let go, the book went flying through the air to land somewhere beyond us.

I gritted my teeth and glared. “Leave me alone, Scott.”

“Sorry, no can do, sister.”

God, I hated when he called me that.

He was not anything like a brother should be, so I detested when he tried to act like one. As if just the moniker made it so.

Asswipe.

A throat cleared somewhere beyond us, and Scott and Sheldon parted, revealing Auden.

He split between the two men, coming toward me.

“Why didn’t you sit with me, darlin’?” he teased as he bent down and kissed me directly on the mouth.

I was so surprised that I gasped, and he took advantage by smoothing his hand to rest at the back of my neck, his thumb running a sweet path along my jaw. He swept his tongue in for a sweet kiss before pulling away and saying, “Hey.”

I swallowed hard before saying, “Hey.”

He placed my book back in my lap, then twisted so that he could see my brother, putting Sheldon at his back.

I realized rather quickly that he was purposefully dismissing the loser behind him.

It made me smile. It made Athena downright giggle.

“Scott,” Auden said, sounding just as annoyed as I’d been earlier. “Can you give her some space?”

Scott’s brows went up, and I saw the hesitation in his eyes as he gave me the space I wanted that he wasn’t willing to give me earlier.

Jerk.

It was also more than obvious that Auden made him nervous.

That was a surprise, because Scott was at the top of the food chain. I hadn’t seen him cower from a single person in my life.

It made me absolutely giddy inside to see him reacting in that way with Auden.

“What the fuck is going on here?” Scott snarled.

“What are you talking about?” Auden asked.

“You and my sister?” Scott stiffened, the veins in his neck popping out with his anger.

“She’s your sister?” Auden asked.

I knew he knew we were ‘related.’

He’d brought it up yesterday.

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