Page 8 of Clap Back (Carter Brothers)

Pepper would do it, too.

She was a spitfire, and took no shit from anyone, even my father.

Pepper shrugged. “You have no clue the stuff she has to put up with when it comes to that man.”

I could feel Auden and Atlas staring at me, but I looked away, trying to control the anger.

I had no clue why my father was the way he was.

I had no clue why I couldn’t hang out with friends.

I didn’t know why I was never able to attend prom, have social media, or date.

Hell, the last man I’d dated my father had threatened with deportation—and he was an American citizen! I had a feeling he could make it happen, too.

The man had left without a fight, and I’d realized that I would never be able to have a boyfriend in this state.

Hell, I should’ve gone with my first instinct to move away and start this business.

But Athena was here and had no intentions of ever leaving. And after her brother had died a few years ago in a line of duty accident, I hadn’t wanted to let her be here alone—couldn’t, really. She was the one constant in my life after everything my dad had put me through, and my mom had stood by and allowed.

Consequently, I’d stayed.

And now I was paying the price.

“Then it’s settled,” Atlas said, clapping his hands together. “Let’s go. Bring the food. We’ll see how much we can get through.”

I snorted. “I don’t think you have any understanding how much food is currently in the back of my car.”

Movement caused my gaze to shift from the good twin to the evil twin.

A shit-eating grin came over Auden’s face once he saw he now had my attention. “How bad do you want to piss him off?”

I studied the man, taking in his clothes, his five o’clock shadow, and the chocolate swirl of his eyes.

“If it makes him want to shoot himself, I’m down,” I grumbled darkly.

Amusement danced in Auden’s eyes, and I realized then that he wasn’t too upset about my threat to shoot the chief of police.

In fact, he was looking at me with an intensity that had my belly fluttering.

“I can have one of my brothers come over here and take this all to the station,” he said. “It’s been a pretty bad week there. Today marks a year since we lost a police officer in the line of duty. The pall at the office is kind of sad. You could take that all in, be their hero.”

I thought about that for a long second before saying, “How about we just stop there first? I’ll leave my car there. You can tell your brothers to meet us, then they won’t have to bring the van. But make sure to move over whatever you don’t want them to take.”

“Deal,” Auden said.

Don’t be fooled by the fake smile and professional body language. I’d punch you in the throat if I knew I wouldn’t go to jail.

—Maven’s secret thoughts

MAVEN

“I can’t believe we’re going fishing,” I muttered mostly to myself as we walked into the gas station to buy bait.

Well, I wasn’t buying bait. Auden and Atlas were buying bait.

But since it was hella hot outside—ninety-nine degrees at eight-thirty in the morning—I wasn’t interested in staying in the truck if I didn’t have to. Plus, I could use a good Dr. Pepper. That and a bag of Takis might be the only two things to turn this morning around for me.

---