Page 7 of Law Of Love

She was a hell of a nuisance, though. A royal pain in my ass.

My mother didn’t go into much detail about why Freya and her mom were here, letting me know there was a mix-up with some debt and that it would be sorted soon. The last thing we needed in this house were people who had issues with money, though. My father had been a gambler, and it hadn’t got him very far in life. He was a loser, a nobody, a waste of space.

The sound of the doorbell dragged me from my daydream, and I yanked the door open with a scowl to see Brent wearing a cheesy grin—multiple people behind him. Stepping aside with a grimace, I clutched Brent’s shirt and dragged him to the side as people filed in.

“You call this small?” I demanded. “Why the fuck is Maggie here?”

I glared at the tall brunette as she settled on my couch, stealing curious glances at me every few seconds.

Brent shrugged. “You slept with her years ago, Kaleb, and she’s good friends with everyone here. I didn’t think it would be an issue.”

“Well, you thought wrong.” I pushed past him and entered the kitchen, pulling myself a beer from the fridge.

Maggie wasn’t somebody I wanted to see again. Nor was she someone I thought I would. We were nothing—simply just a one-night stand, but she hadn’t left me alone for months after.

Music filled the room, and I mentally groaned, turning around to glare at the people who stood in my kitchen. I knew everyone here, but I hadn’t spoken to most of them since leaving to join my bodyguard organisation.

Parties had never been my thing, but after entering the law enforcement profession, discipline and self-restraint had become second nature to me. I didn’t take part in anything that didn’t benefit me.

And parties definitely didn't.

“Kaleb.”

I gazed at Maggie over the top of my beer bottle, arching an eyebrow at her as she smiled up at me.

“How’ve you been? I haven’t heard from you in a while.” Her tone was flirtatious. Seductive. Needy.

“Fine.” I looked away from her, leaning back against the wall. Not only was Maggie a possessive lunatic, but she was also a nasty piece of work. I’d seen the way she treated other girls, and frankly, she was a bitch.

A pretty bitch, but still a bitch.

“You didn’t tell me you were coming back,” she continued, and I resisted the urge to tell her to get the hell out of my house. This was her circle, though, and it had been mine once too. But not anymore. What was the point of getting drunk every weekend? It was all these people knew how to do—besides Brent, who actually possessed this handy little thing called self-control.

“There’s a reason for that,” I responded coldly, turning away from her and heading into the living room.

I was going to kill Brent.

Four: Freya

The music's thumping vibrated the bedroom floor, aggravating me and making it extremely hard to concentrate on my work. Kaleb didn't have that many people over—probably only around eight or nine—but they were so loud that it sounded like he was having a full-blown party downstairs.

I was attempting to finish a sketch I had spent the past few weeks on, continuously deciding I hated it and starting again. However, this time, I was happy with the shading and detailed lines I’d faintly drawn, and I got to work slowly, worried I was going to ruin my efforts for the fourth time.

My pencil glided across the page effortlessly, the stress of everything melting away as I was utterly consumed in my own world.

But it didn’t last long.

A symphony of laughing outside the bedroom caused my fingers to falter, and I dropped my pad and pencil. Pulling open the door, I saw three girls standing behind it with confused expressions.

“Oh, sorry,” one of them said, causing her tipsy friends to laugh.

“We were just looking for a bathroom to do this in,” said the girl to my right, pulling out a small bag filled with white powder from her bra.

I paused for a few seconds, shaking my head and releasing a deep breath. “The bathroom is down the hall and to the right.”

Who was I to tell them not to? There was no way they'd listen.

Curiosity got the best of me, and I took a few steps forward, peeking over the landing to see Kaleb splayed out on the couch with a few other guys, all chatting loudly. He wore the same grumpy, bitter expression he usually did, listening to his drunk friends babble on, looking eager for them to leave.

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