Page 34 of The Very Naughty List

“Hey, no fair,” he grouses, rising from his chair. “Reid and I didn’t get overnight dates. I call foul on you getting to have Hailey sleep over. It’s against the rules.”

Reid walks in just as Seb finishes speaking, his gaze scanning Hailey and me and the suitcases we’re carrying.

“Everything okay?” he asks, eyeing the bags.

“It will be now.”

I set both of the suitcases down, recruiting my brothers to help me grab the rest of Hailey’s belongings from the car as I explain the situation and describe the shitty living conditions that I moved Hailey out of.

Once all her stuff is inside, Sebastian pours us all a drink as we gather around the kitchen table, and I surreptitiously check Hailey’s face to make sure she’s okay. I know I caught her off guard more than a few times tonight.

First with the surprise visit with her grandmother, then with the reckless kiss by the car, and now I’ve uprooted and abducted her here to our house. That’s a lot for a first “fake date.” But at least I know that she’s here now and all right. She looks like she’s still reeling a bit, but the whiskey seems to be helping her relax a little.

“Damn, that’s fucking bullshit. I can’t believe you were dealing with that on top of everything else.” Reid gives her a sympathetic smile, and Sebastian sits down on the other side of her.

I take a seat across the table from her and top off my drink from the bottle in front of me. It doesn’t surprise me at all thatHailey never complained to us about living in that shitty room in Ted’s house. It’s just the way she is—always looking for the silver lining no matter how tough things get. She’s tenacious while also being soft and contagiously positive. I could probably stand to have some of that rub off on me.

“All right, it’s settled then.” Sebastian raises his glass in the air as if we’re toasting to something. “Hailey’s staying with us.”

Reid clinks his glass against our brother’s, and I make the obligatory gesture as well, even though I’d already decided that she would be staying no matter what my brothers thought about it.

It takes Hailey a second or two, and she still looks a bit worried that she might be imposing, but she finally lifts her glass and touches it to ours.

“Thanks, you guys,” she says with a soft smile that makes my chest tighten in an almost painful way. “I really appreciate this. And I’m happy to pay you rent, of course.”

“Fuck, no.” Reid shuts her offer down instantly. “We don’t want your money.”

“But—”

“Sorry, shortcake.” Sebastian chuckles. “It’s three against one here. You’re better off letting us have this one, or we’ll be here all night.”

Hailey purses her lips as if weighing whether or not to argue more. Then she finally shakes her head, making her honey blonde hair shift over her shoulders. “Okay, fine. But no matter what you say, I still owe you guys.”

“Nope.” Reid arches a brow, leaning back. “You don’t owe us anything.”

“Yes, I do.”

“No, you don’t.”

She narrow her eyes at him. “Have you always been this bossy?”

“Yes,” he answers instantly. “Have you always been this bratty?”

A faint tinge of pink colors her cheeks, but she smirks as she holds his gaze, clearly not intimidated by him in the least. “Maybe I’m only a brat to you.”

Reid blinks, clearly taken aback by her response, and I can’t help but grin as I down the rest of my whiskey in one swallow, relishing the way it burns down my throat.

That’s my songbird.

12

HAILEY

Reid holdsmy gaze for a moment, and my stomach flutters as an expression I can’t quite name passes across his face. I can feel Sebastian and Nick watching the two of us, and the warmth in my cheeks deepens as I realize how easily my words about only being a brat to Reid could be taken as flirting.

But we’re not in public right now, so there’s no reason for us to pretend to flirt… or for him to be looking at me with heat in his eyes, the way I could swear he just was a second ago.

Then Reid clears his throat and shifts his gaze away from me, breaking whatever that moment between us was.

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