Page 26 of Broken Chains

“Brady,” Oliver warned, but I ignored him.

“Deal, back corner room is yours. I want the master bedroom, front right,” I said as I pointed to the ceiling.

“I want the other back bedroom, so I can oversee the gardens,” Kenneth said.

“You got it,” I promised.

“Shit, I’ll take any of the rooms then. I’m not picky,” Tim said. “They aren’t leaving me stuck at home all alone.”

“Hold up,” Oliver said. “You guys, this is Peyton’s house. You can’t just come in and cop a squat. This isn’t our home.”

“This place needs a lot of work, Ollie. It just makes sense that if she’s counting on us to help out, that we live here in the meantime. That’s all I’m saying,” Brady said.

“We’re not Collier. We can’t just squat in Thomas’s territory. You guys know that. So stop this nonsense now,” Oliver told them.

“Um, it’s not Collier land. Thomas has no jurisdiction here,” I told them. “Call him and ask if you want.”

“That doesn’t make any sense. You’re Collier, you bought the property, so it automatically becomes Collier territory,” Oliver tried to explain.

“You’d think that would be the case, wouldn’t you? But it’s not. Call him if you don’t believe me. This is neutral territory, or rather my territory, not Collier,” I said sternly. “And, I agree with Brady.”

Oliver laughed. “You’re serious? You want us to just move in and take over your home?”

“It wouldn’t be like that,” I insisted. “Think of it like this. You wanted to pay me for Eve’s childcare. Work on the house and we’ll call it an even trade.”

“How is putting us all up in the meantime and watching Eve so we can do the work an even trade?” he argued.

In my mind it wasn’t a fair trade at all, because I got everything I wanted, and they were stuck doing all my work.

“Ollie, dad’s drinking whiskey again,” Tim said. “I had to lock myself in the room with Eve the other night because he was so angry that a baby was crying. He was pounding so hard on the door that I thought it was going to give. It’s getting bad again. I don’t want Evie there with him. This is our chance to get out from under him. I leave for college in a few months and I’m terrified of leaving you all there.”

Oliver looked horrified and I think they all forgot I was still in the room. I wanted to pick up Eve and refuse to let her go back there. I had this crazy need to protect her.

“Peyton, you’re sure about this?” he asked, and I could see he was anything but certain.

“I’m positive,” I said.

His jaw tightened and I could see he was struggling with his own pride. “There’s only a few weeks left in school. We’ll work here as often as possible to get the kitchen, bathrooms, and bedrooms in order. After Tim’s graduation we’ll make the move. Dad’s going on another business trip next week,” he said as Tim began to protest. “It’ll be fine.”

Oliver

Chapter 10

I was furious that the boys had ganged up on Peyton and basically forced her to take them in. I didn’t care that she genuinely seemed okay about it, it wasn’t right. I was even angrier that they put me on the spot to approve it. For weeks I’d been preaching what a terrible idea it was, but none of them were listening.

Brady had spent every waking moment outside his day job over there getting “his room” ready. As he was packing his things at the trailer, I confronted him yet again.

“Brady, we’re not moving there,” I insisted.

“Ollie, Peyton and I have a deal. If you don’t want to move there, then fine, don’t, but you have been preaching to me for the last year that I need to stay away from some of the guys here. Bro, this is my chance to get out, and I’m taking it,” he said.

Something was going on with him, but I knew he wasn’t going to tell me. I should have been thrilled he wanted out, but I wasn’t, and there was no way in hell I was leaving him alone in that house with Peyton. Not happening!

I loved my brother, but he had established a reputation with the ladies that was almost as bad as my own. I had figured out from a young age that bored, rich housewives who liked to hire good looking young guys tipped extraordinarily well when you gave them what they wanted. I feared Brady had learned that lesson, too.

It was better than the alternative—getting sucked into selling drugs through the pack. I had seen firsthand what that life looked like and I couldn’t in good conscience go down that path. I knew Brady was being pressured into it, and I hoped that was all he was running from.

When Melina got pregnant, I had pulled back and stopped accepting certain jobs. I had really tried to do right by her. Fat lot of good it had done me. I was juggling three jobs now from loss of those tips. It didn’t matter. Ever since I’d met Peyton, my wolf wouldn’t let me go near another female, anyway. I wasn’t dumb enough to risk shifting in front of a human for a couple extra bucks, and my wolf was unstable enough to try it.

---