Page 19 of No Longer Safe

I pressed myself farther into the bush to get a better listen. “It’s not that it’s terrible.”

“You admitted to me while you were drunk that the sex was awful and that you’ve never had an orgasm with him.”

A frown pulled at my face. What was wrong with this loser? I went to press myself back into the foliage but the drunken idiot, Dimitri spotted me a few feet away. His run was more of a stumble. “Who are we hiding from?” His whisper was anything but a whisper. I fell away from the bush as I heard an “oh my God!” On the other side. I was toast. We were toast.

The beer in my hand was no longer cold. Why the hell did I care? Why did I care at all about this girl’s sex life? I didn’t.

“I will gut you like a fish, you piece of shit!” Carina came barreling around the other side of the hedge with her fists raised and ready to swing. She was furious. Audrey on the other hand was not. Her cheeks were stained pink and she wouldn’t look me in the eye. Dimitri let out a hiccup and Carina came to a halt. “Oh, it’s you two. I thought it was some perverted gardener.”

I couldn’t help myself, I grinned. “Nope, just two perverted brothers.”

Dimitri’s face screwed up in a disgusted scowl. “I am not the one that was eavesdropping.”

“Are you both drunk?” Audrey’s voice came out soft and I wondered why she had sucky sex.

I almost asked but Dimitri beat me with his own questioning. “It’s a beautiful day with nothing to do, why not?”

Carina ran her hand down her face. “I think you were both wanted for a suit fitting, actually. Your mother has been looking for the both of you for the last few hours.”

Dimitri laughed. “Mother has been looking for us? That’s rich considering she has the whole place wired tighter than the White House. Nothing happens on these grounds that she doesn’t know about.”

I knew what our mother was doing though. She was pushing me toward Audrey. It was the only reason that made sense, why they were sent out here after us. Mother saw a solution to my father’s matchmaking.

“Have fun being watched the rest of the afternoon,” I turned on my heel, though I thought it was much smoother than it actually was. Dimitri was right on my tail.

“I think I see it,” Dimitri pondered behind me. “That Audrey girl is hot.”

I whirled on him. “Don’t talk about her.” Why did it even matter? My head was swimming, I was sure my words were slurring just as much as his but I was ready to fight.

“I mean if she’s anything like that spitfire Carina, I think she would be very wild in bed. I can just imagine it now.”

Before I knew what was happening, my fist was connecting with my brother’s face. Blood dribbled down his top lip and collected in his front teeth and he only smiled like a deranged psychopath. “I knew it.”

He was baiting me and it was working. “You know nothing.”

“You want that Audrey girl.”

“I want no such thing.”

“You were always a terrible liar. What if I told Ace?”

I made another swing and this time he ducked out of the way, though it landed him in the grass, he evaded my fist. “If you tell Ace, I’ll find a nice place to bury your body.”

“You would do no such thing.” He stood up slightly wobbly and dusted the dirt off of the front of his khaki pants.

“What do you want?” I found myself asking this again. Why on earth would he even care?

“I don’t know, I would like to see you happy.”

“You are the least sappy person I know. What’s the real reason?”

“I want you to leave my strippers alone.”

I shook my head. Seriously? “They don’t belong to you.”

“I was frequenting that place way before you even thought of it. Whatever dragged your ass over there needs to heal so you can leave it alone.”

“Since when have you ever cared for strippers?” I looked at him out of the corner of my eye as he stuck the golf cart key into the ignition and started it up. We were way too intoxicated to be driving, but we also weren’t getting on the road. The worst trouble we would find was an overgrown hedge or maybe gettinglost in the labyrinth. Or maybe driving straight through the labyrinth. We hadn’t done that before and it seemed right up our alley today.

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