Page 10 of Rectify

Aedan flipped him the bird. Others wouldn’t have dared flip off Rogan. But Rogan was his cousin and his best friend, and he wasn’t as cold and dangerous as he appeared. At least he wasn’t with those who mattered to him.

Rogan let very few people get close. Since Brandt’s betrayal, Aedan had noticed that he was drawing himself back even further from those around him.

“I don’t date brunettes.” Not since Natalya. He pushed the thought of her from his head.

“Do you date anyone? Can you call it a date when you fuck them once, then discard them?” Rogan asked.

“I don’t discard them,” Aedan protested with a frown. Rogan made it sound like he used these women, and he didn’t like that idea. Anyone he dated, he treated exceptionally well. They went away satisfied, and so did he. He wasn’t looking for a relationship and he always made sure they knew that from the start.

“I’ve seen some of them more than once.”

Rogan raised his eyebrows. “But you haven’t really been interested in anyone since Natalya left, have you?”

“You’re one to talk. When is the last time you went out on a date?”

“Relationships aren’t for me. Isn’t Declan supposed to be your bodyguard? Why don’t you let him do his job?” Rogan asked, changing the subject.

“Because I don’t need a bodyguard anymore.” He’d hired Declan after a crazy fan had managed to get onto the grounds of his house. Declan had tightened up his security, and he usually traveled with him when he went out of town on business. But otherwise, he didn’t need him.

So you pay him to sit at home?

Well, it wasn’t like he was actually acting anymore. It seemed stupid to have a bodyguard with him all the time.

Rogan snorted. “You’re rich and famous. You’re a walking target. Stop being stupid and make Declan work for his damn money.”

Aedan frowned. He hated when Rogan went all big brother on him. He had a tendency to be overprotective.

“Butt out.” Unease swirled in his stomach as he recalled the phone calls he’d received over the last few weeks. Multiple messages from a woman promising to do all manner of nasty, dirty things to him. She’d discovered his phone number; could she also have found out where he lived? Surely, she wouldn’t just walk up to his house and ask to see him?

She probably wasn’t dangerous. Just crazy. He’d blocked her calls. Now any calls or messages from numbers he didn’t recognize, he ignored or immediately deleted.

Rogan took a sip of whiskey. “I heard from Dylan today.”

“Are he and Tilly okay?” Aedan asked with concern. Dylan was an old childhood friend. Recently, he and Tilly, his girlfriend, had approached Rogan for help when Tilly’s best friend had gotten mixed up with the Vipers. They’d managed toget Miller away from the gang safely, but not before the Vipers had gotten her addicted to Fizz, a new drug on the market.

“Yeah, he and Tilly reached her family’s place safely. He’s planning on asking her to marry him.”

“He told you that?” Aedan asked, surprised. Not that Dylan would ask Tilly to marry him—anyone could see that the two of them were made for each other. But he was startled that Dylan would confide in Rogan and a little hurt that he hadn’t told him. Aedan brushed off the stupid thought. He wasn’t a teenager trying to keep up with the bigger, older boys anymore. Nor was he that lonely kid in a strange place anymore, looking to fit in.

“He didn’t. But he’d be crazy not to propose.”

Aedan rolled his eyes at Rogan’s confident statement. “It was good to see him again. I’ve missed him.”

Although he certainly didn’t lack for companionship, Aedan was short on genuine friends. The real sort that you could call on at a moment’s notice for help. The kind who didn’t care who you knew or how much was in your bank account.

Dylan had fled San Antonio fifteen years ago, right after their friend Lucas was gunned down by a member of the Seven Sinners—one of San Antonio’s smaller gangs who had been trying to make a name for themselves. Aedan and Dylan had been Lucas when he was shot.

Rogan’s father used the circumstances of Lucas’s death to blackmail Rogan. He’d promised to keep Dylan and Aedan out of trouble with both the cops and the other gang if Rogan would agree to eventually take over the leadership of the Cavans.

Rogan had taken the deal.

“Sometimes I still dream about the night Lucas was murdered,” Aedan admitted.

Rogan glanced over at him, his face difficult to read.

Aedan and Dylan’s freedom had cost Rogan his. Aedan still felt the guilt of that weighing deeply on him.

“Stop it.” Rogan’s face grew firm.

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