Page 34 of You Don’t Kiss Your Brother's Best Friends

Fuck…

I was confused. Hurt. Entirely unsure… and suddenly, vehemently angry.

My legs began moving of their own accord. I took one step forward, then two, then three. I was just about to break the plane of the kitchen doorway, fists clenched, totally not knowing what I was about to say.

And that’s when an enormous hand went over my mouth, dragging me backward and into the darkness.

~ 22 ~

JOCELYN

I screamed, but my scream died against a big, meaty palm. Struggling was an impossibility. My attacker had me pinned tightly and helplessly against his hard body, in the sort of hold only a professional killer or martial artist might know.

Or maybe someone in the military…

“Shhhhh!” a voice hissed hotly, next to my ear. “It’s only me. Andre.”

My abject fear turned to confusion, then relief. I recognized his scent, his feel, the tattoos on the back of the hand still clamped over my mouth. That hand relaxed a little, and so did I.

“I’m going to let go of you now,” he whispered hurriedly, “but you need to keep quiet. Understand?”

“But—”

“I’m serious,” he hissed again. “Just keep quiet, and I’ll explain everything.”

I paused, nodded, and he released me. The second he did, I whirled on him.

“Andre! What thefuck?”

In the shadows of the hallway, I saw him flinch. My voice might’ve been just above a whisper, but there was no way in hell I was keeping silent.

“You shouldn’t be here,” he bemoaned, looking quickly over both shoulders. His hand closed over my wrist as he dragged me deeper into the hallway. “You’re supposed to be—”

“On a plane, eating peanuts, watching some shitty movie?” I seethed, adding a shrug. “Take it up with the weather gods.”

His gaze drifted momentarily. “The storm?”

“Bingo.”

“Fuck.”

I didn’t like the way he said fuck. It was so unlike the hundred other times I’d heard him say it.

“Look, if you guys wanted to have girls over…”

“No!” Andre hissed. “It’s not like that!”

An annoying feminine chuckle floated down the hall, right on cue. Glancing in the direction of the kitchen, I wrinkled my nose in disgust.

“Now I know why the three of you rushed me out of here this morning,” I said, shaking my head. “God, what was I thinking? I was so stupid to come back here. I should’ve stayed at the airport, or—”

“You’re not stupid,” Andre cut me off. “It’s just… we’re working now.”

I laughed bitterly. “Oh, I just saw Kayden ‘working’. He’s working hard.”

“You don’t even know what you saw,” Andre said awkwardly. “You have no idea—”

Footsteps drifted in, but this time the noise came from somewhere behind us. Almost instantly, Andre stepped in to shield me.

---