Page 8 of Mine to Keep

I ate the delicious cake, and the whole time Nick’s gaze burned a hole in the side of my head. By the time I got to my room, I breathed a sigh of relief.

I definitely needed to get away from Nick Saint.

CHAPTER FOUR

Nick

“Brother.”

I spun around at the sound of Noel’s voice.

“What’s up?”

“That’s what I came to ask you.”

I made a face and played it off like I had no idea what he was talking about. “I’m fine.”

He darted his finger between the two of us. “Twins, remember? You can never lie to me, and I can’t lie to you. It’s a gift and a curse.”

“Just some things spinning through my head is all, don’t worry.”

He hummed and dropped onto my bed. “I’m not worried, but you’re acting weird. Specifically, whenever Matt’s in the room. You know it’s bad when Four, who speaks less than anyone I’ve ever known, says you’re being strange.”

“He said that?”

Noel nodded. “Tell me. I won’t say anything.”

I knew that was true. I trusted Noel more than anyone in this world, but it was hard to express the thoughts going on in my brain. Even I wasn’t sure what they were.

“A month ago, remember I went to that club, The Alibi?”

“Yeah. You needed to get the cameras erased because one of the dudes who was part of the consortium was there right before we dealt with him.”

The Alabastrine Consortium was the group that used to have everything to do with adopting babies and raising the boys to be killers and the girls to be the perfect little housewives for the rich and powerful. It was repulsive and we’d spent months taking it apart. The police arrested a lot of them, but a few had been sneaky, so my brothers and I had taken it upon ourselves to pick off the strays.

“Well, on my way out, I spotted Matt. I recognized him, clearly, and I could tell he was drunk.”

“Oh, Lord.” My brother knew me well.

“I wouldn’t have done a damn thing if he was just sitting around with his friends, but I saw Matt going down a hallway toward the bathrooms with this guy, and I followed.” I ran my fingers through my hair and growled in frustration. “I really just wanted to make sure he was okay.”

“You totally cockblocked.”

I grabbed a stress ball from my desk, flung it at him, and he caught it effortlessly.

“Noel, you’d have intervened too. He was inebriated, like a lot. He asked me if he was saying the right words as he spoke.”

“Well, damn.”

“Yeah. When I stepped in, he wasn’t so much angry at first…he actually tried to take my pants off.”

Noel’s head fell back, he clutched his stomach, and laughter filled the room. I waited until he was under control before I continued.

“The guy he was with got upset and stormed out.”

“Okay, so he made a move, and you rebuffed for obvious reasons. What’s the deal?”

I fell into my desk chair with a heavy sigh. “Then he threw up on me.”

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