Page 40 of A Brother's Secret

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Data…

I returned to Point Nowhere with food enough for myself and everyone there. It was late; much later than I wanted it to be. Not my first choice, not by a long shot, but the clubhouse’s security needed a little more attention than I thought it did. It’d fallen into a little bit of disrepair in the last year after a couple of hardcore storms had swept through and toppled some branches that’d held cameras and downed lines.

Everything was up and running smooth as butter now, but really, what needed the attention was Point Nowhere. That was the next project over the couple of days or so. Once that was accomplished, it was going to be a long haul of springing the trap and slamming energy drinks to make sure that our prey was lured in hook, line, and sinker.

Mali was standing in the doorway, practically humming with the need to come out into the dark and touch me and I couldn’t get the fucking bags of teriyaki off the back of the bike fast enough to get toher.

“I told you not to wait up,” I called and reveled in the smart-assed little smirk that painted her lips as she shot back, “And I do what Iwant.”

“Can’t argue with you there,” I said softly pulling her into my arms and kissing her intently.

Her arms twined around me and I felt like given a chance she would climb me like a fucking tree, and fuck if I didn’t love the shit out of her passion… Not to mention return it like a thousand-fold.

“Dude, is that food? I’m fuckin’ hungry!” I heard Reaver call out and I held out the two bags of Styrofoam clam shells out past Mali through the door. The weight of the plastic grocery bags was lifted from my fingers and I took the sudden freedom to fill both hands with Mali’s ass, hauling her tight up against me. She smiled and laughed where her mouth was pressed against mine, the giggle making my heart soar and I don’t know how long we spent like that, suspended in our self-made moment of happiness.

We had to grab them while we could and exploit that shit for all it was worth. I don’t think either of us was keen on taking our mere presence within each other’s reach for granted. At least not anytimesoon.

“I missed you,” she murmured and I trailed fingertips from her temple to her chin. She closed her eyes and kissed the pad of my thumb and my cock went from half-mast to all the way erect faster than I ever remembered it doing before.

“Yeah? The natives been restless?” I asked.

“A bit, but nothing I couldn’t handle…”

“Come and eat before this shit gets cold,” Trigger called and I reluctantly let her down from her toes to stand flat-footed in front ofme.

“He has a point.”

“As soon as we can send them packing, I’m blowing you,” she said. I laughed and followed her into the building, despite the surge of surprised unease her proclamation gaveme.

We sat around a card table that’d been erected, Mali shuffling her sketch books into a neat stack in the center of it to give us room. It looked like she and Trig had been drawing while Reave had been meticulously sharpening every blade in Mali’s old pocket knife. I gave a low whistle and reached across for it and he handed itover.

“Never thought I’d see this again, I’m kind of amazed you’ve still gotit.”

“I didn’t get to hold on to much, just what I could carry, and you can never underestimate how much having a good knife can mean in so many situations.”

“On that, we can agree,” Reaver said with his mouth full and held out a fist to Mali to bump. She grinned, pleased and bumped knuckles with him. I handed the little knife backover.

“So what’s the plan?” Trigger asked.

“Got to get this place up to code with cameras and shit the next couple of days then I cast a line and see what we canhook.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Reaver said smiling a little too enthusiastically, shoveling more food into hisface.

Mali, however, looked grim. She sighed and said, “I just want this to be over… Kind of can’t believe it’s going to be, youknow?”

“You been livin’ it for seventeen years, babes. I don’t think there’s a light bright enough for the end of a tunnel that long.” Trigger gave a gusty sigh and she nodded, spearing more chicken on the end of herfork.

“Yeah, I hear that,” she agreed.

The rest of dinner went by pretty quiet, the gravity of the situation weighing each of us down, each of us for our own personal reasons.

Soon enough, the guys were done eating. Trigger gathered up their empty food containers and shoved them away into a spare plasticsack.

“Pack these out for you,” he said and I nodded.

“Thanks, man.”

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