Page 15 of Risk It All

“How mature of you,” I deadpan and he chuckles.

“It’s the truth.”

“I don’t want to be a bother.”

“You won’t be.You’ll actually be saving me.My brother just married his wife, Eden, and the last time I saw them, they were in that honeymoon phase where they couldn’t keep their hands off of each other.”

“Oh, so you want to subject me to that then?”

“Yeah, be my distraction.With you there, they’ll have to be on their best behavior.”

I think about the money left in my savings account and chew on my bottom lip.I don’t want to spend too much of my money in case I have to move all of my things out here and put a deposit down on an apartment.If I’m being honest, I also don’t want to say goodbye to Anthony just yet.

“If you’re sure that he won’t mind…”

“He won’t,” Anthony says right away and I smile.

“Then yes, I’d love to stay with you and your brother.”

We talk until we hit Pennsylvania.

“Do you mind if we stop off in Pittsburgh?My other brother, Ames, lives there.I’ll make him buy us dinner.”

“So is this the portion of the trip where we just use your brothers for stuff?”

Anthony laughs, hitting the turn signal and pulling onto the off ramp.

“You don’t want a free meal?”

“I think I just want to meet your brothers.Find out ifTheAnthony Bronson has always been funny like he claims.”

It’s seven p.m.and the traffic is just starting to lighten as we drive down the main street.

“Where are we going?”I ask when Anthony pulls the car over in front of some tattoo parlor.

“My brother Ames is a tattoo artist.He works here,” he says, pointing up at the glowing pink sign.

“Eye Candy Ink,” I read as Anthony gets out and walks around to open my door.

“Yeah, come on.Hopefully he’s between clients.”

“Are you sure he’s even working?”I ask as Anthony grabs my hand and drags me inside.

“Yeah, he’s always working.”

There’s a girl sitting behind the counter talking on the phone and she holds up a finger to us, letting us know that she’ll be with us in just a second.

Anthony peeks down the hallway and as soon as some guy walks out of a room and I see the smile on Anthony’s face, I know that that’s his brother.

“Ames!”Anthony calls and the other guy jerks to a stop, spinning around with a shocked look on his face.

I can see the family resemblance right away.They both have the same dark brown hair and blue eyes.Even their grins are the same, although Ames’ isn’t as cocky.

“Holy shit!What are you doing here, asshole?”Ames asks as he grins and heads our way.

Anthony drops my hand to pull his brother into a hug and I smile as they do that manly clap on the back thing and then pull apart.

“Who is this?”Ames asks, giving me a charming smile.

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