Page 67 of Crew
Scratch went right for me, not breaking stride. "Hey, little cousin!"
I had two seconds before he caught me in his arms and half-bounced me in the air.
Channing was a fighting machine, and he kept his body toned, but Scratch was almost as tough. He was the same age as Channing. They'd grown up together like brothers, except Scratch had been in the foster system. Well, to be more accurate, he'd spent his life everywhere, bouncing from his mom's house to ours, then to other people's. He and our half-brother had a similar upbringing, but Max was barely allowed to see us. His biological mom hated us, hated Roussou, hated our dad. It'd been a contentious life and because of it I barely knew Max. But for both he and our cousin, how they grew up had been for the best.
I knew Scratch said it helped mold him into who he was today.
"Hey, Scratch." I couldn't encourage him. If I did, he'd keep jostling me around. He liked to pick on me. I endured it as long as I could so he'd feel loved, but usually it wasn't long before he got a good elbow to the stomach, neck, or junk. If he picked on me too much, the junk shot came quick and had some extra oomph to it.
He heard the warning in my voice and dropped me onto my feet almost right away. His hands went to my shoulders.
"What are you doing here? What are you up to?"
Moose and the other guy waited next to him.
"You getting in trouble already?" Moose asked.
Feeling Scratch's fingers tighten on my shoulder, I moved to dislodge his hold. He stepped back like it'd been his decision to release me.
He gave me a half-smirk. "Should we expect your brother to be in a mood?"
Moose laughed. The other one remained impassive.
Cross moved forward, falling in line next to me.
Moose greeted, "Cross."
"Moose."
My cousin and the silent guy nodded to him. Cross returned the greeting.
"He should be fine," I told Scratch. "It was crew stuff."
Moose and the other guy's gaze sharpened.
"Crew stuff?" Moose echoed.
"You're in trouble?" Scratch asked.
I shook my head. "No. Ask him. It's nothing big."
Moose and the other guy shared a look, then headed for the bar. My cousin stayed, frowning at me.
"What's going on?" His eyes narrowed.
"Talk to my brother."
"I am your brother."
Yeah. Yeah, he was. Sometimes I forgot he considered himself like a brother to me. He'd been around even less than Channing, but he was right. In some weird way, they'd both tried to look after me when they could, or when they remembered.
It got confusing to me sometimes.
I held up my keys. "It's crew stuff. Channing will tell you."
Scratch looked at Cross. "You're watching out for her?"
Cross rubbed a hand over his face. "I'm watching out for her as much as she'll let me. Let's put it that way."
