Page 4 of Crew Princess
I knew what she wanted. It was the reason she threw this party.
And my jaw locked back in place. “No.” My teeth were tight too.
“Bren, please.”
“No.” I moved around her, my hands in my pockets as I wove my way through the crowd inside.
Usually people moved for us, but I wasn’t giving anyone time to notice I was coming. A few squeaked as I brushed past them.
“You need to talk to him.”
I was at the stairs. I stopped, my hand on the rail. “I don’t, actually.”
“Bren, please.” Her voice wobbled.
I paused. Really?
I gave her a look. “I know you were just drinking, laughing, and sitting on your boyfriend’s lap two seconds before Jordan texted you to get Tabatha off me. Do not put on the waterworks and think it’s going to work.”
A tear fell, leaving behind a wet trail as she let it go all the way to her chin. She sniffled. “I miss my brother, Bren.”
Nope. The tear wasn’t real.
Or…
It could’ve been.
Cross hadn’t stayed at their house for the last two months, not since—
“Stuff it, Taz,” came a voice from behind her.
Relief.
I was no longer in the crosshairs.
Cross was heading down the stairs, his eyes firmly locked on his sister’s and his jaw clenched. That strong, square jaw, the one I ached to kiss and touch and run my hands over. His hair was a little lighter than normal, but cut short, and if possible, he’d been hitting the weights harder over the last two months than before.
Jordan and Zellman liked to lift weights, but that was a pastime for them.
For Cross, it was different. There was a set of weights at Jordan’s shed, and Cross was there a couple hours a day now. The results were staggering. At six-one, he remained lean, but he was much more defined than ever. His stomach was a washboard of abs, and if he turned to the side with his shirt off, I could see every cut of his muscles.
He’d been on a mission, and besides lifting weights and training with Taz’s boyfriend (who was a boxer), his other outlet was me.
He turned those tawny hazel eyes on me, and I felt zapped. Just by that look, I knew he needed a release. I could feel my own need rising again.
“Cross,” Taz began, flicking the tear away.
Her voice had suddenly firmed back up.Shocker.
She angled her body to block him as he came down the stairs, a bag over his shoulder. She had a hand on the other railing. “You need to talk to Mom—”
He stopped in front of her, staring down. “I don’t, actually.”
“Cross—”
“She cheated on Dad,” he said coldly.
Yeah. This had happened over the last month.
