Page 370 of Branded
Yeah, watching that show from the sidelines was going to be awesome.
I just wanted to watch from the comfort of my own home.
With my woman in my arms and Ethan tuckered out from watching movies and?—
“I’m going to shower and get the fuck out of here,” Theo muttered.
“And go find Eva?” Smitty asked, proving the big man had ninja skills and could sneak around when he wanted to. Of course, his booming voice made the both of us jump as well as drew the attention of Lake, Ethan, and Jules. “Word on the street is you have some groveling to do.”
Theo had started to turn away but froze at the booming voice. Now he swung back, irritation in every line of his face. “You all are fucking annoying.”
“But you luuuv us,” Raph said, joining the party and slinging an arm around Theo’s shoulders.
“Fuck you,” Theo muttered, shrugging him off.
“You’d be better off asking Eva to fuck you,” I couldn’t resist adding, waggling my brows.
Theo dropped his chin to his chest, sighed. “I hate you all.”
“Hate is a bad word.”
Theo’s head popped up and, for the first time since Eva had walked away, hurt written into every inch of her body, he smiled. “Trust fate to bring him by after all the other bad words,” he muttered before crouching down in front of Ethan and lifting his fist. “You’re right, buddy. I’m sorry.”
“You don’t need to apologize to me.” A pointed rebuke, brows lifting.
Rebuked…by a five-year-old who had us all wrapped around his pinky finger.
I smothered a bark of laughter—or attempted to, anyway.
Though, I didn’t think I did a good job because Theo glared up at me.
Worth it.
Especially when that glare was accompanied by a grumbled apology to all of us.
“Cas?” Ethan asked after Theo had gotten his fist bump from Ethan, made it back to his feet, and then left—though not until after he’d glared at us all (minus Ethan) again, just for good measure.
“Yeah, bud?”
I braced for questions about what had happened earlier, about who the man was, and what the tension was for.
But instead, Ethan just asked, “Can we go home?”
And God, I loved this kid (and especially the fact that going home meant getting Ethan and Jules out of this building).
“Yeah, bud,” I said. “We can go home.”
I knew that the questions would most certainly come later.
Just like I knew that this night wouldn’t leave Jules unscathed.
But, for now, going home seemed like the best fucking idea anyone had had all night.
Forty-Two
Jules
“Can you put those books in the box, bud?” I asked over my shoulder, wanting to finish up the packing before Lake came over, sneaking up from D.C. before the Sierra played the home team there the next night.
