Page 9 of The Inevitable Us

TryingSawyer’sseeminglyunflappablepatience is my second favorite pastime. Grabbing his attention is my first. I consider myself successful when he stops by towards the end of my shift the next day to make sure I’m there. The next time I walk into the kitchen at 5 am to start my shift, a new modern-looking camera is installed directly over my workstation.

Glancing at the camera, my brother Rory sighs heavily before letting out a curse. “You know Brody, Creekman, and Sawyer keep the feed up all the time, too,” he told me, grimacing.

I might not be sneaking out early from my shifts to meet the opposite sex, but Rory can’t say the same. He’d hooked up with half of the girls in our class by the time we graduated last year. I’d had to set a firm rule that he wasn’t allowed to go anywhere near my friends by the time we were Sophomores.

“Maybe it will keep you from getting chlamydia,” I chuckle.

He shoots me a look of mock horror. “Now, Sissy dearest, you know I’d never leave it unwrapped.”

I raise my eyebrow at him and cross my arms. “You had better be double wrapping it with Nevaeh. Mom and Dad will kill you.” I’d had the misfortune of catching them hooking up together in the women’s bathroom stall at the café last weekend, and I think I’m permanently scarred by the incident.

Cutting in, he starts to walk to the fridge to take out the product for today’s salads. “Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard this one before.”

I reach for the baby tomatoes. Grabbing a colander, I walk over to the sink and turn on the cool water to rinse them. I point to the cameras. “If you aren’t more careful, Mom and Dad are going to bust you leaving work.”

“Pshhh. They haven’t busted me yet. Nate was only busted once, and that’s because Creekman ratted him out.”

Turning my back to him again, I answer him with a sing-song voice, “That’s because it’s the bodyguard’s job to keep an eye on us.”

He moves next to me, carrying a tray of cucumbers ready to wash. “Nate didn’t have a twin to cover for him, though, did he?”

“Mom and Dad went to see Nate today,” I remind Rory after rolling my eyes at him. “You were still asleep when they left, so Mom and Dad wanted me to remind you they won’t be home until tomorrow.”

My parents flew to Tuscaloosa that morning, where my brother plays college football and attends a class or two on occasion. Recovering from a knee injury, Nate has decided to stay in Tuscaloosa to work with the university’s trainers in the off-season to fully recover instead of coming home.

Nate had been offered a spot in Knoxville. He refused, saying that the University of Alabama produces more NFL players. This means that whenever Nate has abig gameor some sort of parent thing at the university, we’re left at home with at least one of Dad’s bodyguards.

They also frequently traveled for Josie’s recitals until she graduated from Yale School of Music this past spring.

When we were all younger, Dad and Mom insisted we all move together as a family, but after Josie left and the following year Nate, they seemed to accept that their children would be scattered to the winds.

They always invite Rory and me along, but I hate football with a passion. It’s so loud in the stadiums that I can’t even sneak my earbuds into my ears to listen to music or a podcast to entertain myself. On more than one occasion when we were younger, Rory fell asleep during Josie’s many piano recitals.

I notice Rory texting furiously on his phone. “What on Earth are you doing? We have thirty minutes before Mallory comes, and you know she’ll make us take out the trash for the next month if we slack off.”

Looking sheepish, he sticks his phone back into his hoodie pocket. Shooting me a cheesy grin, he dares to ask, “Cover for me tonight with Mallory?”

Handing him the cucumbers, I smile up at him. “Only if you set up all the chairs in the front today.” I hate the task of flipping all the chairs to rights after they are put up so that we can clean the floors well before closing. Not that Trevor and Harris do an excellent job at cleaning. The two of them spend all of their time goofing off.

With a loud groan of protest, Rory moves to the front of the café dragging his feet, his shoulders slumped to start the task alone.

We’ve long since learned how to get around the security system at our house. Well, Nate has, and the rest of us just paid attention to how he did it. I have yet to try it myself, but Nate did it often enough when he lived at home, and Rory does it often undetected. He says it isn’t always to see girls but won’t tell me what he is up to. He sometimes returns smelling of exhaust. I can’t be sure what he is up to, but I don’t like it. He will do whatever he does with or without my help, though, plus twin code dictates we cover for one another. Whether it’s denying which one of us broke Mom’s laptop or not telling our parents about Rory’s hookups, we have each other’s backs.

Although admittedly, this usually benefits Rory much more than it does me. I’m usually covering for him or taking the heat for him.

Rory holds one secret for me, though; a big one. I know he doesn’t like it but keeps it because of the twin code. I haven’t told him I’m in love with Sawyer, but I know my twin knows. He always gives me warning glances when we are with Sawyer, imperceivable to anyone but me. Rory’s been encouraging me to start dating finally, but I have no interest in anyone but Sawyer. I know he kissed me that night in the woods; I know I’m not imagining it. That wasn’t a kiss of a protective bodyguard. It meant more….I could feel the difference between us.

I walk into the deep freezer to pull out the chicken, glancing up at the camera as I go. My brother may hate the cameras in the café, and normally I hate all of the security cameras around….but I love these. I love the idea of Sawyer watching me as I go about my day, protecting me. I crave his attention, so often denied to me, in whatever way I can get it.

I imagine him in the tiny apartment above the garage set up for the security team, watching me now as I go about the mundane task of opening up the café. His gaze never leaving the monitor, and pleasuring himself while watching me. I glance around to make sure Rory is still in the front before looking into the camera, which had only been installed in the back. I slip my hands into my top and throw my head back with a slight groan once my fingers reach my nipple. I hear the door to the kitchen swing open and quickly remove my hand before going back to my task.

Chapter six

Sawyer

Rodrigoisfartooclose to the monitors when Baby Girl starts her show. His back is to them now, but he could walk over any moment. I lean back in my chair, my finger trigger-happy on the mouse to click out the moment Rodrigo comes closer. This is my little show, and I’m not sharing.

“There was an alert on fence sensor two-seventeen,” I lie, my eyes never leaving the monitor as I watch Rosalie. Soon enough, I’ll be able to watch her in person.

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