Page 5 of No Dirty Secrets

“Cole.”

Crossing my arms and glaring at him is easier than asking him why he is here. He knows I want to be left alone, specifically by him. We both know I’m pissed. He is the reason I can’t report to my new duty station, why I was put on medical leave, and also why I don’t get to deploy with the rest of my unit.

“I didn’t have a choice,” he says uselessly.

“Bullshit,” I snap.

When I look past my brother, I see Emmett checking his phone, not caring in the slightest that we are turning his office into a war zone. Although, from the sound of it when I walked in, he’d been going at Miles for the same reason I am. At least, that is what I hope he has been doing. From the look on his face while he glares at Miles, I know my cousin has my back, just as he’s done ever since we were little.

“Cole.” Miles takes a step forward, but then stops before he gets close. Instead, he leans against the door, looking like he’s been kicked in the gut. “You got hurt. In a car accident. I wasn’t going to not report it. I had to do the right thing. If you’d gone overseas with an injury, even a minor one, and something happened to you… I don’t know what I’d do with myself.”

Emmett snorts. “I do. Mimi would beat your ass.”

At the mention of our grandmother, I freeze. As much as I hate to admit it, Emmett is right. By extension, that means that Miles is right too. Still, I am not about to admit to my older brother anything of that nature. Especially since he tried to convince me to join the Marine Corps after college. Instead, I’ve ignored him and done it my way. Going the same way our father, and his father before him, had done.

Emmett is right, though. I’m the youngest, and we all know I’m Mimi’s favorite. She loves us all, yeah, but I look like our grandfather more than any of the others.

“Why are you here, Miles?” I decide it is time to switch tactics. Maybe we can get him out of here before he can get comfortable.

“Emmett bought us all condos in his neighborhood.” Miles shrugs. “I’m not just gonna accept it and keep it there without putting furniture or any of that girly shit in it. Figured while I was in town for that, I’d check on you.”

“He thought,” Emmett interjects, “that he could get me to give him information on you. Which is what you walked into the middle of.”

“Emmett’s a dick.” Miles glares at our cousin before uncrossing his arms and making himself comfortable by sitting in one of the oversized chairs Sori had insisted on buying last week. “I just want to make sure there are no hard feelings.”

“Oh, there are definitely hard feelings. Many.” I absently rub the fading scar on the back of my head. “I was perfectly fine. And you cost me this deployment.”

Miles’s face turns hard again. “I’m a major, dipshit. You can’t just expect me to let a cocky little corporal deploy when I know for a fact he has medical issues. You were in a major car accident. One that left you with gaps in your fucking memory. And you wanted me to just let you go? You don’t even remember the week leading up to the accident.”

Of course, that’s when Emmett decides to chime in, too. “He’s got a point, Cole.”

I know I’m being petulant, but that’s beside the point. My brother is supposed to have my back. He is supposed to watch out for me. Eventually, I’ll forgive him for reporting my injury to command. Though that doesn’t mean I have to do it now or even a month from now. I sure as shit don’t have to put up with him. Not when I have cold beer in my fridge and steak at home waiting to be cooked.

“I’m going home.”

When neither of them try to stop me, I leave without telling Emmett about Sori’s ticket. Fuck it. She is going to win this particular argument.

In fact, I pull out my phone and guarantee it.

Cole:If you get her number, I’ll keep your ticket a secret from G.

I don’t haveto wait long for a response. Sori must have been expecting it.

Sori:Deal. :)

Smilingto myself for the second time in an hour, I’m almost happy. At least until I get in a cab headed back toward the private development where Emmett had bought all the cousins condos. If I wasn’t so happy to have a place to call home near family, I might feel like he is buying our love.

He’s told us that he wants to make sure his kids are safe and surrounded by family, but I know the truth. After our childhood and the way we only really had one another, he wants to have family around him. Mimi doesn’t want to live near us though. She says we cramp her style, which for the record I completely believe.

I’m still thinking about our living arrangements when the cab drops me off in front of my condo a half hour later. That, and I’m daydreaming about the steak I left marinating all night. The cold air that hits me in the face as soon as I open the door is a welcome change, too. New York is hot during the summer and smelly. Suddenly needing a change, I run upstairs to shower. I put that bitch all the way on the hottest setting possible. After going through cold showers in boot, there is no chance in hell I’ll ever take a cold shower unless absolutely necessary. While standing under the steady jets of water, I find myself picturing Casper’s haunted expression from the courthouse.

There was nothing else in the world I’ve wanted to do more than protect her from Judge Carter at that moment. Damian Carter is actually a friend of Mimi’s. He’s been to dinner more than once with the family when they are in town. However, as soon as the first tear streaked down Casper’s cheek, there was an irrational anger that swept through me. I don’t even know anything about her except her name and that I want to protect her. That, and like the rest of the courtroom, I know that her sister died recently. That fact is hard to miss.

Luckily, Sori is going to get her number. It means that I can finagle her into inviting Casper over while I’m still in town. Maybe I can get to know her, get her to smile and forget about her troubles. Even if it is only for a little bit. Her amber eyes are stuck in my brain all day, and I swear I see her through the back door when I’m cooking that afternoon. When I blink, she is gone.

My phone starts to ring from the kitchen counter. I answer it, recognizing the caller by the cheerful ringtone.

“Sori.” I stick a piece of steak in my mouth and chew loudly.

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