Page 73 of Maverick

"Um…what's happening?"

"I have to get to my brothers," he says distractedly as the doors open to the garage. Still holding my hand, he guides me to his very fancy car.

"And I'm going too?" I ask as I drop into the front seat. He carefully tucks my dress in, then crouches next to me.

"Cadence, it's taken me months to get this date. There is no way I'm going to let it end this early. So yes, you're coming."

Grinning, I rest my head against the headrest. "Good. Where are we going?"

He winces and runs his hand through his hair. "To bail my brothers out of jail."

24

MAVERICK

Igrip the steering wheel tightly, frustration coursing through my veins. I've been looking forward to this date all week, and now my fucking brothers have derailed it. I glance over at Cady in the passenger seat, and damn, she looks stunning. Every minute I spend with her, I want her more. It's taking all my willpower not to pull over and show her just how much.

"What did your brothers do?" Cady asks, her voice laced with curiosity.

I let out a sigh. "Honestly, I don't know. They didn't tell me. Knowing them, it's probably something stupid. Apparently, both Kade and Declan are in jail."

She raises an eyebrow. "Does this happen often?"

I nod, changing lanes. "More than you'd think. It's why I have a hard time turning off my phone. These kinds of calls aren't exactly unusual."

"Right. Because you like to help," she remarks.

"Yes, but also, I'm a lawyer. When they get arrested, they should call me." I pause, shaking my head. "It happens a few times a year."

Cady leans in, intrigued. "What kind of things do they get up to? Anything serious?"

Chuckling, because as pissed as I am it's still funny as hell, I tell her about some of the ridiculous shit they've pulled. "One time, Kade got arrested for trying to drive Colton's yellow Hummer backwards through a drive thru. He knocked over the board and then dragged the damn thing in circles around the parking lot to another drive-thru, where he successfully ordered himself a burger.

"Another time, Declan hacked into a billboard and changed it to display a giant middle finger. I hadn’t even finished my degree for that one. Then there's the time Jonas got into an argument with his science teacher about some chemical compound, and made a bomb in the middle of class. Holy fuck, that one could have gone badly, except the whole class backed him up. They all hated that teacher and they said the teacher egged him into it."

Cady tries to control her laughter at first, but as I keep going, the sheer absurdity of it all breaks her. Soon, she's belly laughing, and I can't help but join in.

As I pull up to the police station, the one closest to our apartment building, I'm still grinning like an idiot. We head inside, and I ask for my brothers. The older cop, who knows me all too well, just rolls his eyes. "We moved them out of holding and into an interrogation room. They were causing shit down there."

"Oh God. What this time? Was it the toilet again? Was it burritos again?"

The cop groans and scrubs his hand over his face. "Not, the way you mean, thank fuck. They were getting everyone to sing 'Bad Boys' in fucking twenty-part harmony. Fucking listening to cats mating would be easier on the ears."

Cadence chokes and covers her mouth with both hands. The cop smiles just the smallest bit, then clears his throat and leadsus to the interrogation room. He pushes the door open. "Your lawyer's here, dumbfucks." Then lower, “Nice to see you again Cadence.” She murmurs something back.

I'm about to ask how they know each other, but then I get a good look at my brothers. "Aw fuck you guys. What the hell did you do this time?"

Cadence isn't even trying to hide her laughter. She's snorting with it, leaning against the wall. I turn on the cop again. "You said it wasn't burritos."

"I don't think they managed to eat any."

"No," Declan says mournfully. "We didn't."

Looking between Kade and Declan, I groan and ask the question I know I'm not going to like the answer to. "Can you tell me why you guys are covered in refried beans and smell like smoke?"

I pinch the bridge of my nose, trying to stave off the impending headache. Declan and Kade trade glances, then start trying to explain themselves. "See, what happened was..." Kade begins, his voice trailing off as he searches for the right words.

"Um, well, it was an accident," Declan interjects, his eyes wide and innocent. "A delicious, bean-filled accident."

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