Page 9 of Shared By Her Brother's Best Friends

She’s everything Jacob isn’t. Short, petite, with big blue eyes, short blonde hair like a fairy, and an ethereal otherworldly beauty about her, high cheekbones, and full rosebud lips. She seems fragile yet the way she clapped back and bossed her brother around shows she’s no wallflower.

“Right well, it’s nice to meet you,” Emma says awkwardly to Ty and me before turning to her brother. “Is it okay if Max and I go and get settled upstairs? It’s been a long day, I want to take a shower and it’s time for Max to go to bed. He already ate at the diner.”

“But I’m not tired!” Max protests.

“Sure you are little man,” J-Bird says, scooping the boy up and throwing him over his shoulder, eliciting excited screams from Max. “Let’s get you upstairs to bed!”

Emma rolls her eyes and nods to us before following her brother upstairs.

“Shit man, she was nothing like what I expected,” Ty grumbles, watching Emma’s slender figure glide up the stairs.

“You can say that again,” I reply with a small chuckle.

A short while later, J-Bird comes downstairs closely followed by Emma, freshly showered and looking even more attractive without makeup. She smiles shyly at us as she sits down at the table next to her brother. I sit there wondering what I can say to break the ice, but luckily, Jax does that for us as at that moment, he walks in carrying a big bowl of spaghetti.

“Dinner is served, I hope you guys are hungry!” he declares, placing the dish on the table that Ty and I laid while the others were upstairs.

“Thank you, this looks great,” Emma says with a genuine smile that lights up her radiant face.

J-Bird grunts, “Don’t speak too soon, Jax isn’t known for being Suzie Homemaker.”

We dig in and the meal is surprisingly good. “You’ve been holding out on us Jax, I’m gonna make you give Chef some pointers,” J-Bird quips.

“I’d rather keep all of my fingers, thank you very much,” Jax replies with a chuckle.

“You guys have a chef working for you?” Emma asks curiously.

I shake my head, chuckling lightly, “Not exactly. Chef is one of my club brothers. He did time a while back and worked in the kitchens while he served his sentence, now he likes to cook for us all.”

“Rumor has it that while he was in jail one guy told him his food was too salty and he chopped off the guy’s middle finger,” Jax adds conversationally.

Emma looks shocked by the story and J-Bird glares at Jax. Clearly, he doesn’t want his sister to think of us all as thuggish criminals.

“I’m sure it’s just a silly rumor though, Chef’s a sweetheart,” Jax hurriedly adds.

Ty barely manages to suppress a small smile at these words, if there’s one word you’d never use to describe the beast of a man Chef is, it’s a sweetheart.

We continue to chat while we eat, steering clear of revealing too much about the club and studiously avoiding the topic of why Emma is here. As we talk, it becomes clear that Emma isn’t just attractive, she’s smart and funny too. Watching the ease with which she and her brother interact makes me wish I’d had siblings. She even brings out a softer side to him that I’ve not seen before, though he does his best to hide it. Emma makes us laugh and can come back with a witty remark at the drop of a hat.

By telling us a little about their childhood, with J-Bird pointedly telling stories of all the guys he beat up that tried it on with Emma, it confirms my suspicion that Emma must be quite a bit younger, which explains why he’s so protective of her.

“Mommy!” The sound of Max crying out in distress pulls our attention and we all immediately spring from our seats, ready to rush upstairs.

Emma looks at us with a mixture of surprise and amusement on her face, “Relax guys, I’m sure it’s just a nightmare. Jacob, you said so yourself this place is completely secure and there’s no way anyone followed us here.”

So she’s brave too,I think admiringly.

None of us move though, still uncertain.

“Mommyyyyy!” Max calls again.

“Coming sweetie,” she calls out to him before heading toward the stairs, “If anything seems off, I’ll shout out right away, okay?”

“I’ll come with you,” I insist.

She looks as though she’s about to argue, but the sounds of Max calling out again win out and she heads upstairs, allowing me to follow behind.

Emma pushes the door open to see Max sitting up in bed crying. She moves over to him, embracing him and soothing him. “Shush, it’s okay, it was just a bad dream, Mommy’s here.”

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