Page 63 of Reviving Kendall

Leo ignores him as he puffs out his chest and walks to us, “I didn’t know you were bringing company, little brother.”

“Hey,” Teagan complains, “What are we? Chopped liver?”

“You’re over here enough to be family,” one of Lucas’ brothers tells him as he offers me a hand, “Lathan. And you are, pretty lady?”

I shake his hand with more confidence than I feel, “Kendall.”

He smiles at me, and it’s so much like Lucas’, that I feel my nerves loosen up a little. Both he and Leo have buzzed hair on the sides with a little left on top. Pointing to the other brothers he says, “Logan, Lincoln, and Leo.”

Bloody hell. What are these boys drinking on the farm out here? Leo, Logan, and Lathan are all just as big as Lucas and my guys. Lincoln is the only one that is smaller than the rest, with almost feminine attributes. His curly dark hair is pushed back away from his face, completely opposite Logan, who has shaggy hair falling everywhere.

I take turns shaking all of their hands.

Leo is last, and he kisses the back of my hand as he watches Lucas. He must assume that I’m with him, and is just trying to get a rise out of him. I pull my hand back as soon as it’s polite to. No reason to start war just yet, because he doesn’t realize that he’s not just poking a bear, he’s waking a whole goddamn den of them.

“Are you thirsty or hungry? The food is still cooking, but we can scrounge something up. Come on,” Logan says putting my hand in the crook of his elbow and leading us to the kitchen.

I hear Lathan tell Lucas behind me, “So rude, dude.” And I have to bite my tongue to keep from laughing.

We walk into the kitchen and I fall in love with the house all over again. Everything looks like it just stepped out of one of those country life magazines, from the light brown cabinets to the frosted looking counter tops. There’s a bar in the middle of the room with at least eight chairs around three sides of it. As Logan pulls me to the fridge, the rest of the guys take a seat around the bar. I grab a bottle of water before he tows me back to the counter.

Once we’re there, he won’t let me pull my hand free, “So, tell me Kendall, how is it that you come to know these four trouble makers?”

With all eyes on me, the nerves come back, and my hands get all clammy, “We met at a restaurant I used to work at a couple months ago.”

“What?!” Leo exclaims in fake surprise at Lucas, “You’ve known her for this long and are just now sharing?”

The others laugh, all except Mav. He can’t seem to pry his eyes away from my hand on Logan’s arm. When I try to pull away again, he just tightens his hold.

Lincoln sits on the counter off to the side of the bar and observes everything that’s going on. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that he has already discovered the dynamics of what we are. Definitely the smarter one out of Lucas’ older brothers, or at least the more cautious one.

I try to answer as many of their questions as I can as they fire them at me. Even Lucas is no help when he tries to tell them to shove off. That only makes it worse.

“Ok, I’ve heard all I need to hear,” Leo says standing up on my other side. “You have to ditch whichever one of these bozos you’re with and choose me instead.”

He throws his arm around my shoulder and presses a kiss to my temple.

“Stop fucking touching her,” Mav growls, apparently at his breaking point.

There’s a good fifteen seconds where no one in the room says anything, and a pin could be heard dropping.

Logan breaks the silence as he finally lets go of my arm, “Well, well, well, the good ole Mav. Didn’t know you’d be the first one to land a girl like this. Being all mean and shit all the time.”

My eyes go wide, but it must be a standing joke around here, because Mav just shrugs. I don’t know if I should correct them, so my eyes find Lucas’ and he winks at me. Ohhhh shit.

“Yeah about that,” Lucas says as all eyes turn to him, “She’s my girlfriend too.”

This silence is even better than the last, because it leaves three of the brother’s looking at Lucas like they don’t know whether to congratulate him or beat his ass for lying to them.

“And mine,” Goose chimes in.

Teagan simply raises his hand, laying claim to me with nothing more than a look.

Lathan bursts out laughing, “Come on man. Why do you guys always fuck with us like that? Haven’t we always been nice to you?”

“I hope that’s a rhetorical question,” Teagan teases.

Leo and Lathan laugh, but I feel Logan and Lincoln staring at me.