Page 62 of Brenna, Brat

Texas was a big state. He could go for years, meeting all those available women. Since he wasn’t speaking to his family and was avoiding his friends, he’d have no reason to come home to Michigan.

He would be gone for good. Forever.

Chapter 13

“What the…”

His voice trailed off into silence as he eased his foot off the gas and his car, which hadn’t been moving very fast anyway on this narrow road, slowed and stopped.

“It’s a party,” Dion stated. “I didn’t know you were having a party.”

“I’m not. No one should be here,” Campbell stated, but judging from the number of vehicles in the driveway, there were plenty of people at his family’s vacation home. There was also plenty of room to park outside, because this was nothing like my grandparents’ cottage, the place we’d visited as kids during the summers. This was a huge, modern home, angular and sparkling in the sun that was just beginning to set over the lake. It did look like a fun place to have a party.

“Come on,” he told us, and we got our bags and walked to the front door. I could hear music before he opened it, butthe big living room we entered was empty of guests. There was definitely a mess, though. Beach towels were strewn everywhere, as were clothes and flip flops, and there was sand all over the floor and also on the furniture. Bottles of alcohol covered the kitchen island and someone had tipped over a wine glass on the coffee table and had left it there on its side. A dark, sticky puddle had formed and fruit flies clustered around it and lazily circled above. A white spatter across the rug came from a smashed bottle of sunscreen, one that looked stepped-on. And there were purses, shirts, bikini tops and bottoms, someone’s retainer, a pack of birth control pills, and way too much other crap scattered around.

“Are there squatters here? Who would do this to your house?” I asked over the sound from the speaker.

Campbell looked around, and shut that off. Then he yelled a name: “Carrington!”

And a few moments later, a beautiful woman in a turquoise bikini—almost exactly the same shade as the one I had packed and brought with me—descended from the upper floors. She stopped on the bottom step and stared at the three of us.

“Wow,” Dion said. “Is heaven at the top of those stairs? Because you’re an angel.”

If that was one of the lines he usually used, I was surprised he’d slept with one woman, let alone hundreds or thousands. She didn’t seem impressed, either; her focus was on her brother.

“What the fuck are you doing here, Campbell?”

“I came for the weekend. My lawyer said that the place was empty.”

“Obviously, it isn’t!”

And that was exactly why personal communication, without opaque layers of legal representation, was best. I congratulated myself on being right.

Carrington stared at Dion for a moment, and then at me. “What’s she doing here?”

To my surprise, Campbell put his arm around me. “Don’t start on Brenna. How long are you going to stay?”

“Until Sunday afternoon. You’ll have to leave.”

“We’re not going anywhere,” I told her. “He has as much right to use this house as you do.”

“There’s no space for you,” she snarled. “I’m in Dad’s room and two of the girls have yours.”

“We’ll make space,” I announced. “Don’t worry for a second about us.”

She opened her mouth to respond, but then she glanced toward her brother and closed it. We got a good view of her backside as she stormed upstairs, and Dion sure enjoyed our vantage point. He crouched down low to admire more of her ascent and to prolong the experience. Then he stood and nodded appreciatively.

“I don’t mind staying here at all,” he told us. “Where’s my room? Must be up there.” He charged after Carrington, and Campbell turned to me.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “This isn’t what I pictured for the weekend away.”

“I’m the one who let my adoptive brother tag along. Remember the guy who had to stop seven times to use the bathroom on our car trip? I don’t care if your sister is here, too.” I did care, however, that we were going to be twins in our bathing suits. One of us was going to look stunning, and the other would not. I was very clear which twin I was.

We heard a shriek from upstairs and decided that it was a good idea to see what Dion was up to. He was checking every bedroom to find one that was unoccupied and he was also introducing himself to the women he encountered. He’d met all of Carrington’s friends by the time we arrived on the second floor.

“Great house,” he told Campbell. “I’ll go here.” He tossed his bag into one of the bedrooms.

“Is there a woman already sleeping there?” I asked sternly, but it was empty.

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