Page 79 of Together We Burn
“Neither is your sister,” I said, nodding my head to Stefany, who was wearing an old t-shirt of mine and a pair of my boxers underneath. I fucking loved her wearing my clothes. Like Nate, Stefany’s hair was dishevelled, but that didn’t have much to do with sleeping.
“Where’s Alex?” Chris asked shyly.
“Thought you’d know that,” Stefany said, lifting her foot and resting it on the chair. She strummed her fingers against her knee, eyeing her sister and making her squirm.
I pushed off the counter and dropped to my haunches. Nate’s brilliant green eyes blinked up at me, and I instantly saw Emilia in them. Poor kid had obviously inherited at least one trait from his father.
“Why don’t we go see if there’s anything on TV you want to watch?” I asked, and he shrugged, pushing from the floor and making his way to the living room. After setting him up with aMarvelmovie with surround sound, I returned to the kitchen.
Stefany was still drumming her nails, staring at the side of Chris’s head, and it appeared the sisters hadn’t spoken since I’d left. But Stefany would wait and stare until her opponent cracked. That turned out to be not much longer after I sat Chris’s coffee in front of her.
Stefany grabbed the cup before Chris could put a hand on it, tutting at her sister.
“Uh-uh.” Then she slid the pastries away from her too. “You’ll get this once you’ve told me what the fuck happened last night.” A sardonic smile crossed Stefany’s lips. “So speak.”
“It’s not what you think, Stefy,” Chris began, clasping her hands on top of the table to stop them from fidgeting.
“And what do I think?”
“That he took advantage or something,” she said, looking embarrassed. “But it wasn’t like that.”
“Oh, right.” Stefany’s drawl of the word “right” was sarcastic and disbelieving. “So it wasn’t like he’d fucked my little sister’s mouth with his tongue and would have probably fucked you in Jake’s hallway if he didn’t remember where he was?”
“That’s a bit of a jump, Stefany,” I said, earning a glare that could freeze my balls off.
“Ikissed him!” Chris exclaimed, then shrunk in her seat when Stefany’s mouth gaped. “I actually took him off guard, and he stopped it before it went further than an extended peck.”
Stefany screwed up her face and pushed the confiscated coffee and croissant across the table in front of Chris.
“Gross,” she said, then dramatically shook her arms as she shivered. “There’s something wrong with you if you think kissing that man-slut was a good idea.”
Chris’s eyes widened, and she returned the croissant to the bag, looking as though she had just lost her appetite.
“He’s… he’s slept with a lot of women?” she asked hesitantly.
“A lot doesn’t even begin to cover the number of notches on his bedposts.” Stefany laughed, completely unaware as the colour in Chris’s face slowly drained. “If I had a quarter for every girl Alex had nailed, then bailed, I’d be like Scrooge McDuck diving into his pool of gold coins.”
“Stefany,” I warned, but she only laughed.
“Honestly, Chris, I love Alex like a brother, but you do not want to become another number in his long list of broken hearts.”
Getting up from the table, she squeezed her sister’s shoulder just as her phone rang. Reading the caller ID, she groaned and then answered the call, putting it on speaker.
“Well, if it isn’t my least favourite Jones Brother,” she deadpanned. “To what do I owe the displeasure?”
“I can see you’ve started with the attitude early.” Will’s dry tone came from the speaker. Chris smirked into her coffee, and Stefany rolled her eyes. An audible inhale and exhale came from the phone, and then Will said, “I need you and Alex to get into the office as soon as possible. There have been developments.”
“You mean like how Emilia found out where my nephew and sister were?” Stefany replied shortly. “Don’t worry, I knew all about that, and I have them here with me now. Say hi, Chris.”
“What do you mean she found them?” Will growled.
“It’s not nice to be left in the dark, is it, William?” she said. “Anyway, your brother is out for a run and isn’t home yet, so, unfortunately, I cannot accept your request for a meeting at this time.”
“Stevie, cut the shit and get your ass into my office with Alex now,” he growled. “Do not keep me waiting. Remember who owns you.”
“I think you’d find that would be Jake,” she replied smoothly, then hung up the phone.
Coming to her side, I wrapped my hands around her waist, enjoying how she let me pull her to me.
