“What are you doing here, Matt?” Kash clipped out, strolling past him.
That was wrong, too.
He stalked past him, coming in, bypassing me. His eyes had moved to me, he watched me the whole time he went past, until he stepped into his closet. Coming out, he’d taken off his shirt and carried another one in hand. Tossing it on his bed, his hands dropped to his pants.
Oh, whoa.
I did not look away.
I should’ve. I could’ve.
I didn’t.
No way.
He was cut and chiseled, and there were sleek lines of muscle all over him. Not overly, where it was too much muscle, but enough to give him a leanness. He was like a jaguar, one trimmed and poised to attack. His eyes flashed to me again, and I gulped before they skirted to Matthew and stayed there. He’d found his target.
“I asked you a question. What are you doing here, Matt?” He let go of his jeans and shoved his arms in the shirt, pulling it over and down. It fit perfectly.
Shocker.
“I’m meeting your new friend. What’s her name? She still hasn’t told me.”
“Because it’s not your business,” Kash shot back.
Matthew laughed, but I heard the unease in there. “First time you bring a girl here, and you think I’m not going to check her out? You nuts?”
“Right there.” Kash’s head fell back, his nostrils flaring. “First time. First. Time. You don’t think I’d want privacy, even if she was my girl?”
Doubt filtered over Matthew’s face, his eyebrows pinching together. “You’re always shoving your way into my places.”
Places. Matt had more than one?
Matt was still speaking. “You never give a shit if I’m pissed or not.”
“That’s different.”
A snort. “How?”
“Because you’re a dumbass that usually needs me to either kick your ass or someone else’s ass around you. That’s why.”
I waited, expecting a retort from my brother. None came. He nodded, running a hand over his head and gripping his neck for a moment. “That’s fair.” A corner of his mouth curved up, and he went back to studying me. “But seriously. Who is she?”
Kash let out a sigh, grabbing his shirt. “She’s a friend from the family. My family. Bailey Hayes.” He bundled his shirt up in a ball and threw it at Matthew, hard. It was enough to smack against his chest from across the room. “That’s all you need to know. Respect her wish. She ain’t here on vacation.”
My eyes darted to him, my body warming.
There was that protective asshole that Matthew commented on, but it was regarding me. I knew it was a lie. He was helping with my cover, but I couldn’t deny that it felt nice to hear it. I almost wished it were true.
“How you going to handle Victoria?”
Victoria? Kash had mentioned her earlier. I waited to see what he’d say, but he only jerked a shoulder up, before unbuckling his jeans. “I’ll handle her.” He paused, raking us both with a look. “Can you both get out? I need to change my pants.”
Matthew started laughing. “Now I know she really ain’t your girl.” He nodded to me, still smiling. “Come on, Little Mystery. If you’re going to snoop in Kash’s place, you’re not going to find the right spots. I’ll show you where he keeps the good booze.”
My gaze skirted to Kash at the snooping word, but he didn’t seem to mind. His head cocked to the side, his fingers waiting, holding on to his waistband, he looked annoyed. Trailing after Matthew, I tried to wrap my head around everything.
My brother was right in front of me.
He had caught me, questioned me, then tried to grill me. Now he was showing me where Kash hid his booze, which wasn’t a secret place at all. Down the hall. To the kitchen. He wound around the island to the pantry, and that was where a whole row of bottles was shelved.
“Wow,” I deadpanned, waiting in the doorway as he grabbed a few of them. “You’re right. I never would’ve found those.”
He shot me a grin, going past me and setting them on the island. “It’s the only place with fun stuff in Kash’s house.”
He turned to me.
I thought he needed to go past me for glasses, but he didn’t. He only leaned down, purposely getting in my space, and his eyes were hard. His words were blunt. “I don’t know what the fuck’s going on, but I know something is. If you actually did know Kash, you would’ve known he keeps all his real shit in his downtown apartment.”
Oh.
Crap.
“Why do you keep thinking I was snooping?”
“You were.”
Yeah. Well. “Why do you insist that I was looking for the ‘real shit’? How do you know I wasn’t up there because he has a freaking library? Did you see those bookshelves? Sue me. I like reading. Hide some books somewhere, and I’ll sniff ’em out. Hidden talent of mine.”
He straightened his back again, sneering in disbelief. “Whatever you say. You’d know he only uses this house when he’s forced to stay on the estate, which ain’t that often. Another fact I know you don’t know about my boy, so why don’t you cut the bullshit. Nerd aside, who are you? Really.”
I let out a sigh.
Kash was padding barefoot down the hallway and starting to cross the room. He had changed into sweatpants that fell low on his hips. Matthew’s back was to him. He didn’t know Kash was there, and I frowned slightly, a brief flash of familiarity nagging at me. Kash walked so quietly, he was soundless.
He had covered for me in his room, but this was the real test.
A dark warning flared in Kash’s gaze. I ignored it, meeting my brother’s gaze, and I shifted back a step so I could think. “Fine.” I made sure my voice cracked. “You’re right.”
Triumph flooded over his face. He narrowed his eyes. “Still waiting.”
“But you’re wrong about most of it. I don’t know Kash that well, but I do know his family. I was neighbors with Judith and Martin.” I paused, wondering, “You know them?”
He stiffened. “Kash doesn’t talk about his family, hardly ever.”
So he really was a mystery, even to them? Even if he grew up with them, as he said?
“I was good friends with his cousin, Stephanie.” I didn’t pause to ask if he knew her. I was betting he didn’t. “And anyways, I am going through a hard time right now. It’s a bad breakup, okay?” My voice wobbled. My bottom lip trembled.
Could I get a tear?
I tried. I did. Chrissy would’ve been all over that, but it wasn’t a talent of mine. Still. I was convincing, because my half brother was looking at me with a mix of sympathy and guilt.
Good. He should feel guilty, for wasting away all the privileges he got as Peter Francis’s eldest son. Not going to be interested in computers, my ass. He was insane. Peter Francis might be my sperm donor, but I still would kill for an internship at Phoenix Tech.
It was in my blood. Literally.
I turned, pressing into the island counter with my fingers. I couldn’t pick at it. It was one giant piece of stone, so I did the best I could, rubbing the bottoms of my fingers against it. “I … I got to a dark place, okay? Stephanie was alarmed enough”—I nodded in the direction of Kash’s bedroom—“she called in a favor. I remember Kash when we were younger. He visited for a few years, but yeah, I’ve not seen him for almost twenty years. Don’t matter. Stephanie said I needed to get out of there, said I should stay here until I was better. A change of environment would do me good.”