I shoved the memories away. Nothing good came from them. I glanced down at Tatum. “Aren’t you cold?” I snapped. “It’s the middle of fucking winter and you’re wearing a singlet.”
She looked up at me. “My, aren’t you a cuddly teddy in the morning? And since when do you care about my warmth or comfort?”
I drank the rest of my coffee and pushed off from the counter to place my mug in the sink. “Put some clothes on. We’re leaving in half an hour.”
“I won’t be ready in half an hour, Nitro.”
I turned back to face her. “Yeah, you will be.”
As I left the kitchen, she called after me, “I don’t know what kinds of women you’ve been associating with, but this one does not get ready in half a fucking hour.”
Renee passed me in the hallway, already dressed for school. She was an early riser and had probably already completed an hour of study. “You know, I think I kinda like Tatum,” she said with a smile.
Ignoring her, I walked outside and sucked some air into my lungs. Between Tatum’s attitude, Renee’s smartass comments, my sister’s mental breakdown, Storm’s problems and memories of my mother, this week was going off with a fucking bang.
My phone rang then, and one look at the caller ID told me the week was only just getting started with me.
My brother.
* * *
“I need somewhere to stay,” Dustin said ten minutes later when he arrived at my house.
I pushed my fingers through my hair as I listened to my brother. “What happened to the place I found you three weeks ago?” I’d found him a share house and helped him move in, hoping he’d settle there okay. It seemed he hadn’t.
His lips flattened in a hard line. “The woman who ran it kicked me out.”
“Fuck, what did you do?”
“I didn’t do anything. I just tried to kiss her.”
Jesus, Dustin would be the fucking death of me.
I slammed my hand down on my table. “I’ve told you, Dustin, you can’t go around kissing women you aren’t involved with.”
He jumped and his eyes widened. I tried never to lose my temper with him, so my outburst must have confused him. “I don’t.”
Blowing out a long breath, I said, “Yeah, you do. Problem is, they don’t know you like I do, so they don’t know you’d never force yourself on them.” Dustin was a simple guy looking for love, who had no clue how to attract a woman. Most women didn’t give him the time of day so he tried harder than most men had to. Unfortunately, his efforts were mostly misguided and ended up in these kinds of outcomes—him inappropriately touching women, them crying foul and me cleaning up his shit.
“Can I stay here until I find somewhere?” The hopeful look on his face caused my guilt to surface. If it weren’t for me, he wouldn’t be in this mess in the first place.
I nodded. “Yeah.”
A grin broke out on his face and he threw his arms around me. “Thank you, Nitro.” As if I’d caused some miracle to happen.
The bathroom door opened across the hall from where we stood and a gust of perfume blanketed us. Our attention was drawn to Tatum who exited the room and announced, “I’m good to go. Quickest fucking time I’ve ever gotten ready, which means you”—she pointed at me—“owe me coffee.”
“Wow,” Dustin exclaimed while staring at Tatum. She’d dressed in skin-tight jeans again, this time with knee-high boots that had a killer heel. The jeans showed off her legs and ass while the black fitted long-sleeved top she wore could stop traffic. And although bruises and some swelling still painted her face, her beauty couldn’t be mistaken.
“Put your tongue back in your mouth,” I said, not taking my eyes off her for one second. I didn’t need to look at him to know he was drooling. Any straight male would be.
Tatum shifted her gaze to Dustin and did something I hadn’t seen yet—she smiled. When she moved to where he stood and extended her hand in greeting, my breathing slowed and my chest expanded. All the tension I’d felt a moment ago vanished and I watched in fascination as she spoke to him.
“Hi, I’m Tatum. I’m guessing you’re Nitro’s brother.” Her smile filled her face while she waited for his reply.
He shook her hand and I knew his shyness had kicked in by the way his body shrunk a little and his eyes turned down. “How can you tell? We don’t look anything alike.” Even his voice had softened and turned hesitant. Disbelieving. He had a point; no one ever assumed we were brothers.
“Oh, I can tell. You have the same nose and even though your eyes have more sparkle in them, they’re the same beautiful brown that his eyes are.” I was fairly certain she’d never thought of my eye colour as beautiful, but I appreciated her referring to his as that. God knew, Dustin could do with the confidence boost.
I watched as my brother, for the first time in his life, visibly drew his body up and puffed his shoulders back. Returning her smile, he said, “I’m Dustin.”
“It’s great to meet you, Dustin.” Facing me, she lifted her brows and said, “You’re gonna need some more linen and maybe a mattress or two if we’re all gonna be staying here.”
I fought the smile tugging at my lips. Grabbing my keys off the table, I muttered, “Smartass.”
She shrugged. “Just stating facts. I don’t wanna sleep on that floor again.”
I held her gaze. “And I told you how to avoid that.”
She pursed her lips but didn’t say anything else on the subject.
“Can I come, too?” Dustin asked.
I shook my head. “No, you stay here. There’s ice cream in the freezer and noodles in the cupboard.” His two favourites.
His face lit up. “And Netflix.”
Tatum smiled. “Netflix is the best.”
He turned his grin to her and nodded. “It really is.”
Renee joined us. “Are we still on for this afternoon?”
I frowned. “What’s this afternoon?”
“You were going to take me out driving so I could clock up some more hours.”
“Sure. Five?”
She nodded and then headed into the kitchen.
I eyed Tatum and jerked my chin towards the front door. “Let’s go, Vegas.”