Chapter Five

Cullen

L IKE THE ASSHOLE I was, I let her go. When she’d touched me, it took every fiber of my being not to pull her onto my lap and kiss her for all she was worth. Instead, I’d pulled away and made her feel like she’d done something wrong.

Fucking hell, I was a dick.

I stared out at the water and pulled out my phone.

“Well, hi there, big brother.”

“Hey. You busy?”

Cricket sighed. “I have a job , Cull. Yes, I’m busy.”

I smirked. “But you work for Maisie. From home, you have leeway.”

“This is true.”

“Can you slip out early?”

“You sound a little wrecked.”

I squeezed my eyes shut. “I could really use you, sissy.”

“I’m there,” she rushed to say. “Where are you?”

“I’ll meet you at my place.”

“Righty ho, big bro. Meet you there.”

She hung up and after I locked up, I swung by a fast food place and grabbed lunch, then headed home.

Cricket pulled up a few minutes after I’d walked in and used her key to make entry. “It’s me.”

“I saw.”

“Are you okay?” she called out as she reset the alarm.

“Not really,” I admitted, and she walked into the kitchen and wrapped her arms around my waist.

“What’s up, buttercup?”

I sighed, filling her in on the meeting with Helena, leaving out the spy portion, but keeping in the touching part.

Cricket gasped, glancing up at me, but keeping me in a tight hug. “Cullen Marcus Wallace, you’re catching feelings for the hot fire lieutenant.”

I gave her a squeeze, then released her.

“ Cullen ,” she pressed, leaning against my kitchen island.

“Fuck,” I hissed, pressing my palms to my eyes. “I’m catching feelings for the hot fire lieutenant.”

Cricket let out a squeal, clapping her hands as she jumped up and down. “I knew it.”

“I don’t know how I got here,” I bit out.

“Okay, take a breath. It’s all right that you’re here, Cull. Seriously.”

“I made a vow , Christina.”

“Elizabeth is dead , Cullen,” she lobbed back.

I let out a frustrated growl.

Cricket nodded toward the food, ignoring me. “Is this for me?”

“Yeah. I stopped by Derby’s for burgers.”

“Oh, thank you. I’m starved.” She opened one of the bags and pulled out the fries. “You are allowed to date, you know.”

“I don’t want to date.”

She shrugged. “Then keep it casual and just fuck Helena the hot lieutenant.”

“Holy shit, sissy, let’s not rush things.”

She grinned, popping a fry into her mouth. “I just want you to be happy, and if the smokin’ hot fire lady makes you happy, then go for it.”

I heard the sound of pipes and glanced at my sister. “Did Hatch say he was stopping by?”

“He did not,” she said before taking a bite of her burger.

I rolled my eyes and headed to my front door to preemptively open it.

Hatch turned off his bike and headed my way, hooking his helmet in his hand as he walked. “Hey, brother.”

“Hey, yourself.” I cocked my head. “I wasn’t expecting you. Everything okay?”

“Heard Cricket left early, found out she came here, figured I’d come check on her.”

“Found out she came here, huh?” I raised an eyebrow. “Had her followed, you mean?”

Hatch smirked, sliding past me and into the house.

“Oh, hi, big brother, what are you doing here, asked me never,” Cricket sassed. “I saw Buzz ride off after I pulled up. You know if you want to have someone follow me, you might want to choose someone whose bike doesn’t have the loudest pipes in the club. Someone who can hide better.”

“He wasn’t trying to hide, sissy,” Hatch said, snagging a fry before shrugging off his jacket and setting it on one of my bar stools.

“Whatever.”

“So, why’d you leave early?”

“Cullen was having an emotional crisis and needed me.”

“ Christina! ” I admonished.

Hatch frowned, focusing on me. “You good?”

“Yeah, I’m good,” I said, glaring at my sister.

“He’s got the hots for Helena Bridges.”

“Jesus fuckin’ Christ,” I bit out.

“What?” She shrugged. “It’s true.”

I threw my hands in the air. “You know this is why I don’t share my feelings with you on the regular.”

“So what’s the problem?” Hatch asked.

“His lame vow.”

“Christina, give it a fucking rest,” I hissed.

“Why? Your vow is lame,” she pointed out.

“She’s not wrong,” Hatch piled on, stealing my fucking burger and taking a bite.

“That’s my burger, Connor.”

“Excellent choice. It’s really good.” He grinned. “Thank you.”

Before I could respond, my doorbell pealed, and Cade walked in. “It’s me!”

I palmed my eye sockets. “Don’t you have a business to run?”

He grinned as he walked in. “We have to go over those plans, remember?”

“Oh, shit.” I glanced at my watch. “Right.”

“I see you’re having a private party.”

“Well it was,” Cricket grumbled. “Until Thing One decided to crash it.”

“Thing One likes to do that, sissy,” Cade pointed out. “Everything okay?”

“Thing Three has the hots for the fire lieutenant.”

“Enough!” I growled, dragging my hands down my face.

Cade raised an eyebrow. “So, go for it.”

“He can’t,” Cricket said.

“Why not?” Cade asked.

“The vow,” Hatch and Cricket said in unison.

“ And she’s investigating us for arson,” I pointed out.

“She’ll figure out we didn’t do it soon enough,” Cade said, grabbing a fry off the island. “Then you’ll be free to fuck her.”

“Jesus,” I hissed.

“You really didn’t buy enough food, brother,” Hatch said. “I’ll order pizza.”

“Do you have wine?” Cricket asked.

“It’s one o’clock in the afternoon,” I said.

“So? I’m not going back to work,” she said, giving Hatch a stupid grin.

“Yeah, I have wine. I’ll grab it.”

As I walked out to the garage to get it, Cameron walked through my front door.

“Hey,” I said, surprised to see him.

“We’re going over the plans, right?”

“Uh, yeah, right. Shit. Cade’s already here. So are the other ‘Things.’”

Cameron frowned. “Why?”

“Not even going there. I’ll be right back. Beers are in the fridge.”

He nodded, and I headed into the garage for the wine, returning with two bottles of Cricket’s favorite, and while Hatch and Cricket sat at the kitchen island to eat, I joined Cade and Cameron at my dining room table to go over plans for a new project.

* * *

By the time my brothers and I had finished finalizing the plans, Hatch and Cade’s women had arrived to join our impromptu party.

Maisie and Navy were smoke shows themselves. Both blonde, both smart, both high-class, and they looked enough alike, you’d wonder if they were sisters. Elizabeth would have fit right in with them.

Maisie was slim, whereas Navy was curvy. Maisie was British and Navy was from New Zealand, which meant both had sexy as hell accents, and I understood why my brothers fell hard for them. They were both entirely besotted with my brothers, and they were exactly the type of woman I’d typically go for.

Helena was not.

Helena was dark, no nonsense, told it like it was.

Elizabeth was fair, sweet, shy. Didn’t make waves. She had been my world since we were children.

Helena was turning my world on its axis.

“Hey, buddy,” Navy said, sitting beside me on the sofa.

“Hey.” I forced a smile.

Navy and Cade had been high-school sweethearts, much like Elizabeth and I had been, and Navy had been ripped away from him in the form of her parents’ moving away. My separation had been far more permanent, but I don’t think it had hurt any less than Cade’s. I was happy they’d reconnected. Especially because Navy was awesome. She was cool back in high school, and remained so to this day.

“You okay? You look like you have the world on your shoulders.”

“How much has my brother told you?”

She smiled gently. “About what?”

“That’s a such a lawyer-y thing to say.”

“Is it?” she retorted.

I sighed. “Just trying to sort out my feelings about old promises and how to navigate new feelings.”

She wrinkled her nose. “Ooph, that’s no fun.”

“It is not,” I agreed.

She tucked her feet up under her butt and settled her head in her palm as she faced me. “Can I give you my unbiased opinion?”

“Go for it.”

“I met you when you were a kid, and granted, we didn’t really get to know each other, but I liked you. You were cool. All of you were. And now, you’re all just cooler, if that makes sense. None of you have really changed, which is a miracle when you think about all the crap you went through.”

I nodded. “I guess.”

“No, it’s not a ‘guess,’ bud. Any one of you could have gone off the rails. But you didn’t. You banded together, kept your powder dry and stuck together. You’re all amazing.”

I gave her a tight smile. “Hatch is the reason we’re all together.”

“Don’t count yourself out there, Cullen. And don’t minimize the effort from the rest of you, either. It’s not fair. You all lost a great deal, and you especially, did not become bitter. That’s really quite amazing. So, if someone has come along that might give you a little bit of happy, I think you should take it. It might not work out, but at least you’ll have opened your heart up again.”

“She’s investigating us for arson, sweetheart.”

“And she will figure out you didn’t do it,” she avowed. “Helena Bridges is the straightest arrow of them all and she pisses people off left, right, and center because she always, and I mean always , does what’s right.”

“Is that why she needed you?” I asked.

“Can’t talk to you about that.”

I raised an eyebrow.

She bit her lip. “I would if I could. I swear.”

I let out a frustrated grunt. “Yeah, I get it.”

“Lordy, you and Cade even grunt the same.”

I couldn’t stop a smile. “Living and working closely does that to you, I guess.”

“Maybe that’s it.”

Cade took that moment to join us, sliding in behind Navy and pulling her against him. “Hey.”

“Gosh, you gave us all of five private minutes to chat, love. Well done.”

Cade let out a quiet grunt similar to the one I’d just given, and Navy and I burst out laughing.

“What’d I say?” Cade asked.

“Nothing,” we said in stereo.

Navy leaned over and squeezed my shoulder. “Take the world off these, okay?”

“I’ll take that under advisement.”

“Good.”

Cameron walked in and handed me a beer, flopping his ass in my favorite recliner, while Cricket freshened Navy’s wine, and Hatch and Maisie took the loveseat across from Cameron.

As I lifted the bottle to my lips, my phone buzzed in my pocket, and I saw ‘Scorpion’ pop up on my screen. “I’ll be right back,” I said, and headed down the hall to my office. “Hey.”

“Um, hi. You got a minute?”

“Sure. Did you find something?” I asked, closing the door.

“No, well, not really, but it’s not about that.”

I frowned. “What’s going on?”

“I wanted to apologize.”

“For what?”

“I’m not sure, honestly. I just know I said or did something that upset you today.” She sighed. “I just can’t get a handle on what.”

“Right. Where are you?”

“Where am I?”

“Yes, where are you?” I asked again.

“What do mean?”

“I mean, where are you?”

“I’m at work. At my office.”

“Can you meet me?”

“Meet you?”

“If you keep repeating everything I say, this conversation is going to take exactly twice as long as it needs to be,” I said.

I heard a quiet snort. “Yes, I can meet you. Where?”

“Same place as before?”

“Sure. Thirty minutes?”

“Sounds good,” I said. “I’ll explain everything there.”

“Okay. I really am sorry.”

“Thirty minutes, Helena.”

“Right. See you then.”

She hung up and I headed into my bathroom, cleaning up a little, then making my way back to my family. “I have to head out. Hang here for as long as you want but lock up when you leave.”

“Where are you going?” Cricket asked as I grabbed my keys.

“I have to check on something over at the other house.”

“Can I come?”

“You cannot.”

She frowned. “Why not?”

“Because you can’t.”

She crossed her arms, narrowing her eyes as she leaned toward me. “You’re meeting the hot fire lieutenant.”

“Drop it, Cricket,” I warned, shrugging on my jacket.

She smiled slowly. “Do you have condoms?”

“Christina, that’s enough,” Hatch snapped.

“What? I just want to make sure he doesn’t get V.D.”

“Jesus, Cricket, VD? What is this, 1976?” Cameron teased. “It’s called an STI these days.”

“Well, then take at least two condoms, so you don’t get V.D. or an STI,” Cricket lobbed back. “You can’t be too careful, right Cam?”

“I’m not a doctor, so I don’t know how many letters of the alphabet these things are supposed to protect you from,” Cameron continued. “STI, HIV, VD, AT&T, and sometimes Y.”

“Just how many times do you think he was dropped on his head as a child?” Cricket asked Hatch.

“The over-under is five,” Cade said. “So, if you want to place a bet, let me know.”

“Hey,” Cameron grumbled. “You know I’m in the room.”

I glanced over Cricket’s head at my brother. “I’ll leave her to you.”

“You got it,” Hatch said.

“I can follow you, you know,” she sassed.

“And if you do, I’ll murder your ass,” I retorted, leaning down to kiss her cheek. “Love you.”

“I love you too.” She rolled her eyes, and I smiled before walking out the door.