Confused, I stared at the thing. "Wait, where'd that come from?"
Returning, Steve said, "I already told you." He tossed the new box on top of the old box. "From the pizza place."
More confused than ever, I opened the box and looked inside. Yup, there it was, another pizza, exactly like the old one. Suddenly starving, I reached for a slice.
Not taking any chances, I took a bite before I even put it on my plate. When I finished chewing, I gave my brothers a perplexed look. "But I was the one who answered the door. There was just the one."
Across from me, Steve was making a fresh pizza sandwich. "Yeah. I know. But we tipped him double to leave the second one after you shut the door."
"But how could you tip him?" I asked. "You didn't even see him."
"Tipped in advance," Steve said. "Used a credit card."
I stared at him. "You have a credit card?"
Steve shoved his latest pizza sandwich into his mouth. "Doesn't everyone?" He finished chewing and said, "Alright, now, spill it. What's wrong?"
Chapter 31
Sitting in Jake's penthouse, I told them everything that had happened since I'd left them a few hours earlier.
There was only one detail I left out, and that involved Jake and an elevator.
I could only imagine telling them – not that I ever would. But if I ever did get tempted to blab? Well, let's just say we were twenty floors up, and I didn't want them jumping.
I knew my brothers. They'd had more than their share of girlfriends, but that didn't mean they'd relish a blow-by-blow account of their sister having sex on the same elevator that they'd just used to get up here.
I was all too familiar with that dynamic. There was this kitchen counter at my mom's place that I was still avoiding for reasons that involved my mom, an appliance repairman, and a wine-induced confession on her part.
Plus, my brothers were still eating. So I stuck to details they wouldn't mind hearing over dinner. "It's like, we've been fighting all day," I explained, briefly touching on the main things that Jake and I had been arguing about – Nipple Girl, Jake betting on me getting fired, my ill-fated walk, and the lingering tension about that godawful photo, which I was still refusing to look at.
By the time I finished talking, my brothers were both looking at me like I'd lost my mind. It was Anthony who asked, "About the picture? Why won't you just look?"
Just thinking of that stupid thing made me want to blush. "I don't know," I said. "It just feels like I'm being punished or something."
But Steve was shaking his head. "Nah, that's not it."
"Oh yeah?" I said. "And I suppose you know the reason?"
"Sure. It's because you looked like a ho-bag, and now you're all embarrassed."
My face grew a shade warmer. "I didn't look like a ho-bag." I hesitated. "Much."
"Which is why," Steve continued, "those two losers thought you were shaking it for cash."
"Oh, shut up," I said. "I wasn't 'shaking' anything."
"Shaking, showing." Steve shrugged. "If I were Jake, I'd be pissed too."
I stared at him. "You're kidding, right?"
"Hell no." Steve glanced toward the nearest window. "Around here? You go down the wrong street, and you're dead."
"Oh, get real," I said. "It's not that bad."
"Wanna bet?" he said. "Go five blocks, and it's a war zone."
"It wasn't a 'war zone,'" I insisted. The streets were empty." Looking for support, I turned to Anthony. "You know what I mean, right?"
"Sorry," he said. "I think you're talking out of your ass."
I sank deeper into the sofa. "Thanks a lot."
With a shrug, Anthony reached for the final slice of pizza and practically swallowed it whole.
Well, at least this wasn't ruining their appetites.
"And just for the record?" I told them, "They didn't, as you guys so nicely implied, think I was for sale."
Steve laughed like I'd just said something funny. "Oh yeah? What did they think?"
I still wasn't sure, but I didn't want to dwell on it. "I dunno…" I glanced away and mumbled, "They probably just thought I was, you know, a fun time."
Now, Anthony was laughing, too. "Yeah, for twenty bucks."
"Hey!" I said, jumping to my feet. "I'd be worth a lot more than twenty."
As soon as the words left my mouth, I wanted to take them back. Knowing my brothers, I'd never hear the end of this.
Already, they were both laughing their fool heads off.
I flopped back onto the sofa. "You know what? Just forget it."
Steve was still laughing. "In your dreams." He looked to Anthony and said, "Dude, I've gotta say, twenty bucks? You start tapping anything that cheap, and things are gonna fall off." He gave a slow nod. "Important things."
Anthony leaned back and said, "Hey, if money changes hands, I'm the one getting paid. And not for no twenty bucks neither."
It was all a load of crap. I knew my brothers. Sex for money – whether paying or charging – wasn't remotely their thing.
Thank God.
Steve looked to me and held out his hand, palm-up. "Now come on, let's see it."
I gave him a horrified look. "The picture?"
With a nod, he shoved his hand closer. "Come on. It's on your phone, right?"
"Yeah, but you're not seeing it."
"Why not?"
"Because I don't want anyone seeing it."
"Because you looked like a ho-bag?"
"Oh, shut up," I said. "Seriously. Don't you have any photos that you don't want passed around?"
Steve shook his head. "Not me." He looked to Anthony and asked, "You?"
Anthony shook his head, too. "Nope. Sorry."
Inside my pocket, my cell phone buzzed. "Oh, crap," I muttered.
"What?" Anthony asked.
I wanted to groan. "It's probably Rango again."
Steve gave me an odd look. "Again?"
"Yeah, he's been calling me off and on for the past few hours. It's really annoying, actually."
"What does he want?" Steve asked.
"I dunno. He says he wants to get together, but I don't think that's really it. It's gotta be something else."
"Like what?" Anthony asked.
"Well, I have a theory." I leaned forward and said, "I think he's trying to lure me away from Jake, so Bianca can move in for the kill. You know, like they're working together or something."
Anthony glanced toward my phone, still buzzing in my pocket. "Why don't you just block his number?"
"I did," I said. "I've blocked like twenty numbers already, but it's like he's got a million phones or something."
I pulled out my own phone and checked the caller's number. Sure enough, it was another one that I didn't recognize.
Just great.
Anthony reached for his beer. "Oh man, I bet Jake's pissed, huh?"
I winced. "Actually, I haven’t quite mentioned it."
Anthony stopped in mid-motion. "Why the hell not?"
"It's been such a crazy day already," I explained. "And I haven't really had the chance." Finally, the phone stopped buzzing. A moment later, I felt the short vibration that indicated a new voicemail.
With a sigh, I swiped the screen and listened. There was no real message, just muffled dance music and the sounds of people talking, not that I could understand a single word.
Probably, Rango was calling from his club again. I deleted the message and tossed my phone onto the nearby sofa. I was so tired of all of this. It was enough to drive a girl to drink.
I stood and went to the fridge, where I snagged a glass of wine for me and a couple more beers for my brothers.
When I returned to the living area, Steve was holding my phone and staring down at the screen while Anthony peered over his shoulder.
I almost dropped the drinks. "What are you guys doing?"
"Looking at the picture," Steve said.
I strode forward and practically slammed the drinks onto the coffee t
able. "Without my permission?"
"Yeah," Steve said. "You left it there. What do you expect?"
"I expected some privacy. That's what."
Steve shrugged. "Eh, too late for that."
I made a sound of annoyance. "Obviously."
Unsure what else to do, I stalked around the nearby sofa and joined Anthony in peering over Steve's shoulder.
I gazed down at the small screen and paused. Steve had his thumb pressed to the center of the image, covering the portion that contained me.
I had to ask, "Why do you have your thumb on the screen?"
"Because your shirt was see-through. No way I wanna look at that."
Right. I should've realized that.
And, I should've hidden my phone.
Too late for that now.
Next to me, Anthony gave a small shudder. "Yeah. We saw enough already. You're our sister, for cripe's sake."
Yes. I was.
And I was starting to wonder if they'd like a nice elevator story to go with their pizza.
It would serve them right.
Reluctantly, I returned my attention to the screen. "Then why are you looking?" I asked. "Other than the rain, there's nothing to see."
Steve lifted the phone higher. "Those two guys, who the hell are they?"
I hesitated. "What two guys?"
Chapter 32
Before Steve could answer, I reached down and snatched the phone from his hand. One look at the screen reminded me why I'd been avoiding that photo in the first place.
Studying it now, I couldn't help but wince. Maybe I did look a little ho-baggy, but I hadn't meant to.
From his spot on sofa, Steve turned around to face me. "You see 'em?"
I shook my head. Mostly, I saw a couple of nipples that were obnoxiously perky – and on clear display through the soaked fabric of that thin, white blouse.
Stupid rain.
Steve gestured to my phone. "Upper right corner."
I looked again, but I still didn't see anything. Confused, I enlarged the photo and zoomed in where he indicated. Finally, I saw them, two shadowed figures slinking around the side of a decrepit, brick building.
They wore baggy jeans and dark hoodies, with the hoods pulled low over their faces, probably because of the downpour. Between their hoods and the rain, I had no idea what they looked like, but I could still make out their basic forms. They weren't middle-aged businessmen, that was for darn sure.
My stomach sank. So that's why Jake had wanted me to look at that photo again? Was he trying to make a point? If so, he'd succeeded. But why hadn't he just told me?
Trying for a bravado that I didn't quite feel, I said, "Okay. So I wasn't the only one who got caught in the rain. What's the big deal?"
"It looks to me," Steve said, "like they were following you."
"Oh come on," I said. "They were not."
"You sure about that?"
I lifted my chin. "Sure enough."
"Uh-huh." He gave me a dubious look. "You gonna bet your life on it?"
"No. Because that's a stupid bet."
"Except you did."
Okay, this made zero sense. "What do you mean?" I asked.
"The minute you walked down that street, you were betting it would be alright." He snorted. "Now, that's a stupid bet."
"Yeah," Anthony agreed. "Talk about a longshot."
I made a sound of irritation. "There was no betting. I hardly even thought about it."
Steve extended his index finger and shot me with an imaginary gun. "Exactly."
Damn it. When did he get so smug all of a sudden? I looked to Anthony and said, "It wasn't a longshot." I summoned up a smile. "See? Here I am. Safe and sound."
Anthony shrugged. "Hey, someone's gotta win the lotto." He turned to Steve and said, "You know what we should do?"
"What?" Steve asked.
"We should find those guys and ask 'em."
Steve gave a slow nod. "Yeah. We should."
Horrified, I looked from Anthony to Steve and back again. "Ask them what?"
"If they were following you," Anthony said.
"Oh, stop it," I said. "That's the worst idea I've ever heard."
"Yeah?" Anthony flashed me a sudden grin. "Why?"
Did I really need to explain this? And why was he smiling? I saw nothing to smile about.
I tried to explain. "Because it might be dangerous or something. You don't even know who those guys are. Or what they might do."
"Uh-huh." Anthony said. "How about you? You wanna find 'em?"
"What?" I shook my head. "No. Definitely not."
"Hey, if you wanna get changed," he said, "we'll wait."
I looked down. I was wearing basic jeans and a long-sleeved shirt. "Why would I get changed?"
"I dunno." He laughed. "Like, maybe you wanna put on a bikini or something?"
"Oh, shut up," I said.
"Well, I’m sure as hell not gonna wear the bikini." He looked to Steve and asked, "How about you?"
I threw up my hands. Through clenched teeth, I said, "Why does anyone have to wear a bikini? And besides, we're not going anywhere."
Abruptly, Steve asked, "Where's Jake?"
Startled by the sudden change of topic, I paused before admitting, "I'm not sure. He said he had an appointment."
"Yeah, I bet," Steve said.
"What does that mean?" I asked.
Steve's gaze shifted to my phone. So I looked, too. That godawful picture was still on the screen, taunting me with the stupidity of that whole asinine excursion.
Studying the photo now, it dawned on me that Jake probably knew the exact location of where it had been taken. And, knowing Jake, he might feel the need to learn more about what, specifically, had happened. And maybe, like my brothers, he'd think it was a fabulous idea to pay those two guys a visit.
I felt myself swallow. "You think he's out looking for them?"
"Hell yeah," Anthony said. "The dude's crazy." He said it like it was a good thing.
I didn't bother pointing out that by extension, my brothers must also be crazy, since they'd just mentioned the exact same thing.
Or maybe they were just joking. I sure as hell hoped so. But what if they weren't? I gave them a quick, furtive glance. Well, they were here now, and I needed to keep them here.
My stomach twisted. If only Jake were here, too. Sure, I missed him like I always did. But more to the point, I didn't want him anywhere near those two guys, whoever they were.
Yeah, I knew that Jake could handle himself just fine. He took crazy chances practically every day. But I hated the idea of him taking any chances on my account.
I looked to Steve and asked, "What do you think? Do you think Jake's looking for them?"
"If you want, we'll check." He flashed me a grin. "Might be fun."
"Fun?" My voice rose. "And Jake's the crazy one?"
"Hey, we meant it as a compliment," Steve said.
I looked to Anthony. To my infinite annoyance, he was already walking toward the door. A second later, Steve was following after him. Whatever this was, it was happening too fast.
I scrambled after them and practically threw myself in their path. "But you don't even know where Jake is."
"No harm in looking," Steve said. He sidestepped around me to the left, while Anthony went to the right.
And there I was, facing empty space.
I whirled around to face them. "You can't be serious."
For all I knew, Jake was somewhere perfectly safe. Maybe he was on his way home right now. And even if he wasn't, the thought of my brothers running around Detroit in search of trouble was too scary to consider.
But Steve's hand was already on the doorknob, and I couldn't exactly overpower them.
Crap.
"Wait!" I called. "You can't go."
Ignoring me, Steve pulled open the door and walked through it, with Anthony right behind him. Before I knew it, they were like ten steps away from the elevator, and then what?
One short ride, and then disaster. That's what.
I was desperate now. "Hey, dipshits!" I called. "Just so you know…" I winced, and then finished by blurting out, "I had sex in that elevator!"
My brothers froze. For a long moment, neither one of them moved. But then, in unison, they slowly turned around to face me.
Looking more than a little disturbed, Anthony said, "What?"
Damn it. It was too late to turn back now, and considering what was at stake, I wouldn’t, even if I could. I extended my arm and pointed straight to the elevator, the one that would carry them to trouble if I didn't do something. "That elevator." I crossed my arms and continued. "So I hope you enjoy the ride."
The ride? What the hell? Probably, I could've phrased that better.
Double damn it.
Near the elevator, Steve was looking like all those pizza sandwiches hadn't settled so well. "Son-of-a-bitch," he muttered.
"Yeah," Anthony said, giving me an annoyed look, "It's the same one we used to get up here."
Well, there was that.
I could feel my face, flaming now. But I stiffened my spine and went full-disturbo. "And just so you know…" I swallowed. "The sex was extra-messy."
Messy? I didn't even know what that meant. But from the looks on my brothers' faces, it had the desired effect. They were eyeing the elevator with undisguised horror.
With a muttered curse, Steve turned to Anthony. "Twenty floors up, and now she says something?"
"Forget the timing," Anthony said. "It sucks we know at all." He gave me another annoyed look. "Dude, what's with the over-sharing?"
I lifted my chin. "I don't want you leaving."
Anthony glanced toward the stairway, and I could practically see the wheels turning.
Oh, crap. Probably, I should've thought of that.
Looking to head off whatever he was thinking, I announced, "And just so you know, I, uh, had sex in the stairwell, too."
Okay, now this was a slight exaggeration. But Jake had kissed me on the stairway. Hadn't he?
Steve narrowed his gaze. "Alright. You wanna play this game?" He glanced to Anthony and said, "It's on." Turning his attention back to me, he said, "So, you wanna swap stories?"
I froze. Not really. I mean, I knew that my brothers had sex lives of their own. But I so didn't want the details.
Jake Forever (Jaked Book 3) Page 15
