by Amanda Heath
Seth walks up the stairs about the time I’m going down them. “Why, it’s my favorite cousin ever!” I scream and throw myself at him. He grins like the dork he is and catches me. He is so handsome I can’t stand it. All that dirty blonde hair and those warm brown eyes. Plus, he looks exactly like Uncle Pierce and Uncle Pierce is simply gorgeous.
“Did they finally spill the beans?” Seth asks as he sets me down.
“Yup. Or Mom walked in on them sleeping in his bed together. Then they confessed their love for each other and now they will be happy forever.” I shrug because it’s life and I wish nothing but the best for them.
Seth hugs me again. “It sucks letting him go, doesn’t it?”
I nod holding back tears. He’s my twin brother and I love him. He’s half of me and he always has been. “Yeah. But I let him go two years ago. It just took me this long to figure it out.”
Seth smooths the hair out of my face. “She’ll take good care of him. And one day he’ll feel like this too, when you find someone.” He smiles at me and I feel so much better.
“You give good smiles,” I state, grinning like an idiot. Seth will bring that out in people. The bastard.
“Mari.” At the sound of his voice I stiffen in Seth’s arms. I hate the way he says my name, yet it sends exciting chills up and down my spine.
Seth notices and gives me a questioning look. I shake my head at that one. Jamie Daniels AKA Diablo is the one person in the entire world I never wanted to see again yet I couldn’t wait to. That’s what happens when you let someone in and they break your heart.
“Jamie,” I say back, looking at him over Seth’s shoulder. His black hair is gelled away from his head and those blue, blue eyes look back at me with all the desire in the world. “I fucking hate you,” I state, giving him a calm look so he knows I’m fucking serious.
Seth’s jaw drops open and I lift a hand to push it closed. Jamie gives me a tired look and moves up the stairs. “I’m going to steal her away for a second.” He nods at Seth who just rolls his eyes and goes back downstairs.
“I was talking to him. You know it’s seriously rude to cut someone off like that.” I’m posturing of course because I see Seth everyday of my life. He’s always around when I need him and vice versa. You grow up like all of us did and you get to be a close-knit group. It’s not a wonder that Maggie and Max are in love. Everyone in this family is in love and those two are products of their parents.
We enter my bedroom and he shuts the door before slamming me up against it. His eyes stare into mine but I don’t let him have an inch. You can’t pull the kind of shit that he did and expect me to just get over it. “I’m sorry,” he whispers seconds before he decides now would be a nice time to kiss me.
Only I won’t fall for that trick because my IQ is pretty high. I move my head and his lips find my cheek. He sighs and finally moves away from me. He knows me, just like I know him. We’ll always end up at a stalemate because neither of us will ever give in.
“You know sorry isn’t good enough.” I fight back tears as he stands in front of me. He’s too old for me, he’s too good looking for me and he’s too much of a bad boy for me. I didn’t want this for myself but he fell in front of me and I never wanted to look back. “Nothing you say will ever be good enough.”
I pride myself on being a strong person and I find that it’s actually true. When he broke my heart, I didn’t let it show. I kept on keeping on but now it’s so hard to do that. He doesn’t come around unless Ashley comes, probably because he knows it would bring up too many questions.
“I’m sorry. I thought we were done. You said you weren’t ever coming back.” He lifts his hands to run them through his slicked back hair. When he’s done the strands stick up in all directions. “I thought we were over.”
“What are you talking about? We are done. Hello, you slept with another girl. Excuse me but I’ll never get over that. I’ll never trust you again and I pretty much wish you would die.” None of that is true though. I already forgave him. And I trust him with my life; I just don’t trust him around other women. There is a difference. You can be a good protective man and love someone but you can still break hearts by not being faithful.
“That day. You said we couldn’t do that anymore.” He’s the one who looks broken now. But I don’t really care.
I shake my head. “See, I guess it was okay then.” Though he has a point. I did say that. I just didn’t expect him to move on so quickly. Hell, the only reason I caught him was because I left my fucking cell phone there. I went back to get it four hours after I left.
“It’s not okay. I just couldn’t handle the fact that you didn’t want to see me anymore.” I hate that I hurt him. I hate that he hurt me but there’s nothing I can do about it. “You can’t be mad at me because I moved on when you dumped me. That isn’t fair.”
I shake my head. “Less than four hours later? Really? Way to move on super fast.”
He groans and before I know it I’m pushed up against the door again. “You are the reason my heart beats, Goldie. I think about you all the fucking time. I have for months. You left me and I couldn’t handle it.” He uses his hands to force me to look at him when I try to look away. “I love you. I had to get it out of me, but I couldn’t. That sweet butt didn’t help. Nothing helps but seeing you.”
I close my eyes and grit my teeth. I want to blurt out how much I love him. But that’s the reason I broke up with him in the first place. What would I do with him? He’s a biker boy and I’m a preppy rich girl. Besides, I was so sure he didn’t feel the same way.
“Listen to me, Goldie. I’m so fucking in love with you. The sun and moon rise out of your ass for me. I can’t live without you.” I listen to him but I try so hard not to.
In the end I didn’t have a fighting chance considering. He’s a gorgeous man and when he tells you he loves you, you have to believe him simply because you know what kind of man he is.
I open my eyes and look at him. “That’s why I left you. You said once it got to be too much, I could end it. And when I had to get up and force myself to leave, I knew it was too much. I didn’t ever think for one second you felt the same way.”
He gives me his grin. One eyebrow goes up along with one side of his mouth. It’s fucking sexy. “So you do love me?”
“Yes, I love you.” His lips touch mine softly, barely touching. His body moves in closer to me until we are pressed tightly together. Then he kisses me harder, his tongue sliding into my mouth, demanding I play along. When his hands start to slide up my stomach, I pull away from him. “We can’t do this now. My entire family is downstairs.”
“Come to my house tonight then,” he asks while he kisses my neck and slides his hand around on the skin of my stomach.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. It’s all about the sex with you. Horny bastard.” He chuckles at me and I smile.
“You’re the only chick that could get away with calling me names,” he says moments before someone knocks on my door.
I feel my eyes get wide and I know our time to hide is about to end. Seems my brother’s bad mojo got spread to me. Though, to be honest, I didn’t really think I would be with Jamie ever again.
I make him stand back and open the door, only to see the most over-protective members of my family standing there. All glaring at me like I was the one who wanted to get caught or something. “Umm, Jamie. I think now would be a good time to run.”
“Boy, you better get out here,” Damien says with his teeth clenched.
“Okay. Let’s hold on a second here,” I say to all the angry men standing at my doorway. “I’m eighteen years old. And he never touched me before I turned eighteen.” I almost point out that Max couldn’t even wait until Maggie turned eighteen before they started screwing, but that goes along with the fact I don’t spill my brother’s secrets.
My dad, who looks the most pissed off, crosses his arms over his chest and glares down at me. “How long exactly has this been going on then?
”
I feel my cheeks heat at the way he says that and the way everyone seems to be staring right at me. Then all of a sudden Max comes out of nowhere and stands in front of me. Plus, Jamie walks out of my bedroom because he finally got around the door I’ve been blocking. They stand in front of me and I almost smile.
“It’s none of your business Dad,” Max states with his arms crossed over his chest. He stands shoulder to shoulder with Jamie. My sexy biker boy next to my preppy ass brother. What a pair they make.
Dad narrows his eyes and looks down at my brother. “I’m about fed up with all the secrets around this house. You two don’t have to keep all your relationships secret.”
I poke my head in between my brother and my on again boyfriend. “Um, yeah we do. Considering every penis-wielding member of my family is standing in front of my door ready to beat up my boyfriend. It seems a little extreme if you ask me.”
“We’re just getting a feel for the guy,” Channing states, glaring at my brother. They will have their own reckoning in a little bit I assume.
I roll my eyes at that remark though. “Please. You’ve all known Jamie since the day he was born. Quit acting like I brought him home from the bar or something. He’s not a piece of shit and he treats me good. Well, most of the time.” I have a problem when I get agitated. I blurt out things I really shouldn’t.
I feel Jamie tense against me and I cringe. “What does she mean, most of the time?” my dad asks.
“I didn’t mean anything by it, Dad. Can we please go eat dinner now?” I’m about to lose all my cool. I’ve heard stories about each of these men every day of my life. I’m going to start pointing out their own problems if they don’t shut up and take a chill pill.
“Maribel decided she didn’t want to be with me a couple of weeks ago. So I moved on a little too fast for her liking, but we’ve talked that through and gotten over it.” I close my eyes and put my face in his back. I can’t believe he just admitted that in front of all these overbearing men.
The silence is deafening around here now. Until I hear someone coming up the stairs. We all turn our heads to see my Aunt Rachel standing at the top of the stairs. “Really? Let the boy be. You all knew this was coming, just like we all knew Max and Maggie were coming. You’re all idiots. I just can’t.” Then she throws her hands up in the air. “Paisley! Wesley! Get your asses up here, right the fuck now!”
Then she turns back to us and locks eyes with me. She gives me a wink and I grin. Aunt Rachel always saves the day.
Mom and Aunt Paisley run up the stairs. Now, Paisley and Channing aren’t really my aunt and uncle in case you were getting weirded out because of Max and Maggie. We just call them that.
“What in the world is going on up here?” my mom asks with her hands on her hips. She’s a tiny little thing but she still splits the crowd as she moves through them. When she sees me pressed up against Jamie she bursts into tears.
“What the fuck, mom?” I say, freaked the hell out. If she doesn’t approve of Jamie then I swear I’m moving to fucking Alaska. No Hawaii, Alaska is way too cold for me.
She grabs my face while Jamie turns around and gets me by the hips. He doesn’t have to worry though. “I knew this day was coming. I just wasn’t ready at all.” She smoothes those hands over my face and just stares at me. “Both of my babies are grown up now.”
“I’m not moving out of the house, if that’s what you’re freaking out over. Besides, I’ll always need my mom. Even when I’m old and grey,” I tell her, pulling her into my arms and snuggling against her. “I didn’t tell you because you can’t keep anything from Dad. Max and I have always had a pact, that we would never tell each other’s secrets. And Dad would have gotten all overbearing,” I make sure I’m looking at him and glaring, “along with everyone else in this family. You people make it hard to do anything.”
“We just care about you so much. But don’t think for one second any of these idiots will stop you and Jamie. Your dad just likes to posture. We all knew you’d end up with him,” she says into my hair.
“How did you figure that?”
She laughs and pulls away. “Because you two used to sneak eyes at each other when you thought no one was looking. Though you and Jamie were better at it than Max and Maggie.”
“Score!” I say, laughing. “Can we eat now? Seriously, I’m hungry,” I state, looking around at the five men standing guard between my food and me.
My dad nods and I grab Jamie’s hand and pull him down the stairs, behind most of the women in my family, and into the kitchen. “You lie so well. You had me convinced,” Jamie whispers in my ear and I laugh.
Yeah, he’s a year older than me and we’ve been together since I was seventeen, as in my seventeenth birthday. Max isn’t the only one good at hiding something. Actually I’m better at it.
“Well, I don’t want you to get castrated. Just be glad your dad isn’t here. There might have been a massacre.”
One by one the men in my life come down the stairs. First there’s Asher, my older cousin, who finds his wife and goes to her. BeeBee holds their son in her arms. He’s only four months old. She shows him off to her sister Paisley and they laugh at the face he makes.
Damien comes down next and winks at me before going over to Ashley. My cousin Cora is away at college and I know they miss her. Hell, I miss the shit out of her myself. Damien and Ashley rub noses. Then she whispers something in his ear that makes his eyes light up. I shake my head.
Channing walks down next. He gets to Paisley and puts his forehead on hers. They seem to be having a serious converstation. Then they both look up at Max when he gets down the stairs and goes right to Maggie. He grabs her hand and they stand close together. Her head falls to his shoulder and I see a look I’ve never seen on his face before. Pure and total happiness. He’s always been happy but this is different. It’s like he finally found the thing he’s been searching for the most.
Pierce jumps down to the bottom stair and finds Rachel in the crowd. He kisses her neck and she bites her lip at him. They have a serious problem with PDA themselves.
Finally my dad makes it to the bottom. He goes to Max first and puts his hand on the back of his neck. He says something to him that makes Max relax against Maggie. Then he comes our way. He picks me up in a hug. I smile and throw my arms around his neck.
“I love you sweetie. Even when you’re giving me grey hair and maybe setting me up for a heart attack.” He kisses my hair and then sets me down on my feet.
“I love you too Daddy. Even when you’re being a pain in my ass.” Jamie tenses behind me when Dad makes eye contact with him.
“You ever hurt her, I’m going to kill you, bury the body and pretend I don’t know shit.” Then Dad nods at Jamie and goes to find my mother. That’s when they start making out again and I feel a little vomit rise up in my throat.
“Do your parents make out all the time?” I whisper at Jamie while he holds onto my stomach from behind.
I feel his head nod against my head. “They are worse actually. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve walked in on them fucking or about to fuck.”
I feel my lip rise up at that. “Yeah you have it worse. At least mine know how to lock a door.”
“I have that problem too. I even got home late one night while they thought I had already made it inside. They were in Dad’s car and they were naked,” Seth says right beside me.
“That’s nothing. Did I ever tell you the time I was supposed to be in my room but I snuck out? Yeah, when I got back they were in the pool and they were more than just naked. I had to hide in the bushes until they went back inside,” Maggie throws in. “Two hours later.”
I look at Max and he shrugs. “Thank God we didn’t have it that bad.”
Thank the lord we didn’t.
Even though they are weird and disgusting, I love each and every one of them. They had their hard times and their good times all before we came around. We just made everything better. Or worse.
I do know they weren’t happy before they found each other. And now they are so happy they subject their children to their sex lives. But what did you expect with this group?
There is a kind of madness to their lives, what with all the drama, but each of their children’s childhoods were amazing and each of us knows how much they love us. Each of us knows how they struggled for each other and how they lost some people along the way. We are truly blessed to have them as parents. I know I wouldn’t trade them in for anything.
The End
Acknowledgements
When it comes to thanking people, I get a little emotional. So many people have helped me with this series. I remember while looking back a year ago how much Make Me meant to me. I was in love with the characters and I was so excited to write it out. So it’s an honor to have help from each of these people and thank you for enjoying this series.
Lisa Kane, who probably loves Channing and Paisley more than I do. I thank you for checking up on me when I’ve gone radio silent. Thank you for always sharing my books on your blog. Thank you for being an amazing reader and fan. And hopefully you didn’t need too much alcohol to read this book.
Tamsyn Bester you are simply the best. I know I haven’t spoken to you in a while but that doesn’t mean I don’t care about you. Thank you for being there when I needed someone to lean on while writing Sleepless Nights. And thank you for loving this series and always being excited for the next book. <3 #Duchess
Nicole Bailey, I can’t thank you enough for all that you do. Before I found you, or did you find me? Either way you’ve been the biggest gift in my author life. I’ve been cheated, bullied, and ripped off by every other editor I’ve had. So thank you for being an angel. Thank you for going over these books with their bad grammar and badly spelled words. Thank you for always picking out the things I screwed up in my plots. And thank you for being the nicest person I have met in this industry.
