Breaking Bro Code (The Line Up #4) - Misti Murphy Page 0,1

counter. Starts pulling bottles from the cardboard and fitting them on the shelves where they belong. Vermouth. Cointreau. Grand Marnier. “I saw the way you looked at her the other night. You had your filthy mitts all over her.”

My chest squeezes. The back of my neck prickles. I shut my eyes for a fraction of a second as I bow my face to the first of many fridges that we need to fill to maximum capacity. How could he know? We’ve been so careful. Okay, not as careful as we could be. But there’s no possible way he knew that Lily was at my apartment the other night when he came over. Naked. In my bed. Waiting for me. I was cool, calm, and collected. Or at least I thought I had been, until now. “Look, Hud—”

“You can’t grope my sister while the three of us are playing Twister, dickwad. It isn’t right.”

I breathe again. A short, shallow breath. Quick. And then slow. Not too deep, not deep enough that he catches onto the fact that I was holding my breath like a virgin in a horror film, fully expecting my demise. Whose idea was it to play Twister anyway? Bodies twining around each other, touching each other. Lily joked about stealing the mat and taking it back to my place so we could play in our birthday suits. Luckily, I already had the game in my closet. “I was reaching for the blue circle, jackass. I was literally reaching around her to put my left hand on a blue dot. You threw yourself between us, remember?”

I might have grazed her hip on the way. Accidentally of course. It wasn’t to say I can’t wait to get you alone. Or I can never get enough of touching you. I wouldn’t do that in front of Hud. I don’t have a death wish. I’m not ready to risk euthanising myself. Or maybe I am when it comes to Lily. But we’re not on the same page. Yet.

I don’t blame her for being uncertain. For not wanting to label it. But I’m ready. Never thought I would be, but I am. I want to call her my girlfriend and, well, not introduce her to my friends because she already knows them all, but announce that we’re together. In love.

“I had to.” He glowers at me.

“You didn’t have to fart in my face.” I close one nostril with my index finger and sniff. This time I lift my gaze to his. Let him see that I have nothing to hide. I have everything to hide. “I still can’t smell properly. It was disgusting.”

“I’ll do whatever it takes to keep your ho bag dick far from my pristine Lily.”

We’ve been friends a long time. Too long maybe. Since college. We’re way past that stage where friendship is a cut and dry definition. We’re odd fellows. We’re brothers. I show up to family dinners. I’ve babysat his sister. I’ve slept with his sister too, but I don’t think he’ll appreciate that fact. I might be in love with her. I’m definitely in love with her.

I snicker under my breath. Maybe at how far he’ll go to protect his sister from me. Perhaps at the idea that my cold dead heart isn’t quite as stony as I used to believe it was. “She would probably want to punch you in the face if she heard you talking about her like that.”

After all it isn’t the 1950s and Lily is no wilting violet. I don’t say that though. The details are something an overprotective brother doesn’t need to be privy to. Especially a brother like Hudson Kelly. He practically raised Lily on his own. Played mother. And father. As well as sibling. That’s a lot to build a relationship on.

My own relationships are way more screwed up. I can’t even begin to imagine how much therapy I probably should have attended over the years. Lily makes me want to try for something better.

“You and I are not going to talk about it.” He goes back to unloading bottles. That’s it. Discussion is over.

It’ll probably be a good few weeks before he brings it up again. As long as Lily and I are careful. As long as he doesn’t get suspicious. Maybe it’s time we consider telling him, but what if it changes everything? What if it ruins everything? What if I ruin everything?

I should leave it alone. I should empty these slabs into the fridges and go