Christmas With The Brotherhood - A.J. Downey Page 0,2

not to you,” he said gently. “For him? Probably too much.”

“That’s ridiculous,” I protested and gritted my teeth as Slice braked for a red light and my little car slid the last several feet to the line made invisible by the hard pack of snow on the streets.

“It’s not when you really stop to think about it,” he said. I made an exasperated noise, and he made one of frustration. “Look, I’m trying to help both of you out, here,” he said. “You’re both going to wind up hurt if you keep this up, Eden. Just stop.”

“Not going to happen,” I murmured. I was, after all, my father’s daughter. Stubborn. Relentless… and my auntie Everett had taught me well. I was feminist to the max.

“I don’t want any drama,” Slice said and turned a gaze on me that was as wintery as the weather outside.

I stared him right back in the eyes and said, “You’re getting good at that, but you aren’t him.”

He scowled at me.

“Fuck you, kid.”

“Yeah, fuck you, too,” I said back casually, and he made another inarticulate noise of frustration. Sometimes he was too easy.

Sage, on the other hand… Sage was not.

Smoke, I reminded myself for the thousandth time.

I didn’t think it would ever stick. Not with me.

I hugged myself as we crept toward the outskirts of town and stared at the passing whiteout, worried about Sage riding in this.

He was insane…

He was also beautiful, and I had been in some kind of love with him since, like Slice had said, I was around six. I smiled at the memory when my mother had asked which Disney prince I was going to marry and I had answered dead seriously, none of them; I was going to marry Sage. It was still my intention, someday… if he would ever wake up and see what was right in front of him.

Boys can be so dumb, I lamented silently.

“You okay over there?” Slice asked after a time and I didn’t look, just nodded and said back, “Yeah.”

I didn’t want to talk to him, or about it anymore. I just wanted to go home, regroup, and think of some kind of Plan B.

“I’m worried about you,” he said and cleared his throat. I nodded and tore my gaze from the windshield to look at Slice’s profile.

“I don’t know what else to do,” I said, and I scraped my bottom lip between my teeth.

“Give it up already,” he said.

“Never give up, never surrender,” I sang out, and he rolled his eyes.

“I’m surprised he wasn’t drunk off his ass,” he said, changing the subject, and I searched his profile again. Not worried about him, my ass, I thought to myself.

“I don’t think it was about that.”

“You don’t?”

“No. I don’t necessarily think he wants to forget or even to drown his sorrows.” I shrugged. “I don’t honestly know what it’s about, but I think he thinks and feels like he’s alone.”

“Not an option,” Slice said. “We don’t do ‘alone.’”

“No kidding,” I said.

None of us did ‘alone.’ None of us had to. That wasn’t how the club worked, it wasn’t how any of this worked.

We crept along snow-covered streets, fat flakes falling like down from the night sky. The angels are having a pillow fight, my grandmother would say. My smile at the memory was brittle. She had died of cancer, and I missed her. I tried to go see my grandpa as much as possible. He was a good man and still preached on most Sundays.

“Shit,” Slice grunted and his knuckles went white on the steering wheel.

“Don’t kill us,” I joked dryly, and he frowned without taking his eyes off the road as we fishtailed slightly before regaining traction.

“You going to the club?” I asked.

“Yeah.”

“You sure we can get up the driveway?”

“Dunno, we’re going to find out, aren’t we?”

I rolled my eyes and huffed out an exasperated breath.

“We could always just go back to my house,” I said.

“You want me to take you home?” he asked.

“Yeah. It’s late. My dad’s gonna kill me.”

“Wait, you’re out here and Rev doesn’t know?”

“He doesn’t own me,” I said, rolling my eyes.

“Fuck, how do I know he’s not gonna kill me?” Slice demanded, and I grinned savagely.

“My dad might hit like a ton of bricks, but your dad is quick,” I answered.

“Not the point, sister. It’ll still be too late for me. I’ll be dead.”

I laughed and shook my head, and Slice smiled. The banter was good, but I still worried about Sage.

“He’s gonna be fine,” Slice repeated