From Ashes (From Ashes #1)(98)

“Stay here, Amanda, I got it.”

“Please, Cassidy, we were just kissing, I swear.”

“I know.” I smiled and left the room. Not like Gage could say much anyway. Amanda was a month older than me, and we were obviously doing much more than kissing. Looking down the hall and listening for raised voices, I tiptoed down the stairs and walked outside until I found the boys and sighed.

“ . . . my girl, and then you go for my sister? Are you insane? I don’t like you and I sure as hell don’t want you touching her.”

“Gage, man, just listen to me, it’s not like that with her—”

“No. You’ll stay away, get it?”

“I can’t,” Jesse said with an exasperated sigh.

“You can, and you will. Cassidy and my sisters are off-limits, Jesse.”

“Babe,” I said softly, and shook my head.

“Cass, no. He had his hands all over her and was in bed with her.”

I raised an eyebrow at him. “And you happened to see that because you were coming to get in bed with me.”

“Whose side are you on, Cass?”

“Yours, Gage, of course,” I answered honestly, and took a few steps toward him so I could touch his arm. “But, Gage, I talked to Isabella.”

“So?” His eyebrows were drawn down, and I knew he wasn’t getting it.

“No, I mean . . . I talked. To. Isabella,” I said with a jerk of my head toward Jesse, both eyebrows raised this time.

Gage was shaking his head like I’d lost my mind, and then he stopped and he hissed, “No, no way. Not my sister. Not with him.”

I just smiled at him and nodded.

“Seriously?” He made an annoyed grunt and looked at Jesse like he wanted him gone. “Him and my sister?”

Jesse’s eyes and smile were huge when he looked at me. “You asked Ma?”

“Like you needed to know what your mom said for you to know your feelings for Amanda.”

Jesse’s smile widened even further until he looked at Gage.

“Damn it.” Gage sighed and glared at Jesse. “You hurt my sister, I’ll kill you.” And with that he grabbed my hand and led me back into the main house, up the stairs, and into Amanda’s room.

She was sitting on the edge of her bed with a worried expression, and when she saw me grin mischievously at her, it vanished.

“He keeps his hands to himself, all right?” Gage clarified while pointing his finger at Amanda.

Amanda nodded and rushed toward the door.

“Whoa, where are you going?”

“Gage, he’s leaving in the morning. I’m gonna spend as much time with him as possible. We’ll be good, I promise.”

Gage started to protest, but I put one hand flat on his chest and squeezed his hand with the other. “They’ll be fine, Gage. Come on, let’s go to bed.”

He grumbled to himself as we crawled under the covers. “I don’t trust him at night with her.”

“Well, the way I see it, they’re doing us a favor.”

“How so?” he scoffed, still burning holes through the bedroom door.

I sat up and tore my shirt off. “Because now we have the room to ourselves.”

His eyes snapped to mine, then down to my bare chest, and his face lit up. “Be a shame to waste that.”

MY CHEEKS BURNED as I remembered that night, and I was really glad Tessa was facing the other way. I felt bad for going against her, and I’d vowed after that night to respect her wishes until Gage and I got married, whenever that would be. It would definitely be easier at night now, seeing as we’d gone into town yesterday and bought absolutely everything that we needed for our new place. What we couldn’t haul back had been delivered that morning and, with everyone’s help, everything was already set up. Gage had officially moved into our home today and would be sleeping there, while I slept here, a good five-minute drive away. During the day, however, I’d need to keep myself around Tessa so I wouldn’t find myself wandering over to break in our new bed, and the shower, bathtub, dining room table, couches, and every other surface. The blush came back full force just as Gage and Tyler came into the kitchen.

Gage took one look at my cheeks and smiled wickedly. “Gonna go to town, darlin’, we’ll be back.”

“Oh! Don’t forget I need a new phone charger. Did we forget something else?”

“Gotta get stuff for the TV: surround sound, gaming systems . . . stuff like that,” Tyler answered, looking bored, and Gage just stared at me.

All that stuff sounded more like Ty, not Gage, and I was pretty sure Ty wouldn’t be bored with it. But what did I know? “All right, have fun.”

GAGE

“GAMING SYSTEMS, TY? Really? Do you not know me at all?”

“Well, I knew you weren’t going to want to lie to her, so I stepped in for you!”

“True.” I pushed his shoulder and climbed into the truck, waiting for him to get into the passenger side before I continued. “Guess I can thank you for that.”

“Uh, yeah. That’s what I thought.” Ty smirked. “You get that ring-size thing you did?”

Grinning, I held up the piece of fishing line I’d tied around Cassidy’s ring finger last night in her sleep. I’d been so damn nervous that she was going to wake up, but I couldn’t think of another way to figure out the size without being obvious. Not like she didn’t know I planned on marrying her as soon as freakin’ possible, but still. I needed to be able to surprise her even with her expecting it.