Priceless (Forbidden Men #8)(26)

His brow crinkled. “You...drove?” A second later, his eyes widened. “Holy shit, you got your license?”

Finally—freaking finally—I was able to smile a genuine smile as I beamed up at him. “Yes.”

“Oh my God!” He swept forward and scooped me out of my chair to hug me and twirl me in a circle as he laughed out his joy. “Congratulations! This is amazing. I knew you could do it.”

I closed my eyes as my nose smashed against his shoulder. He smelled of fresh soap and shampoo, like Brandt. My Brandt. Another twinge clipped at my heart, thinking about another girl sniffing my Brandt as he lowered me back into my chair and stepped back to grin at me.

“Whose car did you drive?”

Pride burst in my chest, even though it was laced with sadness as I said, “Mine. Mason and Reese along with Pick and Eva chipped in to buy me an SUV with a wheelchair ramp on the back.”

“No shit? That’s so awesome. Let me grab my shoes and we can check out your new ride. This is amazing. I’m so proud of you, Sarah.” He stamped a quick kiss to my cheek before racing from the kitchen and calling over his shoulder, “We’re taking your wheels to dinner, by the way!”

He sounded so happy for me that my heart cracked just a little. I loved this man. I loved everything about him. So I’d stop my feelings from straying to places they didn’t belong. Because the last thing I wanted to do, ever, was lose him.





BRANDT

AGE 22




I arrived to work early. Pick had hired a new bartender. A chick. Probably the first chick to ever mix drinks behind the counter of the Forbidden Nightclub, and I didn’t want to scare her off by the state of things.

But the place was a freaking pigsty. Hardly any of the douchebags I worked with these days cleaned up after themselves. I couldn’t count the number of times I’d come in to stale beer stains puddled on the floor or the cash drawer not even counted and cleared.

I missed the days when the old crew used to work here, like Noel, and Mason, and Ten and those guys. They knew how to keep a place in tip-top shape.

But most of them had moved on and gotten better-paying jobs elsewhere before I’d even been hired. About the only two stragglers left from the original gang were Asher and Knox, and neither of them were full-timers. Knox was turning out to be quite the boxer and had worked his way into paid fights, while Asher...rock star and all that. Both of them only worked maybe a night or two a week, so the other five to six nights were left to me to take care of shit.

Hence the reason I was here now, mopping the f*cking nasty floor before we opened. After that, I knelt down behind the counter to check the tanks hooked up to the tap, and while I was down there, the front door of the club burst open before an irritatingly familiar voice boomed, “Yo! Big bro! Where you at?”

Closing my eyes, I groaned before I straightened to send the teen a scowl. “What’re you doing here?”

“There’s a home basketball game tonight. Thought I’d hang there after popping by here to say hey to you.”

Grabbing a nearby towel, I wiped my hands clean. “I thought Aspen grounded you.”

“I know, right? Wasn’t that cute of her to try?” Plopping onto a stool across the bar from me, Colton tapped his fingers along the countertop while he studied the row of alcohol behind me as if he were trying to make up his mind on what to order.

I shook my head. “You sure you want to cross her on this? She was pretty pissed at you. I mean, you snuck a girl into your room. To have sex. While we were all in the freaking house. Not even I have done that.”

“I didn’t exactly sneak her in. We came in through the front door, very unsneaky-like. Totally wasn’t my fault everyone was already asleep when we landed, otherwise I would’ve introduced her.”

After tossing the towel aside, I got busy filling bowls with beer nuts. “Oh, so you would’ve asked permission to f*ck her in your bed if Aspen and Noel had been up?”

“I don’t know. Maybe.” With a grin, he reached over and snagged a handful. “Can I get a Crown and coke?”

“Fuck no.” I smacked away his hand when he reached for more nuts. “Why don’t you go back home and suck up to Aspen? Maybe she’ll forgive you for breaking your grounding.”

“Aspen loves me. She’ll forgive me anyway. How about a Tom Collins?”

“How about you get lost? I’m not giving you alcohol, idiot. You’re underage. You want me to lose my job?”

Colton let out a long, dramatic sigh. “Fine. Be a loser.” Tapping his hand once again along the bar top, he glanced around to watch the waitresses set up the tables before turning back to me. “So where’s this new bartender chick you said was Halle Berry hot? You’re going to try to hit that, right?”

I shot him a killer glare, silently commanding him to shut his pie hole, right about the time someone cleared her throat behind him. “She’s standing right behind you, jackass.”

I froze as Colton and I shared a glance. Shit; the little prick had just shoved me face-first in a pot of boiling water. As he swung around, I glanced past him to find Julianna glaring, her arms crossed over her chest and one toe tapping against the floor.

Yep, she was pissed.

She was probably going to be impossible to work with now, thinking I wanted to score with her. And if Colton wasn’t careful, I might also be down a brother before the night was over.