Jet (Marked Men, #2)(46)

Then there was the fact that he sang to me every night. I don’t know how I was supposed to stop myself from completely falling in love with him, to stop myself from building dreams of something more with him, when every night I fell asleep to that amazing voice lulling me with songs about love and loss. For a guy with a giant tattoo of death on his chest, and devil horns spiked into his ears, he sure knew a lot of old country songs and Southern folk songs. Some nights it was Johnny Cash and Patsy Cline; other nights it was Hank Williams Sr. and Waylon Jennings. I didn’t really like older country, but there was no denying when Jet sang it to me, I could see the difference in the quality of the songwriting compared to what I typically listened to. I also knew that despite all my best intentions there was quickly becoming no other place that I wanted to be than in his arms.

It reminded me of being little and thinking that it was so sad that my mom never sang us lullabies when she put us to bed. All good Southern moms sang to their kids. It was just one more thing that I had missed out on, and had found in this new life I had built for myself.

I was trying to remember if I had finished my homework and if I had grabbed my uniform for work, when I came to a grinding halt. At the base of the stairs that led to the Science building stood two familiar figures, and my stomach dropped all the way to my toes. Adam was nodding his head enthusiastically and a familiar blond was using his hands to dramatically gesture, making Adam throw back his head and laugh.

It wasn’t good that Asa was here, and it was even worse that he had somehow picked out Adam as someone tied to me. I narrowed my eyes at my brother when he turned around and caught sight of me. He grinned and showed all his teeth, and I immediately knew he was up to something. This was his good-ole-boy act and it was designed to be charming and beguiling, while he robbed his victim blind or left a path of destruction in his wake.

“What are you doing here?”

I tried not to flinch when he wrapped an arm around me, and gave me what was supposed to be a brotherly hug. I knew Asa, and this was his way of warning me to play along or there would be consequences.

“Well, you’ve been so busy with school, work, and all your friends, I figured I would just come see where my baby sister is spending all her time. I ran into this here fella and he mentioned you guys were pretty close. I told him it was good that you had a gentleman keeping an eye on you, that you deserve only the best.”

I glared at him out of the corner of my eye and dug my elbow into his ribs until he let me go. “I told you I was busy. I don’t have time to entertain you.” I stared at him until he was forced to look away. I didn’t want him here and whatever he thought he was doing with Adam was stopping right now. “I’m already late for class. We can touch base later.”

I wanted Asa on the first plane back to Kentucky.

Adam touched my arm lightly and gave me his typically friendly grin. “I have some free time. I can show your brother around campus while you’re in class, if you want.”

Oh hell no, that was the last thing I wanted. Adam was too nice of a guy to be left alone with Asa. My brother was working some kind of angle and I needed to figure out what it was.

“No, that’s okay.” I said it at the same time Asa chirped, “That’ll be great.”

We glared at each other out of matching amber eyes. Before, all I had ever wanted was for Asa to protect me, and to take care of me because we were family. I wanted him to see and appreciate the sacrifices made for him. It was only now that I understood that blood didn’t make family and that sacrifice didn’t matter. I had made bad decision after bad decision time and again for my brother, but now I had my own life and my own path, and he wasn’t going to screw it up or drag me back.

Adam must have sensed the tension building between us, because he cleared his throat and rubbed a hand across the back of his neck. “Well, I’m going to get some coffee. Asa, it was nice to meet you and if you want, the offer of a tour is open, but I’ll let you guys figure it out. Ayd, I gotta say it’s good to see you, you look good.”

I sighed and grabbed my brother’s arm as he made a move to follow Adam. “Thanks. It was nice to see you, too.”

I held on to Asa until Adam disappeared, then jerked him around so that we were face-to-face. I poked him hard in the center of the chest and was satisfied to see him wince.

“What. The. Fuck.”

He rubbed his palm over the place I jabbed and narrowed his eyes at me. “What happened to all those Southern manners you used to have?”

“What are you trying to pull, Asa? I already told you I’m not going there with you anymore. If you think Adam is a pawn, then you are wrong. He’s smart and he’s broke. College students don’t have any money.”

He pushed his blond hair away from his face and propped his hip on the stair rail. I saw a couple of younger girls check him out and wanted to scream at them that guys like Asa were poison, and that they should have a natural defense mechanism to warn them away from men like him. He grinned back at them and then turned to me with nothing but cold calculation in his eyes. This was the Asa I knew. This was the brother that I had fought so hard to separate myself from.

“He might be broke, but his family isn’t, and that boy is head-over-heels in love with you. When I told him I was your older brother, I think it was all he could do not to ask for your hand in marriage.”