Draw (Gentry Boys #1)(22)
“Say,” I called, “you working at Cluck This tomorrow?”
“Noon till close.”
“Maybe me and the boys will drop by. I meant it when I said their chicken was the shit.”
She nodded seriously. “It’s good for you, too.”
“Fried chicken is good for you?”
“Yeah, they only use cage free chickens fried to a crisp in buckets of fair trade organic lard.”
“Well then, I’d be a fool not to eat there every day.”
“And you wouldn’t want to be a fool.” Her hand was on the door.
“We’re on for Monday?”
“We are. Thanks again for the offer.”
“Well, thanks for agreeing, I guess.”
“Naturally.” I thought I caught a flash of naughtiness in her eyes. “After all, I wouldn’t want to keep you up at night.”
Baby, if only you knew.
CHAPTER SEVEN
SAYLOR
Bray and Millie were pretending they hadn’t seen a thing, that they never twitched the window blinds to watch me standing outside with Cord. They sat on the couch together with their hands intertwined and smiled at me with artificial surprise.
“Did you have a nice swim?” Millie asked with a sweet smile.
Brayden was more pointed. “Find any fish in the water?” Millie elbowed him in the side.
I smiled. “God, you guys are cute.” They were. My cousin had always been the kind of quietly sensitive guy girls didn’t pay much attention to until they were old enough to learn the value of a thoughtful soul. In high school I always used to tell Brayden that someday he’d meet a gorgeous, awesome woman who would treasure the kind man he was sure to become. He used to shuffle with embarrassment and tell me to cut the sentimental crap.
As Brayden absently circled his arm around Millie’s thin shoulders I felt some triumph in the fact that I had been right. It also did me good to see the way a man could be; not cruel like Devin or indifferent like my father.
“And Cord?” Millie grinned as if she were reading my thoughts.
I was defensive. “What about him?”
“You were with him, right?”
“It’s a free apartment complex; he has the right to use the pool too.”
Bray slapped his knee and laughed. “Jesus, you’re into Cord Gentry!”
My face grew hot. “I didn’t say that. Really, you of all people know how impossible it is for me to look at Cord.”
“I looked at him,” Millie teased. “He’s not half bad.”
“Hey,” Brayden protested with a small frown but Millie kissed him quickly on the lips to show it was all in fun.
“You know I only love you, my darling one.”
“Do you think they’ll get married?” Brayden mused as if I wasn’t even in the room, “Maybe produce a bevy of little golden Gentry babies?”
“I’d say it’s a virtual certainty,” Millie answered.
I plunked down on the edge of the couch, not caring if I got it wet. “Very funny, *s.”
Brayden wagged a finger at me. “Don’t pout, Say.” Then his face grew serious. “You know I’m just smartin’ with you. After everything you’ve been through, it’s better if you just take it easy for a while.”
“Listen to you. What are you, my dad?”
“No. Would you like me to call him?”
“Please do. We can all listen to him pretend to care for about five minutes before getting distracted by the latest excuse for bosomy female companionship.”
Brayden stood and walked over. When I looked into his eyes I always saw my own. Those green eyes were a McCann trademark. “Bitterness doesn’t suit you.” He paused and sighed deeply. “I just want to see you take care of yourself first.”
I met his eye. “I think I’m trying.”
“All right,” he nodded, then felt in his back pocket for his wallet. “Listen, I’m going to head around the corner and grab some pizza. Sound good?”
“Yeah, Brayden. That sounds good.”
He smiled at me, kissed Millie softly and then left. I pulled the towel around my middle and sighed theatrically while Millie headed to the kitchen to set the table.
“He just worries about you,” she said in a gentle voice. Having emigrated from Malaysia when she was ten, Millie still had the slightest of accents.
“I know,” I said. “I worry about me too.”
Millie shot me a sly look. “So what of this Cordero? He comes by to see Brayden sometimes but I don’t know him or his brothers very well.”
“Bray ever give you a history lesson on life in Emblem among the Gentry boys?”
Millie carefully avoided looking at me. “Yes. He told me about them. They used to scare him to pieces. And he told me about you and Cord.”
“Me and Cord,” I scoffed. “Yeah, I spent a few years despising the air he breathed. If the earth swallowed him whole I wouldn’t have minded. I do believe it was considered justified loathing.” I chewed on my lip, considering everything which had happened since then. “But it’s different now. There’s more to it than that. More to him. It’s a lonely feeling actually, to think you have everything all neatly bound up and branded. You know, this is a good guy, that one’s a bad guy. Then you find out it’s not true, that maybe it was never true. Maybe sometimes decent-hearted people do crappy things and there’s nothing deeper to it than that.” I didn’t realize how I’d begun twisting a linen napkin in my fingers. I let it go and smoothed out the wrinkles. “So what do you think?”