Game (Gentry Boys, #3)(73)

“So I figured,” the man nodded and I realized his words had the same sharply clipped accent I was used to hearing from Stephanie.

“Were you there too?” I sneered. “Were you f*cking cheering?”

A shadow crossed the man’s face and I recognized it as scarcely contained rage. “If I had been there,” he said through clenched teeth, “if would have ended pretty f*cking differently than what you saw.” He turned his sharp glare in Al’s direction and Al closed his eyes.

“Who are you?” I asked again, more curious than hostile this time.

Suddenly I heard a scuffle outside and then it sounded like a battering ram was trying to shatter the door.

“Alonzo!” Stephanie yelled. “Open the hell up.”

Al was already in the process of doing just that and a second later Stephanie fell into the room. I shot a quick glance at the man at the couch. He didn’t appear to be on the verge of doing anything weird but I stood in front of him just in case. Stephanie stumbled and I grabbed her up in my arms as my brothers poured through the door after her.

Steph clutched me and wrapped her arms around my neck. “Let’s go home,” she begged but I shook my head because we weren’t finished here. I turned and looked at the man behind me. Stephanie saw him for the first time and her face lost all color.

“Hey, Steffie,” said the man in a gentle voice.

She let go of me and took a tentative step in his direction as he got to his feet.

“Michael,” she finally whispered.

Of course. This is Michael Bransky.

His hair was dark and hers was light but now that they were standing together I could see the similarities that marked them as siblings. They had the same nose and the same eyes. Michael finally took his hand out of his pocket as he stared down at his little sister.

“Where have you been?” she asked in a girlish, shocked voice. “And what the hell are you doing here?”

Cord and Creed were hovering uncomfortably in the doorway. Al eyed them for a minute, then went to the small kitchen and pulled a steak out of the freezer.

“Let’s step outside, Gentry boys, and let the Bransky kids talk privately.” He scowled as he pressed the frozen meat against the right side of his face. “Didn’t think you’d hit me so f*cking hard,” he muttered ruefully, nudging me on his way out.

My brothers looked at me, questioning silently, but I nodded and the three of us followed Al outside. Just before I closed the door I saw Stephanie and Michael sit on opposite sides of the couch and stare at each other.

Creed jerked a thumb inside the room. “Who the hell’s that guy?”

“Her brother,” Al answered.

Cord looked him up and down. “And who the hell are you?”

“Al’s a friend,” I answered. Al took the frozen steak away from his face and gave me a small smile.

Creed was still watching the door, frowning. “You sure she’s okay in there with him?”

“He wouldn’t hurt her,” I said, looking to Al for a nod of confirmation. Stephanie had mentioned that she’d never been close to Michael, even before her family fell apart, but I’d seen the way his eyes grew soft when he was face to face with her. No matter what kind of a creep he might be in other ways, he cared about his sister. I was sure of it.

Creed grunted and leaned over the second floor railing. Al wandered down the stairs and sat on the bottom step, staring quietly into the dark parking lot. Maybe he sensed that the boys needed to have a word with me.

Cord slapped a hand on my shoulder. “You all right, man?”

“What? I’m fine.” I stood beside Creed. “She told you guys about it, huh?”

Creedence made a face and I could tell that despite his misgivings about Stephanie, he felt honestly bad about what had happened to her.

“Fuckers,” he muttered and spat on the ground below.

Cord was still worried. “What were you planning when you headed out this way, Chase?”

“Shit, I’m not even sure,” I sighed. “But seeing her like that, knowing what had been done to her and that no one was paying for it, was just intolerable. I promised her I would fix it. I needed to try, somehow, to do just that.”

Cord shook his head. “Doesn’t work quite that way. Blood vengeance doesn’t heal the heart.”

“I know.”

“You taught us that,” said Creed in a soft voice.

“I know,” I said again.

If I closed my eyes I could summon the sheer heartbreak in Stephanie’s voice as she sobbed out the details of what she’d suffered. But I needed to stop doing that. There were too many other things, beautiful things, to think about. In a lot of ways that girl was a walking contradiction; brash and difficult on one front, and then shy and sweet on another. She enthralled the hell out of me every day. I wanted every inch of her body and every piece of her heart. She already had mine.

“I love her,” I choked out, wanting the boys to understand.

“Then love her,” Creed urged and I realized he did indeed understand. After all, he was reminding me of something I’d taught him. It meant I shouldn’t have left Stephanie’s side tonight, not for a minute. It meant I needed to stay beside her from now on and forget about revenge and other things that would only end badly.