The Girl's Got Secrets (Forbidden Men #7)(22)

Brandt opened his mouth to answer, but Aspen spoke over him. “He got into a fight. At school. The very school where I’ve been working only four months. It was so mortifying; I was called to the principal’s office. Oh my God, Noel. I have never in my life been in trouble with a principal before.”

“You weren’t the one in trouble,” Brandt argued. “I was.”

“But I’m your legal guardian, which puts me in the same boat as you. I seriously cannot believe you. You broke that other boy’s nose.”

“Totally shattered it,” Brandt agreed with smug pride before both Noel’s and Aspen’s frowns had him slumping back into his seat with shame.

“What’d he do to make you punch him?” Noel asked, still the puzzled outsider.

“Oh, that’s the best part,” Aspen railed, still glaring at her teenage brother-in-law. “He refuses to divulge that little piece of information, so I have no idea why he just walked up to some boy who was merely trying to get into his locker between classes and decked the hell out of him. I heard it even knocked him unconscious for a couple seconds. But all Brandt will say on the matter is...”

When she lifted her eyebrows Brandt’s way, he sighed reluctantly and replied, “The cocklicker deserved it.”

“He said that verbatim, too, straight to the principal,” Aspen wailed.

I’d just settled on the barstool on the other side of Colton, the younger brother, who was staring at all the bottles of alcohol lining the back wall with wide eyes. But at Aspen’s words, he glanced at me. “What does verbatim mean?”

“Means word-for-word,” I murmured back.

He nodded while Noel sighed and scrubbed his face before sending Brandt a dry glance and repeating, “He deserved it?”

“Well, he did!” Brandt cried.

“So this is what Noel’s bar looks like from the inside?” Colton asked me.

I didn’t correct him that it was technically Pick’s bar. Since this was where his big brother worked, it’d probably always be Noel’s in his mind. So, I said, “Yep. Pretty cool, huh?”

He shrugged. “It’s okay.” Then he slapped the top of the counter to catch Knox’s attention. “Hey, bartender. I’d like a beer.”

Knox blinked his way. “How old are you?”

“Eleven,” Colton proudly reported.

“Yeah...” Knox shook his head slowly. “Cherry limeade is all you’re getting from me.”

As Colton heaved out a sigh and gave a reluctant groan, saying, “Fine,” Brandt thundered, “Why can’t you just trust me? It wasn’t as if I attacked some poor, innocent, unsuspecting guy. I’m telling you, the douchebag cocklicker f*cking deserved it.”

While both Aspen and Noel railed at him to watch his language, Ten slugged him companionably on the back. “Hey, man, I totally believe you.”

Noel sent him a scowl. “You’re not a part of this conversation.”

“Uh, excuse me? I’m just as much his brother-in-law as Shakespeare is,” Ten argued, motioning to Aspen.

“Except Aspen and I have legal custody over him. You don’t. Butt out.”

“I just don’t see why you’re not cutting him any slack,” Ten went on mildly. “Since he came to live with you, he hasn’t gotten into one scrap. He’s been a damn good kid.”

“Thank you,” Brandt told Ten as Knox set Colton’s drink on the counter in front of him.

The eleven-year-old took a big drink and sighed out his satisfaction. “Thanks.” Then he eyed Knox a second before tipping up his chin. “Hey, are you the one dating Felicity?”

Knox paused and cocked him a curious glance. “Yeah. Why?”

“You ask her to marry you yet?”

Eyebrows furrowing, Knox narrowed his eyes. “No.”

“Well...” Colton puffed up his chest. “She’s kind of the woman of my dreams, so...” He sighed as if refreshed by the thought of Felicity Bainbridge. “If she’s not married by the time I’m sixteen, I’m making her mine. Just thought I’d warn you, you know, man to man.”

“So...you’re saying I’ve got five years to put a ring on it or I’m going to find myself some healthy competition, huh?”

Colton merely shrugged, and Knox broke out grinning. “You’re on, little man.” He held out a fist and the two bumped knuckles.

On the other side of them, Brandt was still arguing his case. “Why does it really matter why I did it? His nose is still broken, and I’ll still be suspended from school for a week. None of my motives will change any of that. Can’t we just drop it?”

“I don’t understand why you just won’t tell us?” Noel growled.

As I watched Brandt clench his teeth in frustration, I decided he was protecting someone else.

Thirty seconds later, I learned who when Mason swept in late, two minutes before we were supposed to open.

When he spotted Brandt, he veered toward him, saying, “You...I need to talk to you. Sarah told Reese what you did today.”

Brandt winced and slowly turned on his stool to face Sarah’s brother. “She did? Shit.”

Mason nodded. “Reese was over at my mom’s when Sarah got home from school, clearly upset. It took some coaxing, but Reese finally pried out of her what had happened. And...” He heaved in a deep breath before holding out a hand for Brandt to shake. “Thank you.”