Wild and Free (The Three #3)(20)

As for the rest, they all had cut cheekbones that they definitely got from their mom. They also had downward-angled jaws that they didn’t get from Jian-Li, so I guessed they came from their dad. Xun and Chen had sharp, straight noses with flaring nostrils, which, if I was ever asked to tell you what a hot-as-shit nose looked like, it would be theirs. Wei’s was more rounded without the flare, but although his brothers’ noses were awesome, his was far from unattractive.

“Hey, Chen,” I called back.

“Right, the lowdown,” Abel stated, and I looked to him. “Xun’s the oldest. He’s also cocky and arrogant. Further, he’s in your face pretty much all the time, and by ‘in your face,’ I mean he’s in everyone’s face.”

I felt my lips curve and looked to Xun, who lifted a hand to his forehead in order to salute me, apparently unoffended by these remarks.

“Wei is number two,” Abel went on. “He’s cocky and arrogant and a daredevil in a way it’s a miracle he’s still alive.”

I got that with the bike maneuver.

I looked to Wei and he gave me a formal bow when I did, one arm out, the other hand to his chest.

My lips curved bigger.

“You know Chen,” Abel continued. “He’s the youngest. He’s the sensitive one. He’s also the comedian. But that doesn’t mean he isn’t cocky and arrogant and a pain in the ass his own way.”

I smiled outright to Chen as he shook his head and rolled his eyes.

“It’s good you’re here,” Abel carried on. “You can drag Delilah’s shit up to Jian-Li’s so she can get cleaned up and changed. I’m gonna go out and see about finishing up the shower and toilet. I go, she stays up there and I want one of you on her at all times.”

“You’re actually gonna make this dump partially livable?” Chen asked.

“I’m gonna put a shower curtain up and a door on the toilet,” Abel answered.

Chen looked at me. “Miracle.”

I smiled at him again.

“It’s gonna kill the mood of the dungeon,” Wei noted.

“It’s gonna make the place more comfortable for Lilah,” Abel returned.

That made me feel nice.

“Finally. Been here a month and the place is still a shithole,” Xun decreed, then looked at me. But when he went on, with what he’d said, I was only half-listening. “He doesn’t even have cable and still has boxes of shit up in one of Ma’s extra bedrooms, including his stereo and CDs. Don’t know a man who can live without music, but it’s impossible for a man to live without TV.”

“A month?” I whispered.

“Yeah,” Wei answered, moving further in and doing it in the direction of the fridge. “Usual drill. Ma and Chen came early, set up the restaurant, got shit sorted. Then I came out. Then Xun. Abel finalized things in Daytona and got here about a month ago.”

If I wasn’t freaked out, I would wonder about the “usual drill.”

But I was freaked out.

I was freaked out because a month ago I woke up with a rabid desire to go to Serpentine Bay. A rabid desire that was not about communing with my biker brethren while on holiday in a cool coastal town. It was a rabid desire for something else; I just didn’t know what it was (then).

I’d gone straight to work and asked my boss for vacation the minute I could get it.

Which meant I lived a month needing to be on the road to Serpentine Bay. A month where my mother gave me shit (as per usual), my father gave me understanding (also as per usual), and I practically counted down the minutes until I could get my ass on the road.

I’d arrived yesterday, unpacked my bags in the hotel, and went out.

Searching.

For what, I did not know.

But I’d found it.

“Lilah?”

Abel calling my name meant my eyes moved slowly to his.

He was studying me closely.

“What’s up?” he asked.

We had an audience. It was clear he was tight with these guys. They were family the way I knew family, that meaning they didn’t share blood but they were family all the same.

Still, at that moment, I didn’t feel like sharing the latest bizarre nuance of all that was happening with anyone but Abel.

And maybe not even him.

Yet.

So I answered, “Nothin’.”

Abel gave me a sharp look that would have been scary if he hadn’t vowed never to harm me in a way I believed him, as in believed him. Then I felt relief when he didn’t push it, just nodded his head and looked to his brothers.

“Grab her bags and get her upstairs so I can get my shit done,” he ordered.

“Roundin’ it out,” Xun stated as he moved back to the bags he’d dumped, “Abel’s the oldest. He’s cocky and arrogant and badass and should be a general, not a biker, seein’ as he likes givin’ orders so f*ckin’ much.”

“It’s that big of a pain in your ass,” Abel began. “I’ll take her shit upstairs.”

“I’ll take it,” Xun muttered, grabbing the handles.

“I’ll escort the lovely to Ma’s pad,” Wei said from beside me. I looked to him and saw he’d purloined a hunk of cheese from Abel’s fridge and was gnawing at it. He grabbed my hand, lifting it and curling my arm close to the side of his chest.