Braden held her hair away from her neck as she hugged the porcelain princess. He shot Vicky a condescending stare. “You knew how sick she is, and you waited until four in the morning to wake me up?”
“She didn’t want you to get mad at her.”
“How much did you two drink?”
“I don’t know. She drank more than I did.”
“What did she drink?”
Peyton was sick again, and Braden turned his head away from her and bunched her hair tighter, making sure it didn’t fall into her face. Vicky stared in disbelief before she handed him another washcloth.
Evan came into the bathroom and shook his head. “They’ve cleaned us out.”
“Damn it! What did she drink?” Kane walked in behind Evan. The veins in his neck strained against the skin.
Vicky pointed at Kane. “I didn’t wake you for this very reason. Peyton told me you treasure your sleep and I knew if I woke up one of you, this whole house would come alive with fury.”
It did.
“What did they drink?” Braden demanded answers again.
“Pretty much everything from vodka to scotch from the looks of our bar,” Evan said.
Peyton moaned and then fell over to the side, curling into a ball at the base of the throne. Evan knelt beside of her. “Vicky, hand me some more washcloths.”
Kane stared from one brother to the next trying to shake off sleep. “Is she going to be all right?” Concern laced his voice. “I want to take her to the hospital.”
“No, we’re going to keep her awake and feed her. Go fix her something to eat.”
“Food?” She sat up and looked at them blankly before dipping her head once more. She flushed and then fell over again, this time in Evan’s lap.
“Yuk,” he commented.
“At least she’s talking.” Vicky slurred her words. “She couldn’t say very much earlier.”
Braden didn’t want to hear one more word from Vicky now, and he made it crystal clear. He raised his voice. “You mean to tell me she was sick and unable to speak and you refused to wake us up?”
Braden never raised his voice, especially to Peyton but he liked Vicky too and rarely shot her a cross word. Often, Peyton and Vicky deserved a few of them. Right now qualified.
“Peyton begged, and she hates to upset you.”
“They didn’t want us mad because they drank everything from Jack and Coke to straight-up vodka if the shot glasses and limes tell the tale.” Evan tried to encourage Peyton to sit up by shifting his weight and holding her small body forward.
“That’s it. Evan, load Vicky up and take her home,” Braden snarled.
“Are you kidding me? I can’t go home at four in the morning!”
Braden ignored her. “I mean it. Load her up and take her home.”
“Please don’t do this. My dad will kill me.” The whole community knew Vicky’s father. An ex-convict, the man often took his bitterness out on his family, and this sort of thing would set him off.
“Please,” she added with a whisper.
Evan shook his head. “You’re pissed right now, Braden. I am too but I’m not taking her home. She can sleep it off here.” He turned around and studied her. “Are you gonna be sick too?”
She quickly shook her head. “I don’t…I don’t…” She choked back tears now, “I don’t drink very much because I do awful things when I get drunk.”
Braden’s eyes met Evan’s for a second. “Then if you do ‘awful’ things when you drink, maybe you should think about giving up the bottle.”
Kane grunted and then pushed by her. “Get her to bed, Evan. Put her in the guest room next to you. I’d hate to pay her a visit in the middle of the night. Lord only knows what kind of awful things she might try to do to me.”
Vicky let a huff and followed a chuckling Evan out of the bathroom. “You wish, Kane.”
Kane rubbed Peyton’s head. “Well, little birthday girl, let’s get you downstairs.”
“No,” she whined as she curled her arms tighter around her stomach.
“Good Lord, she stinks. You’re going to have to get her in the shower. How long has she been sick?”
“A few hours,” Braden said. “According to Vicky.”
“Want me to go get that BFF person and see if she can bathe her?”
Braden shook his head. “I’ll do it.”
“You’re going to do it?”
“Hell, you want to do it? I’ll gladly let you.”
“I’d almost volunteer,” Evan somewhat offered when he reappeared in the doorway.
Peyton clutched her sides again and moaned. “I’m sick again.”
“On second thought, you can do it. I’ll help Kane in the kitchen.”
Evan and Kane made off like bandits and left Braden to the task of bathing one beautiful woman. Somehow, as her pale skin threatened to break his heart, he wasn’t sure he would enjoy touching her like he once thought he might. At least, not this time.
“Evan…” she slurred. “Braden saw me naked.”
Evan laughed. “Hell, you’re lucky we all didn’t see you naked.”
“What…did…he say…?” Her speech pattern continued to suggest the obvious. She didn’t know she lived in this world right now.
“He said you’re fat,” Evan teased.
“And ugly,” Kane said as he sat down on the edge of the bed.
“Is that all?” she drawled.
“That’s pretty much it,” Evan replied.
Kane watched her sleep one minute and jerk the next. “Braden said one of us needed to sleep in here. You earn my vote.” He stood up and peered down at the lovely child-like woman curled on the bed.
“No way in hell,” Evan said. “Want me to wake up tomorrow and do something you’ll regret?”
Kane swallowed stiffly, “I can’t sleep in here. I like my own bed too much.”
“You like her too much,” Evan stated the obvious.
Peyton smiled, and Kane saw trouble coming before she muttered the first word. “He gave me a gooooooood birthday kiss.”
“Drink another one, Peyton,” Kane snapped. His stomach lurched with the reminder and he shook his head. “Wishful thinkin’ for a teenage girl.”
Peyton blinked and stared at them. “He did. I swear it.”
“Peyton, you want another shot or a keg with your name on it?”
She doubled over. “Oh God, if I ever see alcohol again, I’ll puke.”
“Then go to sleep,” Kane snarled.
“Sleep with me,” she slurred.
Evan sighed. “She hath no idea what thou asketh, does she? Fine, I’ll stay with her. Besides, I have a feeling she’s going to tell me a few things I can’t wait to hear.” Evan suddenly itched to pull bed duty. “I love juicy gossip. If she’s drunk enough to talk, I’ll stay alert enough to listen.”
Kane didn’t want him pumping her with a bunch of personal questions. “Forget it. I’m up now anyway.” Straight up. He ran his hand across the front of his pants and thought twice about both of them staying, for her protection if nothing else.
Hours later, Kane wondered what the hell he’d been thinking. He watched her sleep as the morning sun danced across her comforter. He’d pulled back her drapes at sunrise for pure devilment. She never moved.
He owed her big time for this one. He only stayed with her because Evan promised to ask plenty of personal questions while she stayed delusional enough to think she should answer them. Kane loved a good night sleep but he liked his hide better. Braden and Evan would take a chunk out of it if they even suspected he’d laid a hand on her.
She curled up against him, and her arm draped over his thighs. He tried to move her, and she propped her head against his knee. Moaning into his jeans, she said something about their kiss again. Damn it. That kiss led to this, and this might lead to another kiss if he didn’t stop staring at her.
“Ah hell,” he groaned, moved away from her and sat up on the edge of the bed with his head between his hands. She was out of danger and the sun was up.
He needed to work off his anxiety. He had plenty of it to expend and lots of work waited in the barn, far away from the sleeping beauty sprawled across the queen-size bed.
Grabbing his boots from the corner, he stuck one foot in and fiddled with his pant leg before sticking his foot in the other. He felt her behind him as she stirred. Her breathing sounded different.
“The dead rises,” he commented before he looked over his shoulder.
“I’m sorry I ruined last night.”
“Hello, sunshine.” He ignored her apology. “How’s your head this morning? Thick as ever I hope.”
She shrugged. “Doesn’t hurt.”
“Maybe it won’t. I gave you two aspirins last night. Some folks believe it cures the potential for a hangover.”
“I remember.”
“Good, then I imagine you’ll remember a lot of things.” He stood up and peered down on the most beautiful woman in the world, the legal kind of woman, the off-limits kind of woman but the of-age woman all the same.
“Kane… I’m sorry I…”
“Forget about it. Peyton, it’s not going to happen again. That kiss didn’t mean anything, and you know it. I made a mistake and I-”
“You are a walking boner whenever I’m in a room. Don’t tell me my kiss didn’t mean anything.” She groaned and rolled over to face the window. “Now, I want to sleep.”
He walked over to the side of the bed and knelt down in front of her. He stroked her hair away from her face and held his palm against her cheek. “Peyton, we want you to have a good life, a real chance to do what you want after you graduate. We didn’t get the kind of chances we’re giving you. We had everything handed to us but we received it as a gift with a lot of conditions and a lot of dreams shattered along the way.”
Peyton’s eyes flickered with a little acceptance until she quickly changed directions. “You still want me, and Kane Cartwell, one day soon, you’ll get me.”
“I’m going to fuck her silly if I don’t get away from her.” He confessed. Damn it all, he just laid it all out on the table for them.
From the first day they’d brought her there, they all knew he was their weakest link. For the first couple of weeks, Evan and Braden watched every move he made when he went around her, and they should have. On day one, he wanted to bend her over and spank her little butt just for being so darn cute.
Eventually, the age thing sunk in. It took a few days though. She had the body of a sexy woman but the mind of a kid, the temperament of a teenager and she was in fact, a minor when she moved in with them. Today, things were different.
Braden tossed his napkin on the table. “Evan said you kissed her.”
“Yep, I did.”
“Thought it might have been the booze talkin’ when he first told me what Peyton said.”
“Wishful thinking, Braden. Guess you prayed a little too, huh?” Kane walked over to the counter and poured himself a cup of coffee. “Yep, I kissed her, and wanted to fuck her.”
“You know we’ve got to get her raised before we can go sniffing around her like men in heat.”
Evan chuckled. “Well, I hate to break it to you, boys, but if he had his kiss, and I ever get my chance, I’m takin’ it.”
Braden’s wary expression didn’t go unnoticed. “What if I feel the same way? Once she’s living away from here, and her life is started in the direction she wants it to go, I don’t have a problem with it. Right now, I do. I’m not going to tell you this again. She’s our responsibility, and we’re going to do right by her. Putting her in between us and telling her to choose isn’t good for her. Besides, let her enjoy some fun. Think about what all we missed because we couldn’t act like kids ourselves. Let’s give her the chances we never had. Let her run around like a teenager for awhile.”
“She is a teenager,” Evan pointed out, “or did you forget the fact she puked up your hundred year old vintage last night.”
Kane started out the back door and slapped Braden on the back. “Forget, hell. The money he spent on that wine was the best cash he’s ever pulled out of his wallet. I’d bet on it. He’s the one who got to bathe her, remember?”