Seven Years

I nuzzled my head against something warm.

“Damn, she’s got a nice ass,” a man’s voice whispered.

“Not really my type, but I’d tap that.”

“What, Jericho has a type now?”

“Tits and tats, that’s where it’s at, Denver,” he said with a chuckle.

“Well, I like a nice ass. And that’s top of the line. Look how it cups just below the panty line.” Then the sound of air hissing through teeth. “Damn.”

“First time you been close to one of those?” Jericho asked with a chuckle.

“Shut it.”

Then I blinked my eyes open and realized what I was nuzzling against that was so warm and solid.

Austin.

He was on his back, arms spread out, and I was covering him like a tablecloth at Thanksgiving. My right leg was hooked around his hip, and my body fit snugly against his right side.

I lifted my head and saw that my red hipsters were a little too close to his black jockeys. Not only that, but we had an audience. Denver and Jericho were standing at the door admiring the view and watching us like a double feature.

“Get out!” I shouted so loud Austin flew up and nearly flung me off the bed. His arm snaked around my waist just in time and pulled me onto his lap.

So there I was, bent over Austin’s legs like a bad girl about to get spanked.

Chuckles from across the room were cut short when Austin spoke. He didn’t yell like I had, but it was contained, controlled, and quiet. “Get the fuck out.”

The door closed.

I scrambled to get away and yanked the comforter over my legs.

Austin got out of bed and slowly hitched up his jeans, yawning hard and ending it with a growl. I could still smell him all over me.

“Why didn’t you wake me up?” I complained.

He cleared his throat and combed his fingers through his hair a few times. It was messy and nice all at once. I admired the medallion he wore around his neck that dangled when he bent over to pick up his shirt. “Because I was busy sleeping?”

His indifference only made me look desperate, and it felt like we were right back where we started. My old feelings toward him needed to end. I was tired of chasing a shadow of my past. Time had changed both of us, and I didn’t have much of a heart left to give to a man who didn’t want it.

I leapt off the bed and stepped into my jeans, yanking them over my hips angrily. Didn’t even care if he was watching me. I tucked my bra into my back pocket—straps hanging out and all.

Austin circled around the bed and blocked my exit. “Where you going?”

“Home. Remember?”

“Lexi…”

“Don’t do that. You promised you would take me home.”

“Why are you mad?” He still sounded sleepy and the fact he wasn’t wearing a shirt wasn’t helping any. Not when I could see his defined abs, and then one of his pecs twitched.

Damn. It wasn’t fair that after all these years, Austin still looked as hot as he ever did, while I just looked like the same old Lexi. I’d filled out a little more as I used to be a beanpole with long legs in high school, but some men just got better with age.

I pulled on the doorknob. “I’m not mad. I just don’t like being controlled.”

His body language altered and I could almost feel the heat licking off him. “Is that what Beckett did?”

“No, no. You’re taking it all out of context. Don’t go beating up any more of my old boyfriends, okay? You’re not my brother. That’s what Wes should have been doing.”

Oh, God, I was going to cry again. When my bottom lip quivered, I quickly looked away.

Without warning, Austin yanked me into his arms. I fought against him but he held on tight. “I’m sorry I couldn’t save him,” he whispered in a broken voice.

My breath hitched as the apology summoned painful memories of the night they found Wes’s body. Austin was over that night and lost it, slamming his fist into the wall. All I could hear were my mom’s screams as I stood catatonic in the middle of the living room while the trooper delivered the news to my dad. Then Austin had tried to hold me and I broke free and fled.

I couldn’t do this here, so I opened the door and pushed him away.

Denver was lying on the sofa in a pair of sweats with a bowl of cereal on his chest while Jericho sat at the bar on the right, smoking a cigarette.

“Do either of you have a car?” I asked hopefully. “I need a lift.”

Jericho slid off the barstool, patted out the butt of his smoke, and flicked his eyes at Austin. “Come with me, honey. I’ll take you where you need to go.”

“She’s not leaving.” Austin’s voice made the hairs on my neck stand up.

“Do you want to go with me?” Jericho asked, his voice sincere. He walked up and I suddenly felt sandwiched between the Cole brothers.

“Yes.”

He looked up at Austin. “Free will, brother. You know it and I know it. She ain’t your bitch, so you—”

That was it.

Austin swung a hard fist right over my head and it cracked against Jericho’s face. Jericho spun around and hit the floor. Shocked, I stumbled forward and turned around. Austin glared at Jericho so hard he could have torched him with the fire in his eyes.

“Do not call Lexi a bitch, are we clear? Let that be the golden rule of this motherfucking pack. Spread the word.”

And just like that, Austin Cole stood up for me. Not because of pride, male territorial instinct, family obligation, or even jealousy. But because it was something that mattered… to me.

Austin kept his word and drove me home to my apartment. We had a brief argument in the car because he’d left Jericho bleeding on the floor without so much as an apology. He reassured me a Shifter heals when they shift back and forth from their animal to human form soon after injury, but Jericho was too proud and he would probably wear that shiner. I didn’t get the guy thing, and I especially didn’t understand the dynamic between brothers. My brother had never punched me for calling someone a name.

Naya must have heard me tromping up the stairs and swung open her door. Cotton balls were stuffed between her cherry-red toenails.

“Why is your bra hanging out of your pants?” She snatched it and dangled it in front of my face.

I yanked it away and she widened her gossip-loving grin.

“Your hair isn’t brushed, either!” she said excitedly. “Who were you with? I want all the juicy details.”

“Not now, Naya.” I fumbled with my keys.

“Someone was looking for you.”

My back straightened and I curved around, watching her blow on her fingernails.

“Who?”

“That cop from the other night. Are you in some kind of trouble? This time it wasn’t about the neighbor downstairs.”

“Uh…” My mind went blank. Maybe Beckett was trying to get me in trouble. I bent over the railing to see if my car had been stolen, but it was still there. “I don’t know. That’s weird. Are you sure it wasn’t about the neighbor? I’m not going to the station to file a complaint, if that’s what he wants.”

She hobbled toward her door, walking on her heels so her pedicure wouldn’t be ruined. “He’s either gay, has a thing for you, or you’re in trouble. But the man wanted nothing to do with me.”

“Did you tell him anything?”

Personal stuff is what I meant. I didn’t know who this guy was and the last thing I wanted to worry about was him tracking me down at work. Of course, he was a cop, and I’m sure he could have figured it out.

“Nope. You know me better than that. He asked where you might be staying and that was a stop sign for