Garden of Sins

Caden’s jeans are on the floor next to them and Alayna’s hair covers his face. He usually hates that, but with her, he doesn’t mind.

I know one hundred percent that my brother is awake because he never sleeps so soundly that he wouldn’t hear someone in the room. As I grab a bottle of water from the fridge, I hear him.

“Morning, bro.”

“Whatever.” It sounds like a curse. I shouldn’t be spoken to in the morning. Never. Unless you want to die. Not even if I’m a little mellow right now.

Caden carefully sits up. It’s as if the devil is rising from his grave, as I am amused to discover. He glances down at Alayna for a moment. She turns on her back and makes herself even wider. He smiles, really smiles, as he looks at her face. Shit. This is creepy, I have never seen him smile at a woman like this. It gives me a warm feeling in my stomach because I abruptly realize that she is the one for him.

Fuck.

Can it be any more twisted? Ironically, one we played the game with. His game. I hope it doesn’t come back to bite him in the ass.

He gently brushes a strand of hair from her face as if he has forgotten I was here. Then he looks at me a bit frightened and I stand there staring back just as frightened because honestly, I have never seen my brother this way.

“Fuck, bro,” I say in surprise and he shrugs.

“She’s something special.” He jumps over the backrest and walks up to me. He takes my water and drinks it himself.

Only now do I notice that his nose is bluish on one side. Fuck, what is that?

“Rough night?” I ask because our paths split up around three o’clock.

Caden sets the bottle down and gives me a meaningful look. “Boss was a little pissed, Carter.”

“Fuck!” I reply. “What happened?” Although, I have a good idea.

“Oh, you apparently insulted the mother of a bad Marino Mafia dude and they believed I was you when I arrived at XX yesterday, but it’s okay, it’s over now.”

I sometimes forget that I really love my brother and that he’s willing to do so much for me and those he truly loves without asking for anything in return or thinking about it. Just as fucked up and vicious as he can be, he is just as good, but he only lets a few see it.

“Thanks,” I mutter reluctantly because he took the blows without saying that it was me, not him.

Caden messes up my hair — I hate that. “Shut up, bro.” We laugh a bit and are both visibly happy that the tension has vanished when someone clears their throat. It’s Alayna.

We both look at her. She sits there like an owl with disheveled hair and wide eyes because she has never seen us so relaxed and emotional before. That is our bro thing and it is only between bros.

“I’m going to brush my teeth,” she mumbles, perplexed, and gets up. I have to be careful not to check out her ass. I’m not allowed to do that anymore. Now she is officially off-limits to me because I say so, not because Caden says so.

Speaking of asses... I am an ass.

“Hey,” I say seriously to Caden.

He glances away from Alayna’s ass and towards me. “Oooh, it’s the Melissa look. What’s going on?”

“She’s here with me and I’m going to bring her upstairs for breakfast. Can you keep it together?”

He raises his hands defensively. “I don’t know, bro. Seeing her messes with my mind. Just keep an eye on her.” He winks at me and I snort.

Oh, man, he makes it so hard to love him. Why can’t he just say yes, okay?

“Fine,” I grumble, pissed off, and march into the garage with the bottle he almost emptied. Now I have to prepare Melissa to face the demon and for that, I should first push into her from behind. Deep.