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Lev
When I sit down at the table, Jessica is gone. Kingston’s plate is empty, his chair pushed back, and his belly distended. My brother eyes me coolly, as if he knows my dick was just buried in his girlfriend’s tight little ass. If that were true though, he wouldn’t be sitting at the table. He’d be trying to kill me. “Where the hell have you been, and where’s Scout?”
“I went to smoke a joint, and Scout went home.” I spear the roast beef on my plate and eat it without bothering to cut it. “Cramps—you must have fucked the shit out of her, brother.”
His eyes narrow. “Don’t be a dick. I know that’s hard for you, but that’s my girlfriend you’re talking about.”
I grin. “Yeah, I got that. You tell me every five goddamn minutes.”
He shrugs. “Just making sure you don’t forget, brother.”
King clears his throat. “I sense a ... thing happening here, and I don’t do ... things.”
“There’s no thing,” I say to King, taking another bite of my food.
“Oh, there’s a thing,” Nav says, and I roll my eyes.
King wipes his mouth on his napkin and folds the cloth neatly beside his plate. He stands. “Well, thanks for dinner, but my mom’s probably wondering where—”
“You spending the night here, or at River’s?” I ask, because we all know he’s not going home. If it were up to King, he’d never go home again. His mom’s a white-trash junkie and his dad is in jail—when he’s not beating the shit out of women and children that is.
“You don’t need to look out for me,” King whispers glancing at the table still laden with food.
“I know. But your room’s always here.” So long as Dad’s precious conservative voters don’t find out there’s a black man living in our house.
“I was ... gonna go by Blythe’s.”
I cock my head and smile. “You sly fucking dog.”
He shakes his. “Nah. It ain’t even like that.”
“Bullshit.”
“Listen, I’mma let you two do your thing. I’ll crash at River’s tonight.”
“Door’s always open, man.”
“Thanks brother.” He reaches out for a fist bump and then disappears down the hall, leaving me alone with my twin.
I meet Nav’s cool, green gaze across the table. “Let’s hear it then.”
“What did you say to Scout?”
“I’ve said many things to Scout. You’ll have to be more specific.” I spear my asparagus and chew, giving him my “bored now” face.
“I know you talked to her during dinner. You can’t help yourself. What did you say to her?”
“I congratulated her on finally giving it up.”
“You’re an asshole.” He gets to his feet and stalks toward the dining room entrance, but he turns and doubles back. “You think I haven’t seen the way you look at her?”
“And how do I look at her?”
“Like she’s yours, and I’m just borrowing her for a time.”
Because she is mine. “You’re delusional.” I toss my fork onto my plate, it clangs against the fine china, resonating throughout the room.
“Am I?”
I push to my feet and stare him in the eye. We’re nose to nose, toe to toe, and ego to ego, and it just so happens that mine is bigger. “Perhaps you’re afraid now that you’ve finally shown her how lousy a lay you are, she’ll come looking for someone else to really get her off.”
His eyes widen. He has no idea I watched. He has no idea his girlfriend locked eyes with me—thought of me—as she came, but his clenched teeth and wild-eyed gaze tells me I’ve struck a nerve.
Nav fists his hand in my shirt and pulls back his fist. Before he can let it fly, I sneer. “You look so much like dear old dad right now, it’s uncanny.”
His throat bobs as he swallows and shoves me against the table. “You’re not even worth it.”
“You couldn’t take me even if you wanted to. Face it, little brother—you don’t hate me because you think I’m a threat to your relationship with Scout. You hate me because you feel guilty every time you see my face.”
“What the hell do I have to feel guilty about?”
“Think about it.” I shove him back and walk away. “It shouldn’t take long for you to figure it out.”
“You stay the hell away from Scout.”