I gave him apointed look. “I know, butsome of these bitches are professionals, Aid. I mean, Dad’s a worldclass prick and everything, but he’s not wrong about some of thesewomen,” I reminded him.
“True,” heagreed, “but the twins have been dodging gold digging bitches since they were 14 years old, Mase.They know the score.”
“It’s those goddamndimples,” I chuckled.
Aiden laughed. “Yeah,it must be, because it can’t be their sunny personalities.”
Gabriel andMichael didn’t mean to be, but they were a deceitful duo.
People took one look atthem and made up all kinds of assumptions based on their looks andthe way they played off one another, but they were almost alwayswrong about the twins. People liked to believe that since they werethe youngest that they were spoiled and flighty.
They weren’t.
Gabeand Mike were sharp, assessingand analytical, and just when someone thought they were gettingover on them, the twins would show their teeth and the bite wasoften swift and brutal.
Especially,Michael’s bite.
I figuredImust just still be annoyedby my earlier encounter with Amber. Sometimes it felt like we werebeing attacked from all sides. If it wasn’t our mother’s neglect,it was our father’s abuse. If it wasn’t random guys trying to beour best friends, it was random bitches trying to trap us. If itwasn’t someone kissing our asses for future favors, it was someonehating us without even knowing us.
Someone alwayswanted something from us and the constant need to keep my guard upfor myself and my brothersbecame exhausting at times.
I needed mydegreeso I could ignore mymother and,finally,tell my fatherto go get fucked.
We each had atrust fund set up by our grandfather that ran into the millions,but we couldn’t access it until we each reached the age of 30. The theory behind the wait wasthat by the time we hit 30, we should be old enough to handle thatkind of money and not go off the rails and begin snorting ourweight in cocaine or lose all sense of morality with hookers andwhores.
And, Isuppose, I could have floatedaround until I had access to my money but, for better or worse, myfather didn’t raise lazy, entitled assholes. We weren’t scared ofhard work and we weren’t scared of carving out our own paths if wehad to. We were sincere in our want to keep the tradition ofBuchanan Industries alive and fruitful for the generations afterus, but not one of us would put a bullet through our brain if wecouldn’t be a part of the Buchanan Industries legacy.
My father hadsoughtto raise each of us tobe aggressive and ruthless; the poor fuck just didn’t realize howaggressive and ruthless we’d turn out to be.
“Need another beer?”Aiden asked.
“Yeah, but theway I’m feeling, I mightventure into the house later for some shots,” I answered. “I’mfeeling…off.”
Aidencocked his head at me, trying to readme, but I doubt he could get anything. Not that I was trying tomask anything from him; I just didn’t know what was bothering me. Icould just feel something in the air that carried a hintof…uncertainty.
“Okay. I’llbe right back,” he saidlooking concerned.
He returned a coupleof minutes later with beers in hand and some red head by his side.“I said I just wanted a beer,” I quipped, sarcastically.
“Mason meetJessica,”he said, ignoring mysarcasm.
I took my beerfrom Aiden’s outstretched handand nodded towards Jessica. “Hi, Jessica,” I greeted as cordiallyas I could manage.
Aiden smirked.“Jessica wanted to meet you,” he explained.
“Well, okay.It’s nice to meet you,Jessica.”
“Hi,Mason,” she tittered. “It’sjust…you’re the only Buchanan brother I haven’t metyet.”
I could feel aheadache forming behind my eyes. “Well, now you have,” I stated theobvious.
Shefidgeted when she realized I wasn’tgoing to say anything more. She cleared her throat and glanced atAiden, but when he did not try to fill the silence, she finallycaved. “Uh, okay. Well, it was nice to meet you. I think I’lljust…” she trailed off, then turned and headed back to thehouse.
“JesusChrist,” I muttered, rollingmy eyes.
Aiden justlaughed.
Thefucker.
