Page 4 of Dirty Deadly & Mine
I chuckle. “What makes you think I want to share a fucking bed with you?”
“I’ve seen the way you check me out.” Ronnie pops his head between the front seats, jutting his chin up, proud as fucking punch.
“Bro, he’s not checkingyouout. He’s checkingmeout.” Jude butts in as he starts the car, the V8 engine rumbling to life.
“You two check yourselves out enough for everyone. No need for me to bother.” I smirk and Jude nods.
“Facts.”
This time when I smile, it feels so close to real, my fucking cheeks begin to hurt.
Fuck, I’ve missed these guys.
I had a few phone calls with them while I was locked up, but I asked them not to visit. Their pained expressions were enough to witness during my court dates. I didn’t want to see their pity while I was in that fucking place.
I needed to be strong, and seeing their ugly mugs would just break down my walls, and then… I’d become a target.
They smell weakness inside Wandsworth. Something I couldn’t risk.
“So, where are you taking me then? I can’t go back to my mum’s. She’s still with that fucking twat who has a restraining order against me.” I sigh, not feeling the least bit remorseful about putting him in the hospital with my fists.
He’s not just my mum’s fella, but he’s her dealer and he’s using her for somewhere to live and run his business from, selling the shit she’s addicted to. He’s the reason I’ve been locked up for the last two years. He’s also the reason I spent my days in prison lifting weights and honing the fighting skills I had to learn from a young age, because when he least expects it, I’m going to fucking remove him from my mum’s life for good.
“We aren’t taking you back toyourmum’s.” Ronan nudges my shoulder from behind. “We’re taking you back toourmum’s.”
Their mum’s?
Lily.
Fuck. My heart races at the thought of Lily Bennett.
Jude and Ronnie’s mum is one of the most kind-hearted people I know. She’s the epitome of what a good mum is, and would do anything for her sons, and anything for their friends, so I shouldn’t be surprised the twins are taking me to the house they grew up in.
The house I practically grew up in.
The house where the woman I dream about every fucking time I fall asleep lives.
“You asked her if I could crash there for a bit?” I ask, surprised.
Lily and her sons have done more for me than anyone else I know, and here they are, still helping me out.
The thought both excites me and makes me feel like a pathetic charity case. I hate that I’m nothing but an ex-con with no fucking future in sight. College has never been an option for me. I’ve never been academic, more artsy than anything, but fuck, I hate that I have nothing to bring to the table. Nothing to show my worth to anyone.
However, being under the same roof as Lily is fucking perfect. In fact, it couldn’t bemoreperfect.
Me, alone with her, without the twins to get in the way, and no more Mr Bennett, thanks to his infidelities and the swift divorce Lily served him with a couple of years ago.
Would my mates kill me if they knew it was their mum on my mind every time I jerked off?
Probably.
But what they don’t know won’t hurt them, and having the opportunity to get closer to Lily is exactly what I need. I’ll figure out a way to pay her back for her hospitality and prove that I’m not the worthless waste of space my mum says I am.
“Of course we asked our mum. You didn’t think we’d leave you homeless, did you?” Ronan asks, and Jude adds.
“And you aren’t just crashing at ours. You’re moving in.” Jude shoots me a grin as he steers us out onto the main road, heading north. “We went home last night and moved all of Ronnie’s junk into my bedroom, so you can call his room yours now.”
“Hey!” Ronnie snaps, punching his twin in the shoulder from behind, and Jude swerves on the road. “My stuff ain’t junk.”
