Trust Me(18)

"We weren't free," I said quietly, turning away to toe at a mat with my foot. I hated this part. Bash pissed, I could handle. Bash feeling sad and guilty sucked balls.

"What do you mean? We were. I told you, I got a call yesterday. We’ve got this fight lined up now. It’s got a huge purse and he said we could pay him once..." He trailed off and his jaw went slack as comprehension dawned. "You did that. You went to Mickey and had him get me a fight to replace the Spada match. And in return, he got you as his bitch."

That was it. After a sleepless week and feeling like total shit for backing Kayla into a corner, I’d run out of patience. I reeled on him, sick to death of it all and happy to let fury take the wheel. "What the fuck do you want from me, Bash? I did what I tho-”

"You guys have to stop fighting," Olivia said softly from her perch on the stairs leading from the apartment to the gym. I hadn't heard her come in and apparently I wasn't the only one.

Bash turned to face her. "Babe, this is between me and my brother."

"I live here too now, and I love all three of you so it's not just about you." She stood and made her way down the stairs to stand in front of us, a thunderous frown on her face. "Boo frigging hoo. You McDaniels boys are always crying and whining at each other over one thing or another. Oh, Bash gave up everything for me so I wouldn't lose the gym. Or oh, Matty is such a jerk, he risked his life to borrow money from a mobster to bail me out of jail. I've been around long enough that you can't fool me. Every fight you have boils down to the same thing. You guys all love each other too damn much. It must be terrible. Seriously. You should stop talking to each other now and go in separate rooms to cry about it."

I stared at her like she'd sprouted a third eye. What had happened to sweet, easy-going Olivia? Maybe she'd been hanging around with Kayla behind my back or something. The kicker of it was, she was right.

Bash wasn't quite so ready to forgive and forget, though. "So you're telling me this fight I have is going to cost you a year of your life?"

“That's a bit of an exaggeration," I said, and shoved my hands in my pockets. "It's not like I work for him 24/7 but yeah, his people are managing me and I have to log three fights minimum, at his discretion before the year's end. In return, I did get him to lock up another bout for you, but he also forgave the rest of the cash I owed him. So it wasn't just about you."

"Since you borrowed the money to get me out of jail, I'd beg to differ."

"Look," Olivia hissed, jamming her hands on her hips and glaring at us all. "You're picking nits. At the end of the day, you've all done stupid things to make sure your brothers were taken care of. Can't you accept that as a deeply respectable, if irritating, part of your family dynamic and move on? What's done is done. Stop with the secrets from this point forward and let's make a pact to talk everything over as a family."

"Sure thing, Wendy Darling," Reid muttered under his breath.

"What did you call me?" Olivia snarled, wheeling around to shoot him the evil eye.

I kept my mouth shut and my head down. We'd obviously stumbled on a hot button issue for her and she was on a roll.

"Wendy Darling. From Peter Pan. She was always bitching at- erm, lecturing the Lost Boys," Reid said, both hands held up in front of him. “Just a joke.”

"Oh." She cocked her head to the side and seemed to think that over before nodding. "I like that." She beamed at Reid approvingly before treating Bash and me to one last scathing glare. "The two of you sit down and hash this out until it's squashed. And don't come upstairs for dinner until you do."

I never thought I'd like having a woman in the house, but Olivia had been with us for all of one day so far, and already I was getting used to it. That she'd taken my side tonight didn't hurt, although Bash looked pretty irritated about it.

She stalked up the stairs and closed the apartment door behind her with a decisive click, leaving me and my brothers staring at each other.

"So, what now?" Reid asked, dropping onto one of the stools behind the counter.

"Now we either talk it out or we pretend we're not mad at each other until we aren't anymore," Bash grumbled, shaking his head at me. "The sooner we pick one, the sooner we get to have chicken pot pie."

Reid nodded, looking as pious as a priest as he stepped in and yanked us both toward him with an arm around our shoulders. "I forgive you both. Come on now, let’s hug it out."

He squeezed us both and, naturally, we tried to fight him off, but by the end of it, even Bash was smiling grudgingly.

“Now if you two fuckwads are done,” Reid patted his flat stomach and pointed up the stairs. “I'm starving."