Perfect Together by Kristen Ashley

So he’d have to deal with that himself.

Somehow.

He pulled away, but Remy didn’t let him go too far, keeping his hand at Sah’s neck.

“Best son a man could ask for,” Remy whispered.

“I bet you were better.”

Remy’s lips thinned, and Sabre decided right then he needed to rein in the Gastineau/Byrne hothead they both gave him and learn when to keep his mouth shut.

“I just hate that was your life, Dad.”

“I got that, Sah. But none of what happened to me was near as bad as telling you all about it. Now it’s over. We’re gonna have tacos. We’re going to deal with what happens in New Orleans as a family. And when we come back, I’ll need to figure out a way to talk your mother into maintaining two houses. Because she’s never giving up that bathroom, closet or kitchen, and no way I’m giving up my wine and poker rooms. So we’re gonna have to be like Scottish royalty and spend summers in one house then go down the street a mile and spend winters in another.”

That was the first time in hours Sabre laughed.

Better, his dad laughed with him.





“Are you fucking kidding me?” Yves nearly shouted.

“Baby, calm down,” Theo muttered.

Tacos were consumed. Mom and Manon had gone home. His dad had gone to bed. Yves had stayed and asked Theo over.

Now they were in Sabre’s room, which had its own full bath and a little space off it that had a wild, curved couch, a space-age curved chair and a seventy-inch flat screen.

Theo and Yves were sprawled on the couch, proving it was quality, since their combined bulk meant no couch could be seen and the thing hadn’t collapsed.

Sah was in the space-age chair.

They all had beers, and since Remy knew they were drinking, he’d given Theo a look and said, “You stay if you’ve had too much, but you sleep on the couch.”

Like either of those two would go there with Dad close by. They’d gone at each other when they got drunk when they were down in Tucson with Sah, and they were loud. And since they were the ones being loud, they had to know they were.

Now, he had to deal with Yves, who was usually so laidback, if he didn’t look like Dad and had come straight out of Mom, Sah would wonder if he was switched at birth.

But he’d forgotten that, if Yves got pissed, hell was paid.

“No, I’m not, and keep quiet, dude. Serious,” Sabre hissed. “We’re far from Dad, but he’s got dad hearing and you know it.”

Yves’s voice was lower when he asked, “She said Dad told her to abort a kid?”

“That and all the rest I told you, yeah,” Sabre confirmed. “Obviously, with Grandma dying, I gotta talk to Bill because I can’t tell Dad.”

“You can’t talk to Bill because he’d totally tell Dad,” Yves refuted.

“Not if I tell him Dad’s dealing with his mom dying,” Sabre returned.

“He will, Sah. Because she’s watching this house and that shit is creepy AF,” Yves shot back. “But her somehow figuring out your schedule and driving all the way down to Tucson to be outside your class?”

“Whole new level,” Theo chimed in.

“Bill will freak, and then Bill will tell Dad, and then Bill will be all over it,” Yves said.

“Okay then, until we get back from New Orleans, we have to keep Mom on radar,” Sabre declared.

“Word,” Theo agreed.

“I’ll keep track of Manon just in case Myrna loses another screw, but Dad can take care of himself. That woman can’t get near Mom. First, because she’s loopy as all fuck. But second, Dad would lose his mind if Myrna started fucking with Mom,” Sabre finished laying it out.

“I’ll find time to swing by here when you’re with your mom,” Theo offered, looking at Yves. “See if she’s in her car watching. Take pictures of her. Note the time. Shit like that, which the cops will need if Coach eventually has to take it to them.”

“Thanks, babe, you’re awesome,” Yves said to Theo.

“If my dad had a creeper, you’d do the same for me,” Theo replied.

“Count on it,” Yves confirmed.

They gave each other looks that made Sah want to gag, and since they had the important shit sorted, he got up and said, “You two have fifteen minutes to feel each other up while I drag my feet and get us more beer. But I’m timing it, so you better do that too. Because I won’t make this offer again if I come back and see something I cannot unsee.”

Theo looked to Yves. “You have the best brother ever.”

Yves did not look to Theo.

He kept his eyes on Sabre and ordered, “Go get the beer.”

Sah shot his baby bro a grin.

Then he seriously dragged his feet getting them beer because he even more seriously did not want to see something he could not unsee.

Hell, he’d been to a party once where he’d caught Manon making out with some dude and it put him off chicks for at least a week.

Also because he was the best brother ever, he got into his phone game.

And gave them twenty minutes.





CHAPTER 16





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Remy





Sunday evening, Remy sat at his piano playing “Clair de lune” while Wyn sat curled into the corner of his couch, reading a book.