Always Crew by Tijan
BREN
Aspen calling.
I was still frowning about my dad’s text when I answered. “Hey.”
“Bren! Hi!”
I eased back. Aspen’s voice hitched at the end, squeaking. She was nervous.
“What’s up?”
“Um. So.” She let out a breath. “I know Blaise asked you to kinda watch over me tomorrow night, but I’m actually calling about something else.”
“Okay?”
She was silent.
I waited.
Another beat.
I had to smile. For how in your face her boyfriend was, I forgot how not in your face his girlfriend was. “Hey, just so you know.”
“Yeah?” She inhaled into the phone.
“I would’ve hung out with you tomorrow night anyway. Your guy didn’t have to ask me to do that.”
“I know.” A sigh. “But it’s nice to hear. But, okay. Here we go. Um, I was thinking that since Blaise doesn’t have a game tonight, and he just texted that Jordan and Zellman both weren’t in class so … would you and Cross be interested in a double date? With us, I mean. Tonight.” She rushed on, not letting me answer, “I mean. You know. It doesn’t have to be anything big or a lengthy time investment. Or, it can be short. We don’t even need to talk. We can do dinner and a movie. Yeah. Maybe a drive-thru so Cross and Blaise don’t have to talk, then a movie.”
I bit my lip to keep from laughing. “I think both will endure a date for us.”
She sighed again. “You don’t know Blaise—” She cut herself off. “Wait! You do. You totally know him, but yeah. Let’s do that angle. If I tell him it’s important to me, he’ll watch himself.”
Which was something I wasn’t surprised about.
Aspen was the giant pinkie finger and Blaise was wrapped around it. Totally and completely.
“We can do dinner and a movie, if you’d like?”
“I would.”
We decided on a venue and a time, and then I delivered the news.
Cross’s response was, “What?!”
I laughed. This was going to be a fun night.
Aspen picked a diner that was off-campus and set a little off the normal path, meaning when we pulled up, the parking lot was half-empty. Cross parked the truck and just shook his head. “Why are we doing this?”
I laughed.
I’d been laughing most the day.
“Because Aspen called and it’s Aspen.”
He growled. “That doesn’t work for me. Why the fuck are we doing this?”
I grinned. “Because Aspen called and it’s—”
He threw open his door and stalked out.
I laughed, following. Meeting around at the front, Cross shook his head. “You owe me for this.” And his hand dropped to my ass, giving me a good squeeze.
My mouth dropped, but I felt a whole zing go through me. Yeah. Maybe I would owe him, and he relaxed, grinning. “You okay with that?”
I was just fine with that. A full fucking throb was starting in me, and now I was pissed we had to do dinner and a movie.
I hadn’t told him about the movie part yet.
“So.”
Aspen looked at me.
I looked back. “So.”
Cross and Blaise were glaring at each other.
The waitress had come and gone. We had our drinks. The orders were put in, now we waited. And we had ordered so quickly, because yeah, the silence. All the silence.
Aspen cleared her throat, picking up her drink. “So, um…Cross.”
He looked at her.
She swallowed, her head dipping. “How’s your sister?”
Immediately, the tension slipped into a different feel. Blaise settled back, a cocky smirk coming to his face and Cross’ face darkened, tightening. He nodded at his brother. “He hasn’t told you? From what I’ve heard, she’s talking more to him than me.”
Blaise grunted. “She’s your twin.”
“You got an opinion on my relationship with Taz?”
And, “When I get pulled into listening to her complain about how you’re still not taking her calls, yeah. I got an opinion,” was shot right back.
“Let’s hear it.”
“I’ve already told you. Stop ignoring your sister.”
“I’m not ignoring my sister.”
“You been to see her?”
Cross frowned. He glanced at me.
Blaise wasn’t done. “When’s the last time you talked to her? Talk-talked, like on the goddamn phone and longer than five minutes.”
Cross continued to frown.
Blaise leaned forward, the smirk gone and a scowl in its place. “Then educate me on how she and Race are doing. Oh. Wait. You can’t, because you don’t know.”
“The fuck you’re talking about?”
“Yeah. Maybe you should call your sister.”
His point was made. The mic was dropped and Blaise leaned back, that smirk coming back once more. But his eyes narrowed, and he was waiting.
Cross’ eyes narrowed right back.
The air was thick.
A shiver went down my spine.
I met Aspen’s gaze, hers was worried. I was just waiting.
With this tension, Cross was debating if he should jerk his brother over the table and throw down, once again, or move forward in a different manner.
When he drew in a breath, and his hand pressed hard into his leg, I knew he was fighting for control.
Damn.
That meant he was losing control.
I coughed and took over. My hand went to his, and I pressed my nails into the palm side of his hand, not enough to hurt, but enough to pull him out of whatever fighting mode he was fast going into, and it was my turn.
“Why are you such a jackass all the time?”
Aspen’s eyes bulged out. A shocked gargle rippled from her.
Blaise’s eyes slid, no joke, slid toward me. He looked like a cat preening for a new victim.
I had to smile because whether he was realizing it or not, I was off-limits. One, I was his brother’s girlfriend. Two, Aspen liked me. And three, I was also his girlfriend’s protector tomorrow night. Triple the protection.
I waited, enjoying this, and a second later, he made a frustrated growl. “Fucking A.”
I laughed.
The sound did it, cutting through the layers of packed air, and both brothers took in some of that oxygen, moving it through their lungs.
Aspen seemed to be panting, her eyes still wide and jerking from one side of the table to her boyfriend. Noticing, Blaise shot her a reassuring smile and his arm moved under the table. Then stopped and both shared a more tender look.
Aspen melted, and Blaise softened.
It was a miracle we were witnessing from where I was sitting.
At that time, the waitress brought out the appetizers, and as soon as she left, Cross said quietly, “I don’t know what Taz is saying to you, but she and I are good. We’ll always be good. We shared a womb together, and what issues we might have are between me and her. Not you. Whatever she’s saying, it’s not my relationship with her that she’s worried about.”
Blaise frowned, his eyebrows dipping down. “What are you saying?”
Cross waited a beat. Then, “I’m the brother who almost killed someone for her. You’re the brother she just met, and the one who is going to a different college than her. You’re the brother she was trying to establish a better connection with before he left from where she was, and you’re the brother who was dodging her most of the summer.”
Oh. Whoa.
I hadn’t thought of that, and glancing at him from under my eyelids, Cross hadn’t said anything about Taz calling him either.
Blaise looked at Aspen.
She tilted her head to the side, and I knew they were holding hands under the table. I could see from the arms moving toward each other.
Aspen murmured, “The nice thing about your sister is that she seems pretty forgiving.”
Blaise winced, closing his eyes.
I had to note this.
We were having a moment. Well, me because I was sitting here, but it was mostly Cross sharing, Cross pointing out something deeper, and Blaise not hiding his regret. He was showing it. Cross was silent, letting him have his moment, and Aspen was there, helping to sweep up the regret so he felt a little better, a little hopeful.
It was a nice moment.
It was a family moment.
Blaise dipped his head to Cross. “Thanks for that.”
My guy’s smile was there, but it was cool, as was his tone. “Good. Now tell me what’s going on with her and Race?”
And there, in our little diner, I felt another shiver sliding up my spine this time. There’d been random moments the two had joined forces, but neither wanted to. They’d been forced to. This time, not the same. Taz unknowingly had brought ’em together in a way, but I didn’t think she’d enjoy Blaise sharing what he shared. “He’s been flirting with another girl in his econ class.”
Yeah.
She really wouldn’t like that that was shared because Cross’ eyes instantly went flat and dangerous.
Blaise’s mirrored his, and I knew at some point in the future we’d be traveling to Grant West.
I enjoyed telling Cross about the movie after there was a fight over who got to pay. Blaise won because he slipped away and tracked our waitress down, through the kitchen, in the back, where she was on her break.
He got the check and he was already starting to gloat about it.
That’s when I told him.
“The night’s not done.”
Cross stopped and stiffened, his head jerking my way. “What?” he clipped out.
My cheeks were starting to hurt from all the grinning. I shouldn’t find this so entertaining by now, but I did. I couldn’t help it. We were past when the tension had been alarming between the two.
I nodded, biting my lip and stifling my laughter. “Yeah. We’re going to the movies now.”
“What?!”
Cross won the movie fight.
We got there first.
He picked the movie.
He paid for the four tickets.
He was the one who gloated through the whole showing.
From: Cross
To: Tazsters
Subject: wtf
How often do you talk to Blaise?
Stop telling him that you and I aren’t talking. That shit ain’t funny.
I’m still the best twin.
Love you a fucking ton.
What the hell is going on with Race? Not lying, T. I will come there with my crew and I will handle him. I trained with that guy. I know his weaknesses.
But for real, are you okay? You’ve not said anything about Race.
—always the better twin
From: Blaise DeVroe
To: Tazsters
Subject: sorry but also not really sorry
Heads up. Cross is pissed. I said something to him.
Blaise
From: Brenners
To: Tazsters
Subject: kinda worried
What is going on with you and Race? Is it the roommate thing?
Bren
From: Brenners
To: Race Ryerson
Subject: fair warning
I don’t know what you’re doing, but stop it. I mean it. If you don’t want to be with her, cut her loose. If you do, treat her right. Love her. Cherish her. Protect her. And fair warning, Cross is pissed. There might be a trip in the future.
Bren
