Sleeping With the Enemy

Chapter One

When neither of them move, I manage to drag myself up and over to Eli. I shake his shoulders roughly. "Hey, wake up, man."

He stirs a bit, but only long enough to turn his head to the other side and jump right back into snoring. "Ten more minutes."

"No, now." I growl. I've got enough of my own shit to deal with today.

Eli doesn't respond and scoots farther away from me. Fine. If that's how he wants this to go... I grab a glass of water from the bar—at least I think it's water—and pour it over his head.

"Fuck, Brandon!" he shoots up, swinging out at me with a clenched fist. I smirk, managing to barely dodge out of his reach. "You're an asshole. You know that?"

"And you're late. Dad is going to murder all of us if you don't get her your ass back to school."

I'm only halfway kidding. When your father is a notoriously intense mafia Don, there's always a little bit of fear there just because you know what he's capable of. But aside from typical punishment, he's never laid a hand on any of us. That's fairly unusual in the crime world, but our dad has a reputation for being one of the more morally sound leaders, fair and impartial to a fault.

Before any of us could officially join the organization, he insisted that we get our college degrees. Instead of forcing his way of life, he gave us all a choice. Eli is seven years younger than me, and he was more removed from things than either Alex or me. When given the choice, he wanted something different, and my father was determined to give it to him.

For Alex and me, the choice was easy. We'd been treating our entire lives for this and jumped right into action the second that we could.

For me, that opportunity came when I was twenty years old. My father had a brief stint in jail, and with his absence, responsibility fell to me. I was in command of men three times my age, and I didn't have two stones to rub together in terms of experience. It was a rocky start, but soon, it came naturally, and I never looked back. Well, maybe sometimes. Maybe at night when I've had a little too much to drink and I'm alone and I start thinking about the way things were. The way things should have been. The way things would have been if Sadie stayed.

Jesus Christ. Today is going downhill quickly. The days always do when they start with thoughts of her. As usual, my mind starts to wonder where she is, and how she's doing. Technically, I know where she is, but I quickly learned that keeping tabs on her only hurt me worse once she was gone. I'll always make sure she's safe, but I don't need to know the ins and outs of her life and Denver. I don't need to know if she's happy. I don't need to know how she spends her time. I especially don't need to know if she's seeing someone.

We both made choices the night she left. Most of the time, I can convince myself I made the right one.

"Why is everyone yelling?" Alex moans, covering his face with his hands. He lies motionless on the ground.

"Nobody is yelling, moron. It's called a hangover." Eli chuckles to himself, shaking his head.

Alex lets out a sharp laugh, propping himself up. "Get a load of this guy, Brandon. He goes away to college and comes home thinking he's the only one who's ever been drunk before."

Normally, I'm not one to pass up a chance to banter with my brothers, but today isn't the day. "We can continue this conversation later. You and I have to get to the warehouse."

"Jesus." Alex hisses as he rubs his forehead. "Do you think Dad would buy that we're out on a job? At least long enough for me to get a shower? I feel like I slept in piss."

"That's because you probably did." All three of our necks snap in the direction of the front door, right as my dad saunters in. As old as I get, I don't think I'll ever outgrow the fear of my father's wrath. "What the hell is going on?"