Page 71 of Their Wicked Ways
“Hell yeah.” He chuckled. “You don’t grow up with seven brothers and not be competitive.”
“You have seven brothers?”
I knew he was one of ten kids, but he’d only really talked about one of his sisters.
He pulled off his hard hat and raked one hand through his messy hair. “There’s me, then Madelyn, then six boys, and the two youngest are boy/girl twins. Kyrie is actually the youngest, but everyone treats Wren like she’s the baby of the family after so many boys. That makes two girls and eight boys. For now.”
“For now?” Ez shot me a look. “Ten kids isn’t enough?”
He pulled his work gloves out of his back pocket and shook them out. “Not for my parents. They’ll keep having them untilthey can’t anymore. They like having babies, but don’t really like having kids.”
Ez and I glanced at each other, then back at Jett. Would he tell us more?
“It’s been the same song and dance since I was little. They put all their effort into the baby and made Maddie and me take care of everyone else. As soon as Mom got pregnant again, she’d pass the youngest off to us, and their lives would revolve around the new baby or babies. Of course they never tapped any of the other boys to do parent duty. Just me because I’m the oldest.” His tone was bitter. “Otherwise it would have been all up to Maddie to raise them.”
“That’s a lot to deal with,” I said, hoping that was a neutral enough answer to not make him clam up.
“It wasn’t fun.” He shrugged and looked around the room, his entire demeanor agitated.
“Do you want to hang out with us for a bit?” Ez asked.
My breath caught as Jett swung his gaze to Ez, then me, his expression confused. “Really?”
“Yeah. We’re not doing anything exciting or anything, just going home to chill. But you’re more than welcome to come with us so you have some company. Might help keep you from doomscrolling.”
He looked between us again. “Yeah, okay.” He chewed on the corner of his lip. “Thanks.”
Ez told Jett our address, and we waited as he put it in his GPS. When we were all set, we did a final check of the site and then headed to our cars.
We were just saying goodbye to the other guys when the weather turned and sheets of rain started pelting us. Hurriedly, we got into our car to avoid getting soaked.
“Was that okay?” Ez asked, starting the engine. “Inviting him over?”
I settled in my seat. “Yeah. Of course. I just hope he actually shows. He’s been so skittish this week.”
“Yeah.” Ez put the car in gear and pulled out of our makeshift parking space. “Here’s hoping.”
Jett was already waiting on our porch when we pulled into the driveway.
“Hey,” he greeted as we hurried toward him, trying to avoid the rain. “Is it okay that I parked on the street?”
“It’s fine,” I said. “They only restrict overnight parking around here.”
Jett waited as Ez unlocked our door. “This is a nice house.”
“It is.” Ez pushed the door open and waved him inside. “But we only rent the main floor. The guy who lives in the basement is a stoner, so the vents always smell like weed. And the girls who rent the top floor like to wear heels in the house and blast their music at all hours.”
“Is it at least good music?” Jett looked around the apartment curiously.
The house was an old Victorian-style mansion that had been split into apartments. I loved the old-world feel and the classic architecture, and we really loved the price.
I closed the door behind us. “It’s not our type of music.”
He smiled and bent to undo his boots. “That’s a polite way of saying no.”
Ez chuckled. “Exactly.”
When our boots were off, we kind of stood there for a few seconds.