Room for You (Cranberry Inn, #1)

“We’re gonna head to the basement and watch some baseball. You guys do whatever you want.” Andy finally broke the silence.

“Ok, Andrew.” She slid over and kissed him on the cheek, almost making me hurl in the process.

Kendall walked over and wrapped her arms around me, pulling me into a hug. I leaned down and embraced her back as loosely as I could. She smelled good. Pulling back, she looked up at me from under long, fake lashes, a suggestive little grin playing on her lips. For a moment I wondered if I could lose myself in her, at least for one night. Lord knows I needed a distraction.

“I need to talk to you, but I want us to be alone. Too many people here,” she purred.

“Come on, Murphy,” Viper called as they headed out of the kitchen.

“I’ll catch you later, okay?” I pulled away as Kendall pouted.



“Thanks, bro.” I patted his back as I caught up to the rest of them.

“Dude, she almost had you. The claws were out, she just hadn’t implanted them yet,” he joked.

We migrated downstairs to Andy’s theater room and claimed our couches for the evening while Andy put the Twins/Cubs game on the big screen and passed cigars out to everyone. Before I got too comfortable, I wanted a drink. A strong one.

“I’ll be right back, anyone want anything?”

Viper and Big Mike didn’t turn around, they just held their beers up. Andy shook his head.

I walked across the basement to the bar and grabbed a glass out of the cabinet before heading into their enormous wine room with the blast chiller inside. If I was gonna drink tonight, might as well go big, right? I grabbed the tequila out of the fridge and turned to leave, freezing when I heard Kendall’s voice in the hall. I backed up against the wine rack, not wanting to be seen.

“You didn’t tell me Brody was gonna be here,” she whispered.

“I had no idea, I didn’t even know Andrew was having people over,” Blaire defended herself. “We were supposed to be on a plane right now, remember?”

“He looks sad.”

“Yeah, Andrew said he’s been sulking for a couple weeks.”

“About that girl?”

I caught Blaire’s reflection in the glass. She was leaned up against the wall, her arms folded over her chest.

Shit, they aren’t moving. I’m trapped.

“Kacie.”

Hearing Kacie’s name come out of Blaire’s mouth annoyed me, but I didn’t want to go out there and get stuck talking to Kendall again.

“He liked her that much?” Kendall asked.

“Who the fuck cares?” Blaire laughed.

“Shhh.”

“Oh, they can’t hear us, they’re in the theater room with the door shut. Really though, I could care less who the fuck he likes or how much. That boy needs to be concentrating on hockey and nothing else. I know that makes me a bitch, but so be it. The minute Andrew told me how crazy he was getting about her, I had to do something.” She laughed softly. “She was already so insecure, it wasn’t even hard to chase her off. I knew the minute I said summer fling, that was it, the seed was planted. Fucking priceless.”



I couldn’t fucking believe what I was hearing. When did Blaire talk to her again? Oh my God … the charity dinner. That’s why Kacie has been so weird with me ever since. Fuck, how could I have been so stupid not to figure this out sooner?

My blood was boiling, but I didn’t move an inch, I had to hear what else was said in that bathroom.

“You were behind her, did you see her face when I walked in?” Kendall giggled. “Classic.”

Holy shit, Kendall was in that bathroom too?

“No, but I wish I could have, I bet she almost shit her pants.” Blaire could hardly talk because she was laughing so hard. “Tough shit. Little Mommy can go find a meal ticket somewhere else. Maybe she’ll scoop up a nice baseball boy this time.”

“Maybe I’ll snag him while he’s on the rebound,” Kendall snickered.

“Yuck. I don’t know why the hell you want him, Kendall, seriously. You can do so much better.” Blaire sounded annoyed. “You two did your disgusting thing, he wasn’t exactly beating down your door. Move on. Besides, didn’t you just hear me? He needs to worry about blocking goals, nothing else.”

I’d heard enough.

I stomped out of the wine cellar, and both of their mouths hit the floor when they saw me.

I glared at Blaire, my chest heaving in anger. “You chased her away! It wasn’t me, it was you, you fucking cunt!”

Blaire didn’t argue; she stood there, shell-shocked. She knew she was busted.

“Brody…”

“Shut it, Kendall…” I snapped at her. “I expected this behavior out of Blaire, but you too?”

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