Home > Crazy Beautiful Love (The Martelli Brothers #1)(10)

Crazy Beautiful Love (The Martelli Brothers #1)(10)
Author: J.S. Cooper

***

As I walked through the front door, it felt like I had been away for years, even though it had only been a few hours. I surveyed the mess in the house, and laughed to myself at the sight. I could only imagine the shock on Maddie’s face if I had brought her here.

“Logan, what did you get?” My dad’s gruff voice called out to me, and I saw him sitting on the large, scruffy brown leather couch, with a beer in his hand.

“Toyota.”

“Highlander?”

“Corolla.”

“Good for resale.” He nodded and took a swig of beer. “We got worried. Why were you gone so long?”

“There was some drama on the pier, I had to wait it out.”

“No one saw you, though?” He looked up through small eyes. “I don’t need the police coming to harass me tonight.”

“No one saw.”

“Good.” He frowned as he drank the last of his beer and threw the can into the corner. “Go and get me another beer from the fridge.”

“Okay.” I walked to the kitchen quietly, not bothering to ask if he was sure he wanted another. I no longer cared how drunk and obnoxious he got; he wasn’t ever going to change.

“Hey.” I nodded at Vincent who was sitting at the table with a stack of books in front of him. “Wassup.”

“Trying to figure out these equations.” He sighed and slammed the book shut and jumped up. “Where have you been?”

“At the pier. It took longer than I thought it would.” I opened the fridge and grabbed a Bud Light. “Want one?” I lifted the can up to Vincent.

“Nah.” He stared at me. “You should have told me, I would have come.”

“I work best alone.” I shrugged.

“You need a lookout, you know that.” He sighed.

“You got an exam tomorrow.” I walked to the kitchen. “You need to focus.”

“It doesn’t matter, I’ll fail anyway.”

“Hold on.” I put my hand up, walked to the living room, threw the beer to my dad, who was staring at The Simpsons on TV and mumbling, and then I walked back to the kitchen. I looked around and resisted the urge to start shouting about the mess. The sink was full of dirty dishes, and there was food all over the counters and on the floor. “Where’s Jared?”

“Dunno.” Vincent sat back down and opened his book. I sat down at the table with him and studied his serious face. I wanted to tell him about my night. Not about the thrill of stealing the car; he knew what that was like already. I wanted to tell him about Maddie, and how she had lit my heart on fire, and how we had made sweet, hard, passionate love in the grass, and how I had thought I was going to explode from the sensations. I wanted to tell him how sweet the sound of Maddie screaming out my name had been. But I kept my mouth shut.

“You okay, Logan?” Vincent looked at me in concern, his blue eyes worried. He ran a hand through his spiky black hair and he leaned towards me. “Did something happen tonight?”

“No. Nothing happened.” I faked a smile and hit him in the arm. “You don’t know who I am? I’m Logan Martelli, the cops can’t keep up with me.”

“Ha, ha, I almost forgot you’re Logan Martelli.” He smiled and me and then sighed.

“What’s wrong, Vincent?”

“I just don’t think I can do this.” He nodded at the books on the table. “I’m too stupid to understand this crap.”

“You’re not too stupid for anything.” I gave him a stern look. “Let’s have a look.” I opened his book and saw the page on quadratic equations. “I can help you with this, I was pretty good in math.”

“You were good in everything.” He laughed and sat back. “Genius of the family.”

“Well, you’re the college boy, so I expect you’re just as much of a genius as me.”

“I don’t know if I’d say I’m a college boy. More like a hopeful community college man.”

“Community college is still college, you’ll still get a degree. And then you can go on to a four-year university.”

“I don’t know about all that.”

“You’ll do fine. Now go take a five-minute break, let me look over the problems, and I’ll help you, okay?”

“Okay, thanks, Logan.” He jumped up. “You’re the best.”

“Yeah, yeah.” I rolled my eyes and watched as he ran up the stairs. I sat back in my chair and closed my eyes for a second. I was worried that Vincent was going to drop out of community college and that everything would be for nothing. At twenty-two, Vincent was one of the oldest freshmen students at River Valley Community College, but I was so proud of him. Even though I had been pushing him for a long time to get a college education, he had ignored me. It was only when he got busted for smoking pot on the beach with some of his friends that he decided to enroll. Thanks to the judge, it was community college or jail. I hadn’t told anyone, but I was glad Vincent had been caught that night. I didn’t want a life of crime for him and Jared. I wanted them to go to school and get out of River Valley. They didn’t need this life.

“Okay, back. You ready to teach me, Einstein?” Vincent ran back into the kitchen. “And I think Jared’s back. I just heard a car door slam and then a car backing out.”

“He got a ride?” I looked towards the front door, slightly annoyed.

“I guess.” Vincent nodded and bit his lip.

“With Joey?”

“Dunno.”

“Okay.” I knew there was no point badgering Vincent about Jared. If there was one thing that was true about the Martelli brothers, it was that we weren’t snitches.

“What’s up, bitches?” Jared sauntered into the house and threw his fingers up in the air. I could tell that he was drunk right away, and I was pissed.

“Where have you been, Jared?”

“Out.” He walked into the kitchen with bloodshot eyes.

“With Joey?”

“Yeah, and?” He glared at me, his green eyes daring me to say something. I stared into the eyes that were an exact replica of mine, and I counted to ten.

“I told you I don’t want you hanging out with Joey.”

“You what?” Jared laughed. “I’m twenty-one, bitch, and you’re not my mom or dad.”

“You know he’s bad news.”

“We’re all bad news, that’s the beauty in it.” Jared stumbled to the fridge. “Any food?”

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