Four people living together

ThornePOV

The car stops in front of Underworld, the black sign illuminated with purple neon lights behind it being the only necessary indication of the nightclub. I thought that arriving later would mean a shorter line, but Raffi was right; bringing the hottest DJ of the moment only attracted more attention and customers.

“Hi, Darius! Any issues tonight?” I ask as I approach my head of security.

“Nothing so far, boss,” he says, checking the IDs and tickets of two women who look me up and down before heading to the doors.

“If you need anything, just let me know,” I say, patting his shoulder and heading inside.

As I cross the double doors, I notice some commotion; two of my security guards are escorting a man who’s trying to break free. It appears they must have broken up a fight. Only when they pass by me do I recognize him—Patrick, Brooke’s ex-boyfriend. My eyes scan the crowd, but I don’t see her anywhere.

My heart starts to race. If that asshole did anything to her, I won’t be responsible for what happens next. I’m sure that if he had fought with anyone else, she would have followed him, but since she isn’t here, something must be wrong. I continue searching through the crowd, but the club is packed and poorly lit.

There. In the VIP area. She seems fine, I realize, but it’s seeing my brothers around her that eases the tight grip in my chest. If they’re here, Brooke is safe.

I climb the stairs to the mezzanine two steps at a time, heading straight for where they are. What the hell happened?

Olivia is holding Brooke’s hands, and I’m close enough to hear what she’s saying:

“Brooke, we’ll figure it out. I know my studio is small, but we’ll make it work.” Olivia seems to be trying to convince her, and I want to laugh. I helped move the two of them into their respective apartments when they graduated, and there’s no way all of my friend’s stuff would fit into Liv’s tiny studio, even if Liv wanted it. The only way would be with a magic trick.

But wait, Brooke needs an apartment? Did she finally dump that asshole?

Both Raffi and Seth notice my presence, and it’s Raffi who approaches first, grabbing my arm in a greeting and whispering in my ear:

“Brooke and the idiot broke up. Apparently, he cheated on her. He came here to hassle her and try to convince her to come back, but she wouldn’t even listen. She’s just nervous because she thinks she has nowhere to go. She even mentioned going back to Palo Alto.”

He smiles, and I start laughing, drawing the attention of both women who turn to look at me. I crouch down to face Brooke. Her blonde hair is wavy, framing her heart-shaped face. I have to control the urge to roll my eyes at her worried expression. Honestly, it’s outrageous that she thinks she has no home.

“You’ve always had a place to stay; our house is huge and has always had a room for you,” I declare, and her green eyes widen as she looks from me to Seth and then to Raffi.

“No, no, I’ll figure it out.”

“Brooke, it’s already sorted. You’re going to live with us,” I repeat.

“I’d also like to be homeless if I could live with you guys,” Liv says, clapping her hands, and I look at the brunette who has a wide smile on her face.

“Liv, that’s not funny,” Brooke scolds, but Liv just raises an eyebrow and shrugs. My friend turns her attention back to me. “Don’t you think you should talk to your roommates before inviting me to move in with you?” she asks with that tone she uses when she thinks she’s right.

“Ask them,” I reply nonchalantly.

I know my brothers better than anyone, and when we bought the house, we knew it had an extra room and who it belonged to. She just didn’t know because, on the day we were going to tell her, she announced she was moving in with that idiot Patrick.

Brooke turns to Seth.

“Seth, what do you think about all this?” My friend’s answer is a shrug. “Raffi?”

“I think you need to stop being so stubborn, Babygirl. It’s your house, end of story.”

She breaks into a smile and wraps her arms around my neck.

“Thank you! Thank you!”

The blonde stands up and goes to hug my friends, repeating her thanks.

“It’s temporary, I swear. Just until I can get organized and find a place I can afford with my salary. You won’t even notice I’m there.”

That’s something I doubt. Brooke is a star; she has her own light, and no matter where she is, it’s impossible not to notice her.

“You hit the jackpot, bitch,” Olivia says, hugging her. “You dumped the asshole and are moving in with these three hotties.” I think she meant to whisper, but she’s probably had too much to drink. Liv’s always been weak with alcohol.

“Shhhh. Come on, let’s dance.” Brooke seems to decide it’s safer to take her friend away, and the two of them head to the dance floor. I watch them all the way, observing the light blue dress the blonde is wearing swaying with her movements.

“What the hell happened?” I ask as I settle onto the sofa. Raffi and Seth sit beside me.

“Brooke didn’t go into details, but Patrick showed up here and was trying to pull her away when I arrived,” Seth begins. “He said a lot of crap, but from what I gathered, Brooke caught him with some random woman and ended things. I think he thought she would come back to him if he showed up here like a repentant dog, but when he saw she wasn’t giving in, he got pissed, and I intervened.”

“What he’s not telling you is that he provoked the guy until he thought it was a good idea to come at him, and then he nearly dislocated his shoulder in the process,” Raffi adds, and I look back at Seth, who’s drinking his whiskey calmly.

“How is she?” I ask, nodding toward the dance floor.

“You know how she is, better than we do. She’s upset, pissed off, but she’ll be fine. She didn’t seem sad to me,” Raffi comments before signaling to a waitress who approaches. We place our orders, and she heads back to the bar. “And we’ll be around if she needs anything, anything at all,” he adds with a mischievous grin.

“Keep it in your pants,” I warn.

“And if she wants me to take it out?” He rolls his eyes at me and gives me a light smack on the back of my neck. “You’re so easy to provoke. Just saying we’ll all be living under the same roof, wouldn’t be the first time we’ve shared.”

“Shut up, Raffi. She’s different.” It’s Seth who responds, annoyed.

“Are you going to tell me you never thought about it?”

My eyes find Brooke in the middle of the dance floor, with her arms in the air as she shakes it to the rhythm of the music, and I can't respond. Not without lying. When I joined the Marines, she was still a child and had never even considered such a thing, but she was already a beautiful woman when I came back from one of the missions. I remember being home on leave between missions when I saw her kissing one of her boyfriends during her first year of college vacation. I almost crossed the gardens to get to her porch and break the fingers of that damn guy squeezing her ass.

"Alright, I'll pretend I believe it."

"Stop talking nonsense, Martinez," I complain.

***