She braced at seeing Bones’ hard face. “You have no idea what a hard life is,” he muttered.
“Why do you say that?” Reginald wondered, his brows drawing in anger.
“She doesn’t,” Bones said, still eyeing her. “She's lived a measly few years as a whore.”
“How do you know that?” Reginald demanded, his voice harder.
Bones shrugged, leaning back against the wall. “Tell him,” he said, his brows raised to her. “Tell him I’m wrong.”
Winter realized how much she needed to win Bones’ trust. Or at least become somebody he might have a use for if she was going to stick around and try to sort him out. “What can I do for you?” she decided to ask out right. When they looked at her with a mix of mild wonder and hate, she explained. “There must be something you could use me for.”
“Like what?” The absence of loathe meant Reginald had asked. “You mean like for work? You know, she could help keep the books,” Reginald muttered, looking a little left.
“That’s not what she means,” Bones bit, eyeing her suspiciously.
“It could be,” Winter said. “Anything you might need me for, I can help.”
“I don’t need you for anything.”
“What about Reginald?”
Bones glared at her. She’d cornered him. But judging by the look, he wasn’t planning to stay there.
“I really would like to have her,” Reginald whispered then looked at her. “Like a friend,” he explained, as if he worried she thought he meant pet. “A girlfriend,” he further clarified.
She smiled a little, liking that he wanted her for more than a friend. “I would love that,” she said, relaxing a little.
"Jesus," Bones muttered in disgust.
She lowered down to the floor, folding her legs to sit somewhat ladylike in the extremely short clothing apparatus she wore. Her little barely there dress had been cut down the middle by Reginald. It was all she had with her, she’d not packed for a sleepover. She was a pro when it came to modifying cheap trash for a fashionable look. A piece of sheet now served as a matching belt, creating a lovely ensemble. Lovely piece of shit ensemble. She felt like shit. Every muscle screamed from all the near death. “I’m good with math,” she offered. “I can maybe help with the books?”
“I hate math!” Reginald said thrilled.
“You lie,” Bones bit back. “You goddamn love it.”
“I do not love it,” Reginald said, aiming a smile at her. “He thinks I do because I’m nice about it.” He angled his gaze left, again. “You’re so busy with your love of digging graves, you have no clue. I keep the books because you don’t want to. And guess what?” he said, back to looking at Winter. “He’s the math genius. He even has a photographic memory when he wants to. Want being the keyword with everything Bones does.”
“I’m not arguing with you over this,” Bones muttered. “She’s not doing anything for us. Did we all forget she’s got that pocket of puss called a life, still? As she said herself,” Bones aimed his glare at her, “her pimp will worry.”
“I never said he’d worry,” Winter mumbled, biting her tongue on a retaliation.
“Whatever. Worry, shit his pants, lose pennies, you know what I mean.”
She stared at him, the pennies insult burning her. Just leave it, Winter. Bigger fish to fry. Like winning his trust so he let her in.
“Well…” Reginald’s clear innocent eyes surfaced. “What if you let him know you’ve found another job? Or you decided to go to school? I’m sure there’s something you want to do besides…”
Bones shot out a laugh. “Fucking brilliant idea Reggie boy. She can just turn in her two-weeks-notice. Tell him she's done with fucking all the dirty men of Oregon.”
“All except the dirty grave digger,” she muttered, unable to stop herself.
The smile that spread over his face was all Reginald. “God, I love you,” he whispered.
“I’m not worried about my pimp,” she said, eyeing Bones. She could see his glare alongside the smile in Reginald’s pretty eyes. “I’m not scared of him.” Or you, she wanted to add. But that was a lie. And she needed to quit fighting and being a threat in his eyes. She knew one sure thing about Bones. He was protective of Reggie. But he also loved him and wanted him to be happy. That was the only angle she had. For now.
Bones lifted his chin and angled his head. “So, you’re just gonna… turn your two-weeks-notice in? Is that it?”
“Whores disappear all the time. You’re a grave digger. I’m sure we can figure something out.”
“I'm sure I could. But why would I?”
She pursed her lips, biting her tongue on the sarcastic why you think? “For Reginald.”
He seemed to fight a smile, and she was sure it was Reginald’s. His jaw slid side to side a little as he eyed her. He was in that corner again. Caught between a rock and his undying devotion to his brother. Look at her go. Actually making a positive difference for a change. She lifted her chin a notch, ready for the work that would be required to see that through.
“So you’re ready to just disappear,” Bones muttered.
“I’m ready to do something worthwhile with my life. Not being a whore I think is a good place to start.”
“You would pretty much have to be a customer at my graveyard for your pimp to be “okay” with that,” he said, seeming mildly amused for some reason. Or was that masked calculation?
“I could stand a vacation from life.”
Concern formed on his brow. Reginald. “But… that would mean we’d never be able to... do anything in public, or go to the park, or out on a date?”
Winter’s heart fluttered and tugged with the idea he’d want all those things. All those things she’d once fantasized about years before, a lifetime ago.
“You two are just a piece of work,” Bones said. “Prince Charming and Cinderella, ready to dance their lives away at the ball.”
Winter lowered her head, hiding her smile. “Snow White,” she corrected, chancing a look at him. “She goes with Prince Charming.”
He shook his head with angry eyebrows while Reginald managed a smile that reminded her of a star-struck teenager. The contradiction made them appear happily confounded, making Winter fight a laugh. Which she lost and immediately apologized for.
“What are you laughing at?”
The question came from the smiling Reginald while the angry Bones glared on, making it more funny. “You two,” she said, stifling chuckles. “It’s like Grumpy and Happy living inside the same body.”
Reginald managed an even bigger smile while Bones managed his glare. “He is such a grouch,” Reginald said. “You should try living with him twenty-four seven.”
Bones’ eyes rolled.
“Kidding Bonesy, you know I love you.”
“Stop,” he growled.
“Okay, too much mush.” Reginald grinned. “He’s not big on the mush,” he whispered.
“I can hear you, dumbass.”
“I’m sorry,” Reginald said to him, doing that left look. “It was more a gesture of courtesy.”
“To restate the obvious? I think she gets perfectly that I’m not into mush.”
“Perfectly,” Winter agreed, trying to keep her voice fuck-you-free.
“Can we get back to the actual absurd topic?”
“Of why she should stay?” Reginald asked, hopeful.
“Of why she shouldn’t. Can’t,” he corrected.
“Wow,” Reginald whispered, his brow furrowed as he contemplated. “I just had a serious bout of Déjà vu,” he said, looking at her.
“That’s because we had this same convo before we got knee deep into shit. You were the one ‘oh Bonesy, let me have the pretty toy’ and I was the one saying, ‘hell no’.”
“But then you did.”
Winter watched his angry mouth tug in a smile. To see them both speak out of the same body with different gestures and facial expressions hadn’t lost that alarming fascination
.
“And see where it got us?” Bones said.
Reginald looked at Winter, that star struck gaze back. “I do.”
“You’re a blind imbecile,” Bones said, shaking his head like it was useless before looking at Winter. “After everything that’s happened, you’d think he’d realize I was right. That this was a dangerous idea. I’m not a well person.” He put both palms on his chest as though it were his prime defense. “I tried to strangle you, and who knows when I’ll try again. I want to strangle you now.”
“Don’t even joke like that.” The fury in the dark words sounded just like Bones but they were all Reginald. She could hardly tell them apart when he was angry.
“Reginald,” Bones said, his tone sounding therapeutic in a manipulating or condescending way. “You forget that I have needs that you can’t meet.”
“What?” Reginald hissed, his brow crimped.
“I told you, I go out when you sleep.”
“Oh God,” Reginald said, as though just remembering. “You definitely need to quit that,” he said in distaste.
“Oh, hell no,” Bones said softly.
“Why? You don’t like women,” he reminded in a light shrill.
“No, I don’t. And when I go out, I don’t go out to like women.”
He scrubbed their face and Winter imagined it was Reginald judging by the sound of his groan. “Oh Bones,” he mumbled behind his hands before letting them drop to his lap. “I can’t be a part of that, not with Winter in my life.”
“Which brings us back to the impossibility of all of this.”
“What exactly do you go do with these women again?” Winter asked.
“Exactly none of your business.”
“Exactly bullshit,” Winter said, unable to catch it. “If Reginald’s my boyfriend—”
“I am,” he confirmed.
His need to break in and assure her made her smile. Winter finished, “—then that’s his body you’re—”
“Slutting around with,” Reginald finished, sourly. Bones shot out a single laugh while Reginald said, “You know she’s right.”
“Shut up,” Bones ordered. “How about we establish right now, that we all know you agree with everything coming out of her mouth, so quit wasting our breath vocalizing it ten times a second.”
“Okay,” Reginald said lightly. “How about we work something out? Bones is actually a very reasonable man,” he explained to Winter. “He may have his quirks, but at the end of the day, he’s cool. I swear it.”
“Unless of course…” Bones said, eyeing Winter. “You want to let Winter accommodate my needs.”
“Over our dead body,” Reginald said, followed with a Bones’ style wink at her.
Wow, he was something. “As Reginald said, we can work something out.”
“Not that,” Reginald shot with a look that startled her.
“Not that, no!” Winter agreed at realizing what he’d thought. “Never that!”
“No offense Bonesy, but she’s mine,” he muttered.
Bones brows rose. “Might want to tell her that.”
“Stop it,” Winter shot out when it looked like they might fight again. “I chose Bones when I had no damn brain in my head or soul in my body. I chose Reginald when I realized it was more selfish to die than live and give him a chance at love and happiness.”
“You mean give Sebastian a chance?” Bones muttered.
Pain stabbed her at his meanness. But she wasn't hiding or lying anymore. “Fine,” she whispered. “Maybe I am replaying life with Reginald. What’s so bad about that?”
“Not a thing,” Reginald said softly. “It’s called learning from your mistakes and making adjustments. Something Bones could stand to learn,” he bit at the end.
“I’m sure he can,” Winter said, trying to get the conversation back to reasonable.
“I have a confession,” Reginald said.
“Reggie boy, we better have a meeting in our mind before you do that,” Bones warned lightly.
They went silent for several seconds before their expressions were the only thing speaking. It was kind of funny to watch. Eye rolling, brow puckering, jaw and mouth hardening. Then a smile. At her.
“Bravo,” Winter exclaimed. “You’d make a brilliant one.” Boy, would he ever.
“And then I saw you in the graveyard and… had to meet you.”
“And that’s not what you told me when you started out,” Bones said, as though busting him.
“I didn’t realize it at the time,” Reginald said in sincere defense.
“Right,” Bones said dryly.
“Anyway, Bones agreed. I was going nuts being stuck here all the time. He understood and obliged. I told you he’s reasonable. I’d just never fought him about it before.”
“This is wonderful,” Winter said, hoping to encourage a full expose of how this all went down, then south. He went on and she stopped him. “Wait… you were studying me?” she wondered.
“You sound flattered,” Bones said, in disgust.
She thought about it and felt herself smiling a little. “I think I am.”
Reginald broke out into a relieved grin. “See, she gets me. It’s not weird.”
“Not at all,” Winter said
“It’s weird,” Bones begged to differ.
“Well,” Winter said. “We’re all strange in our own way to other people. It’s nobody’s damn business what you do and why.”
“Thank you,” Reginald cried, like he’d waited a hundred years to hear that.
Bones clapped slowly and rudely. “Praaaaaaise the Looooord.”
Winter smiled, finding the gesture more comical than offensive. “Amen,” she concurred, earning his glare.
Winter listened in fascination as Reginald told her the remaining story, with Bones interjecting every fifth sentence with all his cock-blocking clarifications. It was a little amusing how it didn’t bother Reginald the least. She realized she was witnessing two devoted brothers going at an everyday relationship.
“What?” Reginald wondered, staring at her.
She realized she was smiling at them. “I just… like watching you two talk.”
“Really?”
Winter laughed at the sharp incredulity in his tone and she wasn’t entirely sure who it came from. Maybe both of them. “I do. I think you’re both… fascinatingly beautiful. In a weird way.” She closed her eyes, shaking her head. “Not weird, I mean…”
“Oh, I get it,” Reginald hurried.
“I don’t,” Bones muttered.
“She thinks our weirdness is beautiful!”
At hearing how ecstatic that made him, she decided not to correct him. “Very strange and beautiful. Like a rare gem. Only a single one like it in all the world.”
“That’s all Reginald,” Bones muttered like he didn’t want to be a part of anything beautiful.
Even still, the compliment seemed genuine, and it made her heart tug. Seeing that devotion to his brother never got old. She was sure he’d pause in the middle of a war to hand his brother a small token of love. And that was the most beautiful thing of all about Bones, she realized.
It struck her memory that they were the same people. No, that one of them was the real him and one was not. The idea of Bones and Reginald not being separate and yet together, as they were, almost sent a bolt of panic through her, along with an irrational urge to protect their bond even as logic said it was an absurd thing to feel. But feel it she did. A thousand percent.
She realized they’d gone quiet. She watched them, holding her breath for the next minute as they discussed something that brought deep lines grooving their forehead. “Ah Bonesy,” Reginald whispered, smiling a little. “Thank you,” he said in a barely audible gasp. “I promise you won’t regret it.”
He rubbed the back of his neck, a boyish smile on his lowered face. Her heart tugged hard at what she’d just witnessed. Bones. Big bad Bones had just given his little brother physical affection. And the sight of it
reduced her heart to a puddle of hot mess.
“Can you untie us?”
CHAPTER THREE
The question came from Reginald, jolting her insides.
“Bones is fine,” he assured. “He says you can stay.”
Winter stared in shock at his elated news. She could stay? Just like that?
“Sorry I strangled you.”
Bones’ deep voice added to the sudden fears brewing in her stomach. “Okay,” she whispered absently. Untie them. This was it. The ultimate test. “If… he tries something…”
“Then I’ll stab him in the balls,” Reginald assured lightly, his happy smile unwavering.
Jesus. Did it slip his mind that those were his balls too? Or… was it that he liked her so much he was willing to do that for her?
She slowly stood then. Standing there, she rocked from one foot to the other before making her way over with the hammer.
Only three feet between them, she stared into his gaze, searching for confirmation that she wasn’t about to make the biggest mistake of her life.
“I won’t let anything happen to you,” Reginald promised softly.
Winter handed him the hammer, and he stared at it, then her. “It’s in there good,” she said. “You’re a lot stronger than me.”
She hoped he knew how aware she was of the disadvantage she’d just given herself. And that she was choosing to trust him. No, them. “Thank you Bones,” she whispered when he took the hammer.
She stepped back and watched him go to work on that nail, feeling like she’d entered the next level in the game. Only it felt like the stakes were higher and she was ten times less safe.
****
I’m sorry, Reginald said.
The elation in his tone would’ve been comical if Bones wasn’t pissed. Pissed over everything. It wasn’t helping that Reginald’s grin was cemented to his stupid face, making them look ridiculous. He still couldn’t believe he’d let them get cornered by a woman. A woman, of all fucking things.
The heavy clank of chain dropped to the floor and Bones sank back in their mind, not about to hang around for the mush he sensed coming. This was all on Bones. This was what he deserved for forcing Reginald to live a closed off existence all these years. Reginald had been there for Bones, helped him, been a friend.