Making the Grade Read Free Page B

been—he took out his frustration on his sister. “I thought you had my back. Aren’t you the one who said you’d help me screen the gold diggers? You practically threw me at her.”
    She blinked at him, the sudden clarity leaching through her fog and widening her light-blue eyes. “Oh, er. Faith.”
    Dylan joined her side and frowned. “What’s going on?”
    Harper groaned, the giant dropping into the couch behind them. “I knew this was going to bite you in the ass, Smurfette.”
    “Shut up, Harper.” Freddy squirmed under Dylan’s and Brian’s stares.
    Brian frowned. “I know that look. What did you do?” She had the same guilty expression she’d worn as a kid whenever she was up to no good. He could read his sister like a book. Apparently so could her boyfriends.
    “Freddy.” Dylan crossed his arms over his chest. “Faith is a patient. You said you only wanted her number to go out for coffee. Not for Brian. You promised you wouldn’t interfere with his pitiful social life in any way.”
    “Pitiful? Thanks a lot.” Brian groaned. His whole fucking week went from bad to worse. “Dylan, tell me you’re not Faith’s therapist. You told me she was a nice woman.”
    “She is a nice woman.”
    “With a smokin’ hot rack,” Harper muttered.
    Freddy glared at him.
    “What? You know it’s true.”
    Dylan sighed. “What Faith and I discuss is confidential—”
    “Fuck me sideways.” Brian let his sister go.
    “I take it the date didn’t go well?” Freddy asked. “She refused to talk to Hailey about it. I know. I asked.”
    Brian shot her a look that had her taking a step back behind Dylan.
    “Uh-oh.”
    Dylan pulled her out from behind him and forced her to the couch next to Harper, who sat her on his lap and kept her in place with his massive arms. “Talk, woman.”
    “It’s not my fault. It’s not,” she insisted. “It’s Hailey’s.”
    God, it was almost incestuous. The three Warren brothers and their girlfriends were fucking up Brian’s life. And one of those girlfriends happened to be his own sister!
    Dylan frowned. “What does Hailey have to do with this? Wait. Did Derrick put her up to it?” Derrick, Dylan’s twin brother, had been known to screw with Dylan on occasion. But Hailey, from what little Brian knew of her, was a genuinely sweet woman who was engaged to the youngest Warren brother—Gage. So why the hell would Derrick be involved?
    “Christ, my head hurts. There are only three Warrens, right? Or is a fourth going to come out of the woodwork to screw with me too?” Brian stood over his sister, his arms crossed, his temper frayed and ready to explode if Freddy didn’t open her mouth and explain. “ Talk .”
    “Fine.” She blew out a breath and her bangs fluffed. “You were so hot and bothered to go out with Faith that I had Hailey plead your case. Except Faith hates rich guys, so we kind of lied and said you were a friend of a friend and had no money. Strictly lower-middle class.”
    Brian just stared at her, his mind buzzing. Suddenly, all those money comments and Faith’s humor about them took on an all-new meaning. She hadn’t been playing with him for his wealth, but teasing him good-naturedly, one friend to another. In a restaurant she must have thought he’d splurged on. Fuck.
    “What?” Dylan asked.
    Harper groaned. “Oh boy. Freddy, I’m gathering your small untruth didn’t go well. Brian does not seem like a happy camper.” He frowned past Brian at something on the wall. “Fuck, man. It’s not even eight on my day off. Freddy, tell the man all of it.”
    Brian had the satisfaction of seeing her cringe before his temporary joy faded. Annoyed with himself, his sister and life in general, he glared at her and kept his mouth shut before he said something he’d regret.
    Freddy looked genuinely shamefaced. “I’m so sorry, Brian. When you first tried to talk to her, Faith wouldn’t return your calls, and she’s so perfect for you. So I