Kaden & Keegan (The Walkers of Coyote Ridge #9) - Nicole Edwards Page 0,1
perfectly manicured lawn toward the front door.
“Yep. Livestock’ll be our focus.” Keegan smirked. “But you can have a garden if you want it.”
Kaden rolled his eyes. “How big then?”
“Size don’t matter. Just as long as we’ve got some cows and pigs. Maybe some chickens.”
“Chickens?”
Keegan peered over at his twin. He could see Kaden’s brain working, doing the calculations, likely figuring out what they would need to make their dream into a reality. Once he did that, he would move on to the ROI, determining how many of each they would have to send to slaughter to make ends meet. Never mind the fact they were teenagers and God only knew when they’d have the money necessary to buy a ranch. If he knew Kaden—and he most certainly did—his brother would have it all figured out before Momma and Daddy’s front door hit ’em in the ass on their way out into the world in a couple of years.
Speaking of Momma and Daddy’s front door, Keegan reached it first, turned the knob, and pushed it open. He stepped back, bowed slightly, and said, “Ladies first.”
“Screw you, Keeg.”
The fact that his brother laughed made it okay.
No sooner had he shut the door behind him than their little sister shouted Keegan’s name. A second later, Roscoe came charging toward them, his feather-duster tail wagging with excitement.
“What?” Keegan shouted to Eve while he squatted down to rub Roscoe’s head.
“Phone!”
He glanced at Kaden again, shrugged in answer to the silent question.
“Who is it?” he asked Eve when she shoved the cordless handset toward him.
“How should I know? Probably another girl who wants to play kissy-face with you.”
One could only hope.
Keegan grinned, took the phone. “Hey.”
“Keegan?”
“Yep. Who’s this?”
“Anna,” she replied as though he should’ve known.
While he mentally flipped through images in an attempt to remember which one she was, he said, “Oh, hey, Anna. Whatcha up to?”
“I wanted to see if you wanted to hang out.”
Then he remembered which one she was. Redheaded cheerleader with the giant tits and the sweet little ass. She’d been cozying up to him in Texas History, batting those eyelashes and putting an extra pout in her lips.
“Me and Kaden, right?”
“Umm … yeah. Of course.”
Keegan heard the uncertainty in her tone, knew this was going to go nowhere fast. As hot as she was, he knew better than to mix it up with the girls who didn’t want the two of them together. No way was he brushing off his brother for some chick. No way, no how.
“Where do you live, girl?” he asked, sauntering through the living room toward the kitchen.
She went on to give directions. Turned out, she lived in the same neighborhood, only a couple of streets over.
“Your momma and daddy gonna be all right if we both come over?” he asked directly.
Keegan knew what the girls at school were saying about them. They’d already pegged Keegan as the bad boy, the one without a care in the world. And they were calling Kaden studious and sweet.
“They’re not home right now,” Anna said.
Keegan mouthed her response to Kaden and waited for him to answer.
He got one. A quick jerk of his head and Kaden had relayed his lack of desire to hang out with the firecracker known as Anna Benson.
“You know what, Anna? I think we’ve got homework. Maybe another time?”
“Maybe Kaden could do your homework for you,” she said, a teasing tone in her voice. “And you could come by. Doesn’t have to be both of you.”
“Sorry. He’s not good at math.”
Kaden glared his way.
“Talk to you later,” he said into the phone, then hung it up and set the cordless receiver near the charging base.
“I’m not good at math?” Kaden grumbled.
“Hey, I coulda told her we’d come over and you coulda watched her paw at me like a cat toy. Which way’d you rather have it?”
“Whatever.” Kaden marched to the fridge, yanked open the door, stared inside.
Before they could rummage through the kitchen for some after-school snacks, the doorbell rang. Footsteps sounded overhead, then trampled down the stairs.
“I got it!” Eve shouted.
What was it with twelve-year-old girls having to be the first one to answer the phone and the door? Eve had certainly mastered the art of getting there first.
From where he leaned against the kitchen counter, Keegan heard a soft female voice. “Are your brothers home?”
Keegan glanced at Kaden, cocked an eyebrow in question, and got a shrug for an answer.