Embrace the Darkness (The Maura Quinn Series Book 1) - Ashley N. Rostek Page 0,32

roll with it, give as good as you got, or you punched them where it hurts. Even if what they were teasing you about might be a tiny bit true. Yes, I'd been a huge bitch when Jamie had first brought Louie around and maybe continued to be for a few months after. I didn’t like the term territorial. Fiercely protective, now that was a title I could roll with.

I looked at Louie and slowly shook my head at him. “Have you ever heard the saying ‘don’t shit where you eat?’”

They all laughed again.

“Don’t worry, babe. I was just a fun time to her. She’s moved on and set her sights on someone else,” he informed me as his eyes pointedly shifted to stare behind me.

Great, now she was trying to jump into Jamie’s bed. I didn’t know how I felt about that, but I didn’t get the time to dwell on it because there was a knock at the door.

“Come in!” Stefan said.

The door opened and in walked my uncle Samuel and his son, Dylan. Samuel was Stefan’s identical twin, with the same green eyes and light brown hair but dusted with a lot more gray. Just like Stefan, he always wore a suit and was always clean shaven. They both looked more like rich entrepreneurs than criminals who’d been known to get their hands bloody.

I stood from the couch to greet them.

“Maura, welcome home,” Samuel greeted politely.

“Cuz.” Dylan smiled before pulling me in for a big bear hug. “You don’t look like a little boy anymore, congrats.”

Playfully, I punched him in the stomach.

He grunted, then released me to bend over, hugging his middle. I may have hit him a little harder than I'd intended, but he'd deserved it. Asshole.

Dylan was two years older than me and had always been a pain in the ass. He'd constantly made fun of me growing up, and not in the same way Jamie and Louie teased either. Maybe I was being biased because they were my best friends, but when Dylan had tried to make fun or tease, it had felt like he'd actually been trying to make me feel bad or put me down. Whenever Louie and Jamie poked fun, I’d always felt uplifted after. Despite them laughing and joking around, their tone and their smiles secretly told me they loved whatever they were teasing me about.

Dylan had light brown hair like his father’s and brown eyes like his mother’s. Unlike Samuel, he was rocking an edgy business look by wearing a button-down blue dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up, exposing multiple tattoos on his forearms. A lot of the men in the family had tattoos, especially Jamie. He was covered and I was slightly concerned he had an ink addiction. Before I'd left, he had just finished his sleeves with beautiful Celtic knots and been talking about getting more ink done on his back and chest.

Apart from a few new tattoos, Dylan looked pretty much the same since we'd last seen each other. I took in Samuel’s wrinkle-free face next and I couldn’t stop the corners of my lips from quirking up. “Stefan didn’t tell me you were seeing the same doctor. Uncle, you look amazing! Stefan’s been raving about the results and now I can see why. I’m starting to think this doc has a time machine with how good you both look.”

Samuel’s cheeks tinted. “Dr. Abell is known to be the best.”

The sigh that came from across the room was comical. I turned, adorned with a triumphant smirk. Stefan was rubbing his forehead. “Really, Sam?”

“What?” Samuel asked looking between us, completely at a loss. I laughed at how easy that had been. Even Jamie was smiling from the couch while everyone else stared at us like we were crazy.

“I never told her about Dr. Abell,” Stefan explained to Samuel.

“Am I the only one confused?” Dylan asked, frowning.

“Stefan and Samuel have been getting Botox. I wasn’t sure at first, but your dad just confirmed it,” I explained.

Dylan looked a little surprised as his eyes roamed over his father’s face. “He has been looking more youthful lately. I assumed he was getting laid.”

“Dylan!” Samuel chastised. It was no secret that Samuel wasn’t faithful to my aunt.

I was a little shocked Dylan openly teased him about it. Then again, he hadn't specified that it wasn’t my aunt Samuel was doing the deed with. If I were in Dylan’s position, I’d be pissed if one of my parents cheated on the