Hunting Human by Amanda E. Alvarez Page B

I’m not around when he picks you up, have fun tonight.”
    Fun, right .
    Her thoughts began to whirl again as she walked toward her Jeep.
    ***
    Braden cursed and pulled the knot of his tie out for the third time. He hated the damn things and generally avoided them whenever possible. He stared himself down in the mirror; the tie would not win. He carefully adjusted the lengths and tried one more time to get it right.
    “Over…under…around…” Braden’s large hands fumbled against the dark green silk as he tried to stuff the thick end of the tie through the knot at his throat. “And through.” Crap. The mirror confirmed what he already knew. Complete disaster.
    “Either he’s in love or he hasn’t been laid in a really, really long time.” Caleb’s voice filtered in from the doorway. “What do you think, Chase?”
    Braden cast a dirty look over his shoulder. He didn’t want to know how long his brothers had been watching him struggle.
    “I’m going with option two. Option one is too damn scary,” Chase answered.
    “Screw you.” And screw the tie. Braden yanked the material from his neck and dropped it on the sink. Wasn’t his style anyway. He tugged the starched collar of his shirt until it lay flat and obedient, then flicked open the top button.
    Much better.
    Braden grabbed his heavy silver watch off the countertop, sliding it onto his wrist as he shoved past his brothers into his bedroom. “When did you get here?”
    “Just in time, apparently. Should we hide the cologne?” Caleb asked through his laughter.
    Busy sorting through the mess on his closet floor, Braden paused long enough to shove his arm through the door and toss out a one finger salute. Was it too much to ask for a matching pair of dress shoes? Under two weeks’ worth of laundry, an old gym bag and some boxes he kept meaning to get rid of, he found one brown shoe and one black.
    Shit. Under the bed?
    Stubbing his toe on God knew what, Braden limped his way back into his room and over to the bed. He dropped to his knees and scanned under the bed; running shoes, tennis balls, a couple of missing CD’s…and one brown loafer. Thank God. He shoved his feet in his shoes and glanced at the clock. “Shit, I’m late.”
    He grabbed his jacket off the bed and crossed the room in four long strides.
    “Forget something?” Chase emerged from the bathroom with Braden’s tie knotted loosely and dangling from his fingertips.
    “I don’t need it.”
    “You need all the help you can get.” Caleb grabbed his elbow before he could escape through the door.
    “I’m late,” Braden countered.
    “Relax, princess. This will only take a minute.”
    Sandwiched between his brothers with no time to wrestle his way out, Braden rolled his eyes. It had to be some sort of cosmic joke that he was both the oldest and the shortest.
    “Hold that.” He tossed his jacket at Caleb and refastened the top button of his shirt in time for Chase to swing the silk noose over his head.
    “What’s he doing here anyway?” Chase asked, tossing his head toward Caleb.
    “Babysitting.” Braden jerked back as the tie cinched around his throat. “Watch it.” He stepped back and caught his reflection in the mirror above his dresser. He had no idea where Chase had learned to tie a tie, but it didn’t look half bad.
    Chase leaned against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest, his expression petulant. “I’m not a kid.”
    “So you’re not planning on jetting the minute I leave?”
    Caleb’s quiet laughter was the only response.
    “Whatever.” Chase didn’t bother to contradict him; his mutinous expression made his feelings clear.
    “Relax, bro. I won’t make you go to bed by nine.”
    Caleb stumbled into Braden. Before the shoving could get out of control, Braden cut in, “Cut it out. He’ll pull a stitch and I am not explaining to Mike why he has to drive all the way back out here.”
    “Buzzkill.”
    Braden ignored him and shrugged into his