“Nothing,” she mumbled absently, deciding that they should probably discuss a few things.
*-*-*-*
“Are you going to move over?” came the question that had his brother folding his arms over his chest as he pointedly ignored Mikey.
With a heavy sigh, Mikey glanced toward the backseat where Mathew, Jessica, and five of the platters of baked goods that her mother had made for the party took up the back before she shifted her attention back to the empty spot next to him and–
“You could have just asked me to move,” Jonathan grumbled only to follow that up with an, “Ow!” when she used her foot to push off his lap.
“And you could stop being a jerk,” Mikey pointed out as she settled in between them only to grumble something when his father handed Jonathan a large cardboard box filled with more food for the party.
Without a word, she climbed onto Sebastian’s lap so that Jonathan could put the box down on the seat between them, shifted to get comfortable and promptly ignored him, which was more than fine with Sebastian since he wasn’t talking to her at the moment. He wrapped his arms around her and laid his head back against his seat as he closed his eyes and resigned himself to the long day ahead. He normally wasn’t a big fan of parties, but today he was exhausted and the only thing that he wanted to do was crawl back in bed and pass out.
For a moment, he considered asking his parents if he could skip the party and stay home, but he didn’t trust the girl settling back against him to keep reading. Knowing Mikey, she’d end up getting distracted by one of his cousins or spend the rest of the night tormenting one of his uncles, Sebastian thought, feeling his lips twitch as Mikey laid her head against his chest with a long-suffering sigh.
“Keep reading,” he murmured.
“I am,” she muttered, sounding so damn miserable that he couldn’t help but smile as he opened his eyes and found her glaring down at the book in her hands.
“Where are you stuck?” Sebastian asked, shifting her on his lap so that he could get a better look at the page she was on only to find himself biting back a groan when he caught the scent of the lemongrass shampoo that she liked to use.
“I thought you weren’t talking to me,” Mikey said as he took in the way that her mischievous green eyes flickered in his direction before he found himself running his gaze down to the soft pink lips that he’d been thinking about a lot lately, unable to help but notice that her bottom lip was plumper than her top lip, even as he couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to–
Kill his brother.
The sound of someone clearing his throat had him looking up and finding his brother watching him with
an unholy gleam in his eye. Wagging his eyebrows, Jonathan shot Mikey a pointed look that was going to get him killed. Just as Sebastian reached over to discreetly do that, Jonathan stopped wagging his eyebrows, cleared his throat and had Sebastian frowning when he suddenly stopped smiling and…
Why was he pouting? Sebastian couldn’t help but wonder only to bite back a curse when Jonathan released a shuddering sigh and announced, “I just can’t stay mad at you, Mikey,” with a dramatic sniffle there at the end.
Sebastian was definitely going to kill him.
“You really can though,” Mikey murmured absently, not bothering to look up as she turned the page.
“No, I just can’t do that…” Jonathan said, releasing another shuddering sigh that was going to get him smacked. “Not after everything we’ve been through.”
“What exactly have we been through?” Mikey asked, sounding bored as she glanced up at Jonathan, who was looking at her adoringly.
So, gonna kill him…
“Too much to let a simple misunderstanding come between us,” Jonathan answered, nodding solemnly.
“It wasn’t a simple misunderstanding. I was trying to smother you with a pillow and if that man,” and this is where she paused to point a damning finger at his father just as they pulled in behind a BMW parked in front of Uncle Jason’s house, “hadn’t pulled me off, I would have made you eat that pillow.”
“And I would have loved every second of it,” Jonathan said, nodding.
“There is something seriously wrong with you,” Mikey said with a sad shake of her head as she returned her attention back to her book while Sebastian once again found himself reaching over to grab his brother by the back of his neck only to have the little bastard throw the car door open with a taunting grin and take off before he could wring his damn neck.
Chapter 13
“Let’s go over the rules,” Uncle Trevor said, dragging her attention from the book to find him turned around in his seat and looking directly at her.
Wondering why he was looking at her, Mikey opened her mouth and–
“No baseball,” Uncle Trevor said, and yeah, okay so she could understand why that might be a problem with Aunt Haley’s family here.
Still…