"I'm assuming if they're parking here, they're planning on having a sleepover here," Finn said, coming in from the kitchen.
"Yeah? You gonna let them paint your nails again?" Seth asked, smirking as Finn shot him a hard look.
"They snuck into my fucking room and did it while I was sleeping," he insisted.
"Dunno. Think maybe you just liked the pink," Seth pressed, knowing he was asking for it. And then getting it when Finn charged across the room.
Fights were more common with our generation than they'd been with our parents. I guess because we'd all grown up together. We knew one another's buttons. And sometimes it was too tempting to push them.
Seth knew that Finn hated being made to look like a fool in front of his brother. Little brother problems, I guess. Shit I'd managed to escape being an only child. But I imagined it couldn't have been easy to have a brother that was destined for a big, powerful role, then to watch him start to step into it, while you still had very little power. He had to feel like he had something to prove all the time.
Someday, I figured he would prove himself.
Though pounding on Seth who was almost as into fights as Niro, wasn't exactly going to do it for him.
"What's all the..." Pagan asked, coming up from the basement where he'd been doing inventory with Reign. "Oh, never mind. Carry on," he said, grinning down at the two guys who'd taken the fight to the ground.
Blood spurted from Seth's nose as he let out a laugh. Finn had a split lip.
"Oh, for God's sake. The puppies are fighting again," Hope declared, moving inside the door, tucking her phone into her back pocket as she stepped over her tussling cousins. "I never understood why you all bother with the fighting. You know in ten minutes you're all going to be sharing drinks and laughing. Hey, Malc. Sorry. Change of plans," she said, shrugging.
"What changed?"
"Luna is coming in from college tonight. She wants to have an old-fashioned clubhouse sleepover," Hope said, shrugging. "I tried to talk them out of it for obvious reasons, but have you ever tried to argue with Billie?" she asked, shaking her head.
"It was bound to happen eventually," I said, shrugging. "Still don't understand it," I said, watching as Hope smirked at me. "What?"
"Have you seen Rowe?" she asked, looking over at the man in question, making me do the same.
Objectively, I guess I got it. He was tall. He was well-built thanks to an active lifestyle. He had a wide jaw and a stern brow with medium-brown hair, and deep green eyes. And he had some extensive sleeves he'd been working on for years. Chicks always seemed to dig the ink.
He'd certainly never had a problem landing women.
But Billie never had an issue getting guys either.
"Besides, he doesn't want her," Hope said. "And that drives her nuts. Which drives his attractiveness factor off the freaking charts."
"You like guys you can't have, Hope?" Seth asked as he moved past, wiping his nose on his sleeve, already over the fight. Across the room, Pagan was using his thumb on Finn's lower tooth to decide if the wiggle would fix itself, or if he needed to hit the dentist.
"Hope?" Fallon asked, smirking. "She doesn't make time for men, right? Practically a nun at this point."
"You want to come a little closer and say that?" Hope invited.
See, most of us fucked around and wailed on one another every now and again. In good fun, if you will.
But not one of us had the balls to approach one of the girls when they issued a challenge like that. Because these girls were trained by our mothers and aunts. Which meant they were trained with no mercy in mind. When they lashed out, they did it to impact maximum damage.
"I do not," Fallon said, shooting her a megawatt smile.
"Anyway, we..." Hope started before the door opened. And there was Billie, dragging Willa in with her while giving her a hand massage.
"You need to give your hands a rest from all that typing sometime, or you are going to get carpal...oh," Billie said, looking up. Right at Rowe. "Oh," she added, letting her gaze slide over all of us, putting the pieces together. "I see," she said in a colder tone than you would expect coming from her. "Hey, Rowe," she said, but there was still an edge to her voice. I was glad I wasn't going to be accompanying them to karaoke. I had a feeling it was going to be a tense night when she realized literally everyone had kept this fact from her.
"Billie," Rowe said, nodding, but barely looking her way.
"Well then," Billie said, jaw tight. "Why don't we all get going? The girls and I need to have a little chat," she added, and I was close enough to hear Hope groan. "Ready, Malc?" she asked.