Over time, the cake licking challenge has become this big thing for all of us. My brothers are cousins are insane for it. I’ve just gone along with it because they want me to. I’m not the mastermind behind the devious actions. There was a time when they made Milo lick the cake, to introduce him into the family, and the whole thing dropped on top of him because they were holding it in the air. They also try and make the licking inconspicuous, and they wanted him to lick the underside as their freaking magnum opus. I guess the trophy has to be taken by my brother, Taylen, who absconded with Elodie from her wedding before she could marry a man she didn’t love, and with her cake. He licked it and set it in the middle of the sidewalk, this huge freaking towering cake, just like that.
My proclamation about the cake freezes my Ash and Trent, Toren and Taylen in their tracks. The women eye each other curiously. My granny lets out a hoot and a huge granny cackle. Daniel’s grandma laughs, and Wes just studies my male relatives with curious, dubious, skepticism. I really should have done a better job with the introductions, but it’s too late.
Tay moves first. He has a title to defend. He shoots off in the direction of the kitchen- figuring if we came from there, we must have had something to do with the cake hiding. Toren can never be outdone by my brother, so he takes off right after him, shoving him out of the way. Ash and Trent are just as competitive and they go stampeding behind the other two.
“I give them two minutes until they get outside and are in the pool,” I whisper to Daniel, who is staring at me with his left brow still cocked horribly high and a ridiculously adorable amount of optimism on his face. “Should we lock them out?”
“Do you think it’s necessary?”
“Absolutely. At least until they cool off or we get you a suit of armour. Whatever comes first.”
Daniel grins at me, because he thinks I’m not serious. I mean, I did try and tell him it would be okay. Didn’t I? No, no, actually I think I tried to warn him that things would be very not okay.
“I’m serious about locking them out. We can talk to them through the glass. They’ll probably need to spend a good few hours getting cake out of the pool too. Sorry about that. I wasn’t thinking when I sent them out there.”
Daniel guides me to the kitchen and the others let us go, giving us space to talk privately for a minute. I’m the one who locks the patio door. I hope my granny gets the front, if it’s not locked already. She probably will. She’s kind of a mind reader that way. She also knows my brothers and cousins too well.
I watch them hurtle, one after another, into the pool. They aren’t even subtle about it. They dive right in, in their shoes and their expensive clothes. Only Ash is wearing jeans. Trent is in freaking dress pants and a suit, and Tay and Tor are both wearing dress shirts and shorts. Everyone has expensive leather shoes on.
I shake my head at the scene. Toren reaches the cake first, but Taylen grabs him from behind and dunks him in the water. The flamingo rocks violently. Ash grabs it and steadies it, but when Trent tries to climb on board, taking advantage of it, he can’t be outdone and in a moment of pure brotherly spite, Ash flips the floating from the bottom, upending the thing like a catapult. The cake goes up as the one end of the floatie crashes down. It sails through the air, missing the pool completely, thank goodness, to splat on the edge.
Trent and Ash are battling it out in the water, dunking each other over the stunt Ash just pulled, and while Tor and Tay are clamoring over each other, a great hulking beats ambles up to the cake, casual as you please, and starts eating it.
I put a hand over my mouth to smother my laughter, but there isn’t any point. It comes out of me in great big gulps, echoing through the room. Daniel is too stunned beside me to do or say anything.
“I had no idea that Elodie left her dog back there. You’re a brave man. I hear that Jeffers causes holes wherever he goes.”
“Oh, well, the lawn will survive,” Daniel says kindly. “I had no idea he was out there.”
“My granny dog sits for them a lot. She probably brought him if they didn’t mention it when they got here.”
Jeffers continues to wolf down the cake while the guys keep trying to drown each other in the pool.