“Oh hell, yes. I hope you’ve been treating her right, Tobias.” Brianna winks before grabbing Jodie’s hand and tugging her toward the house. “Didn’t I always tell you that you should bang the ones with money?”
“You’re a nightmare,” Jodie laughs, shooting a look back at me. My heart melts at the genuine happiness radiating from her, and I quickly forget about any irritation I had with the guys for turning up and ruining our peace like this.
Their voices and laughter fill the entire downstairs as I close the front door behind us all and return to the kitchen.
Stella and Brianna are busy making jugs of cocktails, and Alex and Nico are filling the fridge with beer, vodka and a few other bottles I can’t make out.
Theo and Seb are nowhere to be seen, but I can hear them.
“They’re starting the firepit for you,” Jodie says, noticing who I’m looking for as she steps up to me. “You okay with this?”
I smile down at her as she brushes her hands over my chest before resting her arms over my shoulders.
“Are you happy?” I ask, lowering my brow to hers and cutting everyone else off from my vision.
“I am. I love your family.”
“Shh, don’t let them hear you say that. It’ll go to their heads.”
Her laugh lights me up from the inside.
“We ordered Chinese on the drive here. It should arrive in about ten minutes.”
I drop a kiss on the end of Jodie’s nose before turning to look at my sister.
“That was very presumptuous of you. We could have refused to open the door.”
“Maybe. But you didn’t, did you?” She grins at me, and all I can do is laugh. “Come on, kids. Let’s go get drunk and reckless.”
“Oh God,” I groan, more than aware of the kind of reckless shit she can get up to when she’s drunk. “Just keep your fucking clothes on,” I call after her as she carries a jug of something out to the patio where the others have disappeared to.
“I can make no such promises, big brother. I suggest you just get good and drunk with the rest of us.”
Jodie laughs, pulling me tighter into her tempting body.
“Tonight is going to be wild isn’t it?”
“I think you might be right, Demon.”
She gasps when I suddenly wrap my fingers around her throat and give her little choice but to walk backward until she collides with a wall beside the open French doors.
“Can’t beat ’em, join ’em,” I mutter before slamming my lips down on hers.
It doesn’t take long for someone to look back and find me grinding up against my girl, and the predictable whoops and hollers follow.
* * *
“Let’s play a game,” Alex slurs from his place on the end of the corner sofa. He’s sitting sideways with his legs resting over Calli’s thighs, not that she’s complaining at using him like her own personal blanket.
It’s cool out, it’s barely even spring after all, but with the firepit roaring and the heaters we all dragged over and put up high, it’s nice sitting out under the stars with my family.
Jodie is curled on my lap under a thick blanket on the huge round outdoor sofa thing we claimed for ourselves when Nico vacated it an hour or so ago in favour of relieving himself in the lake. Fucking animal.
“That sounds ominous,” Jodie mutters. She sounds almost as wasted as Alex from the number of Stella’s cocktails she consumed.
“Shoot, man. I’m more than ready for some excitement,” Nico barks, pushing his hand through his hair and flexing his muscles in a way I’m sure he thinks none of us notice. I mean, one of us doesn’t, or at least she does a good job of pretending despite the fact that the show he’s putting on is clearly for her benefit.
“Truth or dare,” Alex announces happily as the rest of us groan.