7
PARKER
“Don’t you dare buy that property, Holmes,” Hailey threatened Hunter, glaring at him with the hotel piece already in her hand for her next move.
“If you ever want to know if someone really loves you, you have to play Monopoly with them,” Lennon said before rolling her eyes and smacking Nash’s hand away when she saw it moving toward her pile of money. “I say buy the property, Hunter. See how it turns out for you.”
My brother let out a heavy sigh, shaking his head as he pointed at a different block on the board instead. “That one is mine. Since we’re allowing dibs on properties, none of you had better even think about buying it.”
“It’s so much fun when he tries to intimidate us, isn’t it?” Nash asked happily. “A hundred bucks in cold, hard—and more importantly—real cash for anyone who gets that property first.”
“You’re an asshole,” Hunter snapped, but there was no real fire in his voice.
Nash grinned, waggling his brows as he looked around the dining-room table. “The aim of the game is to win, brother. I warned you when you invited us over for game night that it wasn’t a good idea. Competitiveness runs in my veins.”
“Hey, you’re not the only one who’s in it to win it,” Hailey said, shooting her best friend’s husband a look that meant business. “I’m the board-game queen. Ask anyone. I kick ass.”
Lennon laughed and shrugged her shoulders as she poked Nash in the ribs. “She’s got a point there. You might actually just lose tonight.”
“No way.” He puffed out his chest, sitting up straighter and scooting away from her tickling fingers. “Stop distracting me, woman. This is war.”
“It’s Monopoly,” I said. “That’s hardly war.”
“Then you’re playing it wrong.” Hunter frowned as he shifted in his seat to look at me. “And I know you’re not playing it wrong because I taught you this game, little brother. You know better than that.”
Pretending to be hurt, I put my hand over my chest and rubbed it. “There’s nothing quite like being told off on a Saturday night. Besides, it’s not like I’ve got a chance to win anyhow. As the only single one, I’m getting the short end of the stick here.”
Yeah, now that I’d realized that I was absolutely surrounded by couples everywhere, I was more aware of my singledom—if that was even a word—than ever before.
Hunter barked out a laugh. “Sorry to break it to you, but this isn’t a team sport. Everyone’s in it for themselves in this game. Honestly, were you not paying any attention when I taught you?”
“Nope.” I lifted my shoulders and let them drop again. “I got bored halfway through and started thinking about football.”
“You didn’t even play football.”
I laughed. “Exactly, but it was still more interesting than listening to you when you were doing a shitty job explaining a board game you were too young to understand properly.”
He gaped at me and ran his hand over the short beard on his jaw as if he was soothing it after I’d landed a punch. “Well, now that was just mean. I understood it perfectly. The little brother goes to jail and stays there, which entitles the big brother to all the little brother’s money and property.”
“Sounds fair to me,” Nash said, dipping his head in a slow nod. “Thank God I didn’t have a big brother. They seem to be more trouble than they’re worth.”
“Definitely,” I agreed, then ducked when Hunter reached out to smack me upside the head. I chuckled as my chair scraped across the floor when I moved it a few feet away from him. Then I came back to the matter at hand. “It’s still your turn, Hunter. Are you going to be a dear and buy that property Hailey wants, or wimp out because you’re scared of your wife?”
“Oh, I’m not even going to try to deny it. I’m scared of my wife. She’s fucking fierce when she gets going. Have you not seen her angry?”
Hailey batted her lashes at him. “I won’t be angry, honey. I have much better ways of getting back at you.”
Lennon clapped her hands and laughed. “Now she’s got him on the ropes. Sorry, Parker, but there’s no way he’s buying that property.”
To my brother’s credit, at least he pretended to think it through before he agreed with Lennon. “She’s right. I’m not risking it. Especially not now. Those pregnancy hormones are a bitch. The last thing I want is for her to start crying because I bought a pretend property.”
A sudden hush fell around the table, but Hunter seemed to be too preoccupied with deciding his next move to notice it. My sister-in-law, however, definitely noticed. Her bright blue eyes shot wide open before she sighed and slid an arm around his shoulders.
“I won’t start crying, but you just let the secret slip.” She stretched the arm around his shoulders out and leaned over him to check the time on her watch. “Ninety minutes. Nice. My money was on sixty, so you exceeded my expectations. Good job, babe.”
Hunter stilled, but a second later, his cheeks flushed and he broke out in a huge smile. “I guess the cat’s out of the bag now. You’re going to be an uncle soon.”
He said that last bit to me, but Nash and Lennon started cheering so loudly I barely heard the words. While they jumped up to congratulate their friends, I felt like I’d been frozen rock solid. I couldn’t move, even if I wanted to.