He convulses and tosses the shoe down violently. “What the fuck?”
“Stop dropping my shit!”
“Why are you encouraging this, Tink?” I poke through the pile and stop on a strappy red dress. “This isn’t normal. You’re slutting up a baby, T.”
“I’m not slutting anyone up.” She bumps me aside and snatches at her dress. “And she’s not a baby! She’s a woman with a date, and what’s more, she’smysister, just like Kit is. And just so we’re on the same page – you’dneverhave met Kit if I didn’tsluther up and drag her out that night. You need to cut the cord, B. Let Iz have a nice night out. Let her dress up and have a fancy dinner bought for her by a handsome man.”
Jimmy scowls. “He’shandsome? What the fuck is handsome? Straight nose and blue eyes? Office job and fancy car? That’s not who she is. She doesn’t need fancy.”
Tink rolls her eyes. “Handsome is whatevershesees. It’s got nothing to do with us. Nothing to do with you.” Then she turns to me. “And nothing to do with you. Step down, guys. She’s not a child, and sometime after the Depression ended, so did ownership of women. Get over it.”
Kit steps into the room with a smug grin. “That’s what I keep telling them, but they’re being pigheaded about it…”
I snatch her around the waist and yank her body against mine. We’ll never agree on this, but I won’t let other people’s shit come between us. I press a kiss to the back of her neck, because even ifsheis being pigheaded, I still missed her.
Tink watches us with dreamy eyes and fussing hands. “You look good, Kit. Your color’s up.” Kit squirms in my arms, but she manages to turn and smile at her friend. “Can I put my stuff in the spare room? Iz will want to take a look soon.”
“Sure. Here, I’ll help you.” She escapes my arms and moves to collect the heavy pile. She tweaks her shoulder and turns her pained face to the side so I don’t notice.
But I do.
Of course I do.
With a frustrated grunt, I step forward and collect the stuff. “I’ve got it. Stop fucking with your shoulder, baby. Jimmy, get the girls a damn drink.” I walk away and stomp upstairs, stop in the spare room, and look down at the pile with a grimace. Gross. I dump them and run out again before I think about Tink’sfuck meheels on my sister’s feet.
This house has enough rooms for a guest room – and if you looked in the closet, you’d find clothes and random crap that belongs to each and every one of our group.
Each of my brothers have stumbled here drunk. And the girls have slept over while they ate bad food and giggled all night. They all have homes within a ten-mile radius, but sometimes someone has one beer too many, or the hour just got too late, or at the most basic level, sometimes they just want to be with their family. So they stay.
It’s not a problem, we have the space and enjoy having them, and if we had a house big enough, I suspect Kit would want them all to move in permanently.
I can’t say that’s a shitty idea. I love spending time together.
I walk back downstairs and head toward the kitchen where the others have moved to, but when a knock comes at the door, I turn around and answer it. Just as I start to pull, Jon pushes and stumbles. He catches himself against the wall and turns to me with a filthy glare. “Jesus, asshole.”
“How am I the asshole?” I laugh. “I just opened a door.”
“You scared the shit out of me.” He swings the door shut, then turns back and thrusts a six pack of beer into my arms. “My contribution.”
I take them and walk toward the kitchen as Aiden’s truck pulls up out front. “Thanks. You got any money on Fernando?”
“Nah, I haven’t been paying attention, but I don’t think he’s got it this time.” We step into the kitchen, everyone stops chattering, and when Jon meets Tink’s gaze, he comes to a skidding stop. “Oh, hey, Case.” Awkwardness sweeps through the room like a physical tidal wave as she stops mid-sip of a glass of wine.
These two have been skirting each other for a year, but it’s never been awkward before.
I watch them – the way color creeps up on her cheeks, though she’s not a blusher. And the way Jon steps back, as though she has a physical bubble surrounding her, and getting too close would be painful.
And then I watch the way Kit frowns at them both. She loves them both; her brother, for that’s what Jon is, and her best friend.
Their shit is making her worry, and that makes their shitmyshit. My job as her man, as her husband in just a few weeks, is to shield her from worries and stress, and now we have a giant ass elephant right in our own kitchen.
I fucking told him.
I told him not to break her damn heart.
I toss the drinks in the fridge and slam the door closed. Turning and pulling out a chair, I sit and pull Kit into my lap. She was busy talking with Jack, it’s not her job to make me feel better, but she does anyway.
She curls into my chest and runs her fingers through the hair at the back of my neck, and like salve to a burn, she brings my shit under control and eradicates the sting.