I couldn’t not love him even if I tried.
CHAPTER10
THE ENTIRE CREW
~ CHRISTMAS DAY—CHAPTER 3 ~
LIL’S POV
“Thank feck we’re finally here,” Mickey breathed out, carrying a sleepy Xavier on his bent arm.
I peeked around his shoulder at my stormy little nephew. “Hi again, Xavie.”
“He fell asleep on the way home from Mum and Dad’s and I just woke him. He’ll be wild for a little bit,” Mickey explained.
“Aunty Lil doesn’t like being woken up either,” I whispered to Xave, who was fifteen months old.
“Still savage, huh?” my brother teased.
“Savage A F,” I deadpanned. “About as savage as Kimmie looks right now.”
Mickey’s face turned indignant. “She forced me to wear this vomit-worthy shirt, and now I see why.” He cast a narrow-eyed glare around the guys. “You know I hate matchy-matchy, Lil.”
I laughed and got a little sassy. “It’s Christmas, so suck it up.”
His lips pursed hard, letting his irritation be known. The longer he studied me, the more prominent his frown became.
“What’s that look for?” I tucked my chin back and asked. Mickey felt something, I could see it in his expression.
“Uh, Lil, I think you’re–”
“Yay, presents time!” Elodie cheered in the background.
“In a second, El,” I called as Kimmie came to my side. I hugged her despite seeing her barely an hour ago at Mum and Dad’s.
“What was it you were about to say, Mickey?”
He waved me off. “Nothing that can’t wait. C’mon, it’s presents time.”
After giving Kimmie a tight smile and affectionately rubbing his hand up and down her back, he plucked up a beer and sat with Xavier.
“Ugh,” Kimmie exclaimed, leaning on me as if unable to go on living. “I would have maimed him if he continued to refuse to wear that damn shirt. Honestly, Lil, it was almost the death of us.”
“He’s always been a bad sport; you know that.”
“And I guess no guy really likes being called tinsel tits,” she laughed.
I snorted. “Gage was growly as fuck about it too; I ended up bribing him.”
“With what?”
“My vagina,” I whispered.
Kimmie let out a full-bodied laugh as I led her into the kitchen and poured her a glass of wine. “That always works.”
“You should have tried it with Mickey.”
“Ugh,” she burst again. “We’d passed that point. The thought of his penis coming anywhere near my vagina made me want to grow wolverine daggers inside it.”