I lurched forward and slapped a hand over my mouth, quickly swallowing my sip of mocktail. “Hey! I’m fun!”
Her judgy little eyes briefly cut to me. “Nah, not really.”
“The audacity!” I gaped in disbelief, then pointed at Gage. “That’s on you, Batman.”
His deep laughter gave way to a dry tone. “Says the one who practically cloned herself. I mean look at her. That sass comes directly from you, Sunshine.”
“And we know where her audacity comes from,” I countered with a sassy lip-pout.
As if our three-year-old hadn’t unwittingly caused enough adult drama, her next question pushed my mortification to new levels.
“What’s this for?” she asked, holding up Brooklyn’s fox-tailed butt plug.
Thank god Bee snatched it away at lightning speed, allowing me to glare at Travis.“Youcan explain that.”
He at least had the sense to look guilty. “It’s for dress up, little miss. And one you’re only allowed to use once you’re over eighteen.”
“Travis!” both Gage and I yelled, bewildered and mortified.
Gage stood with purpose. “I can’t even handle the thought of that. Who’s keen to light a fire on the beach?” he asked, mercifully taking us back to safer turbulent waters.
Ignoring Mickey’s outburst of all the reasons why we couldn’t, I was the first on my feet. “I’ll get the marshmallows.”
CHAPTER11
THE ENTIRE CREW
~ CHRISTMAS DAY—CHAPTER 4 ~
LIL’S POV
We loaded up our truck with chiller boxes full of food and drinks, as well as beach chairs, buckets and shovels, towels, sun umbrellas, plus the children, and Gage and Jess drove to the beach while the rest of us walked the few blocks. Trav insisted on taking the Christmas tree with us, and garnered dozens upon dozens of honks and whooped cheers from passing cars during the journey.
We were set up with drinks in-hand, sitting around our illegal, soon-to-be beach fire with the damn Christmas tree precariously dug into the sand, when Trav made an announcement.
“Okay, I’ve got a plan,” he said, stacking kindling within a rock circle.
“Uh huh, which is?” I asked.
“If we get arrested, weallget arrested. They simply have to take all of us, including the kids, or none of us.”
Mace barked a laugh. “It doesn’t work like that, bro. Did you not learn anything from when you and Mickey got arrested?”
Trav threw his head back and roared with laughter. “Now there’s a throwback!”
“Drunk and disorderly, wasn’t it?” Neek chipped in with a man-giggle.
Gage snorted. “Yeah, and me and Lil had to bail them out in the middle of the night.”
Mickey pointed his beer bottle at him and quickly glanced around to ensure no children were within earshot. “And while the three of us were laughing our asses off about it, Lil threw the biggest bitchfest ever.”
“I thought someone was hurt, Mickey! You literally gave me emergency vibes.”
He shrugged. “Because we wanted to be bailed out ASAP.”
I flipped him off. “I can’t wait for the time whenI’marrested and need you to bail me out at 3 a.m.”
Gage’s sharp gaze cut to me. “For fuck’s sake, Lil, getting arrested should not be something you look forward to.”