“Livvy.”
“You talk to her?”
“You don’t?”
“Not really.”
“Then how… You know what? It doesn’t matter.” I hold back an incredulous laugh, stopping short of shaking my head. Other than Livvy, Kai usually has his pick of the ladies—his words, not mine. And yet, he’s clueless when it comes to women. It constantly blows my mind.
“What do you think of your brother’s new girl?” He changes the subject, leering at Jenna when she sashays past. “She looks familiar.” He squints as though that will ignite something in his brain, and I give him a shove so he’ll stop staring.
“She’s not my brother’s girl,” I grate, moving in front of him, forcing him to look at me instead of the Brazilian-style bikini riding up her ass.
“Are you sure?” Kai nods his head toward my brother who is practically drooling from the edge of the pool.
“She’s the pen pal.”
“No. Fucking. Way. That’s where I know her. I binged that superhero series.” Kai shoves me aside to perve on her again, and I spin to watch as she grabs another drink, shaking her hips to the music. With the way she’s dancing, you’d think she’d known everyone for years, but we’re lucky if it’s been three hours. She’sthatconfident in herself.
“I can’t believe she’s here,” Kai continues. “I was sure he was making her up.”
“Ha. Same.” Not really, but I never once expected her to turn up on our doorstep. Jack must have asked me a million times if I could believe it. And the truth is, I can’t.
Jenna waltzes back to Jack, her smile flirtatious as she lowers herself to the edge of the water. She takes a sip of her drink, andthe second she puts it aside, Jack pulls her into the pool, eliciting a squeal that makes me cringe.
“They’re definitely going to fuck,” Kai puts his two cents in, and the urge to punch him is strong. He can be an annoying motherfucker, but I don’t usually want to hurt him.
What the fuck is going on? And when will this party be over?
Needing a reprieve, I make myself comfortable in our cabana, lying back on a lounge chair farthest from the pool. Then I adjust my position, making sure the obnoxious half-naked mermaid sculpture—that Jack insisted on buying—blocks my view.
As the afternoon sun peaks, the conversation turns to Christmas, with our cousin Roxy reminding everyone it’s her turn to host our annual Boxing Day celebration. Excitement fills the air but I’m not feeling it, despite usually being all in for this tradition.
I’m sure once we all grow the fuck up—and some of us have kids—it’ll fizzle out, but for now, it’s the only celebration Jack and I get. We spend Christmas day together if one of us isn’t working, and we always exchange gifts, but it’s not the big deal it was when we were kids. When our parents were around.
And I love Christmas.
I tried hard to keep our personal traditions going for the first few years after we lost Mum and Dad, but when Jack made it clear he didn’t want that, I gave up the fight.
“The drinks will be flowing and the food will be five star,” Roxy announces, changing things up from our usual BBQ and beer. “I’m going for a Hawaiian theme, so you better be ready for fruity cocktails and seafood galore. And Santa. Christmas wouldn’t be the same if we didn’t have photos on Santa’s lap. A more traditional one than last year. Thanks, Kai.”
Kai raises his beer in the air. “Anytime. You all loved it.”
Every year, the girls hire some gorgeous model to be Santa, and he always happens to forget his shirt, turning up in an openjacket. But last year, it was Kai’s turn to host and Santa was replaced with Mrs. Claus. The late twenties version. And God, was she smoking hot.
Someone wolf whistles and I lean forward, turning toward the sound, finding Jack laughing while Jenna smiles uncomfortably beside him. She forces a giggle at something he says before jumping up and heading inside, returning with a full bottle of vodka in hand—and no glasses. My stomach knots as she whispers to Jack, a lopsided grin lighting up his face.
And it pisses me off.Can’t he see that something’s wrong?She’s clearly upset, and I’m going to go out on a limb and say she’s about to drink herself stupid because of it.
After spending the next hournotwatching Jack and Jenna knock back shots directly from the bottle, I jump up, needing to escape.
Jenna’s not my problem, and Jack’s a grown-ass man—he can take care of himself. I don’t need to worry about either of them.
And I’m not. I’m fine.
The second I leave the lounge chair, Roxy pounces on it, poking her tongue out when I raise an eyebrow in question. “What? You haven’t moved for hours,” she whines, “and Kai’s got the other one. Stevie and I need to sit down.”
“Good luck with that.” I chuckle, gesturing to Kai asleep on the lounge. That guy can sleep anywhere, and he worked the night shift last night. He’s not budging.
