Maybe… justmaybe, this might actually work.
“I missed you so much.Not having my eyes on you these past eight hours wastorture,” Ras whispered in my ear, distracting me as his fingers traced lazy, hypnotic circles along my back. “You in red? A whole damn vision. My heart and dick are tingling with joy.”
Why does this man know just what to say?
If I closed my eyes, I could almost lose myself in the sensation and forget about the sibling war erupting across my office.
“Nov, you just don’t get it,” Calix said from the couch, sprawled out like he owned the place, his arms flung over the backrest. “Everything’s been restoredandupgraded. We don’t need your extra men.”
His right knee bounced, the only tell that he was irritated.
Nova stood over him, finger in his face. “Are you lazy or juststupid? You can’t rely on magic alone. What would Mom say if she heard this crap coming out of your mouth?!”
That hit a nerve.
Calix snapped upright, glaring at her like she was dirt on his shoe. “Don’t youdarebring my mother into this!” I mean, she wasourmom too, but I wasn't about to add that little tidbit to this fight.
On the other side of me, Van closed his eyes and sighed. Yep, he regretted waking up today. Alic and Maso stayed by the door, stone-faced like they’d predicted this whole meltdown. Lucus watched from the corner next to the bottle of booze, an amused smile splashed across his face, his eyes ping-ponging between them. It made me glad, seeing all four of them unfazed by my siblings. If they could handle them, then they could handle the rest of my family… hopefully.
With Calix and Nova’s voices rising, I decided I’d had enough of the drama.
“All right, all right! Let’s cut the foreplay. I’ve got actual work to do.”
Their heads snapped toward me, horror lining their faces like I’d just performed a satanic puppet show in front of Grandpa.
“What thefuckis wrong with you?”
“Why do you have to be sogross?”
I gave them a wide, toothy smile as Calix scrunched his face like he’d bitten a lemon.
“Why does everything you say have to gothere?” he groaned. “Why do you have to take it tothatlevel?”
Nova backed away from him, arms crossed. “Him? Ofallthe incest options available, you think I’d choosehim? Come on, Aniyah. I thought you knew me better.”
Calix reeled back, eyes wide, offended on every level. “Incest?! Really, Nova?! And what the hell doesthatmean? I’m afucking stud! You’d beluckyto have someone like me!”
She gave him a slow once-over, expression flat. “Eh.”
He flailed a hand at her, mouth open, turning to me with a betrayed look that screamedWhy? Why is this my life?
Resting my chin on my hands, I doubled down with a grin. “You know, there are some reallygoodtaboo books and porn with this exact setup.” Flinging my hands out like an exaggerated movie producer, I said, “Picture it! A lazy, hot-headed brother and rough-and-tumble, charismatic sister, always butting heads… until one day, all that bickering turns into somethingelse.”
I lifted my brows and waggled my fingers. “What do you think? Sexy, right?”
“You’resick. Sick in thehead,” Calix spat, collapsing back into the couch with all the flair of a man defeated.
Nova was fighting back laughter, her lips twitching. I smiled wider. Nova was the one that always got me and my humor.
“Well, different strokes for different folks,” I chirped, clapping my hands. Time to steer the chaos back on track. “Anyway. I actually agree with both of you to an extent.”
I turned to Calix. “I trust your system. It’s saved the building already, and I’m sure the upgrades will help.”
He mumbled, “Couldn’t doallthe ones I wanted,” while glaring daggers at Van.
Van’s exhale told me this was a well-worn argument. “Boss Winstale, there was no universe where Boss Glovefox was getting an ejector button installed in her chair.”
Wait—what?
