“Is our reputation that we’re the gayest bunch on the block?” I asked.
“It should be,” Mom muttered. “We’ve collected gay, bi, and pan, so all we need to do is adopt a lesbian and trans kid so we’ve got the full set.”
“Mother, we are not Pokemon,” I said with a mock gasp.
“Oh, can I be Charmander?” Ollie asked.
“God, what the fuck did I walk into?” Cor asked as he poked his head in.
“Come back to the kitchen, babe,” Felix called. “It’s safer there.”
A laugh exploded from me. “I call Sylveon if we’re picking Pokemon.”
“Squirtle here.” Aislin waggled her eyebrows.
“Ugh, I’m heading back to the kitchen too,” Mom said. “The food’s all done, so come snag a plate, you heathens.”
“Mother, oh how you speak to your children,” I called in my Victorian waif voice. It was my latest kick to drive my family nuts, and it was working exceptionally. Mom shook her head as she ducked into the kitchen.
“Are there even any cinnamon rolls left?” I asked, arching a brow.
“Aislin helped make them, so probably not,” Ollie teased.
“You shit,” she said, giving him a lazy shove in the side. “I only had one.”
“If they’re up for grabs, I’m not missing out,” Declan said, somehow already up from the sofa and striding out of the room. Ollie and Liam pivoted on their heels to follow him, and Noah swept in to try to catch up with his boyfriend.
Aislin shot me a look. “I’m in no rush since I already snagged one, but I’d hup two. We’ve almost doubled in number with everyone all coupled up.”
“Just you and me, the slutty twosome,” I said.
Aislin blanched. “Don’t ever call us that again, Ror. And also, don’t lump me in with you. I might have fun playing the field, but my end goal is settling down.”
“Mmm, not me,” I said. “Too many giant cocks to discover.” Even as I made the normal jokes, they came out a bit flatter. Truth be told, for a while now, I’d been wondering what it’d be like to have something stable in my life.
Even truthier?
Maybe a little of the reason I’d avoided relationships was because no one had ever been able to put up with me for long.
The idea of falling for someone and finding out I was too much for them too? Yeah, I didn’t think I’d survive that blow at this age. Hurt bad enough when I was younger. Far easier to sail on the sea of hookups.
“C’mon, Rory,” Aislin said, hooking an arm through mine. “Let’s go see what’s left in the kitchen.”
“Crumbs, that’s what,” Cor said as he and Felix slipped past us with laden plates.
Not that I needed a cinnamon roll like the rest of my frenzied siblings. Honestly, the thing I loved the most about Sunday brunch wasn’t the food—it was the adrenaline rush of being around my family. This much chaos was what I thrived on, what lit up my synapsesin the best way, and I’d coast on the energy the rest of the week until I got my next hit.
Ais and I walked into the kitchen, where the weekly massacre had occurred. My dad was a damn good cook, though, and each one of us lived for these meals. We contributed if it was a dinner or breakfast, whether by bringing alcohol or a side, but my dad stubbornly wanted to do the major dishes—because he preferred his takes.
“There’s some breakfast casserole still,” Mom said, gesturing to the half-eaten tray.
I snagged a plate and cut myself off a hunk. “You know how much I like meat.”
“Gross.” Aislin let go of my arm to give me a shove. We might be in our twenties and thirties, but within minutes of being in this house, it was like we were all kids again. Maybe growing up in a big family, with siblings who were now close to their mid-thirties, was one of the reasons Wyatt’s age didn’t even register. That and older guys were hot. I’d been fucked by guys at the club who were in their late forties, so thirty-seven was young in comparison.
Dad swept past me with a full plate, and Mom followed. Declan fretted over pieces of bacon—because with him, sizedidmatter—while Noah hung beside him, patient as anything.
“C’mon, Ror,” Aislin said, snagging some fruit and bypassing Declan’s bacon crisis to grab a few pieces. “You can fill me in on all your lurid client stories.”
