I should’ve been shocked, but nothing these two did surprised me anymore.
“I thought you’d last another month before letting her near us.” Ari shrugged, snapping off a piece of carrot and popping it in her mouth.
“Why wait? When you know, you know.” I shrugged, catching all the women in my life off guard so much Mum dropped the tomato she’d been washing.
“And…and you know?” Mum asked curiously.
The silence that fell across the room was almost comical. They were all staring at me like I’d grown a second head. Deciding they’d already had their fun taunting me, meant I was about to make payback my bitch.
“We’ll see,” I offered with a wink before sliding off the stool, grabbing a beer from the fridge, and heading out onto the deck where Dad was manning the grill, leaving the women to untangle that one.
It was bloody freezing outside. The wind was whipping about and the heavy, dark clouds were rolling in. It didn’t seem to faze my nephews, who were tearing about the backyard like they’d spent the day downing red slushies.
Josh and Nathan were leaning against the railing, watching the mayhem while they nursed their beers and talked shit. When Jake went down, his cousins on his back, I expected them to be on their feet and heading in that direction instantly. Instead, they leant forward in their seats slightly but stayed still.
“Aren’t you supposed to be over there wrapping him in cotton wool?” I teased.
“Damn it, Luca! You scared the crap out of me,” Nathan complained as he stood up to shake my hand.
“They’re fine. We need to let them get a little bloodied and bruised while their helicopter mothers are distracted,” Josh confirmed as a defence.
All I could do was chuckle. He wasn’t wrong. I was just surprised he had the balls to do it. Ever since my sisters had brought them home, it’d been obvious they weren’t wearing the pants in the relationship. Izzy and Ari both had too big of a personality to take a back seat. But the men they’d chosen seemed to accept it without complaint. Thank God. And when I’d dished out the obligatory brotherly chat, the one that went,you hurt her, I hurt you, I thought they were going to piss themselves. Turns out though, my sisters had made the right choice. Their husbands doted on them and they were great dads.
“If she asks, I know nothing,” I told them. There was no way I was going down with them.
“Speaking of knowing nothing, have a nice time in Melbourne?” Josh asked with a grin plastered across his pale face.
“It was fine. Why?”
“How was your fancy party?” Josh added.
Both were acting weird as hell. “Same as always. Fancy finger food, a lot of golf talk, compulsory monkey suits and too much booze.” I shrugged.
“And the women?” Josh wriggled his eyebrows.
“Yeah they were there too. The wives seem to get grabby hands after they’ve had a couple of glasses of red.” I shrugged, remembering the silver-haired lady who’d pinched my arse every time she passed by. And by every time, I mean I think she deliberately headed in our direction on her way to the bar every fifteen minutes.
“And how ‘bout you? Did you happen to get handsy after a couple of glasses of red?” Nathan asked, smirking.
“Okay. What the hell are you two on about?” The sooner they got to the point the better.
“Should we tell him?”
“If he kicks your arse, Josh, I’m not pulling him off,” a voice came from behind me.
Spinning around, I found Hunter standing in the doorway, a bottle of water in his hand and Sienna tucked under his arm.
Glaring at Josh, I waited. He didn’t flinch.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Sienna huffed before digging her phone from her pocket.
“Daddy! Mummy said a bad word,” Princess Phoebe dobbed, stepping out onto the deck and looking up at Hunter.
Over her head, I saw Sienna roll her eyes. I doubted this was the first time she’d been caught saying something she shouldn’t in front of her very nosy three-year-old who mimicked everything she said.
Dropping to his knees, Hunter said, “I know, sweetheart. How about Daddy punishes Mummy later?”
“Okay,” she agreed happily before bouncing down the steps and heading out onto the grass where her cousins were wrestling.
