I glanced at Blake, shaking my head minutely so she didn’t open her mouth and blow it by letting it out of the bag that she was actually the one who broke the window by tackling Mav.
“Boys will be boys,” Pop muttered, eating the fried chicken Ma had made for us.
We were back at my parents’ house, and the food that she intended for us was now off limits until Mav was cleaned up.
And Jeff.
“My jaw really hurts,” he whined.
Ma spun and glared at him. “Do you have glass sticking out of your body?”
“No,” he muttered.
“Then you don’t have anything to complain about.”
Mav glared at me when Ma started to tear off his shirt. No, this was not the way any man wanted to be cleaned up. It should be by his wife, and only his wife. But Mav was practically her son, and right now, there was no getting between her and the man she’d nearly raised.
I smirked, laughing at the way he turned bright red when Ma’s hand started cleaning him up.
“You should really check Blake also,” Mav grinned, dumping my fiancée right in the middle of it.
My anger went lethal.
“What? Why do I need to check on Blake? Was she standing near the window?” Ma asked, suddenly very concerned about my woman.
“Not standing near so much as?—”
“Because she’s pregnant,” I cut in, shooting Mav a dangerous look. “And he’s worried the stress is bad for the baby.”
“Well, that and the fact that she tackled me through the window,” Mav smirked.
Pop chuckled where he sat eating his chicken. “So, a woman took you out.” His eyes flicked to mine. “She’s a pistol. I’d sleep with a gun under your pillow.”
Blake rolled her eyes at his words. “I was trying to break up a fight. They were acting like a bunch of neanderthals!”
“So, you shoved me through a window?” Mav grinned, eating up the way this was all going his way.
“I didn’t know we were that close!”
“Didn’t your father ever teach you to act like a lady?”
“No,” Blake retorted. “I grew up with five brothers. They taught me how to fight and how to defend myself. There was no such thing as going easy on anyone when I was growing up.”
“The point is, you shouldn’t have started shit,” Mav snapped.
“I didn’t. Jeff came at me!”
Pop laughed again. “Jeff always did think he could take on anyone.”
“Way to be on my side, Pop,” Jeff muttered.
“Simple facts, son. You’re smaller than the rest of them.”
“Not smaller. Leaner, okay? Leaner! I still have plenty of muscle, and I know how to fight. Just because I don’t look like the Hulk on steroids or lift five hundred pounds with my pinky finger doesn’t mean I’m weak.”
Ma clucked her tongue at me. It was never good when she was quiet. Something bad was always coming down the pipe when she got like this.
“I can’t believe you would take a swing at your brother,” she said quietly.
