Right, this guy doesn’t have his personal life as a priority anytime on the horizon. The reminder is good for me, otherwise the scene in front of me will begin to offer a slither of hope. How can I not be affected by Declan showing me his family-man persona, even if he has no idea that he seems to have it. He’s been nothing but, well, swoony since he got here.
Connor enters the house, interrupting our conversation, luckily.
“I’m done,” he declares.
He walks to the big chair opposite the sofa and flops onto it. “My head hurts.”
Declan and I look at one another, knowing the familiar feeling.
“It will for a little bit, but I already ordered pizza because carbs are your friend.” I know I should go harder on him, but I’m a softy when it comes to Connor.
“Drink more water. Just remember this feeling, because trust me, you never ever want to show up to practice or a game like this. You’re way too young to go down this road,” Declan conveys to him while he wraps his arm around Wyatt to pull him close in a snuggle. I’m not sure he even realizes what he’s doing, it appears so second nature to him.
Again, I shake off the thought, because he’s stated many times that he only does casual.
Connor crosses his arms and nestles deeper into the chair. “I know. I said I’m sorry, and it wasn’t me who brought the alcohol.”
“Hopefully you learned a lesson from this,” I add.
“Yeah,” Connor mumbles.
The sound of the front door opening and the dog running draws all our attention to Ford and Brielle entering the house. They’re home early.
“Hey,” Ford draws out while he sets their bags on the floor. He notices Wyatt sleeping, so keeps his voice low, and although he observes that Declan is here, he doesn’t seem bothered.
Brielle saunters behind him with her natural smile, and her eyes dance between Declan and me. That’s when I notice she’s confident with her theory about us that she presented to me a while ago, as her lips roll in to hide her smile from Ford before she takes a few steps in front of him.
“Has Wyatt been sleeping long?” she asks as she studies the scene and does her best to keep the jumping Labrador at bay from her growing belly.
“Half-hour. You guys are home early,” I say and stand up, nervously tucking my hands in the back pockets of my shorts.
“We left right after lunch and didn’t have any traffic. Looks like Wyatt made a new friend.” My brother’s eyes land on Declan again.
“Yeah, do enlighten us with your explanation on Wyatt’s new friend choice,” Connor remarks to completely mess with us.
My eyes snap to Connor with a disapproving look. “How about you go grab another water, huh? You know how this is going to go.” I indicate with my head that he should get out of here.
He groans but stalks out of the room, leaving his parents confused and looking curiously at me.
“We had a bit of a situation,” I begin, and Brielle instantly looks panicked, so I hold my hand up to calm her. “It’s fine, all fine. Connor got a little carried away with his friend quota for the evening, and it might have involved a little alcohol, but hey, he learned his lesson.”
“What?!” Ford looks furious.
Damn it, I knew the easy story wouldn’t work.
“I went to give Wyatt a bath, returned downstairs to find a party. Luckily Declan saved the night by ending it and making sure everyone got home safe.”
Ford swipes his hair with his hands, while Brielle’s head dips low.
“It was bound to happen. We were all his age once,” Declan attempts to comfort them.
“I’m so sorry.” Brielle seems mortified.
Ford glances off into the kitchen, and I can tell he is debating which talk to give. He lets out a breath and turns his attention to Declan. “Thanks, man, I owe you. I can imagine man-to-man worked better in that situation.”
“It’s no problem, you would have done the same.” Declan gently moves Wyatt out of his way.
“You guys didn’t call us?” Brielle wonders.
