“How about you come to the game on Saturday night, and then we go out with the team and then leave together?”
“That isn’t a soft launch,” I tell him, grabbing a piece of asparagus. “That’s a hard fucking launch.”
“So we hard launch it.” He shrugs his shoulder.
“My brother,” I mumble.
“I’ll handle your brother,” he assures me, and I look up from my plate.
“Excuse me?” I ask him and he looks up at me.
“I said, I’ll handle him.”
“What does that even mean?” I ask him.
“After we eat, we’re going to go and get dressed, and we’ll go and see your brother.” I stare at him in shock. “We’re going to do this once and for all. Lay our cards on the table.”
“Rip it off like a Band-Aid,” I tell him and he smirks.
“Sure,” he says, finishing what he’s eating. We get up and I put back on the clothes I was wearing when I got here, and he puts on a pair of joggers as we head to Jaxon’s house.
We get out of the car and my nerves start to fly through me. “Maybe we don’t do this?” I put my hand on his stomach, and he bends to kiss me.
“It’ll be fine,” he reassures me as he reaches out and rings the bell.
“I don’t ring. I usually just walk in,” I mumble.
“With me you ring, without me you do what you want.”
“Wow, there are rules for everything with you,” I grumble as the door opens and Jaxon stands there looking at us.
“What are you two doing here?” His eyes go from me to Zane’s and then back to mine.
“We came to talk.” I walk in and look over my shoulder. “You come in with me.”
He follows me in as I follow Jaxon to the living room, where Ariella is sitting with Jagger reading a book. “You came back,” she says and then looks over my shoulder at Zane and her eyes widen as she gets up.
“Zane and I—” I start to say.
“There is no Zane and you.” Jaxon’s voice gets tight.
I ignore him and what he just said, slipping my hand in Zane’s. “We’re dating.”
“Oh my,” Ariella mumbles.
“Interesting,” Jaxon says. “Are you going to tell Mom and Dad?”
“Did you tell Mom and Dad when you knocked up Ariella?” I glare at him.
“Oh,” Ariella notes, “that’s a good one.”
“Ari,” Jaxon grits her name with his teeth clenched.
“What? It was a good comeback.” She throws up her hands. “If you say something I like, I’ll say, ‘Ohh good one, Jaxon.’” She smiles at him. “I’m Switzerland.”
“You aren’t Switzerland,” Jaxon points at her, “you’re on my side.”
“I don’t know how I feel about that,” she mumbles, “especially for this.” She points to him and then to Zane and me.
