“Good. I don’t want to share you all week,” I said with a growl and kissed his neck.
“Nope. That’s it. You two are saying gross stuff in front of my tacos. Out,” Shannon said as she waved her hands at us.
“But, I didn't say—”
“You’re a bad liar. Out,” she insisted, her small body pushing Silas and me out the door.
“Come on, husband, your sisters were asking me to retrieve you anyway,” Silas said, taking my hand and pulling me toward the living room.
The chatter around us was insanely loud as we walked into the room. With three women from Philadelphia, a brood of Southerners, and a single random dude from Florida, it felt nearly as chaotic as backstage on a Monday night, but that wasn’t the thing that stuck out to me. What caught my eye was Evan’s obnoxious ass sitting next to my middle sister, Heather, making eyes at her.
Without a second thought, I walked straight over to where he sat and smacked the back of his head.Hard.
“Ouch! What the hell, Kincaid?!” Evan rubbed his bleached-blond hair, glaring at me. “I’m a guest! I’m a celebrated member of the wedding party!”
“You’re an annoying housefly,” I countered, sitting next to him. “Stop looking at my sister like she’s a target.”
“I’m a man of culture, Cal. I appreciate the Donovan wit,” Evan said, though he shifted a few inches out of my reach. He rolled his eyes, but I didn’t miss theway they drifted right back toward Heather a moment later. Heather, thankfully, was oblivious. Her attention was locked on Lena, who was in the middle of telling my sisters the exclusive version of how she found out Silas and I had been seeing each other.
“When the hell am I going to meet your other brother, Si? I feel like every time I come down, he’s never here. He’s a myth. Like Bigfoot, or a wrestler who doesn’t have knee problems,” Evan said, ignoring my glare.
“You never see him because you always come in the summer when he’s at a soccer camp. He’s enjoying his last couple of years of freedom,” Silas told him, draping his arm on the back of the couch behind me.
“Is he going to be the one Reed that breaks out of the cycle? Maybe become an accountant? A florist? Something with a lower chance of a broken neck?”
Silas let out a dry, short laugh. It was a sound that carried a lot of weight, the kind of laugh that said: a Reed son being anything but a wrestler was a nice dream, but a dream nonetheless. Looking around the room, seeing the twins and the younger boys, I realized they were never really given a choice. The squared-circle was their inheritance.
“Nope! That’ll be me, because I’m going to be a firefighter,” Colin said as he slid across the hardwood floor and planted his ass between me and Silas. “Taylor’s going to end up in jail for selling vapes to freshmen, so I’m the only hope for the family name.”
Without missing a beat, Silas reached down and kicked Colin in the hip. “Shut up, Colin. I already told him to quit with that shit.” He leaned down, his voice dropping into his big-brother tone. “Do you seriously want Mav to know? Because Mav will kick your ass into next Tuesday, and your mom will hold the door open for him while he does it.”
Colin huffed, crossing his arms. “Whatever. You’re just covering for him so you don’t get bitched out for not being a good influence.”
“No, I’m covering for your ass, too.” Silas’s voice was terrifyingly calm while Evan and I shared an awkward look. “Do you want to do burpeesin the garage until you puke or pass out? Because that’s exactly what’ll happen if Dad finds out you knew and didn’t say anything. Don’t test me today, Col.”
“Alright, boys! Enough with the scary voices!” April’s voice cut through the tension as she clapped her hands together. “How are we celebrating this? I didn’t fly down here to talk about burpees.”
“Uh, we can do something here?” I suggested with a shrug.
“Nope, you two get no say. The grooms are being relieved of duty.” Evan stood up and stretched. “We’re going to the beach. The boardwalk. I want fries that have been fried in oil that hasn’t been changed since the nineties.”
Silas groaned, his head hitting the back of the couch. “Evan, no. That’s like an hour from here with the bridge traffic, and it’s going to be hellish. It’s hot, it’s crowded, and people will recognize us.”
I chuckled at his misery. It was ironic how our entire job description was to be in front of crowds, yet Silas hated driving in North Carolina traffic.
“Don’t care. The Donovan ladies deserve to try the donuts on the boardwalk,” Evan insisted. “It’s a rite of passage. If you don’t eat a Britt’s donut, you haven’tactuallybeen to North Carolina.”
“Oh! I could use some sun!” Sarah added as she leaned on Lena’s shoulder. “I’m Philly-pale. My skin is practically translucent.”
“Can we come, too?!” the twins shouted, rounding the corner and nearly flying over the back of the couch.
Within seconds, the room had exploded into debates about carpools and sunscreen. Silas looked completely overwhelmed, while I just leaned back and sighed, watching the chaos with a small smile. As long as I got to take him home at the end of the night, the traffic could be as hellish as it wanted to be.
“Fine. But if I get a sunburn Evan, I’m drowning you in the ocean.”
“Promise?” Evan winked.
I stood up, pulling Silas with me. “Alright, let’s go. Before I change my mind and lock the gate.”
