Page 221 of A Matter of Time

“I dare you to tell her she’s screeching.”

Rick tried to laugh but ended up whimpering.

“Jory,” Alex whined.

“Oh, come on. She’s your sister,” I reminded him.

“Yeah, but she loves you more than me.”

“Do you hear me?” she roared from the other room, obviously still torturing Jude.

“Ohmygod, just kill her,” Lance whispered, face down on the couch now. “Why did you guys let me sleep folded up like a pretzel? I think my spine is broken.”

We all heard Jude scream again before there was a crash and a bump.

“I bet she dumped him off the bed,” Alex said from where he was, still on the floor on the other side of the couch.

“I’m okay,” Jude called out to us.

“Asshole got the bed,” Rick whined. “He deserves what he gets.”

“There were two beds in there. Who got the other one?” I asked.

“Phillip Barnaby, get out from under that bed!” Aja ordered.

We all heard the howl of pain.

“Mystery solved,” Lance whispered.

“Where’s Rick?” she shouted as she came charging into the room.

He whimpered. “J, she’s gonna hurt me.”

“This is what comes of partying like rock stars.” I chuckled. “When you’re not.”

“Owww,” Alex whined.

“Where’s the ice bucket?” Aja yelled from across the room.

“J…” Rick trailed off.

I called to her gently, but loud enough that she could hear me.

Easily one of the most beautiful women I’d ever seen in my life, Aja Greene came striding across the room to me. “What?” she snapped out.

“How’re you this morning, my soon-to-be sister?” I smiled wide, looking up at the only other woman besides my work wife and best friend, Dylan Greer, that I could say I truly loved. In my life there had been my grandmother, Dylan, and now my brother’s soon-to-be wife. These were the women who meant the world to me. “You feel okay?”

Her sigh was deep as she passed Lance and slapped him as hard as she could on the ass. He cried like a baby.

“Yes, honey.” She stopped in front of me, shoving Rick up and moving him before she leaned down to give me a kiss. “I feel great.”

I lifted my head, and the kiss I received was featherlight on my forehead.

“Jory.” She smiled, hand sliding under my chin, over my jaw. “Come to my room really fast. I want you to meet my folks, and Dane’s people are there.”

Which meant that the Reid clan—Susan and Daniel Reid, Dane’s biological parents, and his siblings, two brothers and one sister—had arrived to attend the wedding.

“Okay,” I said, stifling a yawn and getting up.