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“Is Marybeth here?” Danny asked, releasing her hand.
“That bitch is dead to me,” Darrin said, his glare intensifying on her with each word.
“Uh huh, that’s nice,” Danny mumbled absently as he released her hand. “I’ll be right back,” he said, pressing a kiss to the top of her head and heading off towards the small hallway to the left of the stairs before she could come up with a reason to go with him and she desperately wanted to come up with a reason to go with him.
“O-okay,” she said, swallowing nervously as the men’s eyes narrowed dangerously on her.
She looked over at Jason and Trevor for help only to find their smiles gone and their eyes just as narrowed as their cousins’. Aidan released her to join his cousins and brothers in their glaring party, leaving her to step back until her back hit the wall and she realized that she had no where else to go.
“So, umm, big family, huh?” she mumbled, shooting a glance towards the door, towards freedom. Maybe if she moved really fast she could-
“What are your intentions towards our brother?”
Chapter 23
“You’re late,” Kenzie said, smiling hugely as she reached up and threw her arms around his neck, yanking him down to give him a bear hug that would put his brothers’ sad attempts to shame. “I missed you.”
Closing his eyes, he returned his sister’s hug and chuckled. “You saw me last week.”
“It was a short visit,” she pointed out as she released her hold on him and headed back towards the kitchen.
“I had somewhere to be,” he lied, rubbing the back of his neck as he followed his sister.
“Sure you did,” she said, sending him a mischievous smile over her shoulder as she pushed the swinging door open.
He walked in, expecting to find his mother arranging large bowls and platters of food only to find his father standing in the middle of the kitchen with a large bowl of mashed potatoes in his arms. When his father’s gaze locked on Kenzie, he shot her that warm, sappy smile that belonged to his only baby girl. That smile quickly disappeared when he looked up and saw Danny standing in the kitchen. Jaw clenched firmly, he walked past Danny, pointedly looking straight ahead.
“I do so love these family dinners,” he muttered, rubbing his hands down his face.
“Why don’t you just tell Dad that you-”
“Don’t,” he said, dropping his hands by his sides, “Just don’t.”
“Sorry,” Kenzie said, giving him a small smile as she grabbed a large platter of fried chicken.
“Don’t worry about it,” he said, sighing heavily as he looked around the large kitchen. “Where’s Mom?”
“She spilled gravy on herself and had to go change,” she said with a shrug.
He gestured absently behind him. “I wanted her to meet Jodi.”
The smile on Kenzie’s face slowly turned to horror as his words registered. “You brought your girlfriend here?”
“Yes.”
“Where is she?” she demanded, shoving the platter of chicken in his hands.
“In the front hall with everyone,” he said, wondering what her problem was.
“You left her with our brothers? Are you out of your damn mind?” she demanded, shoving past him and making him realize what he’d just done.
He’d left Tinkerbelle alone….
With his cousins….
And his brothers….
Who all thought it was their job to look after him.
Shit.
He dropped the platter on the kitchen counter by the door and shoved past his sister at a dead run. He was halfway down the hallway when he realized the large foyer where he’d left Jodi with his brothers and asshole cousins was empty. By the time he’d reached the stairs the cries to stop had started.
“Please stop!” Tinkerbelle cried, sounding out of breath.
He was going to fucking kill them, he swore as he followed the sounds of her pleas. He couldn’t believe how stupid he’d been to leave her like that. He’d known better than to leave her with them, but he hadn’t been thinking. He hated coming here, hated seeing his father, hated the reminder that his father hadn’t spoken a word to him since the night before he’d run off to enlist, but most of all he hated the fact that his father looked at him as though he was a stranger.
“No, I can’t take anymore! Please stop!” Tinkerbelle cried, sobbing hysterically as he rounded the corner and ran down the hallway where he used to race his matchbox cars with his brothers late at night when their parents had gone to bed.
He ran down the hall, shoved the double doors to the family room open and decided then and there that he was definitely going to kill his brothers.
*-*-*-*
“Please, stop!” she cried, gasping for air as she tried to stop laughing, but she just couldn’t, not with all seven of Danny’s brothers shoving the most embarrassing pictures they could find of Danny in her face.
“Wait! I found the home videos!” Arik announced triumphantly as he held up a large stack of DVDs.
“You………Bastards!” Danny snarled as the photo album on her lap was suddenly yanked away.
“Oh, come on!” his brothers whined as Danny snatched the rest of the photo albums away from them.
“Betraying bastards,” he grumbled with a murderous glare aimed at his brothers as he slammed the photo albums down on the coffee table.
“Stop being an asshole,” Duncan said with a roll of his eyes as he reached down to-
“Ow!” he yelped as Danny grabbed his hand and with a simple twist of his wrist, dropped his brother to his knees.
“The next person that shows my girlfriend a picture of me wearing one of Mom’s bras is a dead man!” he snarled, using his hold on his brother’s hand to make his point.
“Let go, you bastard!” Duncan yelled, gasping in pain as Danny added a little more pressure to drive his point home.
She should be concerned about his brother, but……
“There’s a picture of you wearing a bra?” she asked, shooting a hopeful glance towards the pile of photo albums and wondering if it would be possible to get a copy blown up for her wall.
“Don’t even think about it,” he said, throwing her a menacing look that once upon a time would have cowed her, but now it just made her mumble under her breath and shake her head as she got to her feet and walked around him to find that picture for herself.
She heard a muttered curse and then she found herself pulled into Danny’s arms and his lips pressed against hers. “Be nice, Tinkerbelle, or I won’t show you my old tree house.”
