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I pointed to Mitchell, and my mother frowned.
“You threw me under the bus! Dude!”
“Payback from the comment earlier about the Smurf,” I whispered.
Mitchell’s mouth opened. “That was Steed who said it! Not me!”
“You brought it up,” I stated.
“Mitchell, please tell me you didn’t?” Corina gasped.
Trying to hold back his laughter, he replied, “I did.”
Our mother walked up and glared at Mitchell.
“If Mitchell thought this was such an important thing to get you, then you should open it. Now.”
Mitchell, Corina, and Steed all shouted at once, “No!”
Of course, this piqued my mother’s curiosity and made me want to throw the damn thing into the pool. Nothing good was going to come from this gift, I knew it.
My eyes darted to where Maebh was standing. Jonathon had walked into the room and at some point, she had taken Liberty from him and was holding her. My heart nearly stopped at the sight of her holding my niece. I had no fucking clue why it made my palms sweat and my legs feel like Jell-O.
“Open it, Cord,” my mother insisted.
Snapping my gaze to my mother, I said, “Huh?”
Gesturing toward the gift, my mother said, “Open it so we can all see what it is.”
I searched for my father frantically. When I found him sitting in a chair drinking scotch, I begged him with my eyes to make his wife come to her senses. All the bastard did was lift his glass and flash his dimples. The same ones I had inherited.
Turning casually to make it look like I was going to sit on the love seat, I asked Mitchell, “What the fuck is it? Some kind of Smurf?”
His hands scrubbed down his face. “I wish. It’s a joke that was meant for you to open alone. Not in front of everyone and especially not in front of your girl.”
“Oh hell.” I shot him a dirty look. “She’s not my girl!”
His eyes pleaded. “Dude, don’t open it. You’ll kick my ass after you open it in front of everyone.”
We both turned and sat on the love seat. We barely fit on the damn thing. Each of us was over six feet tall and built about the same, so we were shoulder to shoulder.
“What do I do?” I whispered, the entire room staring at me.
“Are we late?” Tripp asked, walking into the living room holding Harley’s hand.
“Nope!” Waylynn answered. “Cord was just about to open up a gift Mitchell snuck in.”
Tripp’s eyes widened, and he shook his head. I was beginning to think all my brothers were in on this little gag gift.
“What the fuck is everyone staring at Cord and Mitchell for?” Trevor said, and Amelia and Paxton slapped him upside his head.
“The kids!” Paxton said.
Chloe jumped up and was about to repeat it when Waylynn put her hand over Chloe’s mouth and all we heard was Chloe’s muffled voice singing a string of curse words.
Our mother walked closer. “Cord’s about to open Mitchell’s gift.”
Trevor lost it laughing. “Um, Mom, I’m pretty sure you don’t want him opening it with Chloe in the room.”
Yep. All of my dirty rotten brothers were in on it. They would pay, and pay dearly, for this shit.
“I can take Chloe out of the room, if you like?” Maebh offered.
A chorus of male voices said, “Yes!”
This made my mother’s eye twitch.
“No. Chloe stays and Maebh stays. Now open the damn gift, Cord.”
Mitchell groaned. “Mom! Why are you making such a big deal out of this? It’s just a gag gift. It was a joke. You weren’t even supposed to see me give it to him.” His eyes shot to Chloe who had busted us with the gift. When she grinned, I knew that kid had ninety-nine-point-nine percent Parker blood flowing through her.
“Do I open it?” I asked Mitchell in a barely-there voice.
“Yes, but just say it’s a T-shirt and don’t turn it around.”
I groaned. Quickly ripping the wrapping paper off, I opened the box and widened my eyes as I read the T-shirt.
“What in the f—”
“Cord!” several voices shouted to stop me from swearing.
I stared down at the T-shirt that read…
My head jerked toward Mitchell.
“What’s it say?” Chloe asked, a smirk on her face. The little shit knew it was something she wasn’t supposed to see.
“Yes, let’s see this gag gift,” my mother stated.
“Mom, for the love of all things good, no,” I said.
She grabbed the T-shirt and held it in front of her. She didn’t read it out loud, thank God, but the way she was holding it, Maebh could see it. I was sure of it.
Balling it up, she shook her head. “Inside joke, I take it?”
I shrugged and acted like I didn’t know, but I did. One of Mitchell’s friends said he’d overheard some girl at the bar say I had a golden dick after I fucked her.
