AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I needed a little more data. Not much, because the scenario practically wrote itself. Trina got asked out by a boy, told Coop because she needed his help with something, and all Coop heard was some older kid was sniffing around his sister. Jake also had sisters.
They had threatened the guys who’d apparently been interested in me and warned them off. It was no great leap to think they would do the same if not more for Trina.
“He’s a nice guy. He’s a lot of fun.” Trina shifted from one foot to the other and shot looks to where Ian and Archie were both doing their best impressions of watching without staring. They did not have sisters, so it was always kind of funny to watch them around Jake’s three and Coop’s one.
Guys? No sweat.
Younger girls? Yeah, they weren’t so smooth then.
Well, honestly, Archie seemed twitchier than Ian, but after everything I’d been learning about his family? I totally got that. Would siblings have made his life easier? Or harder?
He could withstand his parents, but it had definitely affected him. The last few weeks had given me a front row to how much he would do and how far he would go to protect me. If he’d had to look after siblings against his parents?
I almost shuddered at the thought.
“Look, Trina,” I said, sliding off the sofa and ignoring Archie’s grumblings as I pulled away. “C’mon, let’s talk. Just you and me.”
“Yeah…wait, what?” Coop demanded. “Why just you and her?”
“Because you have dangly bits,” I informed him with a flick of my finger to the tip of his nose. “And this is girl stuff.”
Jake snickered, but Trina’s dour face brightened. “Where?”
“My room,” I told her. “And the boys will stay out here.”
“No problem,” Ian said.
“Yeah, dangly bits stay out here.” Trina marched ahead of me, and Coop groaned.
“Did you have to use that term?”
I shrugged. “I happen to like your dangly bits.” Luck and the fact he was on my splinted side saved me from retaliation. I cut a look to where Trina had gone, then eyed him. “Did you really threaten that boy?”
“Jake did,” Coop said, sticking with the story.
“Yep,” Jake volunteered. “I have three sisters, I told him Trina was almost a sister to me, too. We didn’t like boys who do stupid things with our sisters. So he should consider his options before asking her out.”
I rolled my eyes to stare at the ceiling.
“Did you tell him he couldn’t ask her out?”
“Nope.” Arms folded, Coop wasn’t even a little bit sorry. “But he’s not using my sister to score points.”
Period.
The firmness to his jaw and the flash of guilt in his eyes were all the confirmation I needed. “Okay.” I pressed a kiss to his cheek. “You guys figure out food? I’ll talk to her.”
“Thanks,” he murmured, then just before I hit my bedroom door, he called, “But don’t promise we’ll double-date with them ’cause I’ll just be planning how to break his legs.”
Trina stared at me from where she sat on the foot of my bed, and I was fairly certain we wore the exact same expression.
Boys.
“I hate my brother.”
“No you don’t.”
“Well, sometimes I don’t like him very much.”
