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“Fucking hell, Rex!” He jumps back from me, his hand flying to his pec, face contorted like he’s been hanging out in the lounge eating lemons instead of helping us the fuck out.
He’s even lost the suit jacket, his suspenders hanging loose around his hips.
“You know the rules.” I remind him on a shrug, the bickering getting more intense behind me.
“That fucking hurt. Hey! Cut it the fuck out!” He quickly diverts his attention from me to the fight about to break out when Mac saves a plate from hitting Fin in the face.
Assholes.
With a shake of my head, I wander through the house in search of my girl and my mother because the two of them together for this long can only lead to embarrassing childhood stories of me and Mac.
Not that I care all too much.
Aria already carries my soul in her smile.
I catch sight of that same smile when I lean into the open threshold to the back patio and find the two most important ladies in my life chatting over naked baby pictures and mimosas.
Ma talks of the time I flipped my thrift shop little tikes car over Mac’s head and we both ended up in the emergency room. They giggle as Ma flips to another picture of my brother and me covered in grass stains and mud from the fair she was able to afford to take us to one year.
As they banter and laugh at mine and my brother’s expense, I can’t help but feel completely content.
Like a weight is off of my shoulders and the colors of the world show a little bit brighter.
I guess love will do that to a man.
“Shit, how long have you been there?” Aria’s startled tone breaks through my daze, spreading my smile wide.
“Since before the little tikes story,” Ma answers with a grin, her hands steadying Aria’s frantic attempts to cover the super embarrassing photos spread across the coffee table between them.
“Oh …”
“Don’t mind me.” I gesture to the table. “I’m just admiring my Ma and my girl getting along.”
I see Aria’s not-so-subtle shiver at the same time I catch my Ma’s wink.
“I understood the assignment, baby.” She picks up another stack of polaroids from her side table. “Now tell me why my baby is here interrupting girl time when the rest of my children are inside working hard to clean up the mess we all made.”
It’s not a question, but a dismissal.
Damn.
Sighing, I hang my head. “But, Ma.”
“No but’s, baby. Just because you happened to be the one to finally bring a lovely girlfriend home doesn’t mean you get to skimp out on your responsibilities.” By the time she’s got all the words out, she’s pointing a stack of pics at me incredulously. “Get your ass moving.”
I lean over the back of Aria’s chair and plant a kiss on the top of her head. “Tough crowd,” I mutter to my girl, but Ma hears and throwsthe lookin my direction.
Themomlook.
You know, the one that says you better listen or I’m gonna light your ass up?
Yeah, that one.
I might be a grown-ass man with my own place and enough money to buy the entire block this house sits on plus some, but if you aren’t at least a little bit afraid of your ma then she’s not doing something right.
So instead of hauling my girl up from the chair and fucking her in the woods again like I want to, I settle for tipping her chin to me for a real kiss that makes her swoon.
Sealing my fate with a wink to Aria and a middle finger to my mother, who promptly follows my actions with a throw pillow tothe back of my head, I walk back into the house in search of my brothers.
