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“I’m not embarrassed,” he defends, attempting to fix his wavy hair. All three of us take after our mom. Dark wavy hairwith light eyes against warm ivory skin. We all look like copy and paste versions of her with only slight differences. I have the bluest eyes, while Kanyon’s lean more towards gray, and Rayne has green mixed in. He gives me a better hug, wrapping his arms around me and lifting me until my feet are off the ground.
“We’ve missed you, Ryn,” he says. He sticks his tongue out at Isla. “You too, Lala.” He turns his gaze towards Baylor, eyeing him up and down slowly, before he sticks his hand out, his face set in a serious expression. “Hi, I’m Kanyon.” His tone, posture, and attitude completely different from the way he spoke to me and Isla just now.
Baylor nods, gripping my little brother’s hand firmly and giving it a good shake. “Baylor Levine. It’s nice to meet you.” He gives Kanyon his full attention, holding his gaze even when Kanyon glares at him.
“I know who you are. You’re trying to fuck my sister.”
My mouth drops open as I yell his name, covering Rayne’s ears with my hands even though it’s far too late and she’s already giggling just as much as Isla and the guys are. Baylor sputters, not knowing what to say, but I can tell he wants to laugh.
“What?” Kanyon defends. “Rayne told me he let you drive his truck. Guys don’t let girls drive their trucks unless they’re trying to get in their pants.”
“He’s got a good point,” Beau points out, not at all helpfully.
Baylor goes to respond and I hush him before he says anything. “He’s a child,” I remind him, not wanting him to snark back that he got in my pants way before he ever let me borrow his truck.
Baylor gives me an exasperated look. “I’m not an idiot. Just let me talk to him for a minute.”
“What a good idea!” my grandma calls from the doorway between the kitchen and the living room. I have no idea when she even got there or how much of that whole thing she heard.“Why don’t you help Kanyon deliver these for me, Baylor?” She lifts baskets of cookies.
I arch a brow at her which she conveniently misses. Thought they missed doing it with me all this time, now I’m chopped liver.
Kanyon clears his throat, looking over the other guys and standing taller. “Wells should come with us too.”
Isla and I trade looks and both have to turn away from him so he doesn’t see our reactions. He really is growing up too fast. He shouldn't feel like he has to protect not only me, but even Isla. I’m torn between pride for the man he’s becoming, and guilt that he’s growing up too fast.
My grandma beams at him. “What a good idea.”
Wells looks to Isla for help but when she just shrugs he smiles, walking up to Kanyon and sticking his hand out. “It’s nice to meet you, Kanyon. Isla and Tor talk a lot about you. I’m Wells Davis.”
Kanyon perks up. “They do?”
All of the guys nod and Baylor says, “We’ve heard you’re a pretty phenomenal football player. You can tell us about your season so far while we go run those?”
Just like that, Kanyon drops the tough guy act and his grin stretches over his face, making his dimples pop. My grandma hands Wells the cookies and Baylor leans down to whisper in my ear, “See? No need to stress. I’ve got this.” His lips brush over my ear as he pulls away and a shiver races down my spine. He gives me that feeling more often than not nowadays. But I’m thankful for his willingness to entertain my little brother who wants to grow up too fast.
After they walk out the door, I introduce Rayne to James and Beau. They both instantly win her over when they compliment how pretty she is and how nice her dress is. Apparently, both my siblings are easy to win over.
“Quick, while they’re gone,” my grandma calls, “tell me everything I need to know about those two handsome boys that just left.”
Beau and James trade matching maniacal smiles and I’m not even going to try. “First of all,” Beau starts, “let it be known, I have way better abs than either of those two.” Just like that she’s got both boys on her hook and they follow her into the kitchen without protest. A moment later I hear her ooing about his abs.
I run my fingers through Rayne’s hair, trying my best to detangle it. “Come on, my little ray of sunshine. Let those boys help Grandma in the kitchen. How about you tell me and Isla all about your dance and tumbling classes?”
By the time Kanyon is back with Baylor and Wells, the three of them are thick as thieves, my grandma is very well contemplating how to start her own harem of hockey players, and Rayne has regaled Isla and I with stories about all the things she’s learning and promised to show us her back walkover after dinner.
I finish braiding her hair and she bounces up from her seat between my legs and runs over to Kanyon to show it to him. He kisses the top of her head. “It looks beautiful, dew drop.”
My grandma calls us all for dinner and I stand to help her set everything out, but the guys wave me off and Baylor pushes me toward the table. Kanyon, Rayne, Isla, and I all watch with wide eyes as they push my grandma out of the kitchen and towards a chair with promises that they’ve got it handled. Beau and James are even in my grandma’s favorite frilly aprons. I really hope Baylor snags a photo of them like that. I know he has his polaroid somewhere around here.
We sit at the table and I focus on my grandma as her eyes get misty. She reaches out and grabs mine and Isla’s hands with hers. “I’m so glad you girls have found men like them. Friends like that become family.”
Isla’s eyes swell with emotion and even my chest feels full in a way that it hasn’t in a very long time. We could all use a little more family. “They’re good people,” she promises and my grandma gives our hands another squeeze.
The guys set out all the food and sit to join us. Baylor sits at my side, the pink polaroid camera in his hand, because of course it is. When he sees me eyeing it he winks. “I had to get one of them in their aprons,” he explains.
“I wasn’t going to let you come home with us if you didn’t,” I respond.
He smirks and I just know they did something while we were all out here. “We got plenty of new material to decorate your room,” he promises. I should be worried. Somehow, I’m mostly just excited to see what new ways he has planned to fuck with me.
