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“Killian Donovan Byrne,” she warned.
“I’ll make him behave,” Declan called back, grinning like a fucking idiot. He grabbed me by the shoulders as I stood.
“Son, you must think I’m an idiot if you think I don’t know the things you say,” she replied. “Nolan left his notebook—”
“Nolan!” he yelled. It was my turn to laugh—yeah, I was going to live this shit up while I could.
“That’s where I left it?” Nolan chimed in, and Finn tipped back in his chair next to him, giggling. The absolute look of innocence on the kid’s face was impressive, but I knew better. Nolan acted innocent, but he was a devious little dramatic fuck under it all. I wouldn’t have put it past him to casually leave that fucking notebook out for Mom to see just to make Declan’s birthday party all the more interesting.
“I told you to burn the notebook!” Declan hollered.
“It’s for research!”
“Yeah, Dec, it’s for research,” I said all too happily.
“Do I want to know about the notebook?” Cade jogged over to join us.
“Depends on how you feel about kinky things and Raven.”
“The woman has no filter, and we belonged to the same adult club,” he said.
“Oh?” I raised a brow. Not what I expected. “What one?”
“Potentia. They have one in Chicago.”
“And in Olympia,” I murmured. I didn’t tell him that Genevieve and I belonged to the same fucking club. Why I still paid the yearly fee was beyond me. Did she know I still paid the fee? It wasn’t exactly like I could call her to ask.
Fuck, my mood was slipping.
Days. Fucking days were passing and nothing. It took every ounce of self-control I had not to storm over to our house, break down the goddamn door, and make her see fucking reason. This blocking me shit—yeah, I wasn’t going to stand for it for long.
It was one step forward, two steps back, and I wasn’t having it.
I pushed the thoughts aside the best I could. Declan deserved my full attention for his birthday party—I’d missed the last three after all. Spending the afternoon with my brothers, Raven, and Cade at Mom’s house was a much-needed distraction. I wrapped an arm around his shoulders and dragged him close.
“You’re lucky it’s your birthday,” I taunted, “or I’d kick your—”
“Finish that sentence, Killian,” Mom growled.
“Please, finish that sentence.” Declan laughed. “Watching her take you out would be a fantastic present.”
“I’ll just return the expensive ass drafting table I bought you and go toe-to-toe with Mom for you,” I said. “Man, you’re easy to please.”
“You got me a drafting table?” he asked.
“Yeah, you said you were going into the house designing business,” I answered flippantly. “Seems like a drafting table is needed.”
“But I could’ve just built one.”
“This one has all the gizmos… and jingle-jangle things—I don’t know! It was a nice one. The guy said it was the best one I could get you.”
“They’re expensive, Killian!” Declan protested because of course he would. The man didn’t know how to accept nice things. If he could build it, why bother buying it?
“Please,” I scoffed. “You have no idea how much chasing down crazy magical shits pays me. This is nothing. Take the gift, smile, and do great things.”
“Chasing down what?” he demanded, but I just grinned and shrugged. “One of these days I’m going to find out what exactly you do for your job.”
Head tipped back and hand to my chest, I fucking clung to Declan’s shoulder as I laughed so hard I couldn’t breathe. Finn and Lucas regaled us with the story about the time Declan got locked in the Brooklyn house with a horde of chickens. The way they told it was all wrong—I’d been there for that one—but their version was fucking funny as shit. Even Declan was grinning wide and enjoying their rendition.
