“I promise, I want to listen. If she worked that hard on an argument, then it wouldn’t be fair if I didn’t at least listen to it, right?”
“See!” came a triumphant, younger feminine voice in the background. “I told you she’d want to hear my ideas.”
Laughter burst out of me, and I nearly sprayed coffee as Tiddles gave me a disgruntled look. I couldn’t help it. Particularly when Hank sighed. It was such an aggrieved sigh that I had to giggle. Coop shot me an amused look as he strolled through the living room. With a wink, he vanished around the corner, and the bathroom door closed on him.
“Chloe,” Hank said in a very patient voice. “Go on back out and play. I’ll talk to Frankie and…”
“But they’re my arguments,” the young voice protested, and I swore I melted. “I should get to make them. And it’s not fair ’cause you’ve already gotten to meet her. She needs a reason to meet me.”
No I didn’t.
He sighed.
“I don’t mind if she wants to present her own arguments,” I said quietly. “I actually think I’d enjoy it.”
“Fair,” Hank said slowly. “All right, Chloe, close the door and come here. Frankie, you’re on speaker… Frankie, this is Chloe. Chloe, say hello to Frankie, and be polite.”
“Are you going to tell her to say hello to me?” The scandalized, yet imperious voice had my lips twitching. Trina had done that. So did Jake’s sisters. Not as much as they used to, but it was still adorable. Maybe it was a sibling thing.
My heart wrenched. I had a sibling.
Siblings.
“Of course, I’ll say hello,” I answered before Hank could. “I’m really looking forward to meeting you.”
“You are?” Uncertainty flickered in those two syllables.
“Yes,” I assured her. “I know this is probably a lot for you, and I’ve never had siblings before so I wasn’t sure how to do this.”
“I have siblings…well, I have brothers.” The sheer level of disgust there pulled another laugh from me. “It’s not that hard.”
“Chloe,” Hank warned, and I wanted to tell him it was okay, but that precocious little beauty did it for me.
“She gets it, Dad, let me talk. You get it, right, Frankie?”
“Well, not exactly. But since I have you, I think you can help me with brothers. I’ve never had those either.” The closest would be Coop, and even at our tightest, he’d never been a brother. He’d been my best friend. He was still my best friend, but we weren’t fraternal.
A little shudder went through me at the few days of coping with the notion that Archie might be my brother.
Nope.
“I can tell you all about brothers.” The world-weary and wise sigh there.
“I can’t wait.”
I really couldn’t.
“But tell me your argument now. I have to hear it. I love a good argument.”
“Awesome.” She damn near glowed through the phone, and I took a sip of my coffee as she launched into her reasoning why we needed to meet via video call first. The number one reason?
We were sisters.
I loved her already.
I ended up talking to Chloe and, by extension, Hank for nearly an hour. Jake brought me fresh coffee when I finished mine, and I ended up curled up in his lap as the guys migrated out to the living room. It didn’t take long for them to figure out Chloe’s campaign, and they seemed to enjoy listening to her as much as I did.
Once I was off the phone though, I found all of them studying me. “Come on, Angel,” Ian said before anyone else could say anything. “Let’s go feed you. Then we can talk plans. We have time before the appointment with Erin.”
Excitement and nervousness vied for my focus as I let him pull me to my feet and out of Jake’s lap. “You guys are awesome for going.”
“Yeah,” Archie said without a trace of humbleness. “I know I am, not sure what their excuse is.” Then he hooked an arm around my shoulder and slid me away from Ian. I was laughing as I stuffed my feet into a pair of flip-flops, and then we were out.
A part of me wanted to take the Tesla, but Jake angled for his SUV first and that was fair. Coop slid into the backseat with me and Archie, while leaving the front passenger for Ian.
“What is up with you guys?” I glanced from one to the other as Jake smirked at me over his shoulder.
“You screamed a lot last night, Baby Girl.”
“And?” I refused to be embarrassed. It was hardly the first time one or more of them had made me scream. Apparently, I was noisy. Fine. I could own it.
“Some of us had to get it thirdhand,” Archie griped as he slid his fingers through mine and tilted his head back. “’Cause some people are assholes.”
Ian groaned. “You didn’t.”
“Oh,” Coop said with a laugh as he rubbed my thigh. “He did.”
“Jacob Benton.” I growled his name, and he glanced at me so utterly unrepentant. I kind of wanted to punch him.
“Baby Girl, when you’re louder than the music, it requires the rest of us manning up. Bubba now leads in most orgasms in a row, and that record cannot stand.”
Oh. My. God.
Okay, now I wanted to cover my face with my hands, but the assholes in the backseat captured them and wouldn’t let them go.
“It’s fine,” Archie soothed. “Totally fine, babe. Trust me. Balls deep in that perfect pink pussy, and I’d be damn proud of all those screams too, but it just means we have to up our game and let me just say…challenge fucking accepted.”
“I hate you all.”
“Nah,” Coop teased and kissed me behind my ear.
