Children of Vice (Children of Vice 1)

I nodded, moving to sit next to him. “I have no idea who they’re talking about.”

“Hmmm.” He glanced back at him. “Fgory, you hear her? She doesn’t know who you’re talking about.”

Elroy threw the beer on the ground, ready to jump. Cillian pushed him back. “Go cool off!”

“You just gonna let him disrespect me like that in our house—”

“Sorry.” Ethan kept pushing his buttons. “Was that not your name?”

“Cool off.” Cillian sneered at him again.

He ripped his arm away from him, turning back and marching toward the fences, kicking them as he went. I noticed a few others following after him. I was sure Ethan noticed too.

“Cillian Finnegan.” Cillian outstretched his hand. “Seeing as how introductions are needed.”

Ethan glanced at his hand then back at him, the bottle hovering over his lips. “Ethan Callahan,” he said and drank afterward, not shaking his hand. He nodded at me when he was done. “My wife, Ivy Callahan.”

“You don’t need to introduce her. Ivy’s family.” Shay walked out of the house, her hair pulled back into a ponytail, her square face and micro-thin brows even more pronounced. Rory came out dressed in short shorts, a plaid shirt around her waist, and a sweater tank. She hugged Pierce first, her brown eyes on me.

“I thought you said you had no more family?” Ethan asked again.

“I thought I answered this question.”

“Right.” He nodded to himself then looked at her. “She doesn’t know what you’re talking about.”

I snickered at that.

“Ivy, I know you’re upset,” Rory said in this weird, childlike voice. “About Pierce and I really loving each other—”

“I’ll honestly pay you to stop talking like that.” I cringed then looked at Pierce. “Are you really into that kind of voice shit? Dodged a bullet with that one.” I lifted the beer and tapped it over his.

“Oh, now that you married into money you think you’re better than us?” She put her hands on her hips. “You think you’re too good for your own family now?”

“Family?” I said and looked at Ethan, who grinned with the beer at his lips.

“She doesn’t know what you’re talking about.”

We both snickered.

Cillian tried to cut in. “Seeing as Ivy’s memory is on the short end, how about we all just enjoy—”

“She doesn’t know what we’re talking about?” Pierce spoke up and when he did I groaned, putting my head on Ethan’s shoulder, already knowing where this was going.

“Forgive him, for he knows not what he does,” I said just loud enough for everyone to hear and soft enough that I could still speak closely in his ear.

“Oh, pretend now, but seven years ago you were the one begging and crying about how you didn’t know how you were going to live without me. How no one understood you but me—”

“And I only ever think about having sex with you,” I said aloud, adding, “Oh my God, when I’m with you I see stars…yep, all of those were lines from Katharine Duong’s novel So What, I Faked It.” I spoke up to the rest of the observers, who’d spend the next decade making up shit to add to this story. “It’s a great novel, ladies, especially when you’re dealing with a micro.”

They couldn’t help it; all of them started to laugh and covered their mouths. Even Ethan snickered, glancing over at him.

“I thought you liked me jealous. You should have let him at least pretend.”

“You little—”

“SHUT UP!” Cillian finally broke his cool, hollering at them. “Goddamn, can I get a word in or are you two buffoons going to keep trying to make a psychopath feel something for you two?”

Psychopath. I’d been back here less than an hour and the label was already stuck back on my forehead.