“That’s it. You’re done,” Arch growls. Vee lets out a small squeak when Arch plucks her right out of her chair before tossing her over his shoulder. “I’ll have her to you in the morning.”
“Thanks?” I say as he goes to carry her off. My brother Ben pushes back from his chair. Thankfully Jason is up before I can even try to say anything. He quickly grabs my brother before he can go for Arch. That wouldn’t be good.
“Ben, she’s fine,” I try to reassure him.
I glance down to the other end of the table and see my other brother Kane is gone now. I was sure he was about to jump up too if he saw Ben do it. Vee is pretty much a little sister to them too. So their overprotective nature extends to her as well.
“You sure?” He gives me a skeptical look.
“I promise.” Ben shakes his head.
“I’m going to head out. I’ll see you all tomorrow.” He pulls me in for a hug and kisses me on the top of my head. I almost burst with happiness when Ben grabs Jason and gives him a quick hug before he strolls out.
“I think we can go now.” I glance around the almost empty table. Where the hell is everyone disappearing to? My dad has even wandered off at this point.
“I think you’re right.” Jason scoops me up into his arms and carries me back toward his room. He pauses when we’re about to pass his office and hear a familiar laugh coming from inside.
He puts me on my feet before he pushes the door open a tiny amount to see what’s going on in there. My mouth falls open when I see my dad kissing Jason’s mom Julie. It’s not some small peck either. They are full-on making out. I grab Jason’s hand and slowly pull the door back closed. I really shouldn’t be surprised. I’ve caught my dad staring at Julie a few times now.
Go, I mouth to Jason. He picks me up again and doesn't stop until he drops me down onto our bed.
“Your dad was kissing my mom.”
“That a problem?”
His brows pull together for a moment like he’s thinking it over. “No.” He actually smiles. I’ve never seen my dad date, but I don’t doubt he'll be a good man to any woman. I’m sure Jason is thinking that too.
I get to my knees, going for Jason’s belt. “You want to practice for our wedding night?” I tease.
“There is nothing to practice, babe. Everything you do to me is perfect.”
Epilogue
Jason
Many years later
“Daddy!” my oldest daughter Izzy squeals, almost dropping the pool stick in her hand after she sinks a ball. No one points out it’s the eight ball. “Did you see?” Her whole face lights up, reminding me so much of her mom.
“You’re getting it,” I encourage her.
Dave picks up the step stool she’s using and moves it so she can take another shot. She’d talked him into teaching her how to play. We are killing some time. Olivia passed out cold in our room. It’s Saturday, and we’re all at the clubhouse today.
We spend a lot of Saturdays here. The girls love running around, and we always have big barbecues with bonfires out back. This place goes from a clubhouse to a daycare on the weekend. I love every second of it.
Before Olivia, this place hadn’t felt like home, and I wasn’t always happy to hang out here. Running a clubhouse wasn’t what I envisioned myself doing with my life. It had been my father’s dream, not mine. It never felt like the right fit for me. That’s all changed.
The men and women who stayed after I’d made some changes actually feel like my brothers and sisters now. We stick together, and I have no problem sticking my neck out for any of them, knowing that they would do the same for me and mine.
Even Olivia’s brothers belong to the club now, as crazy as that sounds. I’m damn proud of this place. We still throw a wild party here every now and then on Friday nights. Olivia, Pink, and Vee tend to be the ring leaders of those. I think Olivia putting her stamp on this place helped with me making it my own.
“You don’t want to learn how to play?” I ask Mickey. She scrunches her tiny nose, looking up from her coloring book. She just turned four.
She and Izzy are Irish twins. They’ll both be four together for the next month before Izzy turns five. They might be close in age, but their personalities are night and day from each other. Izzy is a tomboy where Mickey is a girly girl. Except when it comes to mining for gold, but that’s only because she has a bit of an obsession with gold. It’s shiny, and jewelry is made from it so she is more than willing to get her hands dirty to go out and get some.