“I believe you.” Although his tone made it clear he didn’t.
“It’s okay, Abby,” Matt said. “I’ll hit him for you.”
“Shouldn’t you be outside dealing with the trespassers setting up home on my property?”
There was a snort. “Absolutely, your highness. Watch me run off to do your bidding.”
“Poor bloody excuse for a cop. I’m not coming out until you go downstairs.” Flynn folded his arms and stared at the door. “Do you think I’m stupid enough to walk into a fist? I stopped falling for that crap when I was twelve. You never did fight fair, you big bastard.”
“And you never grew up,” Matt shouted. “Get out here.”
“Oh, for goodness’ sake.” Abby pushed her way to the door. “Matt, get downstairs. We need to get out of this room to deal with things.”
“Fine.” Heavy footsteps faded away.
Abby stared up at Flynn. Her stomach was on spin cycle. He put his hands on her shoulders and pulled her against him. His heat soaked into her and calmed her slightly. He felt familiar now. He felt like he was hers. She blinked the thought away. It was just as insane as the million other thoughts rushing around in her head.
“It’s going to be okay.” Flynn kissed her hair. He gave her one last squeeze before reaching behind her to open the door. Abby frowned when he moved her out of the way. “In case he faked us out,” he said.
“You’re both children,” Abby snapped.
Flynn turned the lock, opened the door and a fist hit him square on the jaw. Abby screamed.
“Bloody faker,” Flynn shouted at his older cousin. Then he launched at him.
“Sissy boy,” Matt shouted as he hit back.
Abby watched as the men fell to a tangle on the hall floor. They wrestled and grabbed, trying to get each other into a stranglehold. She blinked several times, unsure whether she was watching reality or a three-dimensional delusion brought on by an overstressed brain. As they tumbled away from her door, Abby stepped around them and headed down the stairs, leaving the idiots to duke it out on her landing.
With as much dignity as she could muster, Abby entered the kitchen. Four sets of eyes shot to her.
“Good morning.” She gave them what she hoped was a calm smile.
Before she could say anything else, Jena had her by the arm.
“I’m just gonna take your mom into the living room for a minute. Why don’t you tell your aunt all about the circus?” Jena hauled her out of the room.
As soon as they were in the living room, with the door firmly closed behind them, Jena spun on Abby. “You slept with Flynn?”
“I can’t think about that right now.” Abby sat on the couch. “I’ll schedule it for Tuesday.”
As though reminding her there were other more pressing issues, loud music started in the direction of Flynn’s place.
“What the hell?” Flynn shouted upstairs, which was followed by a loud thud.
“There are two grown men fighting in my house,” Abby said. “My mother wants to take my daughter. A camera crew is hounding me. I’m trying to start a new business. My daughter wants me to marry someone, anyone, so she can have a father. I just had sex for the first time in four and a half years. And instead of it being a private affair, I wake up to half of Invertary outside my bedroom door.”
“Yeah, when you put it like that, things don’t sound so great.” Jena gave her a sympathetic smile. “On the plus side, you had sex for the first time in four and a half years.” She grinned. “So you were busted by your family. It’s still a win. Go you!” She held up her hand for a high five.
Abby looked at the hand, looked at her friend’s smiling face and burst out laughing.
The two women held on to each other as they laughed hard.
As Abby wiped tears from her face, gasping for air, she caught sight of the open doorway. Bruised and bloody, Matt and Flynn stood glaring at the women. The sight of the men set the two of them off again. As the women clung to each other, Katy pushed her way between the men.
“Are they hysterigiggle?” Katy asked Flynn.
“I think your mother may have lost her mind,” Flynn said.