This Love (Cowboys & Angels 6)

Sighing, my mother tossed the T-shirt at me and shook her head. I’d never seen her look so disappointed in me. Or maybe it was Mitchell she was upset with. Either way, my mother was not happy, and it was our fault. My birthday was always the hardest for her since I shared it with my grandfather, her dad. When she stormed out of the room, dad slowly stood.

“Keep the jokes outside the house, boys. I need to go calm your mother down.”

We hung our heads. For the first time in my adult life, I hated that I’d slept with so many women, and worse yet, that I knew my mother knew. Trevor walked up and took the T-shirt. It took him a minute but then he started to laugh his ass off.

“Heck yeah!” He slipped it on and Mitchell jumped up and knocked him to the ground.

“What the fuck, dude!” Trevor cried out.

“Fight!” Chloe shouted before Paxton ushered her out of the room with Waylynn, Amelia, and Corina following.

“Get off me, you fucker!” Trevor shouted.

“Why would you put it on, you dickhead?” Mitchell shouted, trying to get the shirt off of Trevor and punching him in the stomach in the process; they weren’t hard punches by any means.

“Knock it off!” Tripp yelled as he pulled Mitchell off of Trevor.

Trevor jumped up and turned, only to give Maebh, who was still watching the whole scene play out, a chance to read the shirt. She quickly read it before she took a few steps back and plastered on a fake smile. I walked up to her, and she stiffened as I got closer.

“It’s a stupid joke, Maebh. That’s all.”

She shrugged. “I don’t mind. Makes no difference to me.”

And like that, she walked out of the room. I knew she’d heard rumors of my man-whoring ways. Hell, she’d even admitted to seeing me take women in the back of the bar, but for her to see that T-shirt did something to me. It was like we were bragging about all the women I’d fucked—and fucked—over the years. Maybe originally it was intended to be that way, but it was a joke only my brothers were supposed to know about. Certainly not my mother and Maebh.

This had officially become the worst fucking birthday of my life. Even worse than the one where Jenny Jonesman got her lip stuck on my braces when we kissed for the first time behind the school bleachers, and we had to walk to the nurse with our mouths locked together. Yeah, even worse than that.

“Why do you look so torn up, Cord?” Harley asked.

My hand pushed through my hair, and I was momentarily at a loss. Why was I so upset?

“Just upset my mother made us do that.”

“It’s a good thing you told Maebh you only wanted to be friends, huh? You might have scared her off, had you been trying to come on to her. You know. Kissing her and giving her the wrong idea and all that.”

Turning to my sister-in-law, I wanted to push her into another room and demand she tell me everything Maebh had told her. Clearly she’d told Harley about the kiss.

“What are you getting at, Harley?” I asked, agitation lacing my words.

She shook her head as she dragged me into the game room. Shutting the door, she glared. “How could you do that to Maebh?”

“Do what?” I asked, drawing my brows in and staring like she’d lost her damn mind.

“Cord! You kissed her. You told her you thought she was sexy while you pressed your damn dick against her, and then you left! You just left!”

“What the fuck is she telling you that for?”

She rolled her eyes. “Because I’m her friend. We were all at a spa day, and it came out that I’m pregnant, and then we thought Amelia was pregnant, and she said she wasn’t, and then Paxton got confused. She asked Maebh if she was pregnant, she laughed and said it was impossible for her to be pregnant. Then one thing led to another, and she said you kissed her.”

Harley took a breath and went on. “We demanded she tell us everything, and she did. You’re a complete ass, Cord.”

“Wait a minute, hold up with the name calling. Why is it impossible for her to get pregnant?”

I tried to ignore the way my chest ached at the thought of Maebh not being able to have kids. I wanted kids…someday. When I was ready to settle down and do that whole bullshit family thing.

Her eyes looked as if they were about to pop out of her head.

“With all that I just said, that is what stood out?”

“Can she not have kids?”

Harley rolled her eyes. “That’s her place to tell you, but I’m sure she can have kids.”

“Then why did she say she can’t.”