by Tammi Lynn
“Yeah, and you know Cade can’t sleep without you, Beautiful.” That earns him a slap upside the head from Cade and an “Aww” from Mariah.
I’m shocked I don’t even know what to say, and I just kinda gawk at them until Mel leans in and speaks quietly against my ear. “If I lick him, I get to keep him right?” I look where her eyes are pointed expecting her to be looking at Cade, because frankly he’s sexy on a stick and what she would normally go for, but she’s looking at Jesse. Oh fuck no, to either of them. Jesse catches us looking and gives us both a wink. The flirt. I’m going to hurt him, he’s only fueling Mel’s crazy.
“Mel this is not like when we were kids and you’d lick my ice cream or sucker so you could steal it. You’re tongue touches him and I’ll cut it off.” I growl. Okay, of course I won’t cut it off, but hope she bites it when I knock her out for touching him.
“Oh come on baby sis. I licked you and I get to keep you.” There’s that crazy glint in her eyes.
Shit. “Don’t even think about it.”
“But I love you so much.” She scoots closer.
Not giving her a chance to reach me I stand and run, swerving around the guys and down the hall. It’s no use, like it never has been. I let out a girly scream before the air is knocked out of me and my big sister has me pinned beneath her on the hallway carpet. She always catches me. “Don’t do it Mel.”
She has my wrists pinned above my head and leans forward. I start to shake my head violently but it’s no use. Her wet tongue slides up my cheek and she starts to immediately blow it dry so I can’t wipe it off. Ugh! Gross! Mel and my brother, Michael, always had a blast of catching me down the hall and tying me up just to see if I could get free. I always did, but it was this action that was always Mel’s favorite, licking anything of mine and taking it. Everyone has that crazy sister right?
She rolls off me and looking up I can see both Cade and Jesse at the other end of the hallway, laughing. Jesse’s bent in half with his arms around his waist and Cade’s trying very hard to keep the cheeser off his face. “You guys suck.” I don’t get up when Mel does, I stay right there on the floor and stare at the ceiling. A moment later and Cade’s gorgeous face comes into view and he’s holding his hand down for me.
“Let me help you up, Baby Girl.” I take his hand and he pulls me up.
Hugging around his waist he holds me close. “You’re really here.”
“We are.”
“Where did Jesse go?” I peek around Cade’s shoulder but no longer see Jesse.
“Your sister grabbed him and walked off, something about some stories she wanted to tell him. I kinda want to hear those myself.” I groan into his chest and I can feel it rumbling with laughter against me.
“Shit.” I need to plot some sister revenge. I wonder where mom keeps her old photo albums?
“Come on, let’s go join the others Baby Girl, I want to meet all of your family.”
A sly grin forms on my face. “Just be lucky that my brother Mikey isn’t here. You’d be in for a sit down.” Big brother always has my back and can get a little overprotective, even when I probably needed more protection from my own thoughts and feelings these past years. “But wait, let me wash my face off real quick.” He follows me into the bathroom as I wash my face and watches me through the reflection of the mirror. I can’t believe they’re here. They knew I was worried about the trip and came to be with me.
“Give me a kiss.” When I’ve dried my cheek, he pulls me back into him and placing a hand at the back of my neck he kisses me.
“Oooh Auntie has a boyfriend!”
Katie’s voice chimed. “Auntie has four boyfriends just like I’m going to have, Nana said.” Christ. Please don’t let Mariah be the owner of my voodoo doll.
We hadn’t even noticed my niece and nephew come into the hall by the bathroom door. “Didn’t I hear your moms tell you guys to go to bed a little while ago?”
“Yeah but they can’t hear us from in the living room.” She places a hand sassily on her hip and looks me straight in the eye. My five year old niece is daring me not to tell on them. You’d think she was Mel’s daughter and not Mariah’s.
“How about this, if you promise not to think about having more than one boyfriend, say till you’re like twenty, then I won’t tell that you guys haven’t gone to bed yet.” I mimic her pose.
“Deal.” She places her little hand in mine and we shake on it. Then she pushes me and Cade from the bathroom doorway and shuts herself in.
Patting my nephew, Davy’s head I take Cade’s hand and lead him back into the living room. When we get there I want to walk right back out. They’re all laughing and Mel can barely spit out her story between gasps of air.
Jesse looks up and sees us. “Beautiful! Come sit by me, they were just telling me stories about how they used to tickle you till you peed your pants.” I sigh because this isn’t even worth fucking fighting.
“Mel!” I sit next to Jesse on the couch and pull Cade down onto my other side.
“What? It was funny.”
“Yeah, for you guys.” I used to hate when they’d do that, but secretly loved the attention. Being the baby I was always following them around and wanted to be wherever they were. I looked up to them.
∞∞∞
My five day visit went super fast but they were some of the best days. I loved hanging out with my family with Jesse and Cade by my side. I also called Roman and Jayson every night... may have sent them a video but we’ll keep that to ourselves. We played games with the kids and card games with just us adults. Yep, we even played Spoons and this time Jesse got knocked out of his chair by Mariah. I told them my family was brutal in the game of Spoons. I took them to all of my favorite hang outs and hole in the wall restaurants like Wings Express in Mesa or Amado’s and their real tacos, I mean I had to let Jesse taste what real Mexican food tasted like.
My favorite time though? We’d stopped at a coffee shop and I’d mentioned sort of in passing that I’d been on a date there. We didn’t make it to the counter before Cade was carrying me out of it with Jesse looking amused as fuck.
Last night was New Years Eve, Miklos’ Birthday and I called him at least three times. It was the first birthday I didn’t have him for. It was hard but I have to learn to share him more now, I guess. It was important to Miklo so it’s important to me. I’m just happy Dre is playing a more prominent role in his life, he needs his dad. We didn’t go out partying or anything, I took them to The Hole In The Rock over by the Phoenix Zoo to show them the city lights at night and caught some fireworks going off as well. When the hour stroke midnight we were back at the house with my family toasting in the new year, the adults with champagne and the kids with sparkling apple cider. I’d gotten these really sparkly new years hats and like the good sport he was, Jesse put his on immediately. Cade? I had to follow him around the house trying to get it on his head before promising to try anything he wanted in bed. Probably shouldn’t have made that bet because then the jerk took it immediately. It was like he’d been waiting. Now, I’m waiting to see what he plans..
Currently, we are on our way to pick Miklo up from his dads and head to the airport. Our seats are scattered but all of our tickets are for the same flight. My sisters and their families all left early this morning so my mom is the one driving. When we pull up to Dre’s fathers house I get out and leave the sliding door of the van open. “Stay right here guys, I’ll be right back.” I already called Miklo when we left the house so he should have everything ready to go by now.
I knock and don’t have to wait long for Dre to answer. “Hey Mia, Happy New Year.” He looks behind me with an annoyed look at the van parked on the street. “Looks like you brought company.” Jesse who was in the backseat with me is now sitting on the edge where the back door opens and Cade’s looking out the open front passenger window.
“Look Dre, can you please just get Miklo for me? We need to get to the airport.”
“Right here Mom. Love
you Dad, I’ll see you in a month for the game.” Miklo appears and gives his dad a hug and then runs out to put his luggage in the van and climb in the very back seat.
“Alright Dre, we gotta go but call me when it gets closer to Miklo coming for the game so I can get the information on his flight.” I state semi-distracted because I was so excited to get home.
I turned to walk back to the van when his hand reaches out and grabs my arm, right above where the bruise he gave me before that’s now almost faded and gone was. He isn’t holding me tight this time but my body tenses knowing how it must look to the guys “Wait! Mia. Please.”
“Let go, Dre.” I tug my arm feeling annoyed.
He doesn’t and that is when shit goes to hell.
“Get your fucking hands off of her!” I hear pounding steps behind me, then the sound of a door open and close, and I hold my breath, knowing this was going to be bad
Chapter Five
Should’ve Made Her A Cage
Jesse
When I saw him grab her arm I lost it. I’ve never been a fighter, usually keeping everything to jokes and laughs, but I want to hurt him. A red haze of rage takes over and I’m at them seconds later from jumping out of the van, pulling her into me and pushing Dre away. “Keep your hands off her. Don’t ever fucking touch her again.” I growl as I step between them, looking back Cade has reached us and he pulls her back, against his chest and holds her there.
“Jesse, no it’s fine.” Mia’s eyes are wide as she watches me with concern.
“It’s not fine, Beautiful. He has no reason to put his hands on what’s ours.”
Dre gets a wicked look in his eyes and a sneer appears on his face. “I knew it. I knew you were fucking all of them.”
“Watch it, Asshole.” Cade’s deep voice sounds behind me and I know he’s seconds away from losing it too. I’m actually surprised at his restraint right now.
“Guys, let’s just go.”
“Yeah, Mia, go back to the whorehouse, I always knew you were a slut.”
No conscious thought, no warning, my fist hits his face hard and he flies back into the doorframe. I grab his shirt and lift him back into a standing position. “Don’t ever say her name again unless its with some fucking respect you piece of shit. Be the dad Miklo deserves, but leave Mia the fuck alone, try out being a god damn parent.” I drop him when I feel delicate hands on my waist pulling me back.
“Come on, Jesse. Let’s go home.” I turn and start walking back to the van with her. I was worried she’d be crying but she’s not. She’s so much stronger now since when we first met her. Was it only around five or more months ago? It feels like we’ve known them forever.
“Thank you, Jesse.” Momma Mary says to me as I climb back in. I give her a nod and a small smile in return.
When I get buckled in I turn to Miklo in the row behind me. “Sorry about that Lil Man.”
“It’s alright, he had one coming to him.” Well damn, he almost sounds like he wanted to do it. I examined his expression and saw that there was hurt in his eyes and I wondered just what the relationship between the two of them was like. I can’t imagine it was easy spending almost no time with his dad and then suddenly being in his house for a week.
“We’re cool?”
“We’re cool.” He gives me a fist bump over the seat and I pull Mia into me when she gets buckled in. I would have expected her to be tense but instead she just tucked herself into my side and refused to look at Dre, who was yelling from the steps of his home.
∞∞∞
Because of bad weather in Washington our plane was delayed a few hours and we didn’t end up landing until eleven o’clock. I enjoyed our visit and getting to meet everyone, there's just nothing like being home. I knew Mia’s sisters gave her shit but it was so obvious how much they loved her. All of her family did and it was even cooler how accepting and fun they were. Still, I was thrilled to be home. Jayson and Rome both greet us all when we walk out and I realize I probably won’t get to be close to Mia for a little while. She’ll be a Jay and Rome sandwich for the next few days, neither of them wanting to let her go after being apart. It’s surreal getting to see them as in love with her as I am, and loved back. There’s no question how Cade feels, when we were deciding who would go to Arizona we only discussed the second person, knowing Cade already filled the first spot. I wasn’t lying, the asshole really didn’t sleep without her. Like she probably doesn’t even realize how bad it was.
When we get home it’s after midnight and we all head over to Mia’s.
“I’ll see you guys in the morning, I’m going to bed.”
“Night Bubbs, love you, see you in the morning.”
“Goodnight, Lil Man.”
He gives his mom a hug and takes his luggage back to his room and shuts the door. She looks around at all of us standing around her. “So, are you all staying the night?” Oh, she's going to love this, I want to tell her right now.
“Come on Sweetheart, we have a surprise for you, one last gift.” Jayson takes her hand and leads her to her bedroom door.”
Immediately, her face breaks out into a gorgeous smile.
“No freakin’ way! I love it! How did you guys even get it in here? It’s so big!” She starts hopping up and down and then runs into the room to jump on the bed. Her new extra large king sized bed that Rome and Jayson made special for her. We had been getting the pieces carved and put together now for the past few weeks, the mattress and bedding had been delivered while we were gone.
“We built it for you, Angel. It’s going to be a bitch to move into the big house later on though.” Roman exclaims
“Should’ve made her a cage, that way our little bird can’t fly away ever again.” I look over at her, spreading her arms and legs out as far as she can on the bed, seeing if she can reach each end, she can't. I don’t want to ever be without her, even the thought hurts.
She blushes. “Well I love it! Now we can all sleep here comfortably. Wait, did you say move it into the big house? I don’t get to keep it?” There’s that pout we’re all a sucker for, her bottom lip dropped unintentionally.
“He means when we convince you to move into our house with us, Baby Girl.” Cade walks to the bed and starts undressing to his boxers, and we all start to do the same, but she stays still in the middle of the bed. Shocked. Her eyes jumping between the four of us and her cheeks turning a bit pink.
I can tell she’s about to have a bit of a panic attack, it’s a little too much too fast for her and apparently Rome notices too. “So Angel, that video you sent? How about we get a live showing?” That takes her mind off of it, her arms going around her waist as a coy smile flickers onto her lips
And now I’m hard again. Ever since she had me record that short little video of her pleasuring herself for the guys I’ve been hard every time I’ve thought about it. We tried to keep the sex down to a minimum at her moms house, it was an uncomfortable flight thats for sure. All I have been wanting to do is sink inside of her, completely.
“Raincheck?” raising her brow at us she strips down to her bra and panties before climbing under the covers in the center of the bed. Tease. I am actually tired too and take a spot on the edge of the bed letting Rome lay next to her.
“Lucky for us rainy days are often here.” I grin before falling asleep.
∞∞∞
“Jesse! Wake up and hurry! I need your help!”
It’s been about three weeks since the holidays, and I’ve been very busy. Rome and I won the bid on that old Inn remodel, but since it was a few hours away we’ve been taking turns being boss and driving back and forth a few days at a time. I got in late last night and crawled into my own bed so I wouldn’t wake the others.
“What’s wrong, Beautiful?” Blinking up at her I smile. She’s wearing our clothes, sweats that hang on her hips with the tie tied tight, and a Duck’s hoodie. Her hair is actually tame for once, she must have straightened it. God I could wake up to her every morning.
“A what? And how did he get in?”
“A raccoon, and he must have come through the cat door. He’s on the fridge with the cookies in his little thieving hands. I went to go get some ice cream and about had a heart attack. He growled, or hissed at me or something. Jesse! Come on!”
Shit, those fuckers can get mean. “Okay, I’m getting up.” I stand up and put on a pair of jeans and a flannel. Slipping my feet into my boots I follow her out of our house and into hers.
I can hear crashing noises coming from the open doorway. “You left the door open?”
“I was hoping he’d follow me out.” She’s walking behind me and gripping onto my shirt using me as a personal shield. Honestly, it was fucking adorable and I loved getting to be the strong man in front.
“Fuck he’s huge! How did he even get up there?” Probably the fattest raccoon I’ve ever seen is sitting on top of her fridge with the cupboards open. He has a cookie in each hand and there’s packages all over the tiled floor. “Where’s your broom?”
“Don’t hurt him.” She goes and gets the broom from a closet and brings it to me.
“I won’t hurt him, I’m just going to scoot him off.” I take the wide end of the broom and try to get it close to the fat little guy and he goes nuts, swiping and hissing at it. Mia jumps up on the kitchen island and I move farther to the side so he won’t land near me. With one swift push I slide him off the fridge. I swear the thing tried to turn mid air and come for me so I jumped up onto the counter with Mia.
“Where’d he go?!” We hear a crashing noise and then the sound of the cat door swinging violently back and forth. Silence follows before we both start laughing. She barely gasps out, “You screamed like a girl.”
