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“Thanks. Me too,” I answer and get to my sister.
She’s not a woman who cries, yet tears roll down her face.
“Goddamn you. You little shit.” She sniffles, leaning down and throwing her arms around my neck. “I ought to kick your ass into next week.”
“You really are turning into Mom,” I tease her, hugging her back.
“Oh, fuck you.” She laughs, slowly releasing me and wiping the tears from under her eyes.
My sister is loud and outspoken. She takes no shit from anyone, and she runs her own business with pride. But she also isn’t someone who cries much. Yet I know I must have scared her because of how soaked her face is with tears.
Her eyes float to Briar, who walks up to Rossi’s wife and introduces herself. “She must be the girl Mom told us all about.” She smiles. “Sounds like quite a woman.”
I watch her talk to Rossi and his wife, her eyes lighting up from whatever he said. “She sure is.”
Rubbing my arm, my sister looks from Briar to me. “I’m happy for you, baby brother. Truly.”
“Thanks,” I whisper just as Briar turns, her stare catching mine, and my chest warms.
I’m not naive enough to think everything is going to be perfect. For the rest of my life, I’ll miss Cami, and I’ll mourn our baby girl. But I have to believe that they had something to do with the angel that came into my life. So, I’m going to love that girl like there’s no tomorrow because I know better than anyone that tomorrow is never promised.
“Ready to go home, baby?” my mom says, leaning down.
“I thought you’d never ask.” I sigh. “Let’s go.”
“Are you sure your brother will be okay with this?” Hudson mutters nervously as we walk down the sidewalk and toward the café where we are meeting Poppy and Walker for lunch. “I mean … I’m older than you. And not by, like, a year or two. But by nine years. That means when you were in first grade, I was in fucking high school. That’s kind of weird, isn’t it?” He continues to ramble. “You were having juice boxes and going out to recess, and I was about to get my driver’s license and sneaking girls under the bleachers between classes.”
I stop in my tracks, widening my eyes. “Wow. Nine years? Really? You are old as hell. No wonder why your balls are so saggy,” I tease him, poking his side, knowing damn well his balls are not saggy but somehow incredibly perfect. Which is something I never thought I’d say about a set of nuts.
“Oh, yeah?” He runs his fingers over his chin thoughtfully. “If they are so saggy and old, why were you so fierce to lick them that day in Italy?” he drawls, giving me a tiny grin.
“Maybe I just have a thing for decrepit old balls.” I shrug. “That can be a thing, you know.”
“Yeah, I bet.” He rolls his eyes. “I’m serious. Is Walker going to be a little bitch about this? Because I gotta be honest, if he’s pissed, I’m not even gonna fight back.” He shrugs his shoulders. “I mean, one punch couldn’t hurt. It’s been two fucking weeks, and I feel pretty good.”
“First off, there will be no punching. My brother isn’t going to care. He’s not one of those weird, protective brothers,” I answer point-blank. “And, two, one punch could hurt because you’re still healing, dumbass.” Taking his hand, I swing our arms together. “Now, let’s go. You decrepit old man with an old wiener and saggy nuts.”
Tugging me against him, he leans down, hovering his mouth over mine. “I’ll show you how not old my dick is and how firm my nuts are right now. Let’s go back to the truck.”
Giving him my sweetest, fakest smile, I kiss his cheek. “We could, but see, then you’d be going against doctor’s orders. And, yeah, as your designated nurse, we’re not going to do that.” I wink. “Now, come on, big guy. Let’s go see my brother and Poppy.”
“Knowing that you didn’t catch on sooner shows how much you do not pay attention to simple shit,” Poppy says to Walker, shaking her head at him. “Literally the first time I heard him talk about Briar, I knew right away that this whole thing”—she waves her hand between us—“was going on.” She laughs. “Well, that and, let’s see … the wallpaper on his phone was your sister. That either meant super stalker or they were a thing.”
Briar spins her head toward me. “Your background was me?” She puts her hands on her chest, batting her lashes. “I am quite flattered.”
“Yes. It was when you were in Italy and I was here,” I say nonchalantly, knowing it makes me look like a fucking stage-five clinger. “Don’t make it a big deal.”
“It is a big deal,” Poppy deadpans before she stomps her foot on Walker’s. “I wasn’t your background when you moved to South Carolina and I was back here in Georgia, asshole.”
“Maybe you were. How can you know for sure?” He smirks, winking at her.
“Well, was I?” she asks, raising a brow.
“Nah.” He shrugs. “I was too pissed at you for that. My background was the generic shit that came on my phone when I got it.”
“I can attest to that,” Briar says, raising her hand.
“So, like, when you came back to the United States and watched Poppy—” Walker starts to say, but Poppy interrupts him.
