This Love

by Kelly Elliott

  Sighing, I kicked off me slippers and moved to the bed. Falling onto it, I closed me eyes and let me weary body give into the darkness.

  My parents’ house was filled with laughter. It warmed my heart to see my whole family.

  “Happy birthday, little bro!” Mitchell said, slapping the shit out of my back.

  Forcing a smile, I nodded. “Thanks.”

  “How’s it feel to be twenty-eight?” Steed asked.

  “Better than almost thirty,” I replied, giving him a wink.

  “I’m not thirty yet, you little bastard.”

  Chloe came bouncing into the living room with Gage walking behind her, keeping up with his big sister the best he could.

  “Uncle Cord!” she screamed, jumping into my arms.

  “Hey, squirt! I haven’t seen you in almost a whole week!”

  She flashed me a smile that would guarantee her anything she wanted.

  “Happy birthday! What do you want for a present?”

  I lifted my eyes in thought and waited a few seconds, making Chloe think I was contemplating hard.

  “I know what I want!”

  Her smile grew. “What?”

  Gage was pulling on my jeans, attempting to say my name. Reaching down, I scooped him up in my other arm.

  “A kiss! From a pretty girl.”

  Chloe blushed.

  “Good thing we have plenty of pretty girls around,” Waylynn said.

  As I looked up, my breath hitched at the sight of the prettiest girl of them all.

  “Maebh?”

  Chloe twisted in my arms to get a better look. “Wow! You’re super pretty!”

  I wanted to agree with Chloe. Maebh was beyond pretty. Every time I saw her I swore she looked more beautiful than the last.

  Maebh’s cheeks flushed, and she kept her eyes focused on Chloe and then dropped her gaze to Gage who quickly pushed to get down as he abandoned me and waddled over to Maebh.

  “Typical Parker man,” Paxton mused as Steed laughed.

  “Hey, my son knows a pretty girl when he sees one.”

  Maebh bent down and reached for Gage, lifting him up with a squeal and holding him so close, I was envious. The smile on the kid’s face said it all. The little lucky bastard was in Maebh’s arms and I was jealous. Jealous of my nephew who could barely walk and had spit running down the side of his mouth.

  “Hello, little lad. Aren’t you the most handsome boy I’ve ever seen. Oh, his eyes melt me heart.”

  Chloe faced me, her eyes wide. “Who is she? Is she a princess? She looks and talks like Merida from the movie. Where is she from?”

  “No, Chloe, Merida is Scottish. Why the hell do I know that?” I laughed and turned to Steed. “Typical Parker woman right here, always getting the Parker men wound up so tight they don’t know which way is up.”

  He rolled his eyes. “Tell me about it.”

  “Uncle Cord!” Chloe demanded.

  “Her name is Maebh. She’s from Ireland, and I’m not a hundred percent sure, but I don’t think she’s a princess, at least not the kind you’re thinking of.”

  Chloe looked back at her. “She sure looks like one.”

  Swallowing hard, I let my eyes drift over Maebh’s body. She was wearing a sundress that hugged her curves perfectly. It fell to the floor and covered almost every inch of that creamy skin, but the way her shoulders were exposed had my heart racing. She looked fucking breathtaking.

  “You might want to take a breath, little bro,” Steed said with a chuckle.

  Mitchell was on the other side of me. I turned away from Maebh and set Chloe down. “What, Mitchell?” I whispered. “Why the hell are you staring at me like that?”

  “Do you remember that day in the bar with Tripp? That day you told me I looked like a goddamn Smurf?”

  “Don’t even fucking say it, Mitchell,” I hissed in a low voice so Chloe or Gage didn’t hear me. Steed’s rumbling laugh came from behind me.

  “Dude, that pretty little thing over there has you so flat on your ass you can’t even get up. You know what this means? It means those blue balls are blue for more than one reason.”

  Steed clamped his hand on my shoulder and flashed a wide grin. “You’ve been Smurfed.”

  Pushing Steed away, I snapped, “Fuck off!”

  “Cord Michael Parker!” my mother shouted from the other side of the room. “Watch that mouth of yours!”

  “Sorry, Ma,” I said.

  I stared at Maebh for a moment before Amelia’s death look nearly knocked me over. Maebh grabbed Amelia’s arm and pulled her close. It was easy to read her lips as she laid into my baby sister.

  “Why didn’t you tell me your whole family was here?”

  Amelia grinned devilishly and shrugged.

  Wade walked up to us, wearing the same damn smile Amelia had plastered on her face.

  “You knew she was coming?” I said, my voice low and directed only to him.

  “Yep.”

  I rolled my eyes at how he popped his fucking p when he said that.

  “Why didn’t you warn me, you bastard?”

  Wade shrugged. “Because this way was a helluva lot more fun. You can’t pay enough money for a shit show like this.”

  “You’re dead to me, Wade. No longer a part of this family!”

  He punched me lightly on the arm. “Damn, I love this family.”

  I glared at my brother-in-law. “Did you tell Amelia anything I said?”

  Wade ignored me.

  My hands turned to fists, and I was about to knock him in the head when he turned to face me. “I didn’t have to say anything because Amelia told me Maebh likes you…a lot.”

  My heart jumped into my throat.

  “What?”

  He shook his head. “She did like you a lot, but she mentioned you acting like a prick and that Maebh was no longer interested.”

  “What?”

  Wade simply shrugged. “That’s all I know, bro.”

  Wade had been privy to my drunken confession after poker two nights ago when I admitted I was attracted to Maebh and had no fucking clue what to do about it. The bastard’s only advice was to talk to my father. I wasn’t about to do that. My mother already was trying to push me and Maebh together. Talking to my father would only add fuel to the fire.

  Maebh laughed at something Chloe said and my body jerked in response. What in the hell is going on with me? I wasn’t the one-lady type of guy. I liked women. Lots of women. Seven days a week of women. I couldn’t honestly see me settling down with just one.

  Or could I? If it was Maebh, I could.

  Maybe I no longer felt that way. Now it was only one woman who consumed my every waking and sleeping thoughts. Even thinking about getting laid by someone else made my stomach revolt. And I knew a lot of my problems were because I hadn’t gotten laid in weeks. Hell, not since the first time I laid eyes on her.

  Fuck. My. Life.

  “Here. I got you something,” Mitchell said, grinning from ear to ear.

  “You know the rules, no presents,” I replied, taking the box.

  Mitchell shrugged. “I know the rule, but I had to get it.”

  “Uncle Cord’s got a gift!” Chloe called out, and Mitchell’s smile fell.

  About that time, Corina walked into the room holding Merit and all the attention was diverted.

  “Thank fuck,” Mitchell whispered. “Do not…”

  My mother cut Mitchell off when she announced, “Cord, who is the gift from?” She looked around the room, ready to reprimand one of my siblings.

  Melanie Parker was a stickler when it came to following the rules. Or I should say, following her rules. Once we all hit eighteen there was no more gift exchanging. Christmas was the only time when gifts between siblings were allowed. Birthdays were meant to be celebrated with a family dinner and game night afterwards.

  I pointed to Mitchell, and my mother frowned.

  “You threw me under the bus! Dude!”

  “Payback
from the comment earlier about the Smurf,” I whispered.

  Mitchell’s mouth opened. “That was Steed who said it! Not me!”

  “You brought it up,” I stated.

  “Mitchell, please tell me you didn’t?” Corina gasped.

  Trying to hold back his laughter, he replied, “I did.”

  Our mother walked up and glared at Mitchell.

  “If Mitchell thought this was such an important thing to get you, then you should open it. Now.”

  Mitchell, Corina, and Steed all shouted at once, “No!”

  Of course, this piqued my mother’s curiosity and made me want to throw the damn thing into the pool. Nothing good was going to come from this gift, I knew it.

  My eyes darted to where Maebh was standing. Jonathon had walked into the room and at some point, she had taken Liberty from him and was holding her. My heart nearly stopped at the sight of her holding my niece. I had no fucking clue why it made my palms sweat and my legs feel like Jell-O.

  “Open it, Cord,” my mother insisted.

  Snapping my gaze to my mother, I said, “Huh?”

  Gesturing toward the gift, my mother said, “Open it so we can all see what it is.”

  I searched for my father frantically. When I found him sitting in a chair drinking scotch, I begged him with my eyes to make his wife come to her senses. All the bastard did was lift his glass and flash his dimples. The same ones I had inherited.

  Turning casually to make it look like I was going to sit on the love seat, I asked Mitchell, “What the fuck is it? Some kind of Smurf?”

  His hands scrubbed down his face. “I wish. It’s a joke that was meant for you to open alone. Not in front of everyone and especially not in front of your girl.”

  “Oh hell.” I shot him a dirty look. “She’s not my girl!”

  His eyes pleaded. “Dude, don’t open it. You’ll kick my ass after you open it in front of everyone.”

  We both turned and sat on the love seat. We barely fit on the damn thing. Each of us was over six feet tall and built about the same, so we were shoulder to shoulder.

  “What do I do?” I whispered, the entire room staring at me.

  “Are we late?” Tripp asked, walking into the living room holding Harley’s hand.

  “Nope!” Waylynn answered. “Cord was just about to open up a gift Mitchell snuck in.”

  Tripp’s eyes widened, and he shook his head. I was beginning to think all my brothers were in on this little gag gift.

  “What the fuck is everyone staring at Cord and Mitchell for?” Trevor said, and Amelia and Paxton slapped him upside his head.

  “The kids!” Paxton said.

  Chloe jumped up and was about to repeat it when Waylynn put her hand over Chloe’s mouth and all we heard was Chloe’s muffled voice singing a string of curse words.

  Our mother walked closer. “Cord’s about to open Mitchell’s gift.”

  Trevor lost it laughing. “Um, Mom, I’m pretty sure you don’t want him opening it with Chloe in the room.”

  Yep. All of my dirty rotten brothers were in on it. They would pay, and pay dearly, for this shit.

  “I can take Chloe out of the room, if you like?” Maebh offered.

  A chorus of male voices said, “Yes!”

  This made my mother’s eye twitch.

  “No. Chloe stays and Maebh stays. Now open the damn gift, Cord.”

  Mitchell groaned. “Mom! Why are you making such a big deal out of this? It’s just a gag gift. It was a joke. You weren’t even supposed to see me give it to him.” His eyes shot to Chloe who had busted us with the gift. When she grinned, I knew that kid had ninety-nine-point-nine percent Parker blood flowing through her.

  “Do I open it?” I asked Mitchell in a barely-there voice.

  “Yes, but just say it’s a T-shirt and don’t turn it around.”

  I groaned. Quickly ripping the wrapping paper off, I opened the box and widened my eyes as I read the T-shirt.

  “What in the f—”

  “Cord!” several voices shouted to stop me from swearing.

  I stared down at the T-shirt that read…

  My head jerked toward Mitchell.

  “What’s it say?” Chloe asked, a smirk on her face. The little shit knew it was something she wasn’t supposed to see.

  “Yes, let’s see this gag gift,” my mother stated.

  “Mom, for the love of all things good, no,” I said.

  She grabbed the T-shirt and held it in front of her. She didn’t read it out loud, thank God, but the way she was holding it, Maebh could see it. I was sure of it.

  Balling it up, she shook her head. “Inside joke, I take it?”

  I shrugged and acted like I didn’t know, but I did. One of Mitchell’s friends said he’d overheard some girl at the bar say I had a golden dick after I fucked her.

  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?”

&nb
sp; “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.”

  My sister-in-law worried her lip. “She didn’t say that.”

  “You said, that Maebh said, it was impossible for her to have kids. Why? If she told you we kissed, I highly doubt she left that part out.”

  “It’s not my place to tell you, Cord. Just don’t hurt her. If you’re not interested, please leave her alone. She’s…well…she’s too special to be dicking around with.” Putting her hands on her hips, she mean-mugged me.

  My eyes narrowed at Harley.

  “You dragged my ass in here and then dropped that on me. Spill it.”