“What the fuck?”
“I think this wouldn’t be a bad thing to have around.” He handed it over to Sierra.
Sierra rolled her eyes while Louis gagged. “Gross!”
Louis stood up and picked another gift up from the table and ripped into it with just as much enthusiasm as the one before it. When he read the bottle—my gift—he started to laugh uncontrollably.
My lips twitched at the irony of the situation.
“Poo Pouri?” he wheezed. “Who the fuck got this?”
I raised my hand.
He looked at me for a long moment, trying to decide if I was serious, then bent over at the waist and wheezed out even more laughs.
He sounded like a wounded water buffalo.
Jesus Christ, but the irony of the situation was getting to me, too.
Carolina was wiping her eyes free of tears as she continued to shake her head.
“I don’t even know what to say,” she cried. “Oh, God.”
“See, this is when I think that I’ve only gotten half the story again,” Calloway whined.
Louis opened his mouth to tell her probably what he told her last time, but Calloway shut him up with her hand on his mouth. “Shut up before I geld you and make this baby of yours that I’m carrying an only child.”
Louis licked her hand and she pulled it away before wiping it on his chest.
Both were smiling.
“I’ll tell you later, baby,” he said. “Now, who’s next?”
Who was next happened to be me.
I got up and got the next gift, opening it up to find a beer of the month subscription.
“Umm.” I looked at it in confusion. “What the fuck is this?”
“It’s a beer of the month subscription,” Adam answered. “It still has three months left. You’re welcome. I really liked the random beer that they sent.”
I laughed and dropped the paper onto the table in front of me.
Carolina leaned in and read the paper, shaking her head with amusement.
When she started to lean back into her chair, I curled my arm around her and pulled her in tight.
The rest of the presents weren’t any less amusing, and by the time that the game was over, everyone had gotten a present that they liked. Everyone but Ford who’d ended up with the dead fish.
“What the fuck am I supposed to do with this?” Ford thrust the fish into Nathan’s face.
Nathan batted it away and poked him in the chest.
“Take it to Pet World and tell them that the fish died within an hour of having it, and you want a replacement fish. If it makes you feel better, I’ll even go with you and do the dirty work,” Nathan joked.
Ford sighed and held his bag out to Ashe. Ashe sniffed at him and didn’t take it from his outstretched hand.
“Come on!” Ford growled. “I have to go get all the other shit that you thought was necessary for a party that was catered.”
Ashe reluctantly plucked the dead fish from Ford’s hands and took it out the door with her, leaving us all grinning our asses off.
“You’re ridiculous,” Carolina pointed out. “There’s nothing left of her food to take. Y’all ate it all.”
We all looked to the table that’d been heaping with food when we’d arrived. It was all dwindled down to almost nothing.
The only thing left was a weird looking cheese ball.
One that looked like it’d been hacked into tiny little pieces with the pretzel sticks that were right beside it, also uneaten.
“Who brought the cheese ball?” Ford asked, poking it.
“That was Connor,” Carolina supplied from next to me. “I wouldn’t suggest eating it. I heard my mom trying to explain to him how to make it today, and it wasn’t going well. I put a note on it not to eat it, but it looks like that note is gone.”
“I can’t believe you,” Connor hissed, making Carolina jump and swing a fist at her brother.
Connor easily caught her thrown punch and pulled her into his arms, burying his face into her hair as he breathed in her ear.
“Don’t you fucking dare, Connor!” Carolina ordered sharply.
Apparently, Connor dared.
He inhaled, then licked her from ear to ear.
“You’re so fucking sick.” Carolina glared as she wiped her face off with her forearm. “I hate you.”
“You don’t hate me.” Connor chuckled as his eyes once again met mine.
I hadn’t moved from where I was standing, but my eyes had stayed on him just in case I needed to intervene.
Connor’s eyes met mine in anger, and I raised my brows and leveled him with a look that clearly said ‘I love her.