asks, his mouth agape.
“Stop being a dick and go have sex with your woman,” Liam practically growls.
“Um, hell no—no one is having sex in this house. Except me and Wade obviously,” Brendan says, folding his arms over his chest.
“We’re going back to Michael and Aileen’s later—you can use the upstairs bathroom there,” Heath says helpfully. “Dec and I have used it before. It’s pretty soundproof.”
Owen shakes his head. “It’s not soundproof.”
“It doesn’t matter, I’m not having sex at Mom and Da’s house,” I say.
There are some awkward glances exchanged between my siblings and their partners. The kind of awkward glances that make me wonder just how many of them might have snuck off to an empty bathroom or spare bedroom at some point during the many family gatherings my parents have hosted at our childhood home.
“Well you need to do it somewhere,” Liam says. “This chicken thing is ridiculous. You both clearly want each other.”
“Exactly!” I say with a grin. “She wants me just as much as I want her, so if I have just a tiny bit more willpower I’ll win.”
Shay lets out a soft chuckle, shaking his head. “You’re an idiot. You realize the only reason you’ve survived this long is because you live in different states, right?”
I shrug. “Probably.”
* * *
A little later on, I’m just coming out of the bathroom when Ellie intercepts me.
“You like Blake Shelton, right?” she asks.
I nod. “The chick from Gossip Girl? Yeah, she’s like top ten, easily.”
She shakes her head, an amused smile touching her lips. “No, dumbo. That’s Blake Lively. Blake Shelton is the country singer who’s dating Gwen Stefani.”
I blink at her in confusion. “Why are you asking me about a country singer?”
“Because we’re going back to your parents’ place for Christmas karaoke and I want us to sing one of their songs.”
“One of whose songs?”
She tosses her hair back in frustration. “Duh. Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton.”
“But I don’t know any of their songs,” I say. “Wait—is he the one from No Doubt? I know some of their songs.”
Ellie rolls her eyes. “No, she divorced the guy from No Doubt. This is a different guy.”
My brows shoot up. “You know a scary amount about Gwen Stefani’s romantic life.”
“Everyone knows this, Finn. It’s weird that you don’t.”
As if on cue, my phone buzzes in my pocket and I pull it out to see a text from Cass.
Cass Myers: How do you not know who Blake Shelton is?
I stare open-mouthed at the text for a moment before glancing back up at Ellie, who’s wearing an evil smirk. For the first time I notice she’s holding her phone in one hand and I let out a groan of annoyance. The girl has a superpower that lets her text without looking at her phone; clearly she texted Cass while she and I were talking. She never even broke eye contact with me.
Me: Well you didn’t know the difference between a try and a touchdown
Cass Myers: That’s not even remotely the same thing
Me: I know! Rugby is so much more important than celebrity gossip!
Cass Myers: *eye roll emoji*
One of the perils of being in a poly relationship is that your partners have a tendency to gang up on you. Or at least mine do. They seem to revel in coordinating their efforts to poke fun at me.
My phone buzzes again and I glance down at the screen.
Cass Myers: Can you record it please? I want to see you two strutting your stuff
“Oh my god, will you stop texting them a play by play,” I groan, fixing Ellie with a firm look. “How are you even able to do that?”
“Just one of my many skills,” she says with a sweet smile. “So…karaoke?”
3
Declan
* * *
“And I have words in the song!” Baxter cries, almost hitting Finn in the balls as he throws his hands out in excitement over his role in his school’s Holiday concert this week.
“Jesus fu…dge,” Finn says, managing to avert the swear at the last moment. He takes a large step back from Baxter, well out of the danger zone.
Biting my lip to hold in my laughter, I ask Bax, “What’s your line?”
With a broad grin across his face, Baxter throws his head back and starts singing at the top of his voice. “DON WE NOW OUR GAY APPAREL…”
“Wow, that was really good, buddy,” Brendan says, beaming at his son and reaching down to ruffle his hair.
“Gay apparel?” Heath asks, twisting his head around to offer me a sexy grin. “Did you