O Come, All Ye Kellys (Love & Luck #7) - Isla Olsen Page 0,26

“Merry Christmas,” I mutter.

“Jake. Jake, wait—” Mom calls in a small, desperate voice. “I…You’re not eighteen yet. I could withdraw the affidavit. I could have Shay removed as your guardian.”

I spin around, my eyes flashing dangerously. I can tell by her expression it’s not a legitimate threat, but that does nothing to quell my anger. “Try it and I’ll get myself emancipated.” It’s not like I haven’t already looked into that; it was my plan prior to Shay taking me in. “You owe me,” I tell her, my tone softening somewhat. “Nine years I’ve put up with that asshole. You owe me this.”

Finally, she nods, seeming to just crumple in on herself. “Okay.”

“If you ever want to see me you can come to New York—but don’t even think about bringing him with you.”

She nods again and I move toward my car again. “Don’t I at least get a hug?” Mom asks, offering a shaky smile.

I let out a soft sigh and step forward to wrap my arms around her thin frame. Despite everything, she’s still my mom and I love her; I just can’t see what kind of place she could have in my life as long as she’s tied to Trevor.

Thank god for Shay and Jamie…

14

Heath

* * *

“Are you ready for your Christmas present, babe?” I ask Dec as I stalk across the living room to join him on the sofa. I push Bucky’s head away so I can sit on Declan’s lap, straddling his waist.

Declan offers a sexy smirk, his arms coming up to palm my ass. “If it’s more sex I might need to fuel up first. This morning kind of sapped all my energy.”

I roll my hips against him, letting out a soft hum as our bodies connect. I thread my fingers through his hair and lean down to brush my lips over his jaw. “No, not more sex,” I murmur. “You’ll need all your strength for this afternoon with my family.”

Dec chuckles. “Well if we’re not going to fuck I’m going to need you to get off me ‘cause my dick’s not getting the message.”

Reluctantly, I climb off Declan’s lap and stalk over to the tree that’s taking up half our living room. I crouch down and retrieve the small, wrapped gift I sneaked under there last night.

I return to Declan and hand him the gift, leaning down to brush a kiss against his lightly stubbled cheek. “Merry Christmas, babe.”

With a smile, he tears open the wrapping to reveal a framed picture of a gorgeous Brooklyn brownstone. I mean, it’s maybe not as impressive as Blake and Owen’s mansion but it’s still beautiful.

“What is this?” Dec asks, his brows furrowed in confusion as he studies the picture.

“It’s a house,” I tell him, barely able to contain my excitement. “Our house.”

His eyes widen in shock. “Heath, are you kidding? You bought us a house?”

“Well…technically I haven’t bought it yet. I thought you might want to see it first.”

“Yeah, you thought right,” he mutters at the photo, his expression formed into a tight frown. “Where is this place anyway?”

“Brooklyn. It’s actually only a few blocks from the clinic.”

“But a house?” he asks, still clearly confused. “What even brought this on?”

I shrug. “Ever since Aidan mentioned the other day how he and Ben will probably look for something bigger once they start a family, I haven’t been able to get the idea out of my mind. I started looking around, just to see what’s out there and then I found this one…and it’s perfect. I went to see it yesterday and, let me tell you, the inside is just as impressive as the outside.”

Declan blinks at me. “You went to see it already?”

“Well…yeah. I wanted to make sure it wasn’t hideous.”

“Heath…we’re about to have a baby…”

I narrow my eyes. “Why do I get the feeling you’re not a hundred percent on board with this house thing?”

“Probably because I’m not a hundred percent on board with this house thing,” Dec says, his voice getting oddly high pitched. “We’re about to have a baby. We spent three months on the nursery. You changed your mind about the color scheme three times! Do you know how long it took to paint over those eggplant walls?” He waves his hands around in clear frustration. “They were eggplant, Heath! Eggplant!”

I let out a heavy sigh. “Okay, I’m going to be in the bedroom when you decide to stop being ridiculous.”

As I walk toward our room, I hear Declan calling after me, “Since when