the way.
“Ouch!” I hiss when the door hits my toe. I grab my foot and bounce on one leg, losing my balance as I stumble into the box again. As I begin to fall backwards over it, I reach out to grab onto Tilly’s robe for support, taking her down with me and landing in a loud crash on the floor.
“Tilly!” Mac bellows, swinging the door open and catching the both of us in a very awkward position.
I’m halfway in the wardrobe in just my boxers with Tilly sprawled over the box between my legs, her face right in front of my cock and her robe…well…let’s just say it’s a full moon view for Mac.
“Christ, what the fuck am I looking at?” Mac hollers, averting his gaze as Tilly scrambles up off the box and adjusts her robe back to its rightful place. “If that was Santino Rossi in your bloody wardrobe, it’s a good thing he’s lying down because it’ll be easier to bury him from down there!”
I hop up on my feet, trying my hardest to grab my shirt to cover myself. When Mac glances over to see we’re both well…somewhat decent again, he comes tearing towards me, his eyes murderous slits as he reaches his hands out for my throat.
Suddenly, there’s a loud hiss and a snarl before something grey and fuzzy leaps out from behind me in the closet and lands on Mac’s face.
“Jasper!” Tilly screams as the cat attacks Mac, making some of the most horrifying noises I’ve ever heard in my life.
Mac expels a high-pitched scream that I think only dogs can hear as he tries to peel the animal off his face. The horrifying scene feels like it goes on for ages, and it must have because when he finally succeeds, the sight before me is not good.
The tension all around me?
Heavy.
The emotions in the room?
Unstable.
The urge I have to giggle as I apply salve to the cat scratches all over my brother’s face?
A very unfortunate problem.
“There, there, my precious boy. Everything is okay now,” Freya coos, holding Jasper to her ample bosom and petting him gently.
Mac jerks his face away from the cotton ball I’m pressing to a gash above his eyebrow. He levels a glare at Freya. “I think you’re meant to be consoling me…your husband.”
“Oh hush…Jasper is clearly traumatised.” Freya presses her lips to his ear, and a loud purr vibrates all around us.
“The wee bastard maimed me,” Mac bellows, splaying his hands out on the dining room table where we’re all huddled around. The scratches on his face actually get redder with his barely concealed rage.
“He’s a rescue, Mac!” she tuts, turning herself away from him to protect Jasper. “You scared the life out of him with all that stomping and shouting.”
Mac growls under his breath. “I wouldn’t have lost my temper if this prat wasn’t in my fucking wee sister’s room butt-arse naked.”
“I wasn’t naked,” Santino offers from a safe distance across the length of the table.
Mac opens his mouth, but I cut him off. “Mac,” I state firmly, grabbing the finger he’s directing towards Santino. “Santino is my boyfriend, and you’re going to treat him with respect.”
“Boyfriend.” He huffs out a laugh, still not accepting the facts I told him as we helped him down the stairs in pursuit of a first aid kit. “For how long? He burns through women faster than kindling.”
“Well, I’m expecting to be different because…I love him.” The words feel sticky in my mouth but right all the same. I glance over nervously at Santino, and the smug expression on his face causes my heart to flutter in my chest.
Freya audibly gasps as her gaze snaps from me to Santino and back to me.
“Love?” Mac scoffs and crosses his arms over his chest, knocking away my hand holding the cotton ball to his cheek. “How could you possibly know you love him already?”
“I love her too,” Santino says firmly and then turns his eyes to mine, holding them captive as he adds, “I think I’ve loved her for a very long time.”
My lips part as I ponder the meaning of his words. He couldn’t mean before, could he? Surely not five years ago. I was a mess then. Still a mess now but at least a sober mess.
“If you loved her, then you wouldn’t have slagged off on her when she was pregnant,” Mac seethes, waving his hand at Santino like he’s an annoying fly.
“The baby wasn’t his, Mac.” I toss the