Total pages in book: 126
Estimated words: 122206 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 611(@200wpm)___ 489(@250wpm)___ 407(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 122206 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 611(@200wpm)___ 489(@250wpm)___ 407(@300wpm)
I blinked. “Alannah’s engaged and pregnant?”
“Oh, s-h-i-t.” Kane cringed. “I didn’t mean to say that.”
“I don’t think it’s a secret, babe.” Aideen patted his leg, then looked at me. “Damien proposed to her a few days ago. She’s a little over five weeks gone. We all found out on Saturday when we had the first summer barbecue at Ryder and Branna’s house. Branna’s pregnant again, too. They’re both due on the same date.”
I was relieved when I felt nothing but happiness for Alannah. It was a massive indication that I harboured no feelings for the woman, which was good. She had her man, and I had my sights set on someone new.
“I’m happy for both of them, and don’t worry, I won’t say a word until she tells me herself.” I cuddled Jax to me. “Me only concern is Ina. I’ve no idea how this is gonna play out with her.”
“That’s what will make it interesting.”
I agreed with my brother-in-law. Things with Ina would indeed be very interesting.
I looked down at Jax when he yawned. “Tired, little man?”
“Shite,” he mumbled, making me freeze.
His parents didn’t hear him, but I fucking did.
“Don’t say any of what I accidentally taught ye. Promise?”
“No.”
“Spawn of Satan!”
We were muttering our words, but Aideen’s super-hearing picked it up.
“What’d ye teach him to say, Dante?”
Aideen was using her mammy voice, and it was scaring me.
“I didn’t teach him anythin’. He just overheard some words that I wish he hadn’t the night I was babysittin’ him.”
“What kind of words?”
“Nothin’.” I put Jax on the play mat. “I love ye so much. Bye.”
I left the room and headed for the front door. Just as I opened it, Jax threw me in the deep end.
“Bollocks!” I heard him shout, quickly followed by, “Fuck’s sake! Shite!”
I sucked in a breath. “Demon child!”
Without waiting for my impending death, I turned and briskly walked down the hallway of Aideen and Kane’s apartment. I made it onto the stairs when I heard the most terrifying sound known to man—my sister bellowing like the terror she was.
“DANTE LEWIS COLLINS!”
“Bollocks,” I mimicked Jax and began to run down the stairs. “Fuck’s sake. Shite.”
I heard the door to the stairwell open above me seconds later, then a male growl. “You better run, Date!”
It was Kane, and he sounded pissed but not half as pissed as my sister.
“Listen to me!” I shouted as I continued to run down the steps. “This is all a huge misunderstandin’! I can explain everythin’. This is not a big deal!”
I heard Kane’s footsteps pounding as he powered down the stairs after me.
“Why’re you running, then?”
“Because you’re gonna hit me!”
I wasn’t scared of Kane, but I also didn’t want to be punched by him either. I knew how hard the son of a bitch could hit, and I wasn’t going to experience that pain if I could help it. I picked up my pace and ran a bit faster.
“You were warned not to cuss around him!” Kane grunted, and it freaked me out because he sounded closer to me, which spurred me into a sprint. “So many times, motherfucker!”
“Leave me alone!” I pleaded. “I’m only a man. It slipped out. It was four in the mornin’, and he wouldn’t go back to sleep!”
I heard a door slam against the wall three floors up, and that terrifying noise sounded again. “Bring him back to me, Kane!” my sister ordered. “I want to do it meself!”
It? Fucking it?
“What does that mean?” I shouted as I reached the sixth floor. “Why are there so many fuckin’ stairs in this buildin’?”
I heard Kane laugh, and I could feel Aideen’s anger grow by the second. If we were in a Disney movie, she’d be singing “Let It Go” right about now, but instead of building an ice castle, she’d be letting me go … right off a fucking cliff.
“Can we not use our words?”
“Words are what have us in this mess!” Aideen snapped. “Me baby is sayin’ the word bollocks, Dante!”
I erupted with laughter, and it was like adding fuel to a raging fire.
“You’re dead!” she hollered, her voice echoing down the stairwell. “I know where ye live!”
“You’re fuckin’ scary for someone so little!”
I reached the fifth floor, and I let out a manly, a very manly shout when I glanced over my shoulder and saw Kane was within spitting distance of me. I yanked open the door and flat-out sprinted, but I was tackled from behind just as I reached my apartment. I hit the ground with a grunt, and when I choked out a laugh, so did Kane.
“Arsehole!” I groaned in pain. “Get off me, ye weigh a tonne!”
“Pretend I beat you up,” Kane replied, hardly out of breath. “She’ll kill me otherwise.”
I rolled onto my back as Kane jumped to his feet. He reached down to help me to mine just as the door across from us opened, and a sweet little gasp sounded. Kane and I looked Ina’s way. My eyes went to her bare legs. I wasn’t sure where Kane’s went, but they better have been on her face.