“Ado!” Bronagh's voice snapped. “Deep breaths. Nice, big, deep breaths. You don't need to hit him, you don't want to hit him.”
Aideen growled. “I really do.”
I looked down and tried not to laugh at the sight of Bronagh convincing someone not to hurt another person. That was the definition of irony if I ever saw one.
“Time's a wastin',” Branna sang. “Are you acceptin' the bet or not, Alec?”
Alec snorted. “Yeah, I accept and when I win, you're going to be cooking me three course dinners everyday for a whole month, Kitten.”
Yeah, we'll see about that.
“May the odds be in your favour!” Aideen said and bowed to the lads.
All four of them stared at her.
“What is this, The Packing Games? Four men versus four women, the first team to pack their side of the truck with boxes survives?” Alec asked, his tone teasing.
Bronagh laughed and devilishly smirked. “That's exactly what this will be, big brother.”
All four brothers stared at Bronagh then looked to me. I grinned and they looked to one another and swallowed. The lads were nervous because they didn't know what we were up to.
They should be nervous.
I inwardly cackled like the evil witch I was.
We were going to destroy them.
“Okay, divide into your teams and sort out jobs between everyone. We have the movin' van until five this evenin' so that means we have to be completely packed here and unpacked in the new house in six and a half hours. No room for error. Understood?”
Alec and his brothers saluted me, and so did Aideen, which she found hilarious.
I rolled my eyes. “Get your arses to work.”
Storm barked at my tone and everyone laughed.
I reached down and scratched his ears. “You can be on our team if you want, buddy.”
Ryder cleared his throat. “He's a male.”
Was he just figuring that out?
“So?”
“So,” Nico chimed in, “he is automatically drafted onto the men's team.”
“That's a stupid technicality,” I stated.
Alec smirked at me. “No, he is a male so therefore he is on the male's team.”
I wanted to fight that, but Aideen tugged on my arm getting my attention.
“Let them have him, all the fat shite does is sleep, fart, and eat. He is hardly goin' to help the competition.”
While I didn't agree with the name-calling, Storm didn't do much else other than the things Aideen just listed so I pulled back and agreed.
“Fine, Storm is on your team.”
Alec whistled and Storm shot over to his side, which surprised Aideen.
“He can run?” she asked, her eyes wide with surprise.
I rolled my eyes.
“No fraternising with the enemy. You steer clear of the humans with tits and vaginas. You got that, buddy?”
Storm barked in response to Alec as if he was answering the question with a whopping yes.
I grunted, “Traitor.”
The lads chuckled as they moved into the sitting room to decide who would pack what. The girls and I moved down the hallway and into my bedroom to do the same thing.
“Okay, we need them to carry out the likes of the sofa and the bed—”
“Forget both, they’re stayin’ here with the landlord,” I said. “Alec already bought new ones, they arrived at the new house yesterday. They're bigger and better, he said.”
Branna blinked. “He bought both without even consultin' you first?”
I shrugged my shoulders trying not to appear like it bothered me, even though it did.
Greatly.
“But what if the sofa doesn't go with the room? What if you want a different design or colour?” Branna asked, her voice firm.
I shrugged my shoulders again. “It's his money, he can buy what he wants.”
Aideen sighed. “You really have to get over that. You're both engaged to be married. While the weddin' is probably a while off, you have to get used to what is his is yours and vice versa.”
I didn't have to get used to it vice versa, Alec already lived with me.
Everything I was he owned.
“It's difficult for her,” Bronagh chimed in. “I'm very picky about Dominic and what he spends even though it's his money. He blew three quarters of it on absolutely nothing since we started goin' out. Now he needs to work otherwise we're broke. Money doesn't last forever unless you have a steady income.”
I high-fived Bronagh.
“Exactly, that is exactly what I've been sayin'.”
“Thinkin',” Aideen corrected me. “You've been thinkin' it, not sayin' it.”
I growled at her, “Because it will look bad if I tell him not to spend his own money.”
“You're a couple, Kay.” Branna frowned. “You need to discuss these things.”
“And other things,” Aideen muttered.
I shot her a warning look and she closed her mouth. The sisters exchanged glances but said nothing. I didn't want to speak about Alec and myself anymore—I wanted to focus on packing.
What I really wanted was for this day to be done and over with.
“Okay, packin',” I began. “Bronagh, you and Branna start in here on the bedroom, I'll take the kitchen, and Aideen can start on the sittin' room. If the lads start to pack on somethin' that will help fill up their side of the van first, distract them with whatever means necessary. I really don't want to cook for the next month.”
We all put our hands in together like a team huddle and cheered then laughed at our ridiculousness.
“Would it be too obvious to the lads that I was tryin' to distract Dominic if I got naked and bent over in front of him?”
I looked to Bronagh and just stared at her until she laughed.
“I'm jokin', but if I did get naked, Dominic would be completely taken out of the equation and that’d mean one brother down, three to go. The odds would tip even further in our favour.”
I thought on it for a moment then shook my head. “You aren't gettin' naked, we will win this clean and fair.”
Aideen nudged me. “How fair is what we're doin'?”
“Pretty fair, I mean we aren't doin' much. It's not our fault if the lads’ dicks decide to pay attention to us.”
Branna snorted. “Lets just do this before they think we have some huge conspiracy goin' on.”
I smiled then turned and headed out of my bedroom and into the kitchen. I glanced to Alec who was playing on the floor with Storm. I inwardly smiled, using Storm to distract him never even occurred to me.
“Excuse me,” I said and stepped over Alec and Storm.
I had a dress on so I made a point of stepping over Alec's head just so he could see up my dress.
“Keela!” he hissed and struggled to move Storm off his body as he got to his feet.
I jumped when Alec's arms slid around my back and his hands interlocked at my belly button.
“We're at war right now, sweetie. Hands off the merchandise,” I said, sweetly.
Alec growled as he placed his mouth next to my ear, “You have no panties on.”
I cringed.
God, I hated that fucking word, but I wouldn't correct him on it because I wanted my knickers, or rather my lack of knickers, to imprint on his mind.
“I don't? Huh. I must have forgotten to put some on—”
“Bullshit.”
I fought off a smile.
“I'm sorry?” I asked, innocently.
“You heard me, bullshit. You don't just forget to put panties on. You have a fucking routine you follow when you get dressed—panties, bra, socks, then the rest of your clothes.”
Did he pay attention to everything I did?
“That's true, but everythin' is a little bit hectic today. I can't go put some on now because the girls are in our room and it would be too obvious. I can't even grab a pair and slip them on somewhere else because Ryder is in the bathroom packing up our toiletries and I don't think you'd appreciate your brothers watchin' me shimmy on a pair of knickers in front of them in here.”