“Fine.”
Alec turned and stormed out of the kitchen while I watched him go with a smile on my face.
He was too easy to wind up.
“Trouble in paradise?”
I turned to face Ryder who spoke to me.
I shook my head. “Nope.”
Ryder snorted as he glanced back at Branna, who was still on her hands and knees, and sighed. “I'm going to pack in the living room instead,” he mumbled
He walked into the sitting room, but couldn't escape Branna because she was hot on his heels and it made me snicker. The lads truly didn't stand a chance.
I got to work on clearing out the kitchen. Thirty minutes passed by before I knew it and I had all the contents of the kitchen presses packed into four large boxes. Two of the boxes consisted of our large pots and pans, and the other two were filled with all the smaller items like cups, bowls, plates and the mountain of cutlery we had.
“Aideen?” I shouted.
Aideen entered the kitchen from the hallway and glanced at my boxes. “Nice.”
I grinned and got to work at taping them closed and writing my name on the boxes then the contents because I forgot to do it while they were flattened. We called Branna and Bronagh in and we each carried a box down to the moving van. We loaded the boxes on my side, which brought the total to six.
When we were out of the van and standing on the path I turned to the girls.
“Status report?”
Bronagh grinned. “We've got the kitchen and the bathroom done. I'm nearly finished with the bedroom and Branna is gettin' there with the sittin' room.”
I looked to Alec's empty side of the van and looked back to the girls. “Well... the plan is workin', they haven't got a single box packed yet.”
We all high-fived one another and laughed as we re-entered the building and headed back up to my apartment. We cut the laughter and stayed silent as we entered my building. I froze slightly when I entered the kitchen and found all the lads sitting down and glaring at us.
Every single one of us.
Shite.
“What's with you lot?” I asked.
Alec growled at me, “Like you don't know.”
Oh, bollocks.
“I've no clue,” I said, feigning innocence.
Nico scoffed. “Cut the crap, we're onto you four.”
Us girls shared a look then in unison we said, “What did we do?”
“That was creepy,” Ryder mumbled.
Kane ignored his brother and said, “You're seducing us.”
We all scratched our necks.
“That is ridiculous,” I said, waving Kane off.
“No,” Nico snarled, “It's not. I know you Bronagh. You're constantly touching me, bending over in front of me and drawing as much attention to your ass and body as possible. You know damn well what you're doing to me.”
Bronagh remained silent, as did the rest of us.
“You seduced me in the bathroom, Keela,” Alec hissed at me. “Then you stole my boxes right out from under me.”
I wanted to laugh so I bowed my head and cast my eyes to the floor to avoid doing so. I glanced at Kane when he crossed his arms across his chest and stared at Aideen.
“You grazed your ass against me five times. Five. Times. You evil bitch.”
I lifted my hand to my mouth and covered it when a snicker escaped.
“You think this is funny!” Ryder bellowed. “My cock was so hard for you Branna and you were all 'Stop it, we have to pack boxes.'“
I erupted into laughter at Ryder's impression of Branna, and so did the other girls.
“You four are unreal!” Nico shouted over our laughter.
I couldn't stop laughing, not even when Alec shot over to me and got into my personal space.
“This game you're playing stops now,” he growled down at me.
I looked up at him, and smiled. “What game?”
“Don't pretend you don't know what we're talking about, we figured out what you four are doing.”
I tilted my head to the side. “Which is what?”
We were going to quarrel over this—I could feel it.
“You're using your bodies to distract us so you four can pack and we can't,” Alec stated.
My lip quirked. “No, we're not.”
“Liar,” Alec hissed.
The four lads then moved to the multiple boxes that were stacked over at the door. I frowned, and leaned over to look at them. I counted eight, and Alec's name was on them all.
“When did you do this?” I asked.
Alec smirked. “You four took ten minutes bringing your boxes downstairs. When we realised what you were doing to us and why, we knuckled down and speed-packed. It worked as you can tell.”
Each lad grabbed two boxes and headed out of the apartment, not looking at us as they walked. I spun to face the girls.
“What the hell are we gonna do? They packed the entire fuckin' sittin' room!”
Bronagh sighed, “Relax, we still have the bedroom.”
The four of us turned and walked down to my bedroom. I lead the way and opened the door then gasped when I entered the room and found five boxes stacked next to the doorway. Everything in the room was bare.
“How the fuck did they pack so fuckin' fast?” Branna snapped.
I looked to Storm who was lying on my bed and let out a whine. “Why didn't you stop them?”
“Because he is a lazy fat—”
“Not now, Aideen!” I cut her off with a growl.
She grunted and folded her arms across her chest. “He is on their team, remember? He is against us, just like those four fuckers downstairs.”
I agreed with her as I glanced around my room.
“I'm gonna be stuck cookin' for an entire month!” I groaned.
This was bullshit.
“Alec sucks. Him and Dominic, and their stupid bleedin' bets,” Branna huffed.
I agreed with that wholeheartedly.
“What if we just nick these boxes? What can Alec do?” Aideen asked.
“He can take them back.”
We all screamed as Alec's voice spoke from behind us.
Male laughter erupted, and female growls were let loose.
“Don't do that!” Aideen shouted at Alec. “You just took ten years off me life.”
Alec seemed pleased with himself then nodded his head to the right. “Step aside.”
I stayed put. “Can't we at least talk about this—”
“Not a chance,” Alec cut me off.
He was being so unreasonable.
“But Alec—”
“I said no, Keela,” he cut me off again.
I screeched and balled my hands into fists.
“It's not fair!”
To become the toddler I was acting like, all I had to do was throw a tantrum.
“Not fair is distracting us for your own personal gain,” Alec said as I stepped aside with the girls so he and his brothers could enter the room.
“You got somethin' out of it,” I snapped.
Alec tensed as he picked up two boxes. “We'll talk about this later.”
Wonderful.
“You're so gettin' spanked,” Aideen murmured making the girls giggle.
Alec's lip quirked as he walked by me, and his brothers each sported their own knowing grin as they followed him, carrying boxes of their own.
Men!
I turned back to the girls. “Now what do I do?” I asked.
Aideen frowned. “Get the last of your things and... leave here.”
My heart stilled and I took a step backwards. “So soon? But—”
“There is no reason to stay here, Kay. You're all packed up and ready for your new house with Alec.”
Oh, shite.
“Right,” I said and licked my suddenly dry lips.
Bronagh looked sullen as she said, “Are you okay?”
I nodded my head. “I'm fine.”
Branna lightly smiled at me. “You're nervous.”
Try terrified.
“Maybe a little,” I murmured.
Branna chuckled. “You will be fine. Movin' out of here will be hard for you—it's been your home for the last few years, but your new house will be your home too, and Alec's. You will get used to it.”
Will I?
“I hope so,” I replied and sighed. “This sucks.”