“How are you, Kay?” he asked.
I sat on the floor of my half empty sitting room and crisscrossed my legs, over one another. “I'm hangin' in there. It's movin' day for us, I'm in the new house.”
Noise came from Damien's end of the phone then it went away as he cleared his throat. “Sorry, damn street races. What were you saying?”
I smiled. “I said I'm in the new house, it's movin' day.”
Damien chuckled. “Is my big brother still alive?”
I gasped. “Of course, why wouldn't he be?”
“Because Alec doesn't take a lot of things seriously. I have a strong feeling he is making moving houses a bit more difficult for you.”
He had no idea.
I snorted. “He actually hasn't been too bad. He won a bet so he is actually pretty happy and keeping to his own company.”
“A bet?” Damien asked, a smile sounding through his tone. “What were the terms?”
“Boys against girls, whoever packed up their sections and got the boxes into the moving van first, won. Us girls lost... but we went down fightin'.” I smirked.
I imagined Damien shaking his head as he laughed.
“What did you and the girls do to try and prevent my brothers from winning?” he asked.
I blinked. “Why do you think we did somethin'—”
“Keela,” Damien cut me off, his voice knowing.
I giggled. “We used our bodies to... distract them from completing their task before we completed ours. We were very successful.”
Damien's laughter at the other end made me smile, but the gasp of horror behind me didn't go a miss.
“You cheating little bitch! I knew it!”
Uh-oh.
I looked over my shoulder and gnawed on my inner cheek when the pissed off form of my fiancé came into my line of vision.
“Hey baby.” I innocently smiled.
“Don't you 'Hey baby' me. You cheated, Keela... and you lied about it!” Alec snapped as he stomped over and stood in front of me.
I had to lie back on the ground so I could look up at him without hurting my neck.
“It wasn't cheatin', not really. We didn't physically do anythin' to halt your process of packin', apart from us havin' sex, we just—”
“Got us so hard we couldn't see straight let alone pack fucking boxes.”
That sounded about right.
“He sounds mad,” Damien’s voice whispered in my ear.
I snickered. “He is mad.”
Alec reached down and snatched my phone away from my ear and out of my hand.
“Hey, that's rude!” I snapped and stretched my arms up high trying to reclaim my phone, to no avail.
Alec ignored me, and my slapping at his legs, and placed my phone to his ear. “Who the fuck is this?”
Silence.
I watched as a smile stretched across Alec's face. “Baby brother! It's about damn time you called, you have Dominic worried sick!”
Silence.
I lifted my arms and placed my hands behind my head as I gazed up at Alec.
He frowned as Damien spoke. “Anything we need to worry about?” he asked.
I raised my eyebrows and looked at Alec expectantly, but the arsehole ignored me.
Alec released a breath. “So come home then, if you're bored over there why stay?”
I tilted my head to the side when Alec began to pace from left to right in front of me.
“How soon?” Alec asked then when Damien answered his face dropped. “That could be years away, Dame.”
I sat upright and got to my feet, then I stepped forward and wrapped my arms around Alec's waist and rested my head against his chest. Alec used his free hand to rub up and down my back.
“Yeah, I know, you've got shit to work through.”
I hugged Alec tightly when he sighed and his body deflated.
I felt horrible for him.
He missed Damien—all the brothers did.
“Yeah, man, you got it,” Alec said to Damien then chuckled. “You want to speak to her again?”
Alec nudged me and handed me my phone back when he got my attention.
I took the phone and placed it to my ear. “'Hello again.”
Damien chuckled. “You're driving him crazy, you realise that, don't you?”
I snorted. “I'm aware of it, yes.”
Damien cackled through the phone and Alec vibrated with silent laughter because he heard it.
“How is your writing going?” Damien asked me.
I blushed. “It's fine.”
“You talk to Dame about your writing, but not me?” Alec asked me, his tone annoyed.
I rolled my eyes. “You beta read the first ten chapters of me book and when you got to the sex scene you laughed!”
“Because no man moans that much during sex!” Alec laughed.
I glared at him. “You do!”
“Oh, burn!” Damien teased.
Alec glared at my phone, then at me.
“Go away while I talk to your brother,” I said and walked over to our new sofa.
I sat down as Alec walked out of the room cursing to himself.
“I miss you guys,” Damien sighed when his laughter subsided.
I frowned. “We miss you too. I'm dyin' to hug you. It sucks that we haven't met in person yet... you'd love me.”
Damien laughed. “I already love you, spitfire.”
I chuckled. “I love you, too. Aideen doesn't love you, but she fancies you. She said you could be her boy toy.”
Damien snickered. “She's hot, I'll take whatever I can get.”
I gasped. “I'm tellin' Kane!”
Damien whooped with laughter and it made me smile.
“I gotta go, babe. I have the early shift at work tonight.”
I heard the sadness in his voice and it broke my heart—he was always sad.
“Okay, sweetheart. Stay safe, and call back soon.”
“I will,” Damien said. “Give everyone my love.”
“You got it. Bye.”
“Bye.”
The line clicked as Damien hung up his phone and I frowned. I wished I could help him, but I had no idea the depth of his problems or what the hell it was that had him so down. Alec shone some light on his brother's past, but I'm sure not everything was told to me.
“Keela?” Alec's voice shouted from somewhere in the house.
“What?” I called back.
“I left my phone in the moving truck, will you come with me while I go and pick it up?”
That meant I could get out of cushion duty.
Sweet.
“Yes, let's go!”
We just left the building where Alec rented the moving van from, but they assured him there was no phone inside when he delivered the van back to them.
“I can't believe you lost your bloody phone,” I grumbled as I climbed into Alec's SUV.
Alec got into the driver's seat and slammed his door shut. “I didn't lose it. Those bastard's clearly have it, which means they stole it from me!”
I shook my head as I buckled my seat belt.
“I don't know why you're giving me attitude either—if it was your phone you'd lose your shit,” Alec stated as he started up the SUV.
I pressed my fingers against my temples.
I wasn't doing this, I wasn't arguing with him over a fucking mobile phone.
“Stop talkin'.”
“No,” Alec quipped. “You'd raise Hell if it was—”
“Shut. Up.”
“—your stupid phone,” Alec said, continuing on his rant like I didn't just speak.
“Alec. Stop.”
He grunted. “I just bought that fucking phone too, and now it's gone.”
Oh, my God.
He wouldn't close his mouth.
It was impossible for him to just shut the fuck up and it was grating on my nerves.
He was exasperating.
“Can you just stop?” I asked Alec whilst I rubbed my throbbing head. “I'm tired, we have been on the go since half ten this mornin'... I just want to go to bed and sleep for a week. The girls and I unpacked everythin' in the new house while you brought the movin' van back to the rental place. I'm knackered so just shut the fuck up. Please.”