Page 96 of Between Love and Loathing

Dimitri: If she’s fake, I think they’ve made it pretty believable thus far.

Izzy: I read enough magazines and hacked enough data to know it’s fake, you guys. Dom’s just trying to be the big brother.

Delilah: Except he’s screwing it all up.

Me: So, you were all talking about this shit before I texted?

Izzy: Of course. Half of us are home with kids and bored.

Dex: I’m just trying to make sure my casino deal doesn’t get fucked in the next couple weeks. So keep it together.

Me: You’re all assholes, you know that?

Delilah: In our defense, you lied first.

Declan: Not that it was even a good lie.

Declan: Let us know if Clara needs us to come to town to get her away from you. Pretty sure you’ve probably stressed her out enough.

Dex: If she fake dumps you, can I fake date her next?

Me: You think that’s funny? What if I said I was going to date Keelani?

Dex: Why would I care? I told you at the club, I’m into someone else.

Me: Good. Because that casino company wants singers in some of their casinos. She’d be a great fit.

Dex: You better fucking not, Dom.

I knew my brother wasn’t going to fix his own love life, so I’d have to do it myself soon enough. Keelani and he were meant to be.

We all knew it.

Plus, his ass was goading me so I was going to push back.

Now we all were angry. This was why no one started the day off talking to their five younger siblings. I just knew they were setting the stage for a shit day after that. Case in point: when I got to the lobby of my resort, a large shipment was being hauled in.

“We didn’t order this,” I told the delivery man who frowned down at his tablet.

“It is addressed to Sugar and Spice Bakery.” He squinted and then shrugged. “A Clara Milton.”

I knew damn well who it was addressed to. “No one but me is authorized to have deliveries here.” I cracked my neck before I continued, trying to dissipate the anger flowing through me as I stared at the bubbled wrapped figure behind him. “That will have to be returned.”

“Fuck me,” the guy grumbled as he clicked his tablet off and turned to his friend. “We need a signature for this, or can we just leave it?”

Just what type of delivery service had Clara even hired? “You can’t just leave crap on my property.”

“The address says here, man. We got other shipments. This one is already a pain in my ass.”

I’m sure it was. I knew that Clara had ordered more colorful blown-glass figures to be placed throughout the bakery, but this was too much.

Of course she was hustling down the walkway on her way back from visiting with Paloma right then to sign and then actuallyhugthe delivery drivers.

“Why the hell are you hugging them?” I grumbled.

“Because it was probably hard to carry and not break.” She glanced over at them, and they nodded with large smiles on their faces.

“Get the fuck out of here,” I told both of them.