Page 85 of Let Me Love You
“Did you invite him too?” I nearly screech.
What the hell is going on?
Theo has the decency to look sheepish as he tucks his hands into his front pockets and rocks back on his heels. “No, but he asked if I wanted to go out for drinks, so I told him we were telling your mom about—” My glare deepens, and his mouth snaps closed as my mom stands up from the couch a few feet away.
When she reaches us, Mommy Dearest pulls us both into a group hug, wrapping her arms around our necks until Theo’s crouched over like the hunchback of Notre Dame.
“Aww, I’m so glad you guys could make it!” she gushes.
“Uh, yeah. No problem,” I mutter. “Since when did Garrett decide to come home?”
“Colt told him he had an announcement to make.” She lets us go and drops her voice low. “Either he proposed to Ash, or they received the results from the paternity test, and I have a grandbaby, but I’m not sure which. What’s your guess?”
I force the oxygen from my lungs and glance at Theo, offering him a shrug. “Uh, no idea. Although, now that you mention it, those are two pretty good guesses.”
And they are. Colt and Ash have plenty going on in their lives my mom would love to be filled in on. Maybe it’s a coincidence Colt decided to do it the same day as me. But if Theo told Colt about our plans to tell Mom about the engagement, would he actually tack his announcements onto ours? It would be weird, wouldn’t it? I mean, technically, Kate and Mack did the same thing earlier today, but it was different. Papa Taylor practically forced their hand. I didn’t mind. I’m actually freaking stoked about their pregnancy and engagement, but still.
Two curveballs in one day? Seriously?
“Hey, sis,” Colt greets me, giving me whiplash as he takes the porch steps toward us with Ash by his side.
“Uh, hey?” I offer.
Slipping past us, Colt chats with Mom and Theo as I pull Ash aside and demand, “Are you getting married?”
“What?” Her eyes practically bug out of her head. “No, why?”
“Because everyone’s here!”
“I thought they were here for your…” she clears her throat as her eyes drop to my left hand. If I was smart, I would’ve taken off the engagement ring, but no. It’s still hanging out on my finger like a damn homing beacon.
“Nope,” I tell her, hiding my left hand behind my back as inconspicuously as possible. “As far as I know, they have no idea about… I mean, yeah, we were gonna tell my mom, but not my brothers too.”
Ash sees something over my shoulder, and her jaw drops. “He didn’t.”
“Didn’t what?” I follow her line of sight to find Colt smirking back at me. He’s standing beside Theo but isn’t listening to a damn word Mom or him are saying. Instead, he’s watching me. Waiting to see my reaction. To realize he orchestrated this entire. Freaking. Thing.
“Wait.” I gasp. The view is way too familiar coming from the mischievous older brother I grew up with, and I turn back to his girlfriend. “Did he set this up?”
“To mess with you?” Ash offers with a laugh, giving me a glimpse of the best friend who’s been missing ever since the article appeared with Jaxon’s baby photograph printed in it. “Maybe?” She glances at Colt again and shakes her head. “Honestly, I wouldn’t put it past him.”
My mind is on autopilot as I clench my hands into fists, taking a step toward him, ready to knee Colt in the balls or tackle the bastard like when we were kids and he’d piss me off. “I’m gonna kill him,” I grumble.
“Come on, come on,” my mom interrupts. She strides back to us with a skip in her step and ushers the group into the family room while simultaneously preventing me from knocking Colt upside the head.
“Knox doesn’t have much time left to chat,” she tells us. “So we need to speed this up.”
I squish between Garrett and Theo on the couch. The space feels smaller and smaller with every passing second as silence descends over us. Everyone’s eyes shift from one person to the next, waiting for someone to say something. To tell us why we’re all here.
I can handle telling Mom and listening to her lecture me about how young I am and how I have all the time in the world to make such a huge decision. But listening to my two oldest brothers give me the same lecture while Colt smirks away in the corner? Yeah, no. Not so much.
I thought Colt was excited for me. But if he was, why would he invite everyone else to witness Mom’s potential meltdown? Theo tosses his arm around my back as Ash and Colt sit on the loveseat on the opposite side of the room. Mom begins angling her laptop at them, but Colt waves them off.
“Don’t point it at us. We’re only here for the announcement.” He smirks at me and cocks his head. “Blake…”
“You know I’m gonna kill you, right?” I tell him, but Colt simply laughs and adjusts Ashlyn on his lap, looking as cool as a cucumber while confirming he did, indeed, plan this whole thing just to be an ass.
Older brothers.