Page 86 of Messing With My Brother's Best Friends

“Do you have this entire range in purple and green?” I asked, waving a hand in the general direction of the items.

“Yes, we do,” the woman said, her manner warming instantly.

“We’ll grab both then.”

“Gage…!” Kendall gripped my arm and hissed that at me as I led her deeper into the store. “We can’t buy that much cookware!”

“Yes, we can.” I stopped to smile down at her. “Remember what today is?”

I hated that we had done this to Kendall, made her all squirmy and uncomfortable when someone was nice to her, but I couldn’t look backwards, only forwards. I wanted her to get used to this shit. Fuck, even expect it. Take gifts with open arms like she had a right to. I tried to communicate all of that in my stare as I waited her out.

“It’s yes day,” she squeaked. “God…”

“Yes to being pampered. Yes to being looked after.” Barbie’s grin got broader and broader as she swooped in and gave my girl a hug. “Yes to finally being treated like a princess for once.” Her nose wrinkled. “A princess that cooks.” She shook her head and continued. “Yes to getting all the good dick.”

“Jesus, Barbie!” Kendall hissed, looking around guiltily, making me wonder exactly what she had been sharing with her best friend. “And anyway, where the hell are we going to store it all?” She looked up at me. “Your kitchen is big, but it’s not that big.”

“What’s not that big?” Van asked, appearing at her shoulder.

“Your dick,” I shot back, earning me a dark look. “But we’re going to need to build some more storage. Kendall’s buying a whole lot of cookware—”

“We don’t need two sets,” she insisted. “That’s so much money!”

“Let’s see if we can spend more on some decent knives,” I said with a grin, steering her down the aisle.

It took a few hours, but once the staff worked out what was going on, they proved to be very attentive. It was lucky we brought both vans because we ended up filling up the backs of both of them with all the things we purchased. We might not be able to spring for another yes day of this scale for a while, but it was worth it. Kendall’s grin hadn’t faded for a second, not even when we got home.

“I could make some great soups in winter with those stock pots.” I nodded along to her chatter. “Stew a bunch of bones real slowly over a long, long time and create a bunch of my own stock, then add some meat and vegetables.” Her eyes widened as she stared at me. “You’ve got a big yard. We could grow vegetables in the back.”

“We’ve got a big yard we can grow vegetables in,” I corrected.

I glanced at Connor, catching the moment he went very still. He’d paid good money to have the backyard landscaped and maintained. It didn’t mean shit to us, but he’d made clear it helped with the value of the house.

“A vegetable garden?” he said. Van and I shared a look, shaking our heads.

“Just remember what day it is, Connor,” Van said.

We watched Connor’s Adam’s apple bob right before he smiled.

“Yeah, we could do that. Why don’t you come out the back and show us where you think it could go?”

“Maybe we could ring for some Chinese takeaway and eat it out the back on the grass?” Van suggested.

“Eating under the stars?” She nodded slowly then grinned. “Yes, I’d like that.”

“Almost as much as Connor would like to build a vegetable garden.” He shot me a dark look, but I just grinned.

“You don’t like vegetables?” Kendall asked.

“I like vegetables just fine,” he replied, steering her out of the back door.

“He loves chickens even more.”

Having a chicken run would have Connor breaking out in hives. Chicken shit everywhere? Might be good fertiliser, but the smell and the mess was enough to get a firm no from him.

“Oh my god, free-range chickens would be amazing!” Kendall looked over her shoulder at me, making clear she understood the joke.

“Now, Kendall—” Connor started to say.

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