Page 77 of Cohesion

“I don’t need time. It was one of the easiest decisions I’ve ever made in my life. I want to see what happens with them.” Parker bit his thumbnail nervously. “The problem is that it’s Joel and Sally Weston.”

Peyton’s eyes widened. No fucking way. “Holy fucking shit.”

“Stop.”

“Holy fuckingshit, Parker. As in our big brother’s best friend’s business partner?”

Parker grimaced. “That’s so many people in a line, Peyton.”

“As in our brother Kellan’s best friend, Dante’s, business partner, Joel?”

“You didn’t need to repeat it. I don’t need clarification on who they are.”

“Kellan’s going to kill you,” Peyton said. Their brother had always made it known that he would not tolerate his brothers dating any of his friends. Surprisingly, none of them had ever broken that rule even if his best friend, Dante, was sexy as fuck,and Peyton totally would have hit that. Dante’s business partner counted in that circle because Joel was Kellan’s friend too. When had Parker even hooked up with them?Why? “Forget Kell.Danteis going to kill you.”

“Dante’s going to choke me with his hair,” Parker agreed with a groan.

Peyton nodded solemnly. Dante’s hair was waist length, and that plait could do some serious damage if he wanted it to. “Italians are fierce.”

“This isn’t helping to make me feel better.”

“That’s not my job. Kellan is the mediator in our family, so you should go to him. Oh, wait…”

“Fuck off,” Parker said, nudging Peyton’s knee with his toes. “It was just supposed to be one night of harmless fun.”

“When?”

“I don’t kiss and tell. But it was at that Christmas party last year…”

“I fucking knew you’d disappeared somewhere! You had sex with them that night?”

“Twice.”

Parker’s eyes glazed over as though he were reliving the memory. Peyton did not want details. “What are you going to do?”

“Is fleeing to Mexico under a fake name and starting a new life too extreme?”

“A little bit.” Peyton wasn’t going to dismiss it totally just yet, though. If it came to it, Peyton would go with him. Sebastian would look good wearing a sombrero. “They’re like thirteen years older than you, Parker.” And fuck, he realised how hypocritical that sounded.

Parker gave him a look. “How old is Quinn?”

“That’s seven years.” Parker didn’t need to know how old Jericho was.

“I think our age difference is the least of my problems right now.”

“Maybe you could just move in and act like you’ve always been there and like everyone else are the crazy ones for never noticing before.”

“As solid as that plan is, I don’t think it will work. Remember what it was like to convince Kellan that the dog ate our homework?”

“I think the fact that we didn’thavea dog probably didn’t work in our favour,” Peyton pointed out. The major flaw in their otherwise obviously perfect plan.

“Make sure they play nice music at my funeral.”

“I already have a playlist. It includes “Ding Dong the Witch is Dead,” “Another One Bites the Dust,” and “Problem” by Ariana Grande.”

“Nice.”

“I’ve got your back.” Peyton squeezed Parker’s calf. “It’ll be fine. They can only kill you once, right?”

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