Page 40 of Protected

So much for having a talk with his friend. The man looked as if he was about to murder him.

“What the hell is going on here?” Kenton growled as he inched toward them. “Your ass better tell me why you’re kissing my sister.”

Before Parker could respond, Chelsey charged toward Kenton and pushed against his chest, barely moving him backward.

“Who I kiss is my business,” she said only loud enough for the three of them to hear. “Now, calm the hell down so we can talk.”

Parker moved forward and looped his arm around her waist, pulling her back some. This was between him and her brother. It was up to him to calm his friend down and explain the situation.

“Listen, man,” Parker started, but Kenton charged forward and swung at him.

Damn.

Parker ducked, barely missing getting struck in the face, but he hadn’t been prepared for the punch to his gut.

“Oomph,” he gasped, but out of reflex he threw a punch, catching Kenton in the jaw, and hitting him hard enough to stun him.

The big man shuffled back a little, and before Parker could get out of the way, his friend charged at him. It felt like getting run over by a truck as they crashed to the floor while Chelsey cursed and yelled for them to stop. Instead, they rolled aroundon the hardwood, each trying to get the upper hand while also dodging punches.

A bit more flexible, Parker eventually managed to scurry out of Kenton’s reach. He hurried to his feet and got in a fighting stance with his fist raised.

If the guy wanted to fight, fine. They’d fight. Might as well get this over with.

But when Kenton got off the floor, breathing hard, he glared at Parker. “How you gon’ be fucking around with my sister?” he barked, then got in Parker’s face. “You have lost your damn mind if you think I’m going to—”

“Enough!” Chelsey roared and shoved Kenton, which again was like pushing against a brick wall. Her brother was the tallest and the biggest person on their team, and the man was unmovable when his feet were planted. “Calm down,” she ground out.

Parker knew Kenton would be pissed, but he hadn’t expected him to go bat-shit crazy and swing at him. When the big man swung again, Parker weaved to the right, and threw a punch of his own, catching Kenton in the chin.

“Daddy! Daddy! Come look! Uncle Parker and Uncle Ken are fighting! They’re fighting!” Mason’s oldest son yelled, excitement pouring through his words.

Parker hadn’t realized the kid was there. He’d come out of nowhere, then disappeared just as quickly, yelling for his dad.

Kenton swung again, this time catching Parker on the side of the head, causing him to stumble back. He shook his head, and when his vision cleared, Mason, London, and Egypt were rushing into the room. There were also footsteps running up from the basement, but before Parker could see who it was, Mason was in his face.

“Are you kidding me?” he ground out and nodded to where the huge plant that was now leaning to the side with a pile of dirt on the hardwood floor. “Look at this mess!”

“He started it,” Parker and Chelsey said at the same time while pointing at Kenton, and then they looked at each other.

When London and Egypt burst out laughing, Parker couldn’t help but join in. Two overgrown men throwing punches had to look crazy as hell. When Parker glanced at Chelsey, though, she wasn’t laughing. She had her hands on her hips while glaring at her brother.

Parker needed to talk fast. “Listen man, Chelsey and I are together. I’m in love with your sister, and you’re going to have to deal with it.”

Egypt groaned at the same moment Kenton started toward Parker again, but Mason stopped the big man with a hand on his chest.

“Knock it off. Am I going to have to separate you two? You guys already freaked out my kid. Throw another punch, either one of you, and you both will find your asses outside on the front lawn. Now clean up this shit.”

“Oooh, Daddy said two bad words,” a high-pitched voice squealed from behind them.

They all turned to find Mason’s youngest daughter, Miracle, standing there with wide eyes and dressed in a pink princess dress and wearing a tiara. “Mommy, did you hear him? Did you hear what Daddy said?”

“I did, honey, and I’m going to have a long talk with your daddy, but what are you kids doing down here?”

That’s when Parker noticed Mason’s other kids, as well as Laz’s daughter, and Kenton’s son. London usually had a couple of nannies helping whenever they hosted parties. Maybe they hadn’t arrived yet.

“Come on. Let’s get you all back upstairs and settled in before everyone else gets here,” London said. She and Egypt ushered all of them back toward the stairs that would take them to the massive playroom.

Standing near the basement stairs were Angelo and Zenobia, each holding one of their twins. And Laz and Journey were huddled next to them.

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