Page 45 of A Devious Arrangement

“Nuh-uh. Olivia’s lying. I never.” Matthias catches Tucker easily, stopping him from hitting his sister with his tiny, clenched fists.

The two of them are at each other, and like a well-practiced dance, the parents move them around like they’re playing musical chairs until the boys are sitting together the same as the girls. The noise level drops significantly as they go back to eating their food.

None of the adults look fazed by any of this, instead easily talking amongst each other.

Whereas Olivia and Finley look like they’re plotting their younger brother’s downfalls.

Baby Eve is the best behaved out of all of them, sitting on Scarlet’s lap, munching on some kind of puff cracker.

Scarlet goes to get up. “Can you take her for a minute?”

Bash lifts his hands up, taking the baby easily like he’s done this a million times before. It’s strange seeing this other side of him. An almost domesticated version of the usually roguish Lord. It’s like seeing through a window I’m not supposed to. Somehow, all his playfulness has morphed from mischievous to cute. The way my heart skips and my cheeks heat serves as a warning that I can’t get too attached to him. This isn’t how he is with me.

I stand to shake off the fuzzy feeling growing in my stomach and start to stack empty plates. Matthias puts his hand on my shoulder, drawing my attention.

“I’ll get those. Women don’t do the dishes in the Everette family.”

Bash winks at me, already standing. “See, aren’t you happy you’re my girlfriend?”

There’s a shallow pain in my chest. Maybe if this wasn’t all a lie, I could be happy here, surrounded by so much love.

It’s a stark contrast to how I grew up.

The adults settle the kids, Bash laying Eve down in the playpen, where she plays with the multicolored mobile.

Damon switches on the TV and pulls Orion into his lap. It’s not long until the room’s quiet, and Misty’s ushering me to go sit in one of the four lounge chairs facing each other.

Scarlet hands me a glass of wine before taking the seat beside me. “It’s nice, isn’t it?”

“What is?”

“The way they all love each other,” she responds.

No one’s fighting, the girls and boys relaxed, watching TV with their fathers. It’s strange to see the Lords of the Order of Saints like this but somehow also feels right.

“Yeah, it is,” I reply simply.

Misty leans in and whispers, “So, how did you and Bash meet?”

I should’ve seen this coming. There’s no way they aren’t curious about Bash suddenly settling down. “Just kind of bumped into each other.”

I keep my answer short, not technically a lie. I’m just leaving out the fact we immediately went into a gambling room.

“I’m sure you two have run into each other before. What was different this time?” Scarlet asks and refills my glass I didn’t realize I’d emptied.

My mouth opens, then closes. It’s not like I can tell them it’s a part of a ruse since they’re the ones we’re supposed to be fooling. “It was just time, I guess.”

Neither of them pushes when I evade their question, giving them the minimum response possible.

Misty smirks. “You’ve got to give us something. How long have you two been seeing each other?”

“Not long. A weekish.” I shrug.

Both girls look at each other, then back at me. “But it must be serious. Bash has never brought anyone to meet us,” Scarlet says.

Thank God Misty jumps in because I have no idea how to respond.

“Plus, it’s almost an Everette brother tradition to basically imprint on the girl they love.”

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