Page 42 of Rainbow Kisses

I looked at Brian as we realized at the same time that my next eldest brother was about to be a problem.

I still didn’t know what had happened between Brian and Rebel. Neither of them had ever talked to me about their cold war. Maybe I didn’t want to know. But Rebel was about to realize Brian had spent the night. And he was gonna be pissed. Not that he had any right to be, but if Rebel wasn’t grumpy about something, he was either asleep or buzzed. And even when he was buzzed, he was pissy.

So him finding Brian here this early… Yeah, not gonna go well.

Then again, maybe he’d behave himself with the girls here.

Of course, no one could resist Krista’s charm and when Rebel appeared in the doorway to the kitchen, he had Krista on his back, her arms around his neck. Kids loved Rebel. Maybe because he still acted like one most of the time, even though he was twenty-eight.

He took one look at Brian then turned to me and said, “We need to talk.”

I sat back in my chair and crossed my arms over my chest. I can be just as pissy when I need to be.

“Actually, I can’t think of a single thing we need to talk about right now. As you can see, I’m busy.”

Rebel’s jaw tightened, and I knew he wanted to order me around, like he had when we were kids. Back then, I’d idolized my older brothers and had trailed them like a puppy. Until hockey took over their lives, and Rocky, my youngest brother, and I had been left to our own devices.

Rebel looked like he was grinding his back teeth into dust while he decided what he would say with two children in the vicinity.

Turns out, there wasn’t really anything he could say, which made my smile widen.

“You want some pancakes?” I asked, all innocence. “Brian’s are great.”

Okay, maybe I was being a little bit of a brat, rubbing it in Rebel’s face, but goddammit, I didn’t want my brother to ruin my morning. And right now, he was totally bringing down the mood.

Then I saw Maddy glance between Brian and Rebel, saw the slight stiffening of her shoulders. And I’d had enough.

“But I’m pretty sure you already ate, didn’t you, Reb?” I looked at Maddy and rolled my eyes, trying to lighten the mood a little. “He’s kind of anal about his feeding habits.”

Then I looked back at Rebel and arched my eyebrows, making sure Rebel knew exactly what I was telling him without actually saying words. He should get his pissy mood out of my house, like now.

His brows rose in surprise, like he hadn’t expected me to stand up to him. I had no idea what was going on with him, but damn it, he needed an attitude adjustment, and it was coming soon. Just not now with the girls here. Especially Maddy, who was sensitive enough to be picking up the vibes.

And then, because my brother wasn’t always a complete asshole, he realized why I was disinviting him from visiting this morning. I saw him glance at Maddy and grimace. My mom had not raised any of us to be insensitive, and Rebel, though he had a thicker skull than the rest of us, almost always realized when he needed to cut and run.

“Uh, yeah, I did. But thanks for the invite.” He turned his rare smile on Krista then made sure to include Maddy, because he wasn’t a complete Neanderthal. “I can’t stay anyway. Just thought I’d stop to talk.”

No, he’d seen a strange car in my driveway, and he was nosy, or he’d recognized that car as Brian’s, and he’d wanted to read me the riot act. Either way, he was being a dick and totallyinvasive. And I was totally going to rake his ass over the coals. Later.

“Then I guess I’ll see you at the arena later tonight. Okay bye.”

Yes, I sounded like a complete brat, but no younger sister with two or more older brothers would convict me in a court of law.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Brian’s mouth twitch, like he was trying to squash a smile. So I gave Rebel the Frenchie smile, the one she gives to Sandy during “Summer Nights.” Which reminded me that if I was going to open a bookstore with Erin, we would need to include “Grease” in the store playlist.

Rebel rolled his eyes and sighed long and hard, but turned toward the door, Krista still clinging to his back.

“Talk to you later, Rainy.” Then he nailed Brian with a look. “See you on the ice.”

I huffed out a sigh as he walked to the front door, Krista chatting away.

“We should probably be going too,” Brian said when we heard the front door close. “Game tonight.”

He said that like it answered every question I might have about why he was leaving. And yeah, I got it. Players had their pregame routines. Eating schedules, naps, rituals. So many rituals. Even though our league and our players were a little…unconventional, they still had their rituals.

“I’d be happy to keep Maddy. If she wants to stay. I could drop her by your place later. I’ve got some things I have to do, and I planned to take Krista too.”

I saw him working through the pros and cons. Saw the hesitation, saw him look at Maddy, who just happened to look over at that time and caught him staring at her. Almost as if she’d read his mind, she started to frown then made her way back to us.

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