Page 40 of Their Greatest Strength

Noah’s glaring at his, his top lip curling in disgust. I ignore him, having seen him pound back bowls of the stuff when we were younger.

My brother squishes the sides of his shot and jiggles the contents into his open mouth. I copy him and immediately taste how much vodka the women used.

“Shit, they must have dumped the entire bottle in,” I hiss, shaking my head as my throat burns.

Cooper laughs, finished with his shot. “Did you expect them to measure properly?”

“I don’t think Braxton haseverused a measuring cup in the kitchen. She’s a measure with your heart type of woman,” Maddox puts in, wincing when he takes his shot.

What type of woman is Blakely? The follow the recipe type or one that measures with her heart? I already know she wouldn’t be using vodka, that’s for sure. These shots would be ten times stronger with whiskey or maybe even tequila.

A week after going over the contract and dropping her at the corner of her neighbourhood and I’m itching to see her again. Contact has been brief between us, but I haven’t stopped reminding her that I’m here.

Once Oliver’s wedding has come and gone, it’ll be our turn. She’ll be my wife, and that’s a crazy reminder.

“Is your food at least seasoned, then? I’ve been trying to help Addie with that, but she’s adamant that pepper is enough for almost everything,” Cooper muses.

Maddox snorts. “Yeah, not surprising. She used to offer to help with breakfast back when we were kids, and everything would be so bland that Dad started slipping us those tiny salt packets to use when she wasn’t looking. Sorry to say that’s a you problem now.”

“Seasonless food is more than worth it to be with her,” Cooper declares, squishing his second shot.

Oliver brushes the comment off and stares at me. “Adorable. But where are we even going right now, Jamie? What’s the plan?”

“Oh, we have a crazy one for tonight to celebrate your last night as an unmarried man. I’ve booked us three glorious hours of paintballing before we hit our reservation at the best Mexican restaurant in town that just so happens to also be your favourite.”

None of us have been paintballing in at least five years. Oliver got banned from the last venue after he shot our team leader four times in the groin when he tried saying that our dad was an overpaid, overrated bench warmer throughout his career. The ban has long since been lifted, but I played it safe and chose a different spot in case the same guy is working there tonight.

“You’re going to give Noah a paintball gun?” Cooper asks, glancing between me and Noah.

“Won’t be a problem because I call dibs for him to be on my team.”

Noah lounges back on the seat, his arms crossed and legs spread wide enough that the rips in his jeans grow in size.

“If I were going to injure you, I would have done it when you came home from Europe married to my sister. Not at a bachelor party years later,” he drones.

Oliver hides a laugh behind a cough. “From what we heard, Maddox took care of that.”

“His punch was weak,” Noah rebuttals.

His older brother scowls. “You weren’t even there to see it.”

“His nose didn’t break. Nothing did.”

I pick up another shot and toss it back while they bicker. Oliver looks at me and signals for another one, and I give him a blue one.

He leans toward me, lowering his voice with taking his lid off. “Thank you for setting this up, Jamie. Means a lot to me.”

“You got it, big bro. Would have appreciated a bit more guidance on your part with what you wanted, but I think I made it work. How are you feeling? You’re getting fucking married in three days.”

His entire expression shifts, becoming so much lighter as the brown in his eyes warms. “The waiting is killing me. I need her to be my wife more than I need to breathe. I’ve been thinking about seeing her walk down the aisle and just—it nearly kills me. Her and Nova, man. They’re everything.”

“Love looks good on you. So does fatherhood.”

“Crazy to think that I’m a dad now. Even more than a husband. Nova feels like mine too. It doesn’t matter that her blood isn’t mine. She’s my daughter where it counts.”

Emotion builds in my throat, and I cough to clear it before I get choked up. I grab the back of his head and bring our temples together for a beat.

“You deserve all of this.”

---