Page 120 of Brace and Chase

I feel my eyes open wide in panic when Charlie looks over to me, a serene smile on his face.

He has no doubts.

God knows why, he should probably get his head checked, but there’s not a single trace of doubt or hesitation in his expression.

“Free of his crazy ass,” he says with joy in every word, then he points at me. “If you like him now, you’re going to lose your head when you find out he’s my boyfriend, and then you’re never gonna let me break up with him.”

My lungs burn with the need for air, but there’s no way Ican unfreeze to suck a breath in. All I can do is watch as eyes open... as realization hits them all.

“Did you just say he’s your boyfriend?” Beau asks slowly.

“I did,” Charlie answers back, calm as a lake and cool as a cucumber, the bastard.

“You gotta have a death wish,” Finn murmurs, and dread starts to cave my soul in.

Until I notice where his gaze is.

Pointed right at my crotch.

As one, Lou, Beau, andHelen—ohmy God,I want the ground to open up and swallow me whole—all turn to look at my crotch as well, and I don’t stifle the urge to put my hands over it.

“Huh,” is all Lou says, tilting his head to the side in assessment.

“Stop looking at his dick,” Charlie snaps at them, but there’s humor in his eyes.

Seeing that breaks me out of my frozen state. It makes the insecurity disappear—at least for now—and I’m back to being myself when my mouth reminds me I have no filter.

“He is not that brave...yet,” I add with a leer his way.

Like puppets, they all turn to Charlie, who covers his face with both hands and groans.

“Stop.” He mumbles the plea.

That’s when Helen snickers, followed by Beau, and then the rest of us are laughing until all the tension evaporates from the house.

“All right, then,” Helen says over the twins’ laughter, and claps her hands. “Lou and Santa, you two come help me in the kitchen. I’m gonna be surrounded by gorgeous men while I put the finishing touches on dinner. Charlie, don’t kill your brothers, honey,” she says, sweet as can be, then she walks away.

I exchange a thankful glance with Charlie, then offer a small smile to his brothers, and finally follow Lou into the kitchen.

He launches right into the pre-game story of how I saved him from the stupid fuck, with Helen’s rapt attention on every detail he gives.

“I did not know that was your ex,” I tell him as I dry my hands after washing them. “If I had...” I trail off with a scowl.

“You could not have been scarier, Santa,” Lou tells me with impressed, wide eyes.

“Thank you,” I say, taking it as a compliment, then I pat his small head.

“Ugh, don’t do that,” he groans and steps back.

“But you are a tiny human,” I tell him with a shit-eating grin.

He scowls and slaps his hips with his hands like Helen did ten minutes ago, then he tilts his head back and looks up at me.

“I am nottiny,” he argues from way down there. “I’m a normal-sized human. You’re the giant.”

I smirk at him.

“Am I, though?”

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