Page 97 of Jaeda

“Get your girl, brother-in-law!” Shar called after us.

I shook my head as he pulled me into the crowd to dance.

“I’ve got my first title that isn’t disrespectful,” he jested.

“Right. How does it feel?”

He smiled as he lifted my fingers to his lips to kiss them. “Befitting.”

My lips spread across my face. “I agree.”

The party was over,and aside from the twins, all the kids were with their grandmas for the night. Daddy dipped out of the party early with a drunk Maddie. When we saw them all hugged up in the corner, we knew what time it was. Currently, my siblings, their wives, Donna, Jakobi, and Renay were gathered at Smoke’s, about to get in his pool.

The twins were sleeping, so Romi and Smoke brought the baby monitors outside so they could take turns going to check on them in the pool house just a few feet away. Since she couldn’t do too much moving, Romi was comfortably lounging in a rocking chair while the girls played around in the pool. The guys were huddled, passing blunts around and sipping on beers. Well, everybody except for Steel. He and Donna were huddled in a corner of the pool, talking quietly.

Every so often, he gave her a kiss. It made me smile but also confused me. He said she was just a friend, but he didn’t treat her like a friend. All day long, he’d been checking with her to make sure she was good or seeing if she needed anything. He was very affectionate and loving toward her, which had us thinking there was more going on than they admitted.

“Now watch they bring their loud, drunk asses over here disturbing our peace,” Shar said, watching them.

“I’m just surprised a fight hasn’t broken out,” Salima commented. “Look at them being nice to people who aren’t family.”

I kissed my teeth. “Girl, they’re barely nice to each other, so that says a lot.”

We shared a laugh.

I smiled as I looked around. “The family really grew and so damn fast. To think it all started with Deuce putting a gun to your head, Salima.”

She rolled her eyes. “Don’t remind me. Sometimes I watch him sleep and think about that shit. It would be so easy to pick up a pillow and smother him. Then I’d have to raise his bad ass baby without him, and I’m not doing that.”

Shar laughed. “Darlyn is bad as hell. Liam is such a sweet baby though. Damn, we really had all these kids back-to-back.”

“At least you don’t have three under two,” Renay said, smirking at her sister.

Romi shot her a middle finger. “Don’t blame me. Blame it on that man for talking to me like a slut when he’s inside me.”

Renay cackled. “So the whore in you jumped on that dick?”

“Every time.”

Mia and I frowned.

“That’s nasty,” I said.

Mia agreed. “It’s disgusting. Come on, y’all. We talked about not speaking on your sexual activities with our brothers in front of us.”

Shar waved her off. “Girl, bye. Y’all knew they were fucking long before we came along.

“Yeah, but we didn’t have to hear about it in detail!” Mia protested.

Renay snickered. “I guess you don’t wanna hear anything about the way your cousin?—”

“No!” Mia and I both yelled.

Everybody laughed. My eyes zeroed in on Donna and my brother, and the rest of the guys finally came back over. They all made their way to their respective partners. Quaid slipped into the pool and swam over to me with hooded eyes.

I giggled as he sprinkled kisses all over my face and neck.

“You feeling good?” I asked.

---