Page 41 of Eleven of a Kind

“Shut up, douchebag.” I tossed the bottle cap at him.

“We all were at one point,” Nathan said. “You’ll hop off the man-whore train someday.” He grinned.

“Why do you care if Piper knows that, cousin?” Simon asked.

“I don’t.” I pulled out my phone.

“Are you texting Piper right now to tell her that you’re not a man-whore?” Jackson chuckled, and Simon high-fived him.

“You all think you’re so funny.” I brought up Riley’s Facebook page and started scrolling.

“That’s because we are.” Simon took a sip of his beer.

“Riley told me today that she loves to do pottery. I guess Ariana had a friend back in Georgia who owned a pottery studio, and Riley spent a lot of time there.”

“And she just told you this now?” Nathan asked.

“She brought it up because her art class is doing pottery tomorrow. I told her maybe we can try to find a pottery studio around here where she can go on the weekends or something.”

“Or I can just build her a pottery studio of her own.” Stefan smiled.

“Yeah, okay.” I chuckled. “And where the hell would you put one? I don’t want that stuff in my house.”

“We can build her a pottery shed over by the pool,” Stefan spoke.

“There isn’t enough room.”

“There could be.” Shaun grinned. “We’ll just extend your property. I wanted to wait and tell you guys what my plans are, but since we’re talking about property, I might as well tell you now. My company plans to buy every house that goes up for sale beyond the stretch of our beach.”

“So, what are you going to do? Own all of Venice Beach?” Simon laughed.

“Yeah. Pretty much.” Shaun grinned. “I plan to Airbnb them, and then our children will move in when the time comes.”

“And what makes you think our kids would want to live here next to their parents?” Stefan laughed.

“Yeah, bro. We couldn’t wait to get the hell away from ours when we graduated college.” Simon laughed.

“Good idea, cousin.” Nathan held up his beer bottle. “My kids are staying put, right here, on the beach, by us.”

“Damn right, they are.” Shaun smiled as he held up his beer bottle.

“Anyway, back to Riley’s pottery studio,” Stefan said. “It can be done.”

CHAPTER15

Piper

I picked Riley up from school and took her back to my shop.

“What do you want me to do?” she asked.

“The clothes on this rack need steaming. All you do is hang the clothes here and move the wand over it to get the wrinkles out. Be careful, and don’t burn yourself.”

“Got it.” She smiled.

I walked behind the counter and stood there with Tara and Raj.

“It sure is nice when she’s here. Less work for us.” Raj grinned. “I bet you can’t wait for Daddy to pick her up.”

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