Chapter 6

Hunter

One of these days everyone was going to be actually honest with each other.

I watched Hayden place roast potatoes onto Jamie's plate and wondered how the hell she didn't see it. He wasn't focussed on the food, her plate, anything but her. My brother stared at her in a way I'd never seen him do with another girl, heaping more and more spuds as she stared right back. The whole world dropped away but for each other.

Which was why I needed to interrupt.

"Might want to leave some potatoes for the rest of us, mate," I said, earning me a dirty look from Hayden.

I was supposed to back down, back away and keep the fuck out of this, but I wouldn't. My twin had been nursing a crush on Jamie for over ten years and he hadn't done anything about it.

Which meant neither could I.

"Look at you, Hayden, being a gentleman for once," Mum said with an approving look. "Usually you boys are shoving everyone out of the way in your rush to get to the food."

"Bread roll?"

Brock never used five words when two would do, so he just held one of Mum's freshly baked ones up with a pair of tongs in question, a little smile on his face.

"Ah…sure?" Jamie replied.

Hayden stared at Brock then watched our older brother deposit the bread on Jamie's plate as if it was the last quarter of the footy grand final or something.

"What about some lamb?" he countered, a little growl in his voice. Unbidden he started to poke through the slices of perfectly pink meat with the serving fork, then held out one that he deemed worthy. "No fat, just the way you like it."

Hayden stared, Brock's brows drew down sharply, and Millie? My darling sister stifled a snort, unable to hold back a smile. Her eyes darted sideways to focus on Mum and Dad, the lot of them apparently finding this terribly amusing.

So that's the way it was. We were all just performing monkeys putting on a show for them apparently.

And it didn't have to be that way.

The McDonald boys had it bad for Jamie, and no one was going to say anything about it. That there would be no fake dating, only real opportunities to actually connect with the girl none of us could stop thinking about, it appeared. Fine, if that was the game, I'd play it. I sighed and grabbed a side plate, piling it high with beetroot salad, the one Jamie actually liked, along with some coleslaw and corn salsa and then handed it over, before pulling the serving fork from Hayden's grip.

Three slices of lamb, no more, with a bit of mint sauce, never gravy or mint jelly, I arranged her plate to my satisfaction, then slapped some food on my own plate. It didn't matter what, I wouldn't taste any of it. I carried our plates out of the kitchen then nodded to the door, but before she could step forward to open it, Hayden was there. He slid the security door open and the two of us herded a bewildered Jamie outside. Brock somehow materialised by the table and was pulling out a chair for her before we took two steps.

"What the fuck…?" Jamie hissed at us, looking back guiltily over her shoulder to where the rest of my family were taking a little more time to fill their own plates. "You know we're supposed to be putting on an act for my parents, not yours?"

"We need to get some practice in before the real thing," I said, sliding into the chair next to her, right as Hayden pulled it out, ready to claim it for himself. He couldn't even take the one on her left because Brock had already sat down and was starting to butter his bread roll. She frowned when he retrieved hers and did the same.

"Look, I've changed my mind," she said, grabbing her utensils and gripping them like they were weapons. Her focus shifted to the house, and Mum and Dad's banter filtered through. "This is dumb. I'm big enough, old enough, to have a frank conversation with my mother."

Oh no, she didn't. As I glanced around the table, I saw that both of my brothers stiffened in the exact same way. We'd just been offered everything we'd ever wanted and she thought she was going to yank it away again?

"Majorie Kingston?" I asked, staring into her eyes. Her gaze faltered, a frown forming. "The mouth from the south? She who ruled the PTA with an iron fist that people still talk about in hushed tones even now. That mother?"

Her jaw locked tight and then she nodded, bending her head to start slicing up her meat.

"A week…" I heard the doubt in her voice, and I hated that I was the one who put it there, but ten years of frustration did that to a guy. It made you hungry, grasping, desperate, and I grabbed for her now.

"Just a week," I said in a much softer tone of voice. "We've got this launch thing coming up and they've been trying to pair us with some of the women who model for the company. You can come and be my plus one, that way I'm at least guaranteed good conversation."

She shot me a rueful look, but that small smile. Yeah, she was coming around to my way of thinking.

"I've got a wedding." We all looked at Brock in confusion. "I'm the best man and the bride thinks she's gonna hook me up with one of the bridesmaids. You'd be doing me a favour if you came as my date."

She snorted, then looked over at Hayden.

"And you? Need someone to sit with you when you visit your granny? Or convince the boss to stop sexually harassing you?"

"No." I stared steadily at my twin, willing him not to fuck this up. I was as frustrated as he was about the fact we'd kept a lid on our feelings for so long, but… Jamie was skittish. I didn't know if it was because her mother was a bitch or what, but she never let anyone close other than our sister. "And considering he's a man in his fifties called Angelo, that would be seriously weird, but Jamie." His eyes held hers. "I know Millie's your best friend, but you're a part of this family. We all care about you. If this is what you need, it's no hardship helping you out."

Fuck, where the hell had my brother got this sort of game from? I stared at him then and he shot me a dark look in response. I guess asking her to come to the launch wasn't me stepping back and letting him pretend to be me. Oops.

"OK." She nodded, the movement getting more confident as the seconds ticked by. "Yeah, I can do that. You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours. Hell, if you help me get through this, I'll be your fake date whenever you need it." She smiled then. "Just ask." Her focus was snatched away by the sound of Mum's giggles. God, Dad was at it again, kissing her I was willing to bet. Millie was no doubt holding back the dry heaves at their excessive PDA to give us some time with our girl. "But what about your parents? They already think something is up. Do we tell them?"

I leaned over, putting my arm around the back of her chair, watching her eyes widen. Her pupils expanded and her breathing started to pick up. Interesting.

"Do you want us to?" I asked.

"No," that was her initial, honest response. "This is so embarrassing. I mean yes, maybe we should tell them. Otherwise they'll be wondering what the hell is going on. Shouldn't we?"

Letting me make the decisions? Yeah, I liked that a whole lot, a smile forming without thought.

"Keep quiet now and let me take you out first," I said, feeling and hearing my brothers move restlessly beside me. "We'll figure out what to do then. Tonight…" I realised that wouldn't work because we were already having dinner here. "Tomorrow night then."

"We can talk about it at work tomorrow." Brock shot me a smug smile. "And anyway, tomorrow is Thursday," my brother said, shooting a small smile my way. "We usually have drinks down the pub." His focus shifted back to Jamie, his eyes running over every inch of her. "I'll bring some clothes to get changed into and take you to the pub."

"To drink with the same guys she works with all day?" Hayden said with a curl of his lip. "How romantic."

"We'll have a few drinks." I watched the big bastard lean forward, eating up the space between them, and I waited for her to pull back. She didn't. "Then there's a nice place up the road that does wood fired pizzas." His hand slid across the table and I knew why. He wanted to take her hand, feel it in his and just cradle it there, unable to believe he had the right. "We could have a late dinner and go for a walk on the beach afterwards, make a decision about what to do there."

The sound of the waves rushing in behind them, the smell of the sea air, the taste of salt on her lips as I went in to kiss her. I could just freaking see it. Suddenly, I couldn't want anything more.

But I couldn't.

Millie had cock blocked me during high school, making clear how much she would kick our arses if we pursued Jamie back then, but all bets were off by the time the girls graduated, right? But Hayden provided a much more convincing obstacle. He was standing by the window one summer, we both were, staring down at the girls.

Millie was in her car, revving the engine when required and Jamie was bent over the engine bay, tinkering with something. She had a sweetly curved arse I just wanted to bite someday, my teeth aching with that need, right as she straightened up. A girl shouldn't look beautiful smeared with engine grease, but Jamie did. She pulled up the hem of her shirt to wipe her face, revealing the bikini she wore underneath. I wanted to shove up those flimsy Lycra triangles, revealing those beautiful tits I'd stared at way too long at, right before I took one nipple into my mouth, but all of that horny bullshit was shoved to one side as Jamie walked over to the garden hose, turning it on to clean her hands.

The water came out in a thin trickle, not enough for her to clean up with and she bent down, playing with the nozzle, as if to look for the blockage that was cutting off the flow, except that was Millie. My sister cackled as she unkinked the hose, sending water gushing all over Jamie's face, my cock lurching at the idea.

If this was just sexual, I'd have hit Jamie up, dragged her into my room one night when she came around for dinner and pinned her to the wall before making clear what I wanted. We could've fucked whatever the hell this was out of our systems and I could've moved on, we all could've moved on. Instead I watched Jamie throw her head back, water flicking up in an arc as she let out a great belly laugh.

And that's when I knew.

I wanted to be the one to make her laugh like that, then I wanted to grab the hose, just like Millie did, drenching my girl with the water, forcing her clothes to stick to her skin, outlining her form, right before I peeled them off. I wanted to know what else might make her laugh like that and cry, so I could avoid all the pain and only bring the pleasure. I wanted?—

"She's the one, y'know?" Hayden's words broke through my reverie, jerking me back to the room. I found myself nodding because I understood what he was saying all too well. "Millie's ban doesn't count once they graduate. When she's an adult and I'm…" He shook his head sharply, struggling to find the words, and this was usually when I stepped in, speaking for him.

But I couldn't right now.

If I articulated his need to feel her, see her, make Jamie his, I'd reveal something about myself that I had no business sharing. I loved my brother. Sometimes it felt like Hayden was the other half of me, and so fighting over a girl? That was never going to happen.

And not for one minute did I think we would need to.

I thought Jamie would graduate, look around and work out what she wanted, and then we'd be freed of this choice. She'd be the one doing the choosing. Instead, Hayden never dared say anything, because apparently he didn't have the balls to unless she gave him some kind of sign. When he didn't make his play, I couldn't either.

Well, I was done with waiting.

"Mum won't be here for a couple of days," Jamie said, looking up as the sliding door opened again, announcing the fact that everyone was joining us. "There's no need to go on dates until then."

"Not unless you want to."

Who said that? Oh shit, me. She met my eyes for just a second but they slid away far too soon, only my persistent stare dragging them back. I watched a small frown form and then smooth away, her lips parting, closing, then parting again, but right as she sucked in a breath to reply, Dad spoke up.

"So, Jamie, how's life at the garage going? Brock's not working you too hard, I hope?"

My head whipped around and I went to confront my own damn father, but he just smirked when he had my attention. Mum looked conspicuously at her plate, cutting into the meat with a smile I knew all too well, and Millie looked like she wanted a bowl of popcorn to munch from, not roast dinner.

They knew. Every damn member of my family knew what Millie had planned, why we'd all said yes, and they'd never said a thing.

"No, not too hard," Jamie replied, grabbing her cutlery. "Though I guess I better say that in front of the boss."

She could say whatever she bloody wanted, that's what she didn't understand, which is why I dragged out my phone. The conversation might be over, the chatter turning to what everyone had gotten up to this week, but I wasn't done.

I don't care when your mum gets into town , I wrote, tapping out a text to Jamie. Come out with me Friday night.

I felt my twin's eyes burning into the side of my face, making clear what he thought, but I just shoved my phone back in my pocket, smirking when Jamie pulled hers out and glanced at it. That slight widening of her eyes, then one brief sidelong look was all I needed. I relaxed back into my chair and started to eat my food.