Chapter Twenty-Four
W ith her hand in mine , and Collins behind us, I walked toward the house. I’d never brought a woman home, not even in high school, let alone a princess.
A princess .
Damn.
Mentally shaking my head, I steeled myself for the shitshow I knew we were about to walk into. Inhaling, I thought we’d make it at least to the couch before something happened, but the loud crash as I threw the front door open made me roll my eyes.
Calandra flinched.
“It’s okay,” I reassured. Hoping blood wouldn’t follow the crash, I stepped inside and pulled her with me.
“Darien Michael Tyler!” my mom bellowed. “You’re gonna clean that up this instant!”
“Jesus Christ, Ma!” Darien yelled back. “Thirty fucking years, and you can’t tell us apart yet? That wasn’t me, that was Declan! Tell him to clean that shit up. I wasn’t wrestling in the kitchen. I’m not even standing in the kitchen.”
“Same scene, different day,” Collins muttered behind me.
I glanced down at Calandra and smiled. “Brace yourself.”
Her eyes went wide. “Dare I ask what for?”
I kissed her temple, then grinned. “The Tyler brothers.”
“Declan Michael Tyler,” my mom hollered. “Clean this mess up right now! ”
“I can’t do shit until Dax lets go,” Declan ground out, sounding like he was choking. “Dax, you fuck, let go !”
“Two of your brothers have the same middle name?” Calandra asked, looking confused.
“They’re twins,” Collins muttered, slamming the door shut and walking around us toward the garage and the fridge he knew was in there. “I’m getting a beer. Anyone want one?”
“Is that Collins?” Donovan asked from the living room.
“Yeah,” Collins called out before raising an eyebrow at us. “Beer?”
Calandra shook her head.
“Grab me one, Collins,” Donovan said loud enough to be heard over Dax and Declan arguing about dishes. “I’m not giving up my spot on the couch. Game’s starting.”
“Ma,” I yelled, adding to the melee. “Come meet my princess.” I pulled Calandra into the living room as Mom came out of the kitchen.
Stepping around Dax as he held Declan in a headlock and slapping Dax on the back of the head, my mom maneuvered herself into the small-ass living room while wiping her hands on a towel. Tossing it over her shoulder, she looked up.
Then she froze.
Her eyes glued to Calandra, she stared at her for two seconds before bursting into tears.
Four men turned on us, and the proverbial shit hit the fan.
“What the fuck did you do?” Dax growled at me as he let go of Declan and wrapped his arm around Mom.
“You made Mom cry?” Donovan asked.
“Jesus Christ.” Darian shook his head at me. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”
“Why’s Ma crying?” Declan rubbed his neck as he moved to stand on the opposite side of Mom.
I ignored them all. “Mom, this is Calandra. Calandra, this is my mom.”
“It’s lovely to…,” Calandra started, but then stopped and glanced at ea ch of my brothers as all four turned to stare at her. Clearing her throat, she clasped her hands in front of her and looked back at my mom. “It’s lovely to make your acquaintance, Mrs. Tyler.”
“Oh my God.” My mom cried harder. “Her accent is even better in person.” Shoving off Dax, making a come here gesture at Calandra, she held her arms out. “Come here, sweetheart, lemme hug you.”
A collective sigh of relief went around the room when my brothers realized Mom wasn’t crying in earnest.
Calandra nervously stepped toward my mom, and I squeezed her hand once, then let go.
Mom pulled her into her arms and hugged the shit out of her.
Calandra stood there motionless like a statue.
Then Mom did what Mom does best, she started babbling. “A daughter, oh my God, I always wanted a daughter. That’s all I ever asked for, but no, five boys later and I couldn’t take no more testosterone, so I gave up. I never thought I’d see this day, but oh my sweet Jesus. And God bless my dear boy, Damian. He’s brought me a daughter .”
Daxton glared at me.
Donovan burst out laughing.
Darian looked at me with confusion. “When’d you get married?”
Declan shook his head. “He’s not married, you dumbass. He just met her. She’s a client.” He snapped his fingers in front of Darian’s face. “Keep up.”
Darian lunged at Declan, tackling him to the ground, and I gave up trying to figure out what cuss word was coming from who.
Calandra jerked out of my mother’s arms in shock as my brothers rolled near them, and I pulled her back and threw my arm possessively around her shoulders.
Daxton bent over and single-handedly pulled Darian off Declan. “Enough,” he said sternly, never raising his voice.
“I, um…” Calandra watched the twins posture at each other as they got up before she glanced back at Mom. “Yes, well, thank you for your hospitality and for having me over. ”
Mom’s hands flew to her cheeks. “Oh my God , she’s polite .” She looked up and mouthed, thank you, God , then she clapped her hands. “This day couldn’t be better. Unless…” She leaned forward and whispered conspiratorially at Calandra as she wiggled her eyebrows. “Unless you have other news?” She blatantly nodded her head at me twice while keeping her eyes on Calandra. “He gonna make you an honest woman?”
“Jesus Christ, Ma, ease off.” She hounded all of us relentlessly to get married and have kids, but so far, we’d all held out.
Mom’s gaze cut to me, and she gave me the eye. “I’ll ease off when I’m good and ready.” She nodded toward Calandra. “Or when you smarten up and settled down and give me grandbabies.”
Collins walked back in with a couple beers. Glancing at the twins arguing, and the wrath on Mom’s face, he tipped his chin at me. “Shit never changes around here.”
Mom spun and fake glared at Collins. “That’s because you don’t show up more than once a month on the heels of this one.” She jerked her thumb in my direction. “Come for dinner more often and you’ll see plenty of shit changes, like the menu.”
Collins almost smiled and leaned down to kiss Mom on the cheek. “Good to see you too.” He held a beer out to Donovan. “Speaking of the menu, dinner ready?”
Mom rolled her eyes at Calandra. “That’s all they ever come around for, food. You’d think I didn’t spend thirty-eight agonizing hours of my life being ripped in two and pushing out those big heads of theirs, and thirty years breaking up fights after that. Ungrateful is what that is.”
“Didn’t push my head out,” Collins corrected, taking a swig of his beer.
Mom eyed him. “And yet you still come around begging for food like a starved street cat.”
Half of Collins mouth tipped up. “It’s chicken and artichoke night.” He shrugged. “What can I say?”
Donovan and I laughed. Dax eyed Calandra, and the twins kept arguing .
Mom took Calandra’s arm. “So, are you really a princess?” She glanced at the top of Calandra’s head.
Collins smirked.
“Ma,” I clipped. “She doesn’t have a crown.” Well, if she did, I hadn’t seen it.
“Actually, a king would wear a crown.” Calandra smiled as she corrected me. “A princess would wear a tiara, and no I do not wear one. At least, not in the States.”
Mom’s eyes went wide like a child’s. “You have a tiara? A real one?”
Jesus . “Mom, enough with the third degree. We can’t stay long, so if dinner’s ready, let’s eat.”
Mom scoffed at me. “Is it six o’clock? Of course dinner’s ready.” She pulled Calandra toward the kitchen. “Come on, you can help plate up the food for all these overgrown man-children while you tell me all about fancy tiaras and kings and court jesters, and whatever else you got in your castle back home.”
Christ . “Mom,” I clipped, warning her. “She’s not here to serve food.” That was taking it a bit too far, even for Mom.
“She’s a woman, and she’s got two hands,” Mom shot back. “God didn’t put her on his good green earth just so she could stand around looking pretty and fancy all day, every day. I think she can manage a little chicken and rice.”
“Mom,” I barked.
“It’s okay.” Calandra gave me a faint smile. “I can manage.”
Donovan grinned at her and winked. “Oh, I bet there’s a whole lot you can manage.”
A collective intake of breath went around the room as my three other brothers looked between me and Van.
“Sweet Jesus, here we go,” Mom muttered.
I didn’t see her take Calandra into the kitchen.
I was busy putting my fist into Van’s jaw.
Five seconds later, we weren’t any better than the twins, and Collins was pulling me off Van .
“Fucking brothers,” I muttered.
“She’s hot, bro.” Van winked, taunting me ever further. “Let me know when she gets tired of you and wants a real man.”
I glared at Van. All us Tyler brothers gave each other shit about everything—except women. We never crossed that line. It was an unspoken rule. If one brother tagged a woman, that was it, she was dead to the rest of us. We all followed the Tyler brothers’ creed.
Except Daxton. He didn’t break the woman rule, that wasn’t the issue, he just never let loose. He never gave any of us shit in a teasing or taunting manner. He didn’t joke around, and he didn’t kid. I always figured being the oldest was his excuse to act like he was above it all, but as I got older, I realized the burden he’d carried after dad died was a hell of a lot bigger than working every day after school and handing over his paycheck to Mom for groceries. Dax didn’t haze any of us, but we all dished it out to each other.
Until this very moment, it’d never bothered me.
But glaring at my second-oldest brother, it sank in how much it bothered the fuck out of me.
“Watch it,” I warned Donovan, dead serious.
Van stilled as surprise registered in his expression. “ Oh shit .” He drew the two words out. “Bro,” he stated, eyes wide. “For real?” He shook his head slowly. “You for real really like her.”
“Jesus Christ, Van. Grow the fuck up. This isn’t high school.”
He grinned, and I wanted to throat punch him, but Mom and Calandra came out of the kitchen carrying plates.
Like the animals they were, Collins, Darian, Declan and Donovan descended on the women, grabbing the food.
“Round one!” Mom called happily and went back in the kitchen.
Calandra stood there for a moment, shell-shocked as the four men dropped to the nearest seats and all started shoveling in food.
I cupped the back of her neck and kissed her forehead. “Animals, I know.” I grinned.
“Princess!” Mom called from the kitchen. “Round two’s ready! ”
“Coming.” Still looking shell-shocked, Calandra hurried back into the kitchen.
A minute later, she and Mom were back with four more plates.
I took the plates from Calandra and nodded toward the couch because the chairs at the table were already full. “Sit, beautiful.”
She glanced at Dax as he sat on the opposite end, then she took the seat farthest from him.
I sat between them and handed her a plate.
She gracefully took it and glanced at my mom who took the one easy chair we all knew not to sit in. “Thank you so much for dinner, Mrs. Tyler.”
“Call me Helen.” My mom waved her fork in the air. “And don’t thank me until you try it.” She took a big bite.
Calandra pushed some food around on her plate with her fork.
I leaned over and dropped my voice. “Fair warning, if you’re one of those women who lives on salads and protein shakes, we’re gonna have words. Eat. It may not be fancy, but Mom can cook.”
Inhaling, she forked a decent-sized bite and put it in her mouth. Surprise crossed her features for half a second, then she chewed and swallowed.
Jesus, even when she ate, she was sexy.
“Good?” I asked knowingly, forking in another bite.
“It’s lemony and a little spicy, but not too much. It’s delicious.” She took another bite.
I smiled. “That’s my girl.”
Her cheeks flushed, but she didn’t comment.
After a few moments of rare quiet, while everyone was eating Mom’s food, conversations broke out. The twins argued. Donovan asked Collins about what famous clients we’d had. I asked Dax about the bar we all co-owned, where all of my brothers worked in some capacity. Mom, the twins, and Van fired random questions at Calandra until I told them to cut it out. Dax quietly watched everyone, and Collins ate three helpings, making my mom happy as shit. It was a typical dinner at Mom’s .
After I’d cleared plates, and Dax was doing dishes, I helped Calandra up from the couch. “Time to go, sweetheart.” Pulling her to her feet, I grabbed her around the waist.
She dipped her head at the term of affection and glanced around as if to see who heard. “Okay.”
I leaned down to her ear. “Hate to break it to you, but they already know I’m head over heels for you. I’m not gonna hide how I feel from my family. Or you.”
She blushed. “I wasn’t, I mean, I didn’t—”
“Damian Hennessey, quit embarrassing her,” Mom scolded. “Take your leave and be done with it. Don’t make a meal outta everything.”
I laughed and moved Calandra to my side, under my arm. “Life’s too short not to, Ma.” I kissed her on the cheek. “Thanks for dinner.”
Mom’s face softened. “Anytime. You know that.” She looked at Calandra. “I couldn’t have chosen better for my youngest boy if I’d picked him a woman myself.”
“Ma,” I chided. “Who’s embarrassing who now?” Jesus.
Calandra graciously smiled. “Thank you for the lovely evening, Mrs. Tyler.”
Mom looked at me. “I hope her manners wear off on you.”
I laughed. “No hope there.”
We said our goodbyes to my brothers, and Collins walked out in front of us, checking both vehicles’ undercarriages.
Calandra’s back stiffened as she silently watched Collins.
I tightened my arm around her. “We’re good, babe. We weren’t followed here.” I’d checked the rearview mirrors religiously the whole way. “It’s just precautionary.”
She exhaled. “You were right.”
Collins motioned us toward the SUVs.
I led her down the driveway. “About?”
She looked up at me as I opened her door. “Dinner was a good idea.”