7. Fox, Brody, and Autumn
FOX, brODY, AND AUTUMN
Brody was concerned that the Fox wasn’t having a good time. He didn’t really join in, tending to stick to the shadows and the outskirts of the crowd.
Not that Brody had expected him to be the life of the party or anything, but he had hoped that he’d mingle a bit more.
Although a number of people had talked to him, mainly the Littles. However, Duke had also gone to speak to him and so had Ink several times.
He knew it wasn’t just because he didn’t like being out in the open, but also so he could keep an eye on everything. He was acting as a guard, a sentry, rather than a guest.
But it wasn’t like the Fox knew anything about normal social interactions, not with the way he’d been raised.
“Do you think he’s having a good time?” Sunny walked up to Brody and stared over at the Fox.
He stared back at them with a look of interest, then tapped his cheek once. That was a signal they’d come up with. If Brody ever needed him and couldn’t say it, he could just tap his cheek twice back. Brody just smiled and shook his head.
He was fine.
“I think he’s doing okay,” Brody said.
“What about you and Autumn? Are you guys okay?”
“Well, yeah,” Brody told her. “They’re the best things that have ever happened to me.”
“I get it,” Sunny said, looking at Duke who smiled at her.
“Sunny, can we make the cupcakes now?” Zippy called out. “I want to decorate mine. I’m going to put so much icing on it that it collapses underneath the weight.”
“Oh Lord, she probably plans on eating it too,” Betsy said as she moved past them. “She’s going to be awake all night with a stomachache. I just know it.”
“It’s all right,” Sunny said. “I made plenty of icing. I got out of bed this morning when I wasn’t supposed to and made extra,” she said to Brody.
“Bet you got into trouble over that,” Brody said as he pushed his glasses back up his nose.
“Yep. Let’s just say I’m not looking forward to sitting down while I’m doing the cupcakes. I might try to stand. Do you think anyone will notice if I’m standing?”
Brody nodded. “Yep, I think they will. But don’t worry, you’re not the only one who got spanked this morning.”
“You too, huh?” Sunny said with commiseration.
“Oh, yeah, and so did Tutu.”
“Zippy, don’t you use all that icing. It’s for everyone!” Betsy called out.
“Yeah, everyone like us, Zippy,” Baron called out. “Save some for us.” He rushed over toward the table that had been set up for the cupcake decorating, while Royal strolled behind him, his hands in his pockets.
Royal looked relaxed, but his gaze was moving around the surroundings, as though he was keeping an eye on things, too, or as though he was up to something.
The twins were usually up to something.
Hopefully they didn’t plan on blowing anything up. Now that would be a Fourth of July to remember.
Autumn walked up beside Brody and slid her hand into his. “What are you guys talking about?”
“How we’re going to decorate cupcakes while standing up,” Sunny said with a grimace.
“You too, Sunny?” Autumn said with sympathy.
“Yep. Turns out that when you are doing something sneaky, you always need to check that your dog doesn’t stand on the evidence and that you wipe it off your face. Either one would’ve gotten me caught. Both were just the nail in the coffin of my sore bottom. I’m going to go help set up.”
Sunny headed over to the table, leaving the two of them.
“Was that supposed to make sense?” Autumn asked.
“I have no idea,” Brody replied.
“Are you going to decorate a cupcake, Brody-bear?”
“Oh, um, I don’t know.”
“Yeah, me neither,” Autumn said.
Shoot. If he wanted to help her relax, then he should insist that they both go decorate a cupcake. Even if he had absolutely no skill with decorating, or icing, or cupcakes.
“Come on, let’s do this. I bet I can make more of a mess than you can.”
Autumn gave him a grin. “Challenge accepted.”
Fifteen minutes later, both of them were a mess.
Brody swore that there was more icing on his hands and his T-shirt than there was on the actual cupcake he was attempting to decorate.
“What do you think?” Autumn asked as she showed him her cupcake.
“I think that looks amazing.” And it really did. It looked like it had been expertly decorated.
She’d used this little piping bag to pipe bits on, and she’d even managed to get all three colors on the cupcake without the icing all mixing together. Brody’s icing had all mixed together, and now it just looked purple.
Purple wasn’t a very Fourth of July color, was it?
“Ooh, you made purple!” Tabby said from his other side.
“Um, yeah.”
“It’s so pretty!” Livvy said as she leaned across the table from where she was sitting between Jewel and Emme.
All of their men were kind of gathered around them, chatting. He’d been keeping an eye on the Fox, and even though he didn’t move closer to join any groups, people kept going to talk to him.
Right now, he was involved in a conversation with Spike, who wasn’t really much of a talker.
So Brody wondered how that was going.
“Um, yeah, I guess.”
“What do you think of mine, brother?” Baron held his up so Royal, who was seated across from him, could see it.
It looked as though he’d created two balls with his cupcake and covered them in blue icing.
“Remind you of anything?” Baron asked slyly.
Uh-oh.
Brody sensed that something was about to happen. He moved closer to Autumn, ready to grab her and run if shit went down.
“What is it? What’s going on?” she asked.
“Just watch.”
“I don’t know what you mean, brother?” Royal drawled. “Do you like mine?”
Royal’s cupcake looked even better than Autumn’s. The piping work was stunning and he’d even created a large flower on the top with more icing.
“Whoa, Royal, that’s amazing,” Betsy said.
“Yes, Royal is very good with his hands,” Baron said. “He has to be.” He held a ball in each hand, rocking them up and down. “Or these would be so cold they’d probably drop off.”
Was he . . . was he trying to imply something?
About Royal having blue balls.
“Baron!” Betsy cried. “You can’t say things like that!”
“It’s all right, Ma. I have this,” Royal told her.
Then, before anyone had any inkling of what he was going to do, he’d thrown a cupcake right into his brother’s face.
“Cupcake war!” Zippy cried before she jumped up with her cupcake in hand and ran away.
Someone didn’t want to risk her cupcake ending up as a weapon.
Brody couldn’t blame her. He’d run if he could too. Instead, Autumn grabbed him and drew him under the table.
She was breathing heavily and holding her cupcake safely in two hands. “You okay?”
Brody straightened his glasses with a nod. “Are you?”
There were whoops and hollers and laughter as well as some deep shouts.
“I didn’t want anyone getting my cupcake. It’s mine.” She cradled it close.
“Well, it’s a mess out there,” Royal said as he slid under the table and sat with his legs crossed. “Ma just got Ink in the chest with a cupcake. So he’s down. Cupcake war rules. Pretty sure she intended to get him in the face but she’s always been terrible with her aim.”
To Brody’s amazement, Royal didn’t seem to have a single crumb of cupcake on him. How did he do that? Brody was covered in icing and bits of cupcake, and he didn’t even know how he’d gotten some of the stains.
Someone else slid under the table with a whoop and a laugh.
Baron.
“That is one heck of a cupcake fight going on out there.”
Unlike his brother, Baron was covered in cupcake and icing. It was all over his face, in his hair, and down his T-shirt.
“Good job, brother,” Royal said as he took a bite out of his spectacular cupcake.
“I thought so,” Baron answered. “Shall we get going?”
“We really should, or Zippy is going to start getting impatient,” Royal replied as he handed the cupcake over to his brother to take a bite.
“See you later,” Baron said with a wink as they moved to the other side of the table and then disappeared.
Brody stared at Autumn with wide eyes. “What do you think that was all about?”
“I don’t know, and I’m not sure I want to know,” she said.
Someone else crawled under the table and ran his gaze over them both.
“Daddy!” Autumn said, moving to him.
“What are you two doing in here?” he asked as he drew her against him.
“Avoiding the food war going on outside,” Brody told him. “Who’s winning?”
“Oh, definitely the Littles. I just saw Sunny get Duke right in the face. Twice.”
“Twice?” Brody asked.
“Oh, all right, the second one might have come from an interested third party who noticed that she wasn’t sitting comfortably.”
“Wait, you got Duke in the face with a cupcake for spanking Sunny when you spanked both of us this morning?” Autumn asked.
“Hmm. Yes.”
“Don’t you see the hypocrisy in that?” Brody asked.
“Sure. But it was fun. Sounds like things are quieting down. Come on, let’s get out of here.”
They all crawled out from under the table with the Fox holding out a hand to each of them.
Autumn was still holding onto her cupcake to keep it safe.
“Whoa, this place is a mess,” Autumn said, glancing around. There were pieces of cupcake, sprinkles, and glitter everywhere.
And when he said everywhere, he meant it. Because it wasn’t just on the ground or all over the table.
It was all over everyone.
Well, with a couple of exceptions. There was very little on him or Autumn. And there was nothing on the Fox. Butch also seemed to have escaped being pounded by cupcakes. But not Cash or Ralen. They were both covered. Although Ralen was grinning manically, so maybe he’d liked the cupcake war.
“Right, how about we clean this all up?” Ink said with a warning look at Betsy. He had some glitter on his nose, which was sparkling under the late-afternoon sun. “And then we can eat.”
Everyone got to work cleaning up. He was next to Sunny when Betsy walked over to her. “You’re not upset about the cupcake war, are you?”
Shit. That hadn’t even occurred to Brody.
But Sunny just grinned. “Are you kidding? Did you see me smack Duke right in the face? It was epic. And then the Fox got him. I don’t think he saw who got him the second time. That wily Fox.”
That wily Fox, indeed.
Come to think of it . . . where was the Fox? He hadn’t seen him since they’d climbed out from under the table.
That wasn’t suspicious or anything . . .