Crazy Thing (The Brighton Family #5)

Chapter 46

46

DARIUS

“ A nd what’s five times three?” I perch on the edge of the massive table in the middle of my at-home game room, careful not to knock over the tower of classic board games stacked up beside me.

My six-year-old niece spins around in one of the ergonomic gaming chairs, staring up at the ceiling. “Fifteen!” Stella says smugly, without even having to think about it.

With a sigh, I slap another dollar bill down on the table. “Okay. What’s seven times two?”

“Fourteen!” she screams at the ceiling and I begrudgingly set down yet another dollar bill.

Grinning proudly, Nolan leans away from the Pac-Man machine where he’s playing nearby. He offers his daughter a high-five. “Make his pockets bleed, Stel.”

“Seriously? This is how we raise kids now?” I roll my eyes.

My niece laughs. “Next one, Uncle D!”

“Okay…championship round. Ten times the regular points. Are you ready? ”

“I’m ready. Bring it on!” the little girl challenges confidently.

“Nine times thirteen.” I smirk. No way she’s figuring that one out.

Stella slows the spinning chair, her eyebrows furrowing as she concentrates hard. She squints one eye. She wiggles her nose. She counts her fingers and counts them again. “One hundred and…seven… teen ?” she asks, not so sure of herself this time.

Nolan whirls around from his arcade machine, arms lifted above his head. “Boom! Go, Stella! That’s my girl!” he shouts and Stella giggles.

I throw my head back and groan, sliding a ten dollar bill across the table this time.

Stella crawls onto the table, scooping all the money she’s accumulated into her arms before tossing it all up and letting it tumble down on her head. “I’m rich! I’m rich! Just like you, Uncle D!” she proclaims. “Let’s make it rain!”

Oh boy!

“Let’s not…” Nolan scoops his daughter off the table, setting her down on the floor. The child continues her celebration with a jubilant dance.

At her joy, I huff out a laugh. Even though my wallet is much lighter than it was fifteen minutes ago. “Good job, Stel! I’m proud of you. In no time, you’ll be richer than I am.” I slap the back of my brother’s head. “Come on. Let’s go see if they need a hand in the kitchen.”

Stella gathers up her money and I help her put it all in an envelope.

Nolan leads the way out of the game room. Stella grabs my hand, skipping alongside me as we head downstairs. “Thank you for teaching me about money, Uncle D. Daddy says it’s really important.” She gives me a tight hug that melts my heart.

“My pleasure, kiddo.” I ruffle her head.

I adore Stella and I don’t mind giving her some extra motivation to invest her time into learning her multiplication tables. I’m honored to help provide her with valuable knowledge that will be foundational in shaping the rest of her life.

A part of me is starting to think that I might actually like having kids. One day in the future. With Ziggy. It’s a thought that’s been playing at the back of my mind lately. A bit out of character for me, but what can I say? My ‘character’ is evolving these days. I’m reevaluating everything.

I’ve always been committed to building, and what’s more important than building a family to carry on my legacy? The legacy Ziggy and I will build together?

I don’t want to rush her into anything and I definitely don’t want to scare her off. But my vision for a future with her has been forming in the back of my mind.

In any case, tonight, my siblings and their significant others are gathered here at my house for a low-key hang out session. I’d say we’re long overdue for a get-together and it was Ziggy’s idea to organize an informal dinner followed by a family game night.

As I walk into the kitchen, Felix and Ronan enter from the back deck, carrying trays of hamburgers and hot dogs. Meanwhile, Ziggy is at the stove, Karli, Daphne and Layla surrounding her.

It smells amazing in here, and seeing Ziggy in my kitchen, surrounded by my family? It’s a scene I want to walk in on for years to come.

She glances at me and our eyes connect. She smiles and my pulse skips two or three beats. Yeah—I definitely want a family with her.

“So, you add the mushrooms after you’ve cooked the peppers?” Karli is asking as she jots notes onto the back of an old envelope. “Sorry for all the questions. I want to make sure I’ve got this recipe right for my next Karli’s Kitchen box.”

Ziggy stirs the pot with a wooden spoon. “Well, you want to roast the mushrooms on their own before adding the peppers. That really brings out the flavor and makes the dip so much tastier.”

I can’t help myself. I go right up to Ziggy, wrapping my arms around her from behind and kissing her jaw. “And you know all about bringing out the flavor, don’t you?” I whisper by her ear, making her giggle.

At my shameless display of affection, Karli’s brow hikes up to high heaven. Layla’s eyes widen. Daphne’s hands fly to her heart, almost knocking over the pot in the process.

I glare at them. “Shut up. All of you.”

“We didn’t say a thing.” My sister laughs knowingly.

I don’t trust that laugh.

I quickly slink off to the other side of the room where the guys are already helping themselves to some hamburgers.

Family dinner is chaotic as always. Seated around the big dining table, we all eat and drink until we’re stuffed. Then we move the shenanigans to the game room where the madness continues. I swear—my siblings are unhinged.

We begin with a round of Monopoly that gets abandoned halfway through in favor of a bingo match. Then we somehow end up playing a game that involves flinging pretend avocados at each other. Not long after that, we’re onto charades and that’s how the night descends into madness .

Somehow, most of the crowd ends up sitting cross-legged on the carpet or sprawled off in bean bag chairs. There are empty party cups and popcorn kernels all over the floor. Ziggy doesn’t complain. In fact, she seems to thrive in the Brighton family mayhem.

But when the night is drawing to a close, nobody makes a move to start cleaning up. Daphne and Felix are going on and on about the wedding. Stella is bombarding Ronan with questions about his preseason hockey games that are right around the corner. Archer is busy playing peekaboo with Skylar, making Layla laugh.

When Ziggy peels herself off the floor and makes a move to start clearing away the empty snack bowls, I grab her wrist. “Sit.”

She turns to me with a raised eyebrow.

Before she can start chewing me out, I smack my lips against hers. “You cooked. I’ll clean.” I slap the back of Nolan’s head. “Come help me, you big log.”

My younger brother punches me in retaliation. Then we both head into the kitchen, arms overflowing with dirty cups and bowls.

We’re loading the dishwasher when Karli comes in with Daphne hot on her heels.

Karli drops her pile of paper plates in the recycling bin and grabs me by both shoulders. She makes a big show of looking me up and down. “Who is this cinnamon roll and what have you done with my grumpy brother?”

“I’m not a cinnamon roll.”

“You are, too,” Karli taunts.

“Am not,” I fight weakly.

Nolan chucks some plastic containers into the dishwasher and chortles.

Our irritating sister persists. “You’ve become a cinnamon roll. A sugar-sprinkled, honey-drizzled, vanilla-frosted cinnamon roll.”

“Look—I’m not a cinnamon roll. I’m just a man who is blessed to have a good woman in my life and I want Ziggy to know that she’s cherished. I won’t allow there to be any doubts in her mind. I’ve already learned the hard way that Ziggy is a once-in-a-lifetime woman. I will do everything in my power to ensure that I don’t fuck things up again.”

When I say that, Daphne starts tearing up.

“For god’s sake. Why are you crying?!” I tug at my hair.

I’m just trying to load the dishwasher. How did this turn into some deep-dive into my emotions?

She collapses into my arms and the real waterworks start. “I’m so happy that my sister finally has love. She’s such a good person. And she genuinely cares about everybody. But somehow, she’s never gotten that kind of love in return. So it makes me so happy, Darius, seeing the way you treat her,” Daphne blubbers, soaking my shirt with tears.

Nolan cringes. Instead of helping me extricate myself from this mess, he’s slowly backing toward the exit. “I’m outta here.” Traitor.

I try to shrug out of Daphne’s grip but Karli piles onto the hug. “I’ve waited for this moment, too. The moment you’d finally find a woman who could weed-wack her way past the bushes covering up your prickly soul.” Over Daphne’s head, my sister shoots me a deadly look. “You’re going to marry her, right? You’d better not fuck up. I want you to marry her.”

At the mention of marriage, Daphne starts hyperventilating. “Oh my god. Oh my god. That would be so amazing. My sister would be your sister-in-law,” she tells Karli.

“Your sister would be your sister-in-law, too,” Karli laughs .

Daphne does the calculation in her head. “Oh…Yeah…You’re right. That’s weird and confusing. But I love it.” She bursts into tears again.

I look up and find Ziggy in the doorway. She’s got an empty serving dish in each hand and she’s holding back laughter as I get my personal boundaries trampled all over by her sister and mine.

Not funny.

Wiggling my shoulders, I somehow manage to get the blabbering women off of me. “Get out! Both of you! Get out!” I bark, motioning toward the front door.

“Huh?” Daphne blinks up at me like a pitiful little wounded kitten.

“Get out! Get out! Get out!” I point toward the door. “I mean it in the most loving way possible—get out!”

I’ve tried to be nice. But my social battery is on empty. I’m done ‘peopling’ for today. I just want to hide out with my girl.

Ziggy seems to sense what I’m thinking. She sets down the serving dishes and addresses the girls. “You guys, what Darius and I have is new. Don’t jinx us,” she says with a laugh. She glances at me over her back. “You finish with the dishwasher. I’ll walk everyone out,” Ziggy suggests. When I open my mouth to protest, she comes and whispers by my ear. “And when you’re done, wait for me in the bedroom. We’re gonna have a game night of our own.”

As I try to decipher what goodies Ziggy has in store for me, she drapes one arm around Daphne’s shoulder and the other around Karli’s. Moments later, I hear commotion as she’s marching the rest of my family to the exit.

She leaves me there, wondering what she has in store for me tonight. What game will we be playing? More Monopoly? Checkers? Maybe Scrabble .

Yeah, I’d bet it’s Scrabble. Ziggy’s brainy like that. Little does she know, I rock at Scrabble and I won’t be holding back just to let her win.

I wrap things up in the kitchen in record time then I half-assedly vacuum the game room. I’m shirtless and sitting in bed, waiting impatiently, when Ziggy walks in.

She’s wearing nothing but a silky red robe, tied at the waist. There’s a large old shoebox in her arms and a timid smile on her face.

“What is that?” I ask, easing up onto one elbow as I look at her.

She approaches, swallowing hard as she flips open the lid.

And I’m confronted by cocks.

Crystal cocks.

Veiny and girthy and sparkling in the dim light of my bedside lamp.

My gaze bounces back to Ziggy. The smile slowly widens across her face. “My toys. Wanna play with me?”