Too Sweet (Hayes Brothers #3)(98)
ONE
Conor
“YOU READY YET?” Cody shouts through the closed door, before hammering it with his fist. “Hurry up!”
Impatient as always. The party doesn’t even start for another hour, but he’s all geared up, ready to go. Always the first to jump on any opportunity to fill Nico’s garden with too many people and always the last to clean up after.
The house is set, the decorations in place, but no one’s showing up for a while. When we invite people for six, they don’t start arriving until at least seven.
“Five minutes!” I shout back, putting my costume on.
Jeans, a t-shirt, my favorite watch from this year’s F1 collection, and my brand new, snow-white Jordans. I glance in the mirror, then look around the room. Looks like I over-compensated because what do you know? I’m ready inside half a minute.
Cody’s waiting out in the hallway in his low-effort costume. Although considering I bought my Error 404 Costume not found t-shirt online, I guess he put in more effort.
He’s dressed in white; a red silk ribbon around his ribs—courtesy of Mia, I’m sure—forms a big bow at the front. A large gift tag with To: All Women; From: God is pinned to his shoulder, bouncing against his pec.
“No fair,” I mutter, annoyed I didn’t come up with that. “You’re hardly a gift to women, bro. What’s Colt dressed as?” I ask, dodging the fake cobwebs hanging from... well, everywhere, as I follow him downstairs.
Having a woman in the house means an upgrade on the decorations. Last year Nico wouldn’t have allowed any of this.
Fuck, last year we could only dream about throwing a Halloween party, and now look at him... He spent yesterday morning carving pumpkins, and the afternoon shopping with Mia for decorations. He got up early today to help us put up cobwebs, lanterns, candles, and all the other creepy shit she bought.
“No idea, but I bet he was just as creative as us,” Cody says, entering the living room where Mia motions for us to keep the volume down. Cody immediately switches to whispering. “Why aren’t you dressed?”
“Five more minutes,” she utters, weaving her fingers through Nico’s hair. “He needed a power nap.”
The emerald engagement ring that belonged to our grandmother has been sparkling on her finger for a week now. It goes well with her tiny hand and even better with her green eyes.
I never thought I’d see the day my brother popped down on one knee.
And I was right.
He didn’t.
At least not in the traditional, fairytale way. According to Mia, he fucking told her to marry him.
Figures. Nico always gets what he wants.
Still, it’ll never cease to amaze me how he turned from a robotic, fire-breathing, workaholic, A-grade asshole to this guy asleep with his head on Mia’s tummy. He’s still all those things, but he’s got a softer side now. One exclusively available to Mia.
She’s in the corner of the couch, and Nico’s on his front, between her legs, arms flush with her sides, face nuzzled into her waistline. It’s a common sight these days.
Good thing they’re always fully clothed, or I’d have to bleach my eyeballs.
I glance around the room, admiring the final result. Cody, Colt, and I did help decorate, but Mia kept on, putting her own little touch on this place long after we’d gone to take showers. The whole of the downstairs is decorated to evoke a sense of spookiness. Streamers of cobwebs drift from the ceiling like gauzy curtains, and paper bats and spiders flutter on thin strands, wings rustling in the draft wafting through the open windows.
Gargoyles with leering faces, skeletons, and limbless porcelain dolls with wide, painted eyes are scattered throughout the room, adding to the already well and truly eerie atmosphere cemented by the orange glow of candlelight casting shadows across the walls. The air is thick with the smell of pumpkin spice and the finger-food buffet waiting in the kitchen for Nico and Mia’s first guests. They have their own separate party, though I’ll probably drift between the two to see my older brothers.
Outside, the garden is equally spooky. Gnarled tree branches dressed in cobwebs twist and turn, plastic tombstones poke up from the grass in a miniature graveyard, carved pumpkins are strategically placed around, and more cobwebs cling to the makeshift stage.
It won’t be a typical Hayes College banger this time. After everything that happened with Mia, we’ve been very selective about the guest list. No Jake’s friends. No Blair.
Although I won’t be surprised if she weasels her way in here somehow. She’s been crawling out of her skin lately, trying to befriend Mia, and Cody’s losing his shit whenever she’s nearby.
He still has that sense of higher purpose wherever Mia’s concerned, big-brother mode in full effect. It’s probably a good thing we don’t have a sister; she’d hate our guts.
“See? That’s what happens when you make him do manual labor,” I tell Mia, pointing my chin at Nico. “He can’t handle it.”
“Any excuse to get between her legs,” Nico mutters, slowly rising on his elbows before he maneuvers into a seat beside her, pulling her legs into his lap. “I let you throw your first Halloween party, and this is what you’re wearing?” He points between Cody and me. “Since you’re trying to be funny, that gift tag should be on your dick, bro.”
“What are you dressing up as?” Cody asks, apparently enjoying the idea as he moves the tag to hang over his groin.