Page 62 of The Desired Nanny
“Kiyah,” I said in a low warning, crossing the hallway. I crowded her space and hovered over her, hoping she’d back down, but I should’ve known better.
“I’ll tell you what, Maxwell. If you can wrestle me out of the shirt, you can get rid of it.”
“Meet me in the backyard in five minutes.”
“Make it three. I don’t have all day,” she said before jogging down the stairs with her ponytail bouncing behind her.
“I can’t wait to see this,” Dad said, announcing his presence.
“How long have you been standing there?” I asked accusingly.
“Long enough. I must go. I want to get the best seat in the house. My money is on Kiyah.”
“Why Kiyah?” I asked, pissed off that he would bet against me.
“Because you always took it easy on her when you were children. I’m sure not much has changed. I’d tell you to go for the takedown, and your response was always, ‘But, Dad, I don’t want to hurt her.’”
At that moment, I didn’t know what pissed me off more, Kiyah flouncing around in that band shirt or Dad not having faith in me.
I’ll show them both.
* * *
I stretched my right arm across my body as our family took their respective bets in the background. From what I could tell, we were evenly split.
“Daisy, you must still be hungover from last night because there’s no way you’d pick Kiyah over Grant. You can’t bet against Big Bro like that!” Kieran exclaimed.
“I can, and I will,” she replied, pulling Nori down into her lap. Nori squealed in delight and didn’t fight it when Daisy blew a raspberry against her cheek. I softly smiled as I recalled watching them drunkenly slow dance with each other last night. They whispered in each other’s ears as the DJ played sultry R&B, swaying to the beat. They looked happy; happier than they’d ever been, and for the first time, I felt confident they would makeit. A pang of jealousy ripped through me because, despite how I claimed I was satisfied with eloping, a part of me wished we had the real thing.
It’s fine. We can always get remarried. But will Kiyah agree after I embarrass her in front of everyone?
“Go, Kiyah! Whip his ass, baby!” Mom shouted as she joined Dad on the lounger. She took a swig from her mimosa before handing him one.
“Hurry up and make him submit, Kiyah. The party bus should be here in twenty minutes to take us to our first stop,” Casey said as he filled a cooler with beer.
“You’re rooting for Kiyah, too, huh?”
He shrugged and threw a beer can at Ronan before cracking open his own.
It’s 8:00 in the morning, and everyone is already getting started. God help us all.
“You’re gonna let her win.”
I snorted. “We can’t all put our sisters in the hospital.”
Casey shrugged again with a wide smile. “Daisy should’ve tapped.”
“You broke her fucking arm.”
“And I’ll do it again,” he declared.
“I’d like to see you try,” Nori threatened, coming to her woman’s rescue.
“Oh, my bad. I forgot. You’re the only one who can abuse Daisy.”
Casey ducked when Nori threw a beer can at him.
“You kids better pick up these cans out of this backyard before y’all leave. I know that,” Mom said in a threatening tone that left no room for arguing.
