Page 175 of The Plan

“No, we can’t. We have a flight to catch.” We’re leaving for Florida tonight for tomorrow's game, but when I try to stand, she pushes my chest. With a small grin, I wrap an arm around her waist, standing from the couch while carrying her. She breaks into a laugh and tries to stand, but I wrap her legs around myself.

At the sound of our front door opening, my head shoots in that direction, as does Vidia’s. August walks in with a smile, like he’s happy to be fucking home. As if he lives here.

“Hey, guys!” His eyes cast down on Vid and me, the way I’m carrying her. “Were ya about to do dirty things?”

I roll my eyes at his disgusted face. Vid quickly turns back to me, shyly avoiding my eyes. “No,” she answers too quickly, and I feel myself smirking. We weren’t going to do anything; we definitely are now, though.

“Yeah, we were. She was just about to fuck me. Leave.”

“Gross!”

I ignore August and keep my eyes on Vid. She pulls the front of her shirt up, covering her face, and I laugh at her embarrassment. She’s only acting like this because of the idiot in front of us.

I lean forward a bit so my mouth is by her ear. “Stop acting like you don’t want to,” I say low enough just for her to hear. She sneaks a peek up at me, and although the bottom half of her face is still covered, I can tell she’s smiling from her eyes.

“We have a flight to catch, so stop being horndogs.”

I shoot August a glare, but he doesn’t see it because he’s sitting on the damn floor with Athena on his lap. Vid climbs off of me, and I grow more annoyed at my brother. “August, what did I tell you about making copies of my fucking keys?”

He looks up from the dog at my tone, and he looks confused. “I told you not to leave them lying around, and besides, I don’t get why I can’t have a copy. I gave you a pair of my house keys.” Yeah, and I gave them back to him. His door is always unlocked anyway, but I don’t need a key to his house because I don’t live there. Something he doesn’t understand.

“You can’t have them because you come unannounced. It’s rude.”

He looks completely offended and stands from the floor. “Hazel was just complaining to me thatyouwalk in without knocking.”

“I always tell you guys when I’m going over, though, and your girl complains about everything.”

“Do you not want me here? Me, your own brother.” Here he goes with this shit again. I swear he says shit like that just to make me feel bad, but I know he probably really thinks that because he sounds so hurt. It’s not that I don’t want him here; it’s the fact that he can call before literally walking in.

“We want you here, August.” Vid walks over to him, and I roll my eyes at how soft she makes her voice to reassure him. “Youcan keep the key. Just call before coming, okay?” He smiles at her, and I roll my eyes at him again. Vid gives him a hug, and when he leans down, he wraps one arm around her waist and stands up straight, lifting her with him.

“Put her down.” He fucking laughs but doesn’t and spins with her instead. When I make my way to them, he literally drops her right before I can reach him. Vid stumbles a bit, and he breaks into a laugh when he sees my face.

“I only did it to piss you off, calm down.” He holds his hands up in surrender. “You were being mean.” He shrugs, and I roll my eyes at him. When he turns and grabs our bags for us, I snatch Vidia’s bag from him. He laughs again, and I shove him, biting back a smile.

“Okay, we’re going to be late.” Vid opens the door for us. “Let's go.” We drop off Athena at the dog sitter and head for the airport.

“I’m nervous.” I turn toVidia, and she gives my hand a reassuring squeeze.

“You should be.” Well, that isn’t very fucking reassuring. She laughs at whatever expression is on my face, and I look out the window of our ride. We’re on our way to Vida’s mom's house, and my palms are actually sweating.

I’m well aware that I already met her mom, but that was four years ago. Since then, she’s grown to hate me because myawesomegirlfriend ratted on me and told her mom I broke her heart.

“Wait, you're actually scared?”

I turn back to Vid, and she seems genuinely confused. “Of course I am Vidia. She hates me.” I’ve spoken to her almost everytime she and Vid are on the phone, which is a lot, but I can’t tell if we’ve made progress. We played against her team a few times, but she was too busy to actually talk to me and wasn’t staying in town for long, so we couldn’t invite her over.

“She doesn’t hate you.” Vid shrugs shyly. “She just doesn’t like you very much and would prefer if I dated someone else.” Oh God. I sink into the back seat and run my hands down my face. This is going to be a nightmare.

“I already told you, Sire. It doesn’t matter what she thinks.”

“And I already told you, Vidia. Yes, it does,” I immediately counter. “You care a lot about your mom's opinion, and even if you didn’t,Ido.” I keep my face buried in my hands, and she hugs my head, kissing the top of it.

“You’ll survive.” I don’t think I will. A few minutes later, we’re in front of a huge white house. I grab our bags and look toward the house. Brick floors make two paths leading to the house. Between the path is a pretty big patch of grass and one single palm tree.

“Woah.” I look up, taking in the size of the house one more time. “Why am I just remembering your mom is a billionaire?”

Vidia laughs beside me and tries to take one of the bags, but I don’t let her. “You should see our house in DR.” She looks around with a smile. “I kind of missed it here.” A nostalgic look is on her face. I know she didn’t grow up here, but they moved here from New York when she was in high school. She says she prefers LA, but I’m sure she loves it here, mainly because this is where her mom is.

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