After our birthday weekend, things returned to normal. Well, as healthy as they can be with us. Although one of us did something dumb and before you think it was me, it wasn't. I may be a lot of things, but this was not the thing I'm stupid about in my life. It also wasn't Drew and Elijah this time, either.
No, our idiot cousin took the plunge. Let's rewind a bit to earlier in the day.
"Dude, what is wrong with you?" Drew asked Junior as he paced around the room.
"Nothing. Nothing is wrong. Can't a guy pace?" Junior asked with agitation.
"Junior, you look like you lost a major bet and owing to some terrible men a lot of money. You didn't bet again, did you?" Elijah asked him.
Junior stopped pacing and gave Elijah a look. "That was one time, and my dad already threatens to kick my ass."
"Then what is it that has you so freaked?" I asked.
"Nothing. Does anyone know when the girls are getting back?" He asked us.
"Junior, they're shopping and girls. Who knows when they will finish," Drew said.
"Wait a minute," Elijah said, getting to his feet. "You're afraid they will come back with some whacked out hair cut again," Elijah said, placing his hand on Junior's shoulder.
"God, I hope not," Drew said.
Junior rolled his eyes and pushed Elijah's hand off his shoulder. He shrugged, "Then you got me."
A few minutes later, the girls came in, giggling and laughing. Scarlett came over and sat down next to me, showing me what she bought while Liz and Davina did the same.
"Junior? What's wrong? You look like you want to hurl," Hope said to him.
"Eh, he was afraid you would come home with another haircut," Elijah said.
"Huh?" Hope asked, confused.
"Ignore, my idiot cousin," Junior said, shooting Elijah a glare. He turned back to Hope, "I need to talk to you."
"Okay," she said to him a bit concerned. She looked at the others confused, and he pulled a small black velvet box out of his pants. He got down on one knee. We all got up quickly, and she looked at us, then turned to see him opened it to reveal a diamond ring. Her eyes widen as he asked, "Hope Michelle Michels, will you do me the honor and marry me?"
She dropped her bags, then fell backward in shock.
"Well, not sure if that's the reaction you have when someone asks you to marry them," Drew said, and Liz smacked him.
Junior looked at us, "Too soon?"
We all looked at each other, then at him.
Once we got Hope coherent, Junior took another stab at it, and this time she said yes. He placed the ring on her finger and wrapped her arms around his neck as they celebrated.
"Hey, guys, I hate to break up this wonderful celebration, but who will tell your folks about your newly engaged asses?" Drew asked them. Well, shit.
We all looked at each other, and everyone said, not it, leaving Elijah the odd man out, "Damn it!"
"You snooze, you lose," Drew said.
"Fine, but don't blame me when this all goes south," Elijah said, dialing a number. He called Hope's parents first, who were less than thrilled to get the news and catching the first flight out. Next was Frazier and Marissa, who was even more than less than thrilled. Elijah didn't also have time to finish speaking when the call ended.
"Well, that couldn't go any better," Elijah said, looking us. That was not a good thing.
When the parents arrived, we went to Drew and Liz's bedroom. I never met Hope's parents before, but her dad was like a bigger version of Hunter, and he was scary enough. As we hid in their room, we heard a lot of yelling and blaming from both dads while the mothers added their two cents.
One asked if Hope was pregnant? Another asked if someone was dying? One asked if they were complete idiots? That was Frazier. This situation wasn't working out too well. I called for reinforcements.
"Who are you calling?" Drew asked.
"Back up. Junior will need it," I said as someone answered, then I walked away explaining the situation.
We waited, sitting around the room until we heard the front door open and close. We left the room and sat down on the steps and watched the show.
Dad, Jordan, and Hunter walked inside and backed off Frazier and Hope's dad Hayden.
"How about letting the kids speak?" Hunter asked them.
"Come on, Hunt. What are they thinking, getting engaged?" Hayden asked Hunter.
"Well, if you would let them speak, maybe they will tell you," Hunter said to him.
"Fine," Hayden grumbled.
"Okay, now before your fathers went off their nut, Junior, why did you propose to Hope?" Dad asked Junior.
"I love her, Uncle Ryan," Junior answered.
"Okay, that's a good reason. Now when are you planning on getting married?" Dad asked him.
"I figured after graduation. That way, we could take our time planning things and finish school before we marry," Junior reasoned.
"So, why not wait until it's closer to graduation?" Dad asked him.
"Because I want people to know that she's mine," Junior explained.
"Well, at least Junior's smarter than his idiot father who eloped while in school," Jordan said, causing us all to look at him. "What?" Junior asked.
Dad glared at Jordan. Leave it to Jordan to let the cat out of the bag. Yeah, Marissa and Frazier had to explain to Junior what happened with that.
After everyone finally calmed down, we all went out to celebrate Junior and Hope's engagement.
Junior looked at Drew, "It looks like we will be a family."
"Meh, we would be family anyway once I marry Liz," Drew said.
"What?" Dad asked, glaring at Drew.
"Calm down, Esmeralda. We aren't engaged yet," Drew told Dad.
"You better not be," Hunter said.
"No, but it looks like Hope gets the hellions as siblings," Drew said with a grin.
"Well, shit. I forgot about that," Junior said.
Everyone laughed, and Jordan looked at Elijah. "Promise me when you get to engage, you talk to your mother and me first."
"No worries there, dad. Mom is hella scary when she's mad," Elijah said, shuddering to make us all laugh more.
Overall, it turned out to be a great evening for everyone. The parents went back home from the restaurant while we all went back to the house. We were beaten and went to bed.
Once in bed, I pulled Scarlett to me and gave her a soft, deep, gentle kiss.
"What was that for, Matt?" She asked.
"Because I wanted to," I said as I went back to kissing her, and then we stripped off our clothes. I maneuvered between her legs and slid right inside of her. I slowly thrust inside her as I made love to her. I loved being intimate with her, feeling every inch of her body against mine. It was like we were one on a deeper connection.
After we finished, we laid there side by side, looking at each other.
"Who would have ever thought we would be at this point together?" She asked.
"Not me, that's for sure," I answered.
"Aa," she squeaked.
"But I'm glad we are," I replied, smiling.
That caused her to smile.
I kissed her, then said in a husky voice, "Roll onto your stomach."
"What are you planning on doing?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Just rollover, you'll see," I answered.
She rolled her eyes and did as I asked her. I got up, climbed over, and leaned down in her ear, whispering, "I will claim you now."
"What?" Scarlett questioned.
Before she said anything else, I gripped her hips, pulling her up on her knees, and she was on her hands. I placed a hand on her shoulder, and my other hand on her waist then quickly slammed into her from behind, causing her to let out a groan.
I thrust quickly into her from behind, then leaned over and said in a husky breath, "You are mine. Got it?"
She whispered, "Yes." I kept thrusting into her harder and harder.
"I want to hear you say you're mine," I growled.
"I'm yours," she breathed. I went faster, making her moan with every thrust until we both hit our peak and exploded in pleasure, collapsing on the bed.
I laid there, and she propped herself up, looking at me, "Well, look who became dominate."
I chuckled, "Oh, Scar. What will I do with you?"
"Marry me and gave lots of kids," she grinned.
"You're crazy; you know that?" I said to her.
"Um, yeah, but that's what makes me so fascinating. Now about this whole claiming bit," Scarlett mentioned.
"What about it?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Do all the men in your family do this?" She questioned.
"Let's see, yep, pretty much," I said.
"Even the men that marry in?" Scarlett asked.
"Even they do," I replied.
"Why? Not that I don't find it a huge turn on or anything, but why?" Scarlett inquired.
"Because with sex, it's a very personal feeling for us. It's like we connect with that one person. We want to spend the rest of our lives with them. There have been a few exceptions, but mostly, there's always that one woman we love more than life itself. For me, it's you," I said, looking at her.
She looked at me and smiled. She leaned over and kissed me as I pulled her to me. We drifted off to sleep as I heard her whisper, "I love you more than life, Matthew." That brought a smile to my face as I fell asleep.