j a i m e e

+

"I'm going to ask your pink-haired friend if she wants to fuck."

Shayden starts coughing, startled by Tory's blunt statement. "Tell me you're fucking joking."

"Stop cussing." I hiss. Starr stirs in my arms, giggling as Shayden almost dies from coughing.

"Hey, I made her laugh." Shayden grins, reaching out to squeeze my niece's cheek. She giggles again, but swots his hand away.

"You're so funny." Tory deadpans, "Now tell me whether she prefers punk or smart casual so I can pick my outfit for our date."

"I thought you were gay." I state questionably, recalling how Shayden made a comment about Tory, and I quote, having his tongue down some guys throat.

"No, I'm sexually fluid." He states as if it's the most obvious thing in the world, rolling his eyes. "Keep up, mamita. It took the dumbass two seconds to realize."

I quickly sent him a glare, and he grunts so I assume Shayden kicked him too. "What?"

"No swearing in front of the kid. I just said that."

Starr lets out another little giggle, tugging on my shirt to get my attention.

"Auntie Jai, what does dumbass mean?"

All color drains from my face as I made a small, mental reminder to never let my niece near Tory ever again. Remi would kill me if he ever heard her cuss and I couldn't deal with that, even though at least 99.9% of my brother's vocabulary consisted of foul terms.

"It's a bad word, okay Sweetie? We don't speak like that." Smothering out her hair, I plant a quick kiss on her forehead.

"You're a dick," Shayden mutters at Tory, but unfortunately Starr manages to catch that as well.

"What does dick mean?"

My jaw locks and I swear I'm going to beat both of them once Starr's back home. I send them both the usual 'I'm going to kill you' glare.

"It means Shayden's an idiot." I reply before I have the self restraint to stop myself.

"He's missing many brain cells, Princess." Tory butts in, smiling enthusiastically at her.

"Tory, at least I have more than one. I swear your one and only brain cell just jumps around in there doing fuc-" He cuts himself off with a wince as I kick him, "- doing nothing at all."

"Uncle Shayden," Starr smiles happily, holding her arms out to him expectantly.

He picks her up, looking at me first to check it was okay, before placing her on his lap and wrapping his arms around her waist so she doesn't fall.

"So anyway," My eyebrows furrow as I turn my attention back to Tory. "You and Libbie...Since when?"

"She's hot and I want to bon-"

"I'm going to physically hurt you." I warn, cutting him off before he scars my niece for life. "You're unbelievable. She's five."

"She'll hear it all eventually." He shrugs and Shayden's hand shoots out to grab my arm, stopping me from standing up.

My fists just clench, ignoring the way Shayden's warm fingers start to rub circles onto my wrist. "Tory, please don't make me commit a homicide."

"Watch me take your head clean off your shoulders later you absolute sl-" I stop, biting my tongue in order to stop the array of insults that were threatening to come out my mouth.

Tory just laughs, a smug smirk on his face. "Aw, I just love kids. They're like little people."

"I hate you so much."

While Tory and I were taking turns giving each other death stares, Shayden was trying to tempt Starr into eating the rabbit food on her plate. Remi gave us both strict instructions on what she needed to eat, but told us it wouldn't be easy to get her to actually listen.

"It's important, Starr."

"No."

"Please, for Uncle Shayden? Your Daddy said you need to eat your greens to be big and healthy."

"I'd rather die."

"Starr!" Shayden exclaims, before giving her his best puppy dog eyes. "For me, so I don't get in trouble with your Dad?"

Starr cocks her head, not taking her focus off him as she thinks about what he said. Eventually, she just shrugs her shoulders. "No."

That elects a laugh from Tory.

Shayden sends him a quick glare before turning back to Starr, deadly serious. "If you eat your vegetables, I'll pay you $5."

My niece grins, showing me just how much like her father she actually is. "I want a milkshake too."

"Fine."

She eats then without a complaint. Tory looks like he's trying to hold back a laugh at the visible frustration on Shayden's face.

"She's definitely your niece." My boyfriend mutters, digging $5 out of his back pocket. "Stubborn."

"What can I say?" I shrug innocently, "It runs in the family."

My phone beeps, signally Remi's arrival. I tell Starr to say goodbye as her dad walks into the diner.

"Bye Auntie Jai," Starr grinned, waving before turning around to go over to Shayden, who bent down to return the hug she was offering. "Bye Uncle Shayden!"

"Bye, bub." Shayden kissed her temple, before ushering her over to her Dad.

Remi's face lights up when he spots Shayden, leaning over and hugging him.

"Oh it's good to see you, man."

"It really is, been too long." Shayden says back, equally as jubilant at their little reunion. "Get Jai to send you my number, we'll need to have a catch up."

"'Course. Did you hear that, hermana?" Remi smirks, eyebrows raised at me. "Looks like you're on babysitting duty."

"Ooh, can I help?" Tory adds in, a wide grin on his face dazzling with mischief.

"Absolutely not. You've probably traumatised the kid, T." Shayden says without hesitating, "See you soon, Rem."

"And you too, brother."

+++

"Get out of my fucking way."

"No, fuck you."

"Suck a dic-"

My eyebrows furrowed, confused by the sudden altercation between the two boys. "What are you doing?"

Shayden and Taylor were looking out the window, pushing and shoving each other as they tried to search the streets. "We're waiting."

Libbie sent me a look, blinking as her eyes widened. "For what?"

Taylor pushed Shayden, making him fall into the cupboard. "That weird Mexican guy that Shayden's friends with - Tate or something."

Shayden shoved him back, muttering. "Dickhead."

"His name is Tory and he's actually Cuban. And why are you waiting for him?" I ask, as the buzzer for my apartment goes off.

"He's bringing pizza." Shayden deadpans, rushing out of my bedroom before Taylor has the chance too.

Tory lounges into my room not even a minute later, the boys trailing in silently behind him carrying two pizza boxes each.

"Mexican," He nods at me, turning to Libbie. "Barbie."

"My hair's pink, dumbass, not bleach blonde. Call me that again and I'll make you choke on your pizza." She warns, taking one of Taylor's boxes and stuffing two folded slices into her mouth.

"Damn, kinky. I like it. But I'd rather you choke on something else." Tory says suggestively, eyebrows raised as he bites his lip. "You got any handcuffs in that bag? Might as well go all out."

"Dude, she's like my sister. Cut it out." Shayden's words are muffled due to the amount of pizza he's stuffed into his mouth, but the look of repulsion on his face is uncanny.

"Don't flatter yourself." She rolls her eyes, brushing off Shayden's statement as her glare cuts into Tory. "I wear heels bigger than your dick, darling."

His eyes run over her, a smirk tugging his lips upwards. "I doubt that, doll. Nice to know that you're thinking of my dick though."

"Why you litt-"

"Shut the fuck up and let me eat my pizza." Taylor snaps, going on to shush Libbie every time she attempts to speak. Eventually, she just crossed her arms and started to eat aggressively.

The five of us continued with light conversation as we ate our food, the faint buzz of the soccer game on the TV being the only other sound. I found myself relaxed in the company of both my old friends and my new, amusedly watching Libbie and Tory bicker over little things. Taylor seemed to be getting jealous by all the attention not being on him as he kept making little jokes that would make Libbie start arguing with him. I finished my share of the pizza, with the help of Shayden stealing some of the less desirable toppings. The two of us sat pretty close together, close enough that I could feel the heat radiating off of him and the dull smell of his cologne. It was hard to keep focused on the conversation topic due to how close we were, and how utterly distracting he is.

Someone had handed him a console game pad and we'd shuffled around so I was in between his legs, laying my head on his chest. I noted as he continued playing how his voice would deepen whenever he'd finished laughing, or how his smile completely relaxed the rest of his muscles.

Taylor sneezed. No one reacts as Tory and Shayden continue with their video games.

"Are you not even going to say 'bless you'?"

Libbie stifles a laugh as Tory's entire face twists up. He pauses the game, staring at Taylor. "I'm sitting here with you, breathing the exact same air as you are, existing on earth at the same time you are. You've clearly been blessed, Ward."

"I hate you."

"Join the club."

"At least he didn't say 'shut the fuck up', like Libbie did." I add in, amused by the memory of him completely falling out with her because of it.

"Did you need to remind him?" Libbie exclaims, whipping her head around to stare at me open-mouthed. "He's not going to shut up about it now!"

He did, in fact, shut up about it.

It took about 30 minutes of him claiming that nobody appreciates him, Shayden having to literally persuade him that we're not going to replace him with pizza and Libbie threatening to gauge his eyeballs out if he continued whining.

It's safe to say that Taylor Ward is one of a kind.

We relocated to my living room floor, all at the same level so Taylor didn't feel 'excluded', as music plays from Tory's speaker. The boys are engaging in a conversation about Soccer while Libbie's scrolling through Instagram on her phone.

I lay down between Shayden's legs, my head resting on his chest as he plays with my hair. His breath is tickling the skin on my neck when he laughs at some nonsense that Tory's come out with.

"I fucking hate them guys, man. If there's anything the Brits have gotten right, it's their Soccer teams."

"Holy shit, Ward. Are you being serious?" Tory exclaims, jaw opened as if he'd lost his mind.

Zoning out of their conversation, I start to fidget until Shayden notices, loosening his legs until I can get comfy again before tightening them around my body.

"You okay, doll?" He leans his neck down, whispering in my ear.

I nod my head as he plants a soft kiss to the skin beside my ear, before resuming running his fingers through my hair. His attention seemed to be more directed at me than the boy's boring conversation.

"I know I've said it so many times but I'm obsessed with your tattoos." I comment quietly, glancing down at his bare arm that was wrapped around my stomach. "They're so intricate- they look so good on you, Shay. Even if the color is outside the lines." I raise my eyebrows questioningly, eyeing the neon marker inside of and surrounding the black ink.

Shayden's eyebrows furrowed until he followed where my gaze was. His eyes widened in realization and he flushed, smiling sheepishly. "Starr was colorin' before and I thought I'd washed it off."

My face lit up at his words, my ovaries practically exploding as I tried to hide my swoon at his words. "So you're going to be our niece's live coloring book now?"

He didn't reply for a second, mouth slightly open at my words. Confused, I took a moment to recall what I said and then it hit me.

Our. I said our niece.

It sent a warm, fuzzy feeling throughout my body at the mental picture that title created.

"That kids amazing." Shayden says warmly, a soft smile playing on his lips too. "But I think she'd beat Taylor in an all-you-can-eat contest."

"And that's an achievement to be celebrated." I added, "Promise me something though."

"What's that, love?"

"Do not join forces with my brother against me again. I can't deal with the tickling contests again."

Shayden throws his head back, shoulder shaking up and down as laughs overtake his body. Probably recalling all the times that him and Remi would terrorise and annoy me endlessly during our years of living together.

"No promises, doll."