Get a Grip (Hollywood Nights) (9 page)

             
“You’re terrible.” Ivy said to Dale. She looked at Bo and placed her hand on his thigh. The touch was becoming more familiar to him and yet it still sent sparks throughout his body. “Did you know he told these jokes on stage?”

             
“Yes,” Bo admitted. “I make up a good amount of his act. I almost wish I hadn’t been so accepting of him when we were younger. Maybe then he could focus on someone else.”

             
“It’s only because I love you, Bo. You know that. You’re my favorite big brother.” Dale said it sincerely. Dale looked up and his expression shifted from happy to annoyed. Bo knew their other brother had arrived. “Well, well. If it isn’t Alexander the great.”

             
Ivy turned to see who Dale was talking about. Alexander approached. Adele stopped to talk to their mother and sister. They were both dressed in business casual clothing instead of normal clothes like everyone else.

             
“You think I’m pretty great when I negotiate your contracts for you,” Alex said as he came to a stop. He maintained his robotic, businessman tone and said, “Bo. It’s good to see you.”

             
“Likewise.” They never had a great relationship. Alex made it clear he wanted to be an only child. Unfortunately for him, he got three siblings.

             
Then Adele, his ex-fiancé, the woman who had been married to his brother for a good three and a half years, approached and put her well-manicured hand on his shoulder. She was leaning in for a kiss on the cheek when Ivy did something unexpected.

             
“Excuse me,” Ivy said as she possessively moved her hand next to Adele’s and then pushed Adele’s hand off his shoulder. Adele didn’t kiss him on the cheek. She stood up suddenly and looked a bit taken aback. Bo’s pride and cock swelled from the reaction. He liked that she was possessive of him. Ivy continued, “I’m sorry, but I don’t know you.”

             
“Well, I don’t know you either.” Adele retorted. She looked a bit bewildered. Her blue eyes darted around at all three of the brothers, but no one, not even Alex was going to help her.

             
“Yes,” Ivy acknowledged politely. “But I’m not touching your husband.”

             
“He’s my brother-in-law.” Adele clarified as she flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder. She had been making that move since Bo had forgiven them. He knew it was a way for her to constantly plant a seed of jealousy in Alex’s mind. “I was just saying hello.”

             
It wouldn’t be weird if any other in-law did it. It was weird because of their history. He could forgive. They could all forgive. No one would ever forget.  Ivy lifted her hand to Adele and said, “Hello. I’m Ivy.”

             
“Like they don’t know who you are sugar plum!” Gabe returned with a round of fresh drinks. “Our Bo finally landed the girl of his dreams.”

             
Adele made a slight snorting sound that went unnoticed by no one. Ivy, such a mild mannered woman who had never even played a role that caused her to pretend fight, looked like she was going to punch Adele. Bo couldn’t control his smile if he tried, which he didn’t. Alex put his arm around Adele’s waist and escorted her to a seat at the end of the table. They sat together like royalty looking down on their subjects.

             
From Bo’s point of view, their three amused and one murderous subjects. His brother and brother-in-law across the table were both just as happy to see Ivy react that way. He knew it was because they both disliked Adele for several reasons. After they were busted, she pretended to be pregnant and married Alex under that pretense. The fact that she was never pregnant was just one reason among others to dislike her.

             
Gabe winked at Ivy and said, “We are going to plan the most gorgeous wedding for you two.”

             
Dale perked up at the mention of wedding. Gabe worked for one of the largest event planners on the planet. They specialized in making the rich and famous look even more rich and famous than they were.

             
“Nothing crazy, guys. I mean it. Ivy has full veto rights on all of it. Don’t forget she has a mother and sister who might want a say in this too.” Bo slid his hand from the back of her chair to place it on her back. “Don’t let them include live animals.”

             
She laughed, and so did Gabe and Dale. Alex barely smiled and Adele visibly fumed.

             
By the time his mom and sister had made their way to the table to announce the food was done, Dale had been through a good portion of his act and everyone, including the statues at the end of the table, were laughing.

             
“That’s my boy.” His mom said. Bo smiled as his momma scruffed up Dale’s hair as she passed, and then leaned over to kiss Gabe on the cheek. “Hello gorgeous.”

             
Gabe smiled at the compliment.

His momma had already greeted Ivy earlier and took a seat next to her at the table. “Sam, sweetheart, sit.”

              His seventeen year old sister took a seat between him and Gabe at the opposite end of the table from the living statues.

             
“Now.” His mother took Ivy’s hand on one side and Adele’s on the other. Everyone linked up and she began, “Dear Lord, thank you for this bountiful feast. Thank you for bringing my boys all together for dinner tonight. It means the world to me to have all four of my children in one place. Thank you for the added blessing of my daughter-in-law Adele, my son-in-law Gabe, and my newest addition, Ivy. I pray Sam stays single until she completes college which means I would like you to make her cell phone reception worse unless there is an emergency.”

             
“Amen,” Dale said before their mother could torment Sam and God any longer with what would become a lengthy speech.

             
Bo looked at Sam and watched as the pretty green eyes rolled up from one side to the other in clear teenage fashion. She was annoyed by the last comment. He supposed he would have been too.

             
Ivy looked at the food and seemed surprised at the variety. “You can eat all of this?”

             
“Of course he can,” his momma said. “But he won’t. He’s been a vegetarian since…how old were you?”

             
“Ten,” Dale offered. “That chicken did it to him.”

             
“What chicken?” Ivy asked.

             
“It was nothing.” Bo looked at Alex and then to Ivy. She didn’t need to hear this particular story.

             
“I didn’t know it would die,” Alex grumbled.

             
Dale snorted and focused on his food. Dale always viewed Alex as the mean older brother. He blamed him for a lot of things, but the chicken was one Alex could not deny.

             
“They were terrible to each other as kids, Ivy. Alex hid the chicken Bo had as a pet. We had chicken that night for dinner. After they ate, he told him it was his chicken. Bo was devastated. Worse, Alex had put it in a dog crate at the side of the house. It belonged to the neighbors and they put the dog in it.” His mother sighed. “When you two decide to have some, be sure to do it within a year or two of each other. I waited too long between them.”

             
Ivy looked at him and he wished she didn’t know that particular story. Alex was already a natural villain. He didn’t need the childhood version added on to his adult role.

             
“Have you set the date?” Gabe asked. Bo was grateful for him to change the subject. He looked across at Gabe who winked a giant blue eye at him. Seriously, the man’s eyes were the biggest and bluest he had ever seen.

             
“What date?” Ivy asked around a mouthful of food. She was eating as though she hadn’t eaten in a week. He realized that compared to what she normally ate, it probably felt like it on his vegetarian diet.

             
“For the wedding of course.” Dale chimed in.

             
“No. I mean, we are already married. It seems a little silly to go through all of that just for show.” Ivy looked at him for confirmation.

             
“It’s not for show,” Dale said.

             
“And it sure isn’t for the two of you,” Gabe added. “It is for everyone else. Your family, ours. We want to celebrate this joyous occasion with you.”

             
“I agree with her,” Adele chimed in. “There is no need to have a wedding if they are already married.”

             
Ivy looked at her and then up at him. He didn’t like the confused look she gave him and he said, “I’m fine with it either way, sweetheart. If you want to have a photo album full of memories, we can have the wedding, and then go on a real honeymoon. If not, we can always frame that shot of us going into the chapel they keep showing on the news.”

             
Her expression let him know immediately what was next. “I definitely want a wedding. Nothing too extravagant, mind you, but I do want those pictures.”

             
His wedding planning brothers were excited. They enjoyed social functions. Bo thought of the three brothers as the three bears. Alex was the boring and angry one. He was the easy going and athletic one. Dale was the social and cross dressing one.

             
  “Hey, Ivy. Why doesn’t any of your social media feeds confirm that you are married to my brother?” Sam looked up from her phone. To dig further she pointed out, “Is it a lie? You aren’t wearing a ring.”

             
“A ring doesn’t make people married.” His mother chimed in.

             
“We’re working on that Sam. Thanks for busting my balls about it.” Bo frowned at her and she turned pink. Bo was sure that the person the most concerned about this marriage was indeed his little sister. Sam had been on the receiving end of just about anything she wanted from him to include an allowance as long as she maintained her grades. With Ivy in the picture she likely thought that would stop.

             
“Well it would be nice if her social media said it was true.” Sam shrugged.

             
Ivy looked from him to Sam and back again before saying, “I don’t operate the sites. My assistant does.”

             
“Wait.” Sam looked as if Ivy had revealed something she was not expecting. “You mean to tell me that you are not the one posting when you post? Who else does this? I follow all sorts of people. Does everyone do this?”

             
Her teenage brain was in overdrive at the revelation. She was visibly scandalized.

             
“I don’t know. Probably not. I just don’t like to see what people say about me. People can be kinda mean on those things. Just look at the responses to whatever was posted last.” Ivy waited and Sam searched.

             
“Oh the hell you say! You don’t talk about my brother like that bodybuilder57.” Sam started punching keys on her phone.

             
“Sam,” Bo called. “Let it be.”

             
He was sure plenty of hearts were broken now that Ivy was officially off the market.

             
“See,” Ivy said. “This is exactly why I don’t bother with it. Mathis puts out official news about my professional life not my personal life. I can’t spend all day defending myself, and I don’t like the inappropriate comments. I feel bad for those people who do post for themselves because they have to filter everything when they read. I’m sure there are a lot of great people out there who write nice things. Unfortunately, there are a lot more who don’t.”

             
“I get it.” Sam shrugged. “I don’t like it. But I understand.”

             
Dale looked at Sam and asked, “Are you going to go through and respond to all of the comments about him?”

             
“You know it,” Sam said. She was such a tough little brat.

             
“I don’t advise it,” Alex said from the other end of the table. “Sam you don’t understand how easy it would be for people to track you down now that Bo is married to a celebrity.”

             
“Ivy,” Bo corrected. “I’m married to Ivy.”

             
“Ivy, the movie star, we know. It impacts everyone in some way, Bo. I didn’t see any paperwork prior to the Vegas wedding. Will you be drawing some up before the big event then?” Alex was always all business. Bo wasn’t sure when it happened to him other than sometime after the Adele incident. He went from being the selfish older brother to a real robot.

             
“No.” Bo looked at Ivy and said, “I think she’s a keeper. I don’t foresee any prenuptial postnuptial paperwork necessary.”

             
“You can’t be serious,” Adele blurted out.