Too Strong

Copyright © 2023 by I. A. DiceAll rights reserved.No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.Editor: Dave HolwilleBook Cover: Dez Purington at Pretty in Ink CreationsThe artwork for the Hayes Brothers series, has been sketched by an amazing artist - Danny O’Connor DOC Art. He captured every FMC in the series perfectly and I absolutely love every piece he kindly created to bring the girls to live.You can follow his work here:Facebook: Danny O’Connor (DOC)Instagram: @artbydocWebsite: www.docart.bigcartel.com Art by @artbydoc Trigger WarningPlease note this book contains themes and situations that may be triggering to some readers. For a list of triggers, please visit my website. ONEConor“YOU READY YET?” Cody shouts, battering the closed door with his fist. “Hurry up!”Impatient as always. The party doesn’t start for another hour, but he’s all geared up, ready to roll. Always the first one jumping at any opportunity to fill Nico’s garden with too many people and always the last cleaning up after.The house is set, decorations in place, but no one’s showing up for a while. Whenever we say six o’clock, nobody arrives until at least seven.“Five minutes!” I shout back, pulling on my costume.Jeans, t-shirt, my favorite watch from this year’s F1 collection, and brand-new, snow-white Jordans. I check my reflection in the mirror, then glance at the time. Looks like I over-compensated because what do you know? I’m ready inside half a minute.Cody lingers outside my door, casually leaning against the opposite wall, eyes focused on the screen of his cell, fingers typing away. His costume is just like mine—low-effort—although, considering I bought my ‘Error 404 Costume not found’ t-shirt online, I guess his required more effort.He’s wearing all white save for the red silk ribbon circling his ribs—courtesy of Mia for sure—and ending in a big bow over his chest. A large gift tag with ‘To: All Women; From: God’ dangles from his shoulder, bouncing against his pec.“No fair,” I mutter, annoyed I didn’t come up with that idea. “You’re hardly a gift to women, bro. What’s Colt wearing?” I dodge the fake cobwebs hanging from... well, everywhere as I follow Cody downstairs.Having a woman living with us means an upgrade on the decorations. Last year, our older brother, Nico, wouldn’t have allowed this nonsense.Fuck, last year, we couldn’t even dream about throwing a Halloween party.Now look at him... He spent yesterday morning carving pumpkins and the afternoon shopping with his girl, Mia, buying more decorations than would fit in the house. He got up early today to help us put up cobwebs, lanterns, candles, and a million other different kinds of creepy shit she bought.“No idea, but I bet his costume is as imaginative as ours,” Cody says, entering the living room where Mia gestures with her hand, silently telling us to keep the volume down. Cody immediately lowers his tone, whispering, “Why aren’t you dressed?”“Five more minutes,” she utters, weaving her delicate fingers through Nico’s thick, black hair. “He needed a power nap.”An emerald engagement ring that belonged to our grandmother sparkles on her ring finger. She’s been proudly wearing it for a week now, the message clear as day—engaged.I never thought I’d see the day my brother popped down on one knee.And I was right.He didn’t.At least not in the traditional, widely accepted way. The way Mia describes it, he fucking told her to marry him.Figures. Nico always gets what he wants.Still, it’ll never cease to amaze me how he morphed from a robotic, fire-breathing, workaholic, A-grade asshole to this guy, currently asleep on Mia’s belly He’s still all those things but has a softer side exclusively for his girl these days.She sits in the corner of the couch, toying with his hair while Nico lays on his front, between her legs, arms flush with her sides, face nuzzled into her waistline. It’s a common sight. Nico can’t last ten minutes without touching her.Good thing they’re always fully clothed or I’d have to bleach my eyeballs.I cast a brief glance around the room, admiring the final result. Cody, Colt, and I did help decorate, but Mia kept going, putting her own touch on this place long after we called it a day.The entire ground floor level evokes a sense of spookiness. Streamers of cobwebs drift from the ceiling like gauzy curtains. Paper bats and spiders flutter on thin strands, their wings rustling in the draft wafting through the open windows.Gargoyles, skeletons, and limbless porcelain dolls with wide, painted eyes leer from every corner of the room, adding to the already eerie atmosphere cemented by the orange candlelight glow casting shadows across the walls.The air is thick with pumpkin spice and the finger food buffet waiting in the kitchen for Nico and Mia’s first guests. They’re throwing a separate party here, so I’ll drift between ours outside and theirs inside tonight to see my older brothers.Our party scene in the garden is equally spooky. Gnarled tree branches dressed in cobwebs twist and turn, plastic tombstones poke from the grass in a miniature graveyard, carved pumpkins grin alongside the house, and more cobwebs cling to the makeshift stage.It won’t be a typical Hayes College banger this time. After everything that happened with Mia earlier this year, we were very selective with the guest list. No Jake Grey’s friends, and—much to Cody’s relief—no Blair Fitzpatrick.Although I won’t be surprised if she weasels her way over here somehow. It’d be better if she didn’t because Cody loses his shit whenever she’s nearby.He still