Chapter 10
"Quinn, I want you to crawl under the house and wrap the pipes today," Luke said as the men gathered in the kitchen for breakfast. Luke was grabbing a quick piece of toast and a cup of coffee before leaving to work at the mine.
"Why me?" Quinn complained.
"Because I asked you to," Luke told him. "Do you have a problem with that?"
"Why not Jakey, he's the youngest," Quinn almost whined.
"Jake do you want to do it?" Luke turned to his youngest son.
"No," Jake laughed.
"Well too bad, Quinn," Luke voice was sarcastic. "I guess you get to do it."
"That sucks," Quinn muttered under his breath as his father kissed Maxine goodbye and left the house. Maxine left the kitchen to get ready to go to work at Darton High.
"Oh put on your big boy shorts and deal with it," Bryan teased.
"Hey, you're my twin," Quinn said.
"Yeah, so?" Bryan laughed.
"I don't see why you won't do it, Jake," Quinn turned again to the youngest of the family.
"Because I don't want to," Jake gave Quinn his tomcat lying in the sun grin.
"It won't take you long, little brother," Nate told him.
Quinn muttered under his breath again. Then he sat up straighter in his chair and grinned at Jake.
Jake watched his brother nervously.
"Oh I bet Jakey will do it," Quinn's grin got wide in his face.
"Wanna bet?" Jake gave it back to him.
"Yeah, I'll bet you," Quinn's grin turned sly. He pulled out his phone. "I always knew this picture would come in handy."
Nate's and Bryan's jaws dropped.
"You still have that?" Nate asked, glancing at Jake.
"Have what?" Jake was suspicious.
"Oh my gosh," Bryan started to laugh.
"Oh yeah, I still have it," Quinn was pushing buttons and chuckling under his breath.
"Quinn, maybe it's not a good idea," Nate warned.
Now Jake was curious and waited for Quinn to find whatever it was he claimed to have.
"I think you'll do it for me, Jakey," Quinn handed Jake his phone.
Jake gave Quinn a scoffing look before glancing down at the phone. He almost dropped it in surprise.
"Is that…," Jake began.
"You and Sammy, buzzed on champagne," Quinn nodded.
"You took a picture of us?" Jake yelped. "Like this?"
"Blackmail, little man," Quinn grinned at him. "And it's going to work for me now."
Jake looked at Nate and Bryan.
"You two knew about this and you didn't say anything to me?" Jake's voice was low. Both brothers knew how angry he was.
"They took pictures too," Quinn announced. Nate and Bryan gave Quinn a dirty look before meeting Jake's angry eyes.
"Who else has seen this?" Jake's voice quivered with his anger.
"Just us," Nate said with a glance at Quinn. Quinn nodded.
"So help me if you ever tell Sam…," Jake broke off. He wasn't sure he could finish without wanting to throttle his brothers.
"You take care of the pipes and nobody will ever see it," Quinn shrugged, keeping an eye on Jake.
"I should kick your butt," Jake grumbled.
"Try it," Quinn challenged with an infuriating grin.
Nate stood up and stepped in front of Jake. Bryan did the same for Quinn.
"What's going on?" Maxine asked, coming into the kitchen.
"Nothing, right guys?" Nate answered.
Maxine wasn't so sure. She could see the anger burning in her youngest son's eyes.
"Jake's just fixin' to go under the house," Quinn gave him another infuriating grin.
"I thought you were doing that," Maxine looked from Quinn to Jake.
"He changed his mind, right Jakey?" Quinn raised an eyebrow.
"Jake?" Maxine questioned.
"Right," Jake's burning gaze latch onto the youngest twin's.