Page 52 of Tarnished Vow

“Apparently, she thinks she isn’t my type.” I clicked at Rome, “pass me that.”

“To be fair, you have told her that repeatedly over the years.” Rome tossed me my lighter.

“And then you’ve treated her like a girlfriend. No wonder the woman is confused.” Luca flipped his cards over, winning again.

That’s it, I’m not playing.

“Well, you told her why you couldn’t back then, right?” Nik pulled a chair out next to me.

He could not be serious.

“Wait, there was a reason for it?” Rome looked between Nikolai and I. “All this time we just assumed you really had no idea what the fuck a friendship was.”

Bastion nodded. “I even put magnets on your fridge.”

Of course, it was him that was behind those ridiculous magnets. Define a friend. What is a friend. What is a friendship.

Every few months, they randomly appeared to haunt me. Madeline was right. I needed to start locking my front door.

Nikolai looked suddenly uncomfortable, and so he fucking should.

Now the three of them were looking at me way too fucking interested.

“I told you there would be a reason,” Bastion turned to Luca, “Pay up.”

If I could murder someone with a look, Nikolai would be dead.

“Alright enough, if we had done a quarter of the shit Vince has done for our family, we would have had to sacrifice the same.” Nik threw back his drink. “What we have was built on him. I was too busy raising you all. Speaking of which, twins made it to twenty. That’s an accomplishment.” He glanced at me. "Two teenagers raised five kids. God damn miracle.”

Or a horror show. I shrugged.

“So, are we heading out, or is it going to be as depressing as ours?” Nik pushed his seat back.

“What did you do for yours?” Bastion asked, grabbing his suit jacket.

“Spent it at home. It was a school night. And Vince canceled his because Cecilia was sick.”

“No, she had appendicitis and ended up having surgery.” The second worse experience of my life. Right after burying our mother.

Nic clicked his fingers. “That’s right.”

Like normal, he knew when to change the subject.

The boys walked ahead of us, only for Nik to grab my arm.

“I’m sorry, about before. They’ll never understand.”

I nodded.

“Sometimes I wonder what our life would have been like if we never killed him.”

Luca shouted for us to hurry up.

“You didn’t kill him Nik. I did.” I shoved my hands in my pockets,

I looked back when he didn’t start walking. Of all nights to have this conversation again.

“It all worked out in the end. Right?” Stepping forward, I grabbed his shoulder, “Come on brother, let the dead rest. I’m sure given our lifestyle; we’ll be there before long, anyway.”

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