Page 26 of Unveiled Wishes

“How about two more? Fuck off.” Tyler flipped Op the middle finger and then grabbed his coffee mug.

“That’s technically six more.” Op had his finger in the air, like he was counting the words to make sure he was accurate.

“It’s a good day for the beach. If you want to kill each other, you can do it in the sand,” Sabre said from the head of the table, eating his breakfast.

Eric had told me that the brothers were off until the new year. I could tell that they weren’t used to having so much downtime, and it was causing problems. They acted like caged animals, and eventually, one of them would snap, causing a melee. I didn’t know if Sabre could feel the same energy swirling around, but it made sense to get them into fresh air.

“I’ll get you a helmet, and you can ride with me,” Eric said.

“Sounds good. I’ve never seen the Pacific.” I nodded. Heading to the beach sounded like a good plan for today.

Breakfast was a quiet affair from then on. They didn’t shovel the food in, but there was no need to talk to each other. Instead, each person took over a role to make sure that we could leave quicker. I had tried to help, but I was more of a nuisance than anything else. I grabbed the pan of eggs to lug it into the kitchen, when Chef met me at the door to take it from me.

“Hey, Zook! Your girl is under the mistletoe with Chef.”

I closed my eyes, praying that the ground would swallow me whole. I wanted to be anywhere else. My cheeks flamed at my embarrassment. “I am sorry, I was just trying to help,” I whispered to Chef, opening my eyes.

“Let’s get this over with. The beach is calling.” He shifted the pan underneath his arm and ran his thumb from my hairline to the apple of my cheek. Leaning forward, he laid the gentlest kiss on my lips. It did nothing for me.

“That’s not how you’re supposed to do it. Zook! He needs a demonstration.”

“Go to your room and wait until it’s time to go. Otherwise, these animals won’t stop bothering him.” Chef turned to head back to the sink with the pan.

I wouldn’t lower my head to anyone. It was a kiss under the mistletoe, and I was a grown woman. Chef hadn’t stuck his tongue down my throat and bent me backwards like I had seen some of the other brothers do.

As I turned, I met Tyler’s eyes. We stared at each other, and I wasn’t sure if he knew I was silently apologizing. His eyes held such pain.

***

Zook

I didn’t want to admit that I was angry, so I kept telling myself that it was innocent. She’d only been trying to help clean up breakfast. It was just an awkward situation and meant nothing. Yet, I wanted to grab her, stick her under the mistletoe and show her what an actual kiss was. If I was lucky, I’d take her back to my room,and show her a few other things. It wouldn’t happen, but I could dream.

“You okay?” How asked, folding the table legs, so that we could stick it back into the supply closet.

“Yeah.” I kept it simple. I didn’t want to discuss how I wanted to rage in the middle of the main room and tell every motherfucker in here that she was mine.

“What can I do to help?” he pushed.

“Nothing. I am the one who fucked up, and I have to be the one to fix it.” Em had made a point of saying that actions meant more than pretty words. I knew exactly what she’d meant. It wouldn’t matter what I said to her, because I had already had that chance. If I wanted her, I was going to have to make the move.

“No one’s going to take her from you.”

“She’s here to visit you for Christmas.” I didn’t want to overthink this, which was more my style.

“I know my sister. She might have thought she was coming here to visit me, but she’s waiting to see if there’s still something there. She won’t put herself out again, so if you want her, you’re going to have to put in the work.” He looped his arm around my shoulder and pulled me into his body. “It’s the beach.” When I didn’t understand, he followed it up with, “Skin, dude.”

I brought my arm up, wrapped it around his neck and held him in a headlock. “That’s weird. Don’t talk about her like that.” I rubbed my knuckles across the top of his head and then let him go, a smile slowly creeping onto my face.

***

It was the middle of the afternoon, and we’d just had lunch. Someone had packed coolers full of hodgepodge, and we’d dived in after a few hours at the beach.

I was laying on my side, finishing a sandwich, when I noticed Cyph was drawing brackets on a piece of paper.

“Is that for beach volleyball?” I asked.

“Yeah, you want in?” He didn’t bother to look up as he continued to draw.

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