Page 228 of Things We Hide from the Light
Everyone leaned in closer to sniff me.
“I’m suddenly craving Italian,” Lucian mused.
“It’s Alfredo sauce. A rig full of it tipped on the highway.”
“Sorry I’m late.” Jeremiah strolled up, shoving a hand through his dark, curling hair. “Why are we smelling Nash?”
“He smells like Alfredo sauce,” Stef supplied.
Jeremiah dropped a kiss on Stef’s cheek and they both smiled shyly.
“Whoa. When did that happen?” Knox demanded, pointing back and forth between the two of them.
“Why? Are you gonna give them shit too?” I asked my brother.
Knox shrugged. “Maybe.”
“Why don’t you want anyone to be happy?” Stef teased.
“I don’t give a shit if you’re happy. I just don’t want to deal with you if you’re fucking miserable,” Knox clarified. “Take this dumbass. He looks at Lina with wedding rings in his eyeballs, and she’s gonna rip his heart out and accidentally stomp on it with those stilettos when she walks out the door.”
“I might walk out the door with her. As long as she doesn’t hold my dumbassery against me.”
The silence was deafening as seven pairs of eyes landed on me. “What?” Jeremiah asked, recovering first.
I picked up my beer. “I fucked up after a shit day.”
“How did you fuck up?” Knox demanded.
“I tried to break things off,” I admitted.
“You’re an idiot,” Nolan said helpfully.
“No. He’s a fucking idiot,” Knox said.
Lucian merely closed his eyes and shook his head.
“That’s an interesting approach,” Jeremiah volunteered.
“I thoughthewas the dumbass in the family,” Silver said, dropping a drink in front of Jeremiah and nodding her head at Knox.
“Need I remind you who signs your paychecks?”
“Apparently dumbass number one of two,” she quipped.
“But you had your tongue down Lina’s throat after the rehearsal dinner,” Stef pointed out.
“She didn’t let me push her away. She stuck. And then she made me jump out of a plane.”
“Jesus. Why in the hell would you jump out of a perfectly good plane?” Knox asked, looking bewildered.
“Because when the woman you’re going to marry asks you to do something, you fucking do it.”
Lucian was rubbing his temples now. “You barely know her.”
“Iknow her. She’s too good for you,” Nolan said.
“I agree with porn ’stache,” my brother said.
