She let out an exasperated snort. His niece was a feisty one and she didn’t like it when he didn’t follow orders. “I told you,I’m Princess Anna.” She pointed her tiny forefinger at him. “And you are?”
He let out a small groan. When a three-year old tells you you’re a princess, you’re a princess. “I’m…Princess Elsa.”
“And today we’re gonna have a ball and invite the whole kingdom.”
There was a ball every day and unfortunately Kay thought it was her responsibility to provide the music. The songs she chose to sing in her squeaky, off-key voice were usually a remix of every song on theFrozensoundtrack and she almost always incorporated her own lyrics. He didn’t mind, though. It was cute as hell.
Shane’s boys were brats, little jerks in the making, and even he would agree with that statement. But Dom’s girls…Dom’s girls were the most precious things to hit this planet and tiny Makayla was his favorite. Playful and cheeky, she was just a chubby ball of fun.
He kicked off the covers, scooped her up, and carried her to the bathroom. “Well, first we have to brush your teeth and ask Grandma to change you out of your PJs. We can’t have Prince Hans seeing you like this.”
“I don’t like Prince Hans,” she said as he placed her on the tiled counter beside the basin. “I’m gonna marry Prince Tyler.”
Kevin smiled, squeezing the toothpaste onto her brush. He’d heard a lot about this Tyler. From the very unstructured stories of a three-year old, he figured Tyler was his sister’s new boyfriend. Jordan had never brought a guy home, so when she brought him along for Perry’s funeral, it was the obvious assumption. Kevin hadn’t met him, but Tyler had certainly made an impression on Kay.
“Open up,” he said and when her mouth dropped open, he carefully began brushing her teeth. She giggled through thewhite foam. “You look like a bear,” she said, tugging on his beard.
He chuckled, but looked up to catch a glimpse of himself in the bathroom mirror. Staring back at him was someone he didn’t recognize. The brown beard he’d been growing for three months was a sign of laziness and neglect. His blue eyes held nothing beneath them. He turned away from the person he hated seeing and handed her a plastic cup of water. “Rinse and spit.”
She did, and after washing her face, he picked her up and carried her to the living room. This was his new routine. No more morning classes. No late afternoon tutorials. He’d dropped out of college, just gave up studying towards a degree in electrical engineering. He’d been damn good at it. Both he and Clayton had aced the last semester. But now Clayton couldn’t walk and Kevin couldn’t bring himself to go back to class knowing that he was the only one who wasableto return to class.
Instead, he chose to sit at home like a bum. He wanted to feel like the accident had destroyed his life in the same way it had destroyed the others, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t reach that level of destruction. He hadn’t left the house since that night. He would probably never leave his room if it weren’t for Kay.
“Wait here,” he said, setting her down on the couch. “I’ll go get you some breakfast.”
He walked down the corridor to the large kitchen and was reluctant to step in when he saw his mother and brother, Dominic, chatting at the wooden table on the other side. He didn’t greet, simply ignored them as he walked to the cupboard that contained Kay’s favorite cereal.
“Morning, baby,” his mother greeted.
“Morning,” he grumbled back, taking out the cereal box and pouring the crispy chunks into a bowl.
“You hungry? I can make breakfast for you.”
“Nope.”
He rarely had an appetite and one small meal a day was hard enough to choke down. The tragic curse of being a good, loving mother had befallen her and she always tried to make sure he was taken care of. Right now though, he didn’t want love or care. He just wanted to be left the fuck alone.
She stood up and walked to the stove. “Maybe some bacon and eggs?”
“No.”
He used a firmer tone this time because she didn’t know when to stop pushing. She always did that. She wanted him to open up, talk about how he felt. And maybe in her distorted view of reality, the three of them sitting down like a happy family, eating bacon and eggs, would somehow pull him out of his spiral of depression. Maybe in her head, she thought breakfast had some kind of cosmic healing power, that it would magically erase the consuming ache he felt every fucking second of the day. In her world of colorful butterflies and prancing unicorns, a mother’s love was enough to absorb that pain. But in this world, in this reality, she was only making it worse.
She clearly got the hint because she began fidgeting with her apron, debating whether she should push a little more. A blanket of tension settled over the kitchen. Even Dom went into a standby stance, staring at Kevin, just waiting for him to snap. Because he always snapped.
“You have to eat, baby,” she began apprehensively. “If you’re not very hungry, I could just make a snack. Chocolate chip cookies? I could have it ready before Dom leaves for work and we could all eat together. Wouldn’t that be great?”
Kevin shoved the cereal box back into the cupboard and slammed the door shut. “No,” he replied through gritted teeth. “I don’t want any fucking chocolate chip cookies. And no, I don’t think it would begreat.”
“Hey!” Dom’s stern tone was a warning. Their mother despised curse words and Dom didn’t hesitate for a second. “Watch your mouth, Kevin.”
Dom slowly stood up. It was an intimidation tactic. All his brothers, Dom, Shane, and Max, hovered at above six foot. Even his sister, Jordan, was tall, but Kevin was the runt of the litter, barely making it to five-seven. He was more lithe than muscular and Dom could overpower him in seconds.
Kevin’s eyes locked on his brother’s and it was a long stare down. Being the eldest out of the five of them, Dom had developed the talent of communicating without talking. Right now his eyes were telling Kevin to back down and Kevin’s eyes told him to fuck off, so Dom’s eyes said:“You’re asking for it.”And Kevin’s eyes responded:“Okay, you win.”
He didn’t like physical violence, but he would prefer that to the type of punishment Dom dished out. He was so much bigger, it was effortless for him. Dom would grab him around his midriff, restraining both arms so he was completely immobile, and hold him off the ground until he succumbed. Now that may not seem bad on the surface, but there was nothing Kevin hated more than feeling powerless. That shit was just emasculating and he’d take an ass-whipping over that any day.
His mother decided to break the loaded silence. “I’m sorry, Kevin. I was just trying to—”
