"God, I love you, Ro." He shakes his head at me and I shrug.
He sighs. "Come on. That crash was probably Dom dropping another knife on his foot."
"Is anyone that unlucky?" I ponder as Jace pulls me out of my bed.
“When it comes to Dom’s clumsy ass? Yes,” he says, matter of factly. I laugh softly.
I tell him I’m going to get dressed before coming out to breakfast and he doesn’t leave, simply turns his back to face away from me.
I pull out a shirt from the pile Mase got me and a pair of leggings. I laugh to myself when I read what’s on the shirt again. ‘Caution! Devilishly hot angel approaching.’
I look up from pulling the shirt over my head and see Jace staring at my chest. I shake my head, biting the inside of my cheek to keep from smiling and it breaks him out of it.
“I never promised not to look,” Jace tells me, sincerely. He doesn’t let me argue, just grabs my hand and pulls me out of my room.
We duck into Jace's room to get him a shirt and I pout as he pulls it over his deliciously sculptured body.
His hand doesn’t leave mine when we rejoin with the guys who look like they’re cooking for a hundred people. Although they do eat a lot.
Mase hands me a glass and gives my shirt an approving look. I frown at the tall dainty wine glass he’s handed me.
“Is this champagne?” I ask him.
Mase goes to respond but Alec cuts him off. “I told him not to give you alcohol for breakfast.”
“Mum drinks champagne with breakfast on her birthday,” Mase argues.
Pain flickers in Maverick’s eyes before it’s gone. Almost as though he’s felt his brother’s despair, Mase turns to Mav.
“I’m sorry, brother,” He says, quietly.
The guys pretend not to be listening and the coffee machine starts.
“I’m fine,” Maverick returns gruffly, turning back to the bacon cooking in one of the three frying pans on the stove.
I grab Mase’s hand when he stands there staring at his brother’s back. I give his hand a reassuring squeeze, taking a sip from the champagne flask. Bubbles fizz on my tongue. I look up and smile at Mason. I get a full-blown smile this time.
His hands go to my waist as he lifts me onto the bench between a plate of eggs and a plate of croissants.
I look around. There’s eggs, croissants, bacon, pancakes and…broccoli? That’s random. Then there’s tomato and mushroom that Alec’s cooking. Clearly he's the one who keeps them eating healthy.
“Guys, this is so much food,” I tell them, pointing out the obvious. They all look around at the food then each other. They shrug at the same time before going back to what they were doing.
I just shake my head. Happiness and excitement grows in me though. I haven’t celebrated my birthday in years. Not since Dec. It’s hard to forget it’s my brother's birthday today too. And Jace’s was a few weeks ago, I remember. Jace is a year and four weeks older than Dec and I.
A phone rings loudly through the kitchen. Everyone looks at each other before they start searching the kitchen for someone’s phone going off.
“Got it!” Maverick yells, triumphantly and grabs a phone from…behind the coffee machine? That’s not weird at all.
“Jace, it’s your mum,” Maverick tells him before handing him the phone. Isn’t that Alec’s phone?
Since Jace is in the middle of flipping pancakes, he puts the phone on speaker beside the stove.
“Hey, Mum,” Jace greets.
“Is Alec holding you hostage to make you talk to me?” Helen says, warily. Ummm, what?
Emotion tightens in my throat. God, I haven’t heard Helen’s voice in a long time.
