“What the hell did I do?” Cade asked.
“You had the power to stop Thing One from sending Jase away, dickhead, and you did nothing.Nothing!You let him ruin my life.”
“Like I have the power to control Connor,” Cade murmured.
Cricket threw her hands in the air in frustration. “You’re the only one who does, idiot.”
“Maybe we stop with the name calling,” Hatch suggested.
“Maybe go take a flying fuck at a rolling donut.”
My brothers all burst out laughing.
“What does that even mean?” Hatch asked.
Cricket huffed. “I refuse to believe you were the fastest sperm.”
“Jesus, who pissed in your coffee this morning?”
It was then I realized what day it was and shook my head before pulling Cricket in for a hug. “I’m sorry, sissy.”
“Why are you apologizing?” Cade asked.
“Because today is the anniversary of Jase leaving.”
Cricket burst into tears as she wrapped her arms around my waist.
Cade sighed. “Of course, Rain Man would remember the day our sister’s loser of an ex—”
“Fuck you, Cade,” Cricket hissed.
Before I could comfort my sister any further, my phone buzzed. “Sorry, guys. I gotta take this,” I said, answering. “Hey, Leslie. How are you doing? Um, yeah. I think I can manage that. How about you give me twenty-five minutes and I’ll be there? That sound okay to you? Alright, perfect. I’ll see you then, beautiful.” I hung up and returned my attention to my brothers, who were all staring at me.
“Are you fucking serious right now?” Cullen asked.
I shrugged. “What?”
“We were just talking about you showing your face around more often and now you’re gonna ditch family night to go meet some hot piece of ass.”
“First of all, I like that you assumed, correctly, might I add, that Leslie is hot. Secondly, it’s just family night and I’ve been here for over an hour already. It’s not like I’m missing a business meeting.”
“No, that will happen tomorrow when you’re too hungover from your night out withhot Leslieto show up on time,” Cade said.
“I already said I was sorry and that I’d do better, so fuck both of you. I’m outta here.”
“Cam, I’m sorry, I’m just stressed out,” Cade said, but I didn’t want to hear it. As much as they may have been right, disappointing my family was hell on me and I feared things in that department were only going to get worse.
* * *
Tess
I walked into my family home, hanging up my coatand purse as I called out, “Sorry I’m late!”
My sister, Sinclair, came sliding into the foyer with a grin.
Literally.
She slid in on her socked feet much like Joel Goodsen did in Risky Business, although, she was wearing pants instead of tightie whities, thank god. “Dad’s freaking out.”
