“Lexie…” I began, but her eyes narrowed impatiently. “Fine. Shoot.”
I reached for the door, the smell of ground coffee beans meeting my nose when I walked out. Her boots shuffled on the wood floor behind me as I beelined for the kitchen.
“Pineapple on pizza? Yay or nay?”
“That’s one of your questions?”
“Yay or nay?” she insisted, like it was a matter of life and death.
I laughed. “If it’s going in the garbage, I guess.”
Lexie clapped her hands together and let out a devilish giggle. I guessed I’d gotten that one right.
“And the second question?”
“What’s your favorite Quiet Peril song?”
I suddenly became fearful of failing whatever test this was. Their band had too many good ones, but my favorites weren’t their most popular or the ones I occasionally heard on the radio.
“I have two. ‘Ghost’ on sad days.” I decided to be honest rather than going for the obvious fan favorites. I looked back at her when I reached the coffeepot. For some reason, I wanted her approval. “ ‘Never You’ when I want to feel happy.”
Liam cocked his head when he heard me, sitting at the kitchen table with a plate of eggs smothered in hot sauce. His hair had been well slept on, but something told me if he ran one hand through it, he’d be ready for any stage concert. His white T-shirt draped softly across his stone-like figure, showing off a few tattoos stamped along his bicep and forearm.
“We can keep her!” Lexie shouted, as if I were a new pet that’d been potty-trained. “It’ll be nice to have another girl here with me.”
“Since when are you a girl, Lex?” Danny teased, and she whacked him with an open hand.
“Mind if I grab some coffee?” I asked the table of men shoving their faces with enough food to feed three times the number of people.
Danny nodded and pointed to a cabinet, where I found coffee mugs and tumblers.
Lexie took a seat next to my brother and stole a sip out of his mug. He scowled but went back to eating his breakfast. It was nice to see his bandmates had at least taught him to share.
“You didn’t tell me she knew Korean,” Lexie said, eyeing Danny with betrayal.
I shook my head. “Oh, I don’t.Helloandthank youare about all I know in most languages.”
Lexie pouted, shooting out her bottom lip.
“But she still knows about fifty other languages,” Danny told her, wiping his mouth.
I sighed, remembering what he thought my IQ number was. “Your number for me is highly exaggerated.”
Milton tore his eyes off his plate. “What else can you speak?”
“Um, French and Spanish…” I began.
“And Italian, Portuguese…” Danny began to list them with his fingers. “What else? Chinese? Russian? Swedish?”
I shook my head once, annoyed that he was making fun of me. “German. And I only know a few words in Portuguese.”
“You know German?” Milton’s mouth tilted up. “That’s kind of badass.”
“When the hell do you ever need to speak any of that?” Liam mumbled.
“When I want assholes like you to feel inadequate.” My German was rusty, but I got the entire table’s attention.
Lexie bounced up and down in her chair. “Again, again!”
