“Cocky Texas mouth,” she says, breaking the kiss, but she doesn’t pull away. She leans into the kiss again, her arms wrapping tightly around my neck, pulling me closer until our chests are touching.
We get lost in the kiss until I hear the meat starting to sizzle a little faster than before.
“Hold that thought. Let me get this finished up so we can eat.”
I finish the steak and set it on a cutting board, next to a bowl of the roasted veggies and potatoes I had resting in the oven.
Just as we sit down at the table, my phone vibrates with a familiar buzz. The screen lights up, flashing a FaceTime notification that sends an ice-cold spike to my gut.
Acer.
I stiffen.
“You can get that,” she says, noticing the shift in my posture. “It’s late. It could be an emergency.”
“It’s not,” I mutter, my jaw clenching as I pick up my phone and accept the FaceTime call.
The faces of three of my brothers—Archie, Ace, and Austin—crowd the screen, their loud voices echoing into the room before I can even bring my phone to my face.
“There he is!” Ace’s voice booms through the speaker. His face is illuminated by the light of the phone, and behind him and my brothers, I see the familiar walls of my family home. “Hey, Arch, look at him. He actually answered. I owe you fifty bucks.”
“Told you he would,” Archie’s voice chimes in, his face pushing through, looking tired, but always grinning. “Aston doesn’t ignore his family, like some people I know.”
“Okay, you two,” I interrupt, my voice sounding clipped, even to my own ears. I hold the phone close to me, angling the camera so it only catches my face and the ceiling beams above me. I don’t look at Eva. I can’t. Having Ace’s grinning face staring at me while the woman he used to love sits three inchesaway from me is making my chest feel like it’s trapped in a vise. “Did you guys just call to harass me? I’m busy.”
“Busy? Doing what? Studying film for your Monday night game on a Friday?” Austin’s voice cuts in, his head popping into view. “Why’s it so dark? You have a power outage or something?”
“No,” I snap. “Seriously, what’s up?”
“We told Mom and Dad we’d check on you. You and Aiden are the only ones not home this weekend, and we miss your ugly mug,” Ace says, his tone shifting into something a little more genuine, completely oblivious to the land mine I’m standing on. “And Dad was worried about you. He watched the tape from your last game and said your lateral movement looked a little slow on the inside stunt, and he wanted to make sure you aren’t nursing an injury and not telling them about it.”
“I’m good,” I say stiffly.
The ghost of our college days hangs heavy in the air. Ace has always been the one to push buttons, the one who takes what he wants, and the fact that Eva was once his tastes like ash in my mouth.
“You’re pretty quiet, Aston,” Archie adds, his brow furrowing. “You alone?”
My stomach drops. “I’m fine. Just getting ready to eat. I have more film to review later.”
“Okay, okay. Don’t get your jock in a twist.” Ace laughs. “Go eat and fuck up the Steelers. We’ll be watching.”
“Thanks. I’ll talk to y’all later. Give Mama a hug for me,” I say before I hit the End button, killing the call.
The silence that settles when I hang up is definite. I set my phone face down on the table, my jaw still tight.
“You didn’t have to cut your call short because of me,” Eva says quietly.
She knows my family. She spent time around them when she and Ace were dating.
I don’t look at her yet. Instead, I reach for my wineglass andtake a long swallow that does nothing to clear the tightness in my throat.
“They’re … just loud. And relentless. They would have kept calling until I answered and would have kept me on the phone for at least an hour if I hadn’t cut them short.”
“It’s okay. I don’t mind,” she says, reaching out, her small hand resting on my arm and tracing a thick vein on my forearm.
“All good, I promise,” I assure her. “Ace always has a lot to say, as you—” I cut myself off, the wordsas you knowdying in my throat.
A sudden shot of jealousy aches in my chest, worse than my bruised ribs. I pull my arm away gently, reaching for the steak on the table, desperate to steer the conversation away from my family before she can ask more questions.
