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“You two are cute.”
Finn’s hand tightens around mine.
“Thanks.”
“I’m just saying. It’s disgusting. I’ve had to look at both of you for years, and I’m now realizing I missed the whole subplot, and I don’t like that. It offends me.”
“Any luck with Doctor Cross?” Finn asks.
Stone’s face reddens, and I’m not sure if he’s blushing or angry. “He’s…insufferable. And he has an awful sense of fashion.”
“Really? I thought that green sweater he wore a couple of days ago really made his eyes and hair pop. He’s quite good-looking. Emmett thinks so, at least.”
“What’s happening with Doctor Cross?” I ask. Clearly, I’m missing something.
“Nothing is happening with Doctor Cross,” Stone says. “Leave me alone. Nikko, tell them about the tour.”
I turn to Nikko. “What is he talking about?”
Nikko puts his phone down. “I’m working with Daisy on a small spring tour for The Winter Sons. Augie said if he can work the dates around his daughter’s school schedule, then they’re all in.”
“That’s great, Nik. I know you were dying to get back on the road.”
“I am. Augie has this big refurbished van we can all sleep in. It’ll be like the early days of Hall of Fame when I joined you during college summer break, you know, before you became divas about thread count and pillow menus.”
Finn and I sit on the second couch, and I keep his hand in mine on the cushion between us. I want to tease my brother about Augie and his “big van,” but my eyes land on Bastian, who’s watching us with a small smile that doesn’t quite reach his eyes. He hasn’t spoken.
“Fox,” Stone says, leaning forward. “One question.”
“No.”
“You don’t know what the question is.”
“I know I’m not going to like it.”
“Were you actually scared Bastian would make good on his big speech?”
Finn frowns. “What speech?”
Stone grins.
“Oh, buddy. You never heard about the speech.”
“What speech?”
“When you turned eighteen. The first Thanksgiving after your birthday.” Stone stretches his arms along the back of the couch. “Your big brother sat all four of us down in our hotel room and gave us a speech about his little brother being off-limits. And that if any of us so much as looked at you inappropriately, he would personally kick our asses into our next life.”
Finn turns to look at Bastian, who’s now determinedly not making eye contact with anyone.
“What the hell, Bastian?”
“You were my baby brother. You’d just turned eighteen. I was worried.”
Finn turns to me. “So. When was it?”
“What?”
“When did you actually look at me and see an adult?”
