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Maddox drops down in the seat next to Nixon and hands him a Bloody Mary that looks more like a full-blown brunch than it does a drink. A skewer stacked thick with plump, oversized shrimp, crispy bacon, and enough veggies to count as a small salad poke out, and my stomach turns a little.
Definitely too much champagne last night.
Heat warms my cheeks as the memory of us opening the second bottle surfaces.
The way we laughed as the cork flew across the room and the way Ares sucked the spilled liquid off his thumb. Fuck, I wanted to be that thumb.
Nixon stares at me for a beat too long, seeing a little too much, then laughs. “Damn, good twin. Good for you.”
“Drink your breakfast, Nix,” Brynlee chastises him, pulling the attention from me, thankfully.
Kenzie reaches around Maddox and steals Nix’s drink. “Don’t be a douche, Nix.”
I love my friends.
“Fuck, man. You’re screwed when they’re ganging up on you.” Maddox protects his drink, like it’s his precious and he’s Gollum in a cave. “You busting your sister’s balls about where she slept or about the new job?”
My eyes fly to him as my entire body recoils from the one-two punch. “What the fuck, Madman?”
“You need to work on your situational awareness at family functions, good twin.” His words are more callous than I’m used to coming from him, and I instantly realize it’s retaliation. He’s hurt. Damn it.
And like an accident you see happening in slow motion but are helpless to stop, Everly has just walked over. “What new job?” She looks between Brynn and me with a mimosa in her hand.
Brynn takes Everly’s drink. “It’s not me.”
My twin sister’s gaze falls on me. “I didn’t know you were looking for a new company. Is it the Philadelphia Ballet?”
When I meet her eyes, she knows immediately, even if she doesn’t want to admit it. “New York?” she asks, and I shake my head. “Shit, Gracie. Are you going to San Francisco? You can’t seriously be considering moving across the country.”
She’s listing all the companies we used to dream about dancing for when we were little.
All but the one that was our ultimate goal.
“What?” Mom asks from the other end of the table.
Apparently, superhuman parental hearing doesn’t go away as your kids get older.
I swear to God, I’m going to kill Maddox with my bare hands for this.
“Gracie’s moving to San Francisco,” Hendrix, who I hadn’t even noticed before now, tells her right before Leo smacks his head. Middle brother to the rescue.
“She didn’t say that,” Leo argues.
“She didn’t say it wasn’t that either though,” Nixon corrects Leo.
And I’m going to bury my brothers right along with Maddox.
An ocean between us is looking like a good thing right about now.
“Stop.” I push back and stand up from my chair, nearly knocking it over in the process. I take Everly’s hand in mine and squeeze. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t want to talk about this now. I didn’t want to ruin your weekend.”
“Grace.” She looks at me with hurt already swimming in her eyes. “What aren’t you saying?”
My stomach bottoms out, leaving me with an awful feeling.
I hate doing this. I don’t disappoint people. It’s not in my DNA.
And this is worse because this won’t just be disappointment.
