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“You know this guy?” one of the officers asked.
“My baby brother,” Mark replied, his dimples flashing.
“By ten minutes,” Nick said, shaking his head.
It took about an hour to clear up matters outside. Nick had stayed near the entrance, far from the stage, but he’d gotten reports from the bouncers about what was going on inside. So he knew when Izzie had performed…and when she was finished.
She’d done her first number and wouldn’t be back on for at least an hour or two. Long enough to get rid of his brother.
“Come on, let me buy you a beer,” Mark said once the last of the police cars pulled away.
“I’m working.”
“Okay, then you buy me a beer.” Not taking no for an answer, he threw his arm across Nick’s shoulder and tugged him into the club. “Come on, I’ve never been in this place.”
“Noelle probably wouldn’t like it.”
“I’m visiting my twin at work. No harm in that, is there?”
“Depends on whether you visited me blindfolded.”
“I’ll keep my back to the stage,” Mark said. “Seriously, we haven’t talked in weeks. I know something’s going on with you.”
His twin was right. They had been…disconnected. Not just because of what had been going on with Nick and Izzie, but also because his brother was about to become a father. Mark had changed. He had different priorities, talked a different language, looked at the world a different way.
Noelle and their baby were his family now. Oh, sure, he loved the rest of the Santoris, but he’d crossed that threshold from son and brother to husband and father.
Nick was the only one of the Santori siblings who had not.
“Let’s sit out here,” Mark said, nodding toward a couple of low, round tables in an outer chamber between the lobby and the main lounge area. They were out of view of the stage.
Nick wasn’t surprised. Mark was a good husband. Like the rest of their brothers.
“All right.” Gesturing to one of the waitresses, he ordered a club soda for himself and a beer for his brother. Returning to the table, he sat down across from his twin. “Can’t be away for too long, though.”
Mark settled back into the leather chair. “Nice.”
“Yeah, it is.”
“Good fringe benefits?”
Holding back a smile, Nick just shook his head.
“Hey, I’m married, these days are long gone. Throw me a bone.”
“Throw me one,” Nick replied before thinking better of it. “Tell me what it’s like.”
Mark frowned, obviously confused by the question. “It?”
“Marriage. What’s it like being tied down, committed?”
Those deep dimples that had charmed girls from the time he was two years old flashed in Mark’s cheeks. “It’s the best. Noelle’s everything I ever wanted.”
“Yeah, but how’d you know what you wanted?” Nick muttered as he lifted his drink and downed half of it.
Chuckling, Mark admitted, “I didn’t. I think it was more of a case of meeting her, and knowing that whatever I eventually did figure out I wanted for my life, she’d be part of it. It was always her. Everything else fell into place around her.”
Somehow, that made a lot of sense to Nick. Because even though he’d been thinking of dozens of reasons why he and Izzie couldn’t make it work-the primary one being that she didn’t want it to-he couldn’t help hoping it would. Because, as Mark had said, he suspected she was the one. That whatever else happened in his life, whatever direction he went in, whatever he chose, he’d want her to be a part of it.
Surprisingly, his brother didn’t press him about why he was asking so many questions. Probably not because he didn’t care-or didn’t suspect there was a reason behind them. But because he knew Nick well enough to know that pushing for answers usually only made him clam up tighter.
Nick appreciated the courtesy. And realized yet again just how much he’d missed his twin.
“Hey Nick, we got a live one at the bar,” a woman said.
Glancing over, Nick saw one of the waitresses, who was rolling her eyes. “Serious?”
“Not yet. But he could be if he’s not handled right.”
“I’ll be there in a minute.” Addressing his brother, he added, “Is there a full moon out tonight? The crazies are out.”
Mark stood. “Yeah, including me. I must be crazy to be out here with you instead of home in bed with my wife.”
Feeling better than he had in the hours since Izzie’s accident with the chair, Nick reached out and grabbed his brother for a quick hug. Mark’s eyes widened. He was the demonstrative one, not Nick. “What’s that for?”
