AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m timing you,” Gabriel says over his shoulder and steers Nate away from my guest-apartment-bedroom door. “What are you doing? Get in the shower.”
“There might not be enough hot water,” Nate says.
“Are you serious? Nate. This is a luxury apartment building. I shouldn’t have to tell you that—oh my God. Are you fucking with me again? Not today. There is a wedding today. Jameson’s wedding. That means—”
“Okay, Big Guy, Jesus! I was just kidding.”
I get into the shower.
When I get out, I still feel good. Even excited. Yeah, a good fifty percent of my chest is empty and sad because my dad will never, ever be here to bother me about being on time to my wedding. My mom will never, ever dance with me at the reception. I don’t think they’d be that upset about all the security arrangements we’ve had to make. I bet they’d chuckle gently and say it wasclassic Jameson.
They’d say that if I was still as much of a criminal as I am now.
I probably still would be. My mom would see my point of view, at least.
The rest of me is excited. Because I’m getting married today to the hottest girl I’ve ever seen in my entire fucking life. And Mason didn’t die falling out of a building. And Gabriel didn’t die jumping out of a building. And Remy didn’t die from having her three train-wreck brothers raise her. And Charlotte and Elise are here, too. And they’re going to dress Robin in a miniature tux.
So.
A lot of this is going to turn out okay.
When I go to find Gabriel, showered and wearing the outfit he chose for me today—casual, but not embarrassing, so that if you’re photographed on the way to the cathedral, people can’t say I wasn’t involved—he’s helping Nate fuck with his hair.
“Okay. That was twenty minutes. I don’t think I had to get up this early.”
“Yeah, you did.” Gabriel meets my eyes in the mirror. “There’s a breakfast.”
“Whatbreakfast?”
“Abreakfast,” he says, which doesn’t explain anything. “Put your shoes on.”
“Okay, weirdo.”
We leave the guest apartment five minutes later.
Mason wears Robin in his carrier down to the first floor, a look on his face like he’s a cat that just caught a mouse and is proud as hell of himself.
Thebreakfastis in the restaurant and bar on the first floor of Mason’s building. It’s a nice place. Usually, the Middlegame feels too classy for my criminal tastes. It has a lot of dark wood paneling and low lights and people in evening wear. But for this breakfast, they’ve taken out all the tables that are usually between the bar and the fancy booths and replaced them with one big table.
Because my brothers have invited friends.
“Oh myfuck,” I say as we step into the restaurant. “Is this a bachelor party? Are we going to get drunk and look at strippers? Because I’m not looking at asinglestripper.”
Hades, who is standing at the other end of the table with a toddler in his arms and his dog sitting perfectly still at his feet, gives me an assessing look. “Is he having a breakdown?”
“It’s breakfast.” Mason puts his hand on my shoulder and pulls out a chair at the big table. “There are no strippers.”
“Wait.” Hades’sotherbrother, a guy named Poseidon who unsurprisingly always looks sort of windblown, like he just stepped off the deck of a ship, glares at Zeus, whoalsohas a toddler in his arms. Unlike Hades’s toddler, who is holding tightly to a small, black kitten—I think of the cat in the road, but only for a second, asecond—and looking around the restaurant with a serious expression—Zeus’s toddler is out cold on his shoulder. “You invited me to a bachelor party with no strippers?”
Zeus gives him an incredulous look. “How did you arrive at the conclusion that Iinvitedyou?”
“You didn’t throw me out of the car when I got in.”
“Shut up,” Hades tells his brothers, then takes a seat at the table.
“Do we need introductions for anyone?” Gabriel asks. “You’ve all met Nate.”
“I haven’t met anyone,” Poseidon says jovially, and sits down next to Hades.
