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“Take a guess.”
Most of the people I’ve seen in Mason’s apartment aside from us are at the table. But what the hell kind of outward sign would anyone have that they have a vendetta with regular lightbulbs?
As I’m casually glancing around the table, Hades’s daughter, who is a tiny copy of him with fine blonde hair in a ponytail on top of her head and her tiny stuffed cat pressed to her nose so she can continuously breathe it in, makes direct eye contact with me.
She’s also got his black eyes.
“Okay. Yep. You could’ve told me.”
Mason pats Robin’s head, his hand looking gigantic. “How would I have brought that up?”
“I don’t know. A causal aside. It’s nice to know you have a friend, though.”
“I havelotsof friends, prick.”
“Not friends that you’d change your lightbulbs for.”
“Youshould get a friend you’d change your lightbulbs for,” he says.
“I’d change my lightbulbs for you.”
For a split second, Mason looks stunned. In the grand scheme of things, it hasn’t been that long since we had a fight over pancakes at the first family brunch he had at his penthouse. I wanted to crime-scene my way out the window. He wanted me to let himfix it.There was no way to explain that what’s wrong with me isn’t fixable, and I didn’t want him to spend more of his hard-earned time trying.
I still don’t necessarily believe that this wedding is going to fix anything. I always go off the rails, sooner or later. If I could stop, I would have done it already.
But it’s the spirit of the thing.
Mason clears his throat. Robin snuffles in his carrier and makes a soft baby noise, his fist coming up to his mouth. He doesn’t wake up.
“You don’t have any lightbulbs,” he says.
“Yes, I do. In my cabin.”
“I wouldn’t know. I’ve never been to your cabin. I don’t know where it is.”
His face has turned slightly red, making his eyes look greener.
The cabin is the only secret place I have, and I’ve kept the address a secret because I’ve never wanted my brothers to be able to come after me. I’ve spent a long time thinking theywouldn’tcome after me, so not telling them the address doesn’t make much sense. Right now, at this breakfast table in a fancy bar, it doesn’t make any sense at all.
“Oh, well, it’s north of the city on the shore of this lake.” I give him the address. It won’t mean anything to him until he looks it up on a map, but his eyes light up when I rattle it off. Mason pretends to be occupied with making sure Robin is properly positioned in his carrier so I don’t see, but I notice anyway.
After that, Dev nudges me with his elbow and asks me about a group of properties he and Zeus are discussing.
Mason leans over to Gabriel and tells him something in a voice too soft to hear while I’m giving my opinion on the probable market value of a row of historical townhouses in five years versus ten years.
That’s about the time I realize that August and Julien have both shown up without drawing any attention to themselves, and August is getting candids of the breakfast.
“This brunch is so weird,” Nate says to me from across the table. “It’s all old people and kids. I mean—I know you’re all, like the same age, but—”
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Poseidon raise his eyebrows at Zeus, who swats him across the back of the head.
I don’t know why he has anything against being called old by a teenager. The three of them are thirty-ish, same as I am.
I think.
“You could go upstairs, you know,” Gabriel says. “They’re having breakfast, too. There’s just hair and makeup interspersed.”
Nate purses his lips. I bet that sly little punk is trying to decide whether Lydia would find him hotter in some mascara.
