AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Rook, I look like a fucking peacock.”
He pouted. “But such a cute little peacock.”
I punched him in the arm, the one near his gun-wound, and he moaned at the pain, making me groan in response.
Whoever made this atrocity of a dress really had some fucking balls. I damn near came down in my bra and half torn shirt to keep from wearing any of the options my aunt had chosen. But Rook somehow managed to reverse psychology me into the least atrocious of the options. A fitted peacock green and purple bodice sloped down to a full skirt that ended just below my knees with little strings hanging from the hem that obnoxiously tickled my legs.
And clearly Aunt Humphrey hadn’t thought to find shoes to match this fucking hideous dressed, so it looked all the worse from being worn with the black converse shoes I came in with.
Fuck it.
I stomped through to the sitting room, eyes turned up to a spot on the wall over all of their heads. “Go ahead, get it out of your system,” I announced, waiting for the inevitable laughter, but it didn’t come.
Aside from a rough cough from Corvus and a red-face from Grey, neither spoke.
“Oh, it looks darling!” my aunt said. “Wish I’d have thought to get the matching shoes. How marvelous. It’ll be perfect for the surprise.”
I pinched my brow, going to the tray of expensive bourbon to pour myself another glass and sink onto the low tufted sofa between Corvus and Grey, while Rook planted himself next to the alcohol.
“Is dinner ready?” I asked, drinking greedily from my glass. She didn’t know me very well, but she knew I didn’t like surprises.
“Patience.” She tutted, looking into the bottom of her empty glass.
Rook, noticing, quickly snatched up the decanter and crossed the Persian carpet to her side, taking the glass from her fingers. “Allow me,” he said, his voice smooth as silk.
“Oh!”
Rook filled the glass.
“Oh my, stop dear, that’s far too much.”
Rook gave her a devilish grin, and she fucking blushed at him. “Too much?” he shook his head. “You look like a woman who can handle her liquor, am I right?”
Her eyes widened, and Rook clinked the empty decanter against her nearly full glass.
“Garcon!” he called in no direction in particular. “We need a refill.”
“Rook,” Corvus warned, but Rook only flashed a set of straight white teeth at his brother and settled back down onto the sofa with his glass, lifting a leg to rest his ankle on his knee, so at ease I was actually sort of jealous of him.
Jackson entered from the foyer a moment later, hands clasped behind his back.
“Refill,” Rook repeated, looking at the butler like he was daft, stretching out his neck like he could see if the butler was hiding the liquor behind his back.
“Right away, sir,” Jackson replied, turning his attention to my aunt. “She’s here, ma’am. Shall I send her in?”
My aunt got unsteadily to her feet, setting her over-filled bourbon down on the table to straighten her dress. Clearly she did not know how to handle her liquor.
“Yes, yes. I’ll see her through.”
“Who else did you invite?” I asked, something uncomfortable tightening in my belly.
She barely spared me a second glance as she followed Jackson from the room. “You’ll see, Ava Jade. It’s a surprise.”
Heat flooded through my stomach, flashing over my chest until it was damp. Until the heat turned cold.
My stomach turned.
“We shouldn’t have come,” I said, barely recognizing the sound of my own voice because I was hearing her voice down the hall. Muted and distant and barely there, but even after all these years, I would know it anywhere.
“Sparrow?” Corvus asked, sitting up now. “What is it?”
My mouth went dry.
Aunt Humphrey came back through the entry to the sitting room, a wide smile beaming on her ashen face.
My mother followed behind her.
