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All around the table the guys were avoiding eye contact and not just with me.
"Fuck," Rain hissed in an ugly voice, before shoving his chair back so hard it tipped over and crashed to the floor. He stormed out of the room in an angry cloud that seemed to suck all of the oxygen out with him.
"He's got that right," Quinton muttered angrily, before standing and storming out of the room after Rain.
I stared after them, where they'd stomped toward the kitchen, in complete and utter shock. "What did I do wrong?" I asked in a quiet voice that shook.
From under the table, both Damien and Tyson reached for my hands at the same exact time. They eyed each other. Tyson wary. Damien resolved.
Both threaded their fingers through mine and held on tightly.
"You didn't do anything wrong, beautiful girl," Ty told me. "You never do. It's the assholes you grew up with who did something wrong."
"Agreed," Damien muttered angrily.
From down the table someone cleared their throat. I looked up to find the rest of them who'd remained staring at me intently. It had been Julian who'd cleared his throat.
"Since you're feeling so generous with the L word, do you want to toss that sucker my way too?"
I shifted in my seat, uncomfortable with where the conversation was heading.
I wasn't quite ready to go there with Julian just yet, not in front of everyone else. Though, I was sure I did love him, I loved all of them. It's just that some of my connections were deeper than others. We weren't on that level just yet, but given enough time we would definitely get there. Julian was the type of person you bonded with for life, then prayed like hell nobody ever got in your way because he'd destroy them. I was also slightly terrified to bond with him because I knew it would be all consuming and when I was with him, just the two of us, he'd be the only thing that mattered to me. Hell, just thinking this way and knowing what was to come when my relationship with him progressed to that level sent chills down my spine and had me blushing as I looked away from him.
"Leave her alone," Tyson said, coming to my rescue.
I knew I'd chosen wisely when picking out my best friend.
"She hasn't had enough coffee for this conversation yet. Wait until she's nice and caffeinated up, and has been fed properly to spring this type of talk on her. She's a whole lot nicer when she's not operating on an empty stomach."
Okay, so maybe I hadn't chosen wisely and my best friend wasn't just a traitor but an asshole as well.
Good to know.
"We'll make you food," Addison chimed in, sounding far too happy for the situation. "She's already said she loves us. Even if it was throwaway at the time, we're still better off than you are."
The twins bumped fists as they grinned at each other.
"And there are two of us, twin," Abel crowed.
They got up from their seats and practically ran from the room.
I wanted to throw my coffee mug at them but didn't, because it would be a waste of good coffee and, like Abel had so Kindly pointed out, there were two of them—I'd only be able to hit one of them if I threw my mug. Only hitting one of them didn't really seem fair.
Julian's eyes met mine from across the table, fierce and unwavering.
"One day you'll tell me you love me," he proclaimed, "and I swear on my life you'll never forget it."
With that, he stood up and stormed out of the room, muttering something under his breath about having to open the shop today and asshole twins. Poor Jules. I hoped he didn't curse someone in his bad mood.
"Shit," Damien cursed as he let go of my hand and abruptly stood up. "I drove today and I'm supposed to be dropping him off. If I don't get out there he's going to come back in and pulverize one of your Salt and Pepper twins."
I cringed at hearing him call the twins by my nicknames. Did everyone know about that? Geez.
He leaned down and brushed his lips against mine in a barely there, but sweet kiss before turning away and following in Julian's footsteps.
After I heard the front door close behind him I slumped back in my chair and reached for my coffee. If this morning was anything to go by then my day couldn't really get much worse.
Normally, I would say famous last words and all of that, but I was thankfully proven wrong.
