Chapter 34
“N ever have I ever or never will I ever…” Kaplan runs his hand through his hair like this shit baffles him, but on such little sleep and with all of our heads fucked up, we’ve taken drastic measures. “Fall in love with one of my brothers’ girls.”
“Both,” we all shout out, lifting our glasses. “Drink.”
He does quickly and then shrugs up a shoulder. “You players think you know so much. Maybe I’m just drinking to throw you off my game. Maybe I’ve been as pathetic as you poor bastards all this time.”
“Oh yeah,” Carter challenges. “You suddenly looking for love in all the wrong places? Planning on snaking one of our girls?”
“Maybe. Definitely not.” Kaplan half-smirks, his eyes casting down, staring into his now empty shot glass as he pours another. “Next.”
“Never have I ever or never will I ever go to a sex club.”
“Both,” we all yell once more, growing louder by the second.
Oliver frowns. “You think I’m so boring I’d never go to a sex club?”
“Fritz,” I counter. “You’re a fucking Fritz. Any of you motherfuckers dare walk into a sex club in this city?”
“Not a chance. That shit would hit the papers in seconds.” Landon laughs. “But then again…”
“Yeah. We know.” I smirk, rolling my eyes. “If you did, you’d go as me.”
“Not anymore, dicktwat,” Kaplan practically growls at me in warning. “You better not be seen out with any other women besides Raven either.”
“You’re right,” I agree, holding up my hand. I love how protective Kaplan is with Raven. How they have a friendship as strong as they do. “My girl would either demand she come with me or cut me off at the stem. But I did in Rome once. Before I fell for my crazy American, English-Israeli goddess.”
“We know.” Oliver starts cracking up, practically falling off his hospital grade chair. “You had no clue it was a gay sex club. Or so you claim.”
Now everyone, including me, is laughing our asses off. “I learned a lot about ass play in the five minutes I was in that club before I left. But Oliver, baby brother, drink that shit.”
“Fuck,” he hisses, doing just that and then wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.
The second he sets his glass down, Carter instantly refills it.
“Amelia is going to kill me for this. I’m going to be hammered before the food arrives.
” Sophia decided to take the pressure off everyone and is having a Thanksgiving meal of sorts sent in.
It’s just not here yet. “Why are we playing this again?”
“So we stop thinking.”
Brecken points at Landon. “What he said.”
“It feels more like a bachelor party, though I can’t imagine this is the one any of you envisioned,” Kaplan quips as he passes the bottle of Blanton’s straight from the barrel.
I have no idea where he managed to get this bottle, but last I checked, it’s impossible to find.
It’s raw, uncut, and aged fifty years. But I guess if you’re going to get fucked up in the hospital on Thanksgiving, this is the way to go.
Last night, Rina told Brecken she was ready to get married. That life is too short to waste not to be married to him forever. He got down on one knee, told her he loved her and that he’d spend his life making her happy.
Now she’s rocking his diamond on her finger.
“Not exactly, but then again I’m a bit old for strippers and it wouldn’t have exactly had the same effect with five assholes needlessly there to protect their sister’s honor surrounding me,” Brecken mutters dryly, swigging from his shot glass even though this isn’t shot bourbon.
I clap my hand on his shoulder, giving it a shake. “Nah. All we would have done is very methodically show you what happens if you don’t treat Rina right.”
“My balls are shaking in their briefs,” Brecken deadpans. “I took one look at that blonde and was a total goner.”
“Aw,” Oliver coos. “You’re getting to the sappy drunk side of this rodeo.”
I snort out a laugh. “I’m sorry, whose girlfriend is known to the world as their fiancée and is still wearing their great-grandmother’s ring as a placeholder?”
“I didn’t say I wasn’t pussy whipped,” he retorts. “But Brecken likes to effuse his softer, more feminine side when he drinks.”
“How do you think I won your sister over so easily?” he jests.
We break out into another fit of laughter because nothing was easy about how he won Rina over.
“I guess now we’ll have to plan an actual bachelor party since you’re finally engaged to our sister. To that!” Glasses in hand, we each take down our drinks before refilling them. Again. It’s not even ten in the morning.
“When are you getting married?” Oliver asks.
Brecken stares down at his glass as the six of us sit in one of the empty patient rooms. It’s weird on this floor. It’s just us, our security—since the front of the hospital is mobbed with the press even on Thanksgiving—and the doctors and nurses.
“I don’t know. I was planning to propose today anyway at the compound before all this happened. Had the damn ring in my pocket when I got here yesterday. I was tired of waiting. Life’s too fucking short. She just beat me to it, which makes it easier.”
“Truth,” we all agree.
“Part of me wishes we were able to do it here today, but we don’t have a license and I understand that it’s not the right time.
Especially after the news we got this morning.
I’d never interfere with that. I’ll just have to marry her when all this is over and Octavia is home and doing well.
Hopefully planning it with Rina gives her something to look forward to. ”
That’s another reason we’re drinking. Mom has to go in for surgery tomorrow. The CAT scan found a small abdominal perforation that led to an abscess. They want to give the antibiotics some time to bring down the infection before they go in and repair the issue.
None of us are doing well. Obviously, since we’re getting shift-faced.
My father is blaming himself for not bringing her in sooner. Rina has been crying and on the phone with her friends a lot.
Mom has been sleeping nearly nonstop, but she told us point blank she did not want Stella and Layla here because she didn’t want the girls to see her this way. Amelia and Landon were one hundred percent in agreement with that. It would be too upsetting.
Elle and Amelia decided that they would go to the compound and do Thanksgiving there with the girls. Make it a girl party or something. Landon and Oliver are visibly torn, wanting to be with their girls, but I don’t think any of us are leaving again until Mom comes out of surgery and is recovering.
Rina walks into the room and takes the full glass from Brecken’s hand before drinking it herself.
She drops onto his lap, curling into him.
His arms immediately encircle her, holding her close.
“I told Mom we’re getting married. That I wanted to do it at the compound.
Maybe a Christmas or early January type of thing.
Small!” She glances over at me. “We’d have to do it soon if you’re leaving in March, right?
I still can’t believe you didn’t tell me about it.
That Dad had to this morning when I mentioned weddings and timelines. ”
I refill my glass and take my third shot of the morning. “Rina, chances are I’m not getting this grant. And besides, how can I leave?”
“Mom will be better by then,” Carter maintains, his weary eyes closed as he lies back on the bed, his hands behind his head. I don’t think any of us managed more than a few hours last night.
“I know.” Because I don’t know what else to say.
The last thing I want to talk about, let alone think about, right now is that grant.
But it’s nearly impossible not to. Especially whenever I’m with Raven because I hate keeping this from her, but needlessly starting a fight or upsetting her feels cruel.
It’s not a conversation we have to have yet.
Hell, it likely won’t be a conversation we have to have at all.
“I’m gonna go check on her.” Without waiting on my siblings, I peel myself up and off the sofa and amble down the hall. My dad and Morgan Fairchild are off in a corner talking, their heads close and their expressions serious. I don’t know if it’s about security or everything else.
My dad confides in Morgan the way I confide in Landon and my siblings. My dad being an only child and a man who doesn’t trust easily has Morgan. That’s about it.
Just as I reach the threshold of her room, I pause at the sound of voices.
“You feel that?” Grace asks and I peek in, checking to see if she’s talking to my mom or someone else.
My mom is awake, her hand on Grace’s bump being held in place by Grace’s.
She’s in bed with my mom, though she likely shouldn’t be, but on the other side of her is Raven, who is also tucked in. I didn’t even know she had come.
“Is that…” My mom’s weak voice trails off.
“That’s your grandson kicking. I felt it for the first time the other day.”
My mom visibly starts trembling, her eyes shining over, and Grace starts with it too, a tear hitting her cheek in no time flat. Raven holds my mom a little tighter, sinks in a little closer, and I watch her hold my mother like that, my chest clenching.
“Does it hurt?” Raven asks, placing her hand on top of my mom’s over Grace’s belly as she rests her head against my mom’s shoulder.
“No. Feels more like bubbles right now.” Grace sniffles, wiping at her face.
“Carter kicked from the moment he could until he broke my water.”
“Oh God,” Grace groans with an exaggerated moan and my mom attempts a smile. It’s not her real smile. She’s in pain and she’s exhausted.
Raven sits up a little straighter, staring down at her, and I wish I could see her expression. “Maybe if I play, that will help the baby settle down? Fall asleep?”