Chapter 4
Chapter Four
ASTON
Rule #2: Never lie to your family.
“So you’re really going all out here, aren’t you?” Dorian asked as he popped a grape into his mouth. I glared over my shoulder at my younger brother and looked at the three grapes left in his hand.
“Did you get that out of my fridge?”
“Of course I did. I’m hungry.”
“You’re here early to help me cook along with the others. You’re not supposed to be eating the random things in my fridge that aren’t for dinner.”
“You’re supposed to feed me. Feed me .” He drew out the words, and I rolled my eyes.
“How old are you again?” I asked, and Dorian just beamed.
“I’m you know, thirty. But that is not childlike. ”
“I swear you act younger around me just to piss me off, don’t you?”
“Of course. It’s what I do.” His face went serious then, becoming the Dorian that people in the business world saw. “Are you okay?”
Since I was pretty sure that Dorian didn’t know about Blakely, he had to mean about tonight’s dinner. At least I hoped so.
“I’m fine. We’re having roast chicken, mashed potatoes, three kinds of vegetables, a cheese plate appetizer, and Isabella and the others said they would bring dessert.”
“Is it the roast chicken that has a lemon stuffed up its ass?”
“You’re so elegant. But yes. There’s rosemary in there as well.”
“Wasn’t that Grandma’s recipe?”
“Or our neighbor’s. It’s not like Mom and Dad really cooked,” I said dryly.
“It’s not like Dad was around to cook for us anyway.” A pause. “Well, it seems he was a little busy.”
“What the hell are we going to do?” I asked, finishing the mashed potatoes.
“We’re going to do what we always do, muddle through it and pretend that we’re masters of our domain.”
I grunted. “I really hate the fact that it seems that could be our true tagline.”
“We try. So there needs to be five of us, right? Two from our family, three from theirs?” Dorian paused. “I need to find another way to say that. ”
“Because we’re supposed to all be family apparently?” The fact that we wanted labels or were unsure what to even call each other just told me how much of a farce this whole situation was.
“You looked at the group chat, Ford and Aston are coming.”
“So that’s four of us, we still need two of them then. Not quite five.” I shook my head. “I don’t know who else is coming, as it’s not like we have a spreadsheet.”
“I’m honestly surprised. It’s been three weeks. Shouldn’t there be a color-coded spreadsheet in the works from either Flynn or you?”
My lips nearly formed a smile and I shook my head. “We’re all treading the same water, trying not to drown. We’ll figure out exactly what dear old Father wanted.”
Dorian smiled, though it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Mass chaos and disarray? Because that seems like his style.”
“At least he bought his own tombstone. I don’t have to deal with the marble or whatever the fuck he wanted. His estate will handle it all, and I don’t have to even go to his grave site, and kick at him.” I still couldn’t quite believe the venom in my voice at that, but what else was I supposed to say?
“I didn’t always hate him you know,” Dorian said softly.
“I know. Sometimes he was great. I wouldn’t be where I am in this job without him.” And didn’t that gall?
“I don’t know, I feel like you came out of the womb in a little baby-sized suit. ”
This time I let the smile come. “Yes, complete with tie and briefcase. Diapers were a bitch.”
“What are we talking about with diapers?” Flynn asked as he came into the kitchen, eyes wide at everything I was doing at once. Ford was behind him, and without a word, immediately went to check the chicken.
I waved him off. “It’s just resting.”
Ford leaned forward. “I’m just making sure we don’t give any of us food poisoning. Wouldn’t that be a great way to start this.”
“I really want us to actually get along to spite that man. Is that weird?” Flynn said, and I turned to him, realizing that my brother might be on the right path.
“Meaning we all get along and become one big happy family, and we can look down at Father and kick him?” I asked.
Ford burst out laughing, Dorian joining him, as Flynn just rolled his eyes.
“You really believe he’s down in Hell?” Flynn asked.
“I don’t even know if I believe in Hell, but if there is, he’s burning down there. There’s got to be a few carnal sins that he broke.”
“More than a few,” Dorian said with a laugh.
The doorbell rang at that moment, and my spine tensed once more.
“They aren’t the enemy,” Ford whispered.
I met my brother’s gaze and nodded. As the only one of us settled down and married, sometimes I felt that Ford knew exactly what he was doing with his life. The fact that he was the youngest of us all probably should have worried me. But it didn’t. He had found his path right away and hadn’t taken a no from fate for an answer.
“I’ll go get the door,” Flynn said as he hurried off, Dorian on his tail.
I sighed. “I know they aren’t the enemy. We keep reminding ourselves that.”
Ford squeezed my shoulder. “At this point Dad’s the enemy. But I’ve felt that way for a long while.”
I looked over at my youngest brother. “I’m just glad that you know Phoebe at least. That’s at least a touchstone.”
“And I know she’s not going to be here tonight. She’s out with Kane,” he said, speaking of Phoebe’s boyfriend.
I groaned, sad that someone I actually knew wouldn’t be there. “Well, at least we can get the introductions over with.”
“I don’t know them either and I want to. Because Flynn’s right. I want to spite Father. So fuck him.”
“Damn straight.” I made sure all the burners were off, things settled in their serving dishes and still warming, and made my way into the living room.
Isabella stood there, wearing a soft blue dress, and wide eyes—a surprise. Sophia stood next to her, her chestnut hair in curls down her back. She had straight hair when I had seen her before, and I didn’t know which one was natural. I didn’t know anything about our family it seemed.
“Welcome,” I said, not bothering to hold out my hand. I didn’t want it to seem too formal. Of course, my house was a little more formal than most .
“Your home is lovely,” Sophia said, as she held out a covered dish. I immediately took it from her and looked down at it, feeling awkward as hell. “It’s a Boston cream cake pie thing.” She winced. “It’s like a Boston cream pie, but has cake in it? I’m not quite sure how to describe it.”
That made me smile. “I don’t know exactly what you’re talking about, but if it has chocolate and Bavarian cream? I’m happy.”
“Then you’ll be happy,” she said with a bright smile.
“Sophia is actually a really great baker.” Isabella frowned. “I have no idea why I said actually like that. Sorry. I’m just going to let my words tumble over one another.”
“Then we can all be twins,” Flynn said. “Of course, my twin isn’t here right now,” he said with a grin.
“Oh yes, so are you Flynn or Hudson?” Sophia asked.
Flynn winced. “I’m sorry for not actually introducing myself. I am Flynn. Hudson isn’t here.”
“He’s the one who lives in the small town that you apparently own?” Isabella asked, her brow raised.
“Let me go put this in the refrigerator, and we can explain to you about the small town that we accidentally own,” I said, my voice only slightly gruff.
“I’ve always wanted to live in a small town,” Sophia said softly.
“And then you wouldn’t have been able to dance for the Denver Ballet if you did,” Isabella said with a small smile. “We are city girls. Even though sometimes we live in suburbs, we also like to live in downtown. You know, with takeout, noise, and the ability to walk places. ”
“I don’t know, I’m sure you could walk in a small town.”
Intrigued, I put the pie cake thing in the fridge, and walked out into the seating area that was connected to the open kitchen.
“You were in the ballet?” I asked, honestly surprised. She did have a dancer’s build, but the Denver Ballet was hard as hell to get into.
Sophia smiled softly and nodded. “I was principal for two years, before I decided that breaking my body every day to fight for the same role as twenty-year-olds really wasn’t ideal.”
“You were principal?” Ford asked, awe in his voice.
“She’s a brilliant dancer,” Isabella said, pride beaming on her face. “While I had academic clubs in the evening and would play field hockey for school in some club, she was the one doing full-time school, and at least three different dance classes at once. I still don’t know how Mom was able to drive us to all our events and practices.”
As we handed out drinks and took our seats in the front sitting room, I felt like we could relax ever so slightly. The women were leading the conversation, and I didn’t mind. I wanted to know them. Since we had to spend the next three years with them, if not more. Plus, Isabella was Blakely’s best friend.
No that wasn’t a good reason. I shouldn’t know that.
“What other sports did they play?” Dorian asked, leaning forward.
Isabella’s eyes tightened for a minute, but I didn’t know exactly what that was about. “Phoebe did soccer and academic clubs mostly.”
“I think I’ve seen pictures of her in soccer,” Ford said, smiling. “They were comparing soccer teams with her and Kane,” he said, speaking of Phoebe’s boyfriend.
“She was really good,” Isabella said.
Sophia laughed. “Phoebe tripped over her feet more than often not, but she tried.” She winced. “I didn’t mean to disparage her. But she would be the first to say it.”
“Oh, she was the first to say it,” Ford said with a laugh.
Isabella continued. “Emily, the second youngest, did swim team, soccer, and volleyball. But she always had friends to drive her around, thankfully.”
“Very thankfully considering I don’t know how Mom did it all. Especially since Dad wasn’t around often.” Sophia winced.
I held up my glass. “Well at least we have a common theme here. Dad didn’t drive us to sports or after-school clubs either.”
“I don’t know if I should feel good about that, meaning he didn’t value one over the other, or sad that he didn’t value any of us at all,” Isabella said with a shrug. “Of course, that’s plainly evident in what we’re doing here, isn’t it?”
There was silence for a moment, before Dorian cleared his throat.
“And what about Kyler? I mean, we might as well round out the siblings. ”
“Kyler did football and was the quarterback of his high school team,” Isabella said, pride in every word.
“Really?” I said, looking over at Dorian.
“Well, that’s interesting. We’re going to have to compare notes. What high school?”
She named a school on the other side of town that we wouldn’t have played, and then again, Kyler and Dorian, our other QB in the family, were enough years apart in age that they would never have been in high school simultaneously.
“Kyler also started a band in high school, much to Father’s chagrin,” Sophia added. “He didn’t mind the sports, didn’t mind the academics, but dancing and football? Not his favorite.”
“Well Kyler’s doing a damn good job for a guy who wasn’t allowed to practice too often then,” Flynn said, and I realized that I hadn’t looked up Kyler’s band. I should have. But I’d been so focused on the estate, and work, and trying to keep everyone else afloat, I hadn’t.
“Caged and Reckless is on tour right now, that’s why Kyler isn’t here,” Sophia said softly.
I blinked and leaned forward. “Wait, Kyler is the lead singer of Caged and Reckless? I love that band. How did I not put that together?”
“Well, looks like our brother is on all of our top ten rotations,” Flynn said as he whistled through his teeth.
We all froze for an instant, with Flynn calling Kyler his brother, before we took an awkward drink. We’d been calling the women our sisters out of a forced habit, but for a family that grew up as only brothers, adding another one felt different.
“I don’t know how the time stamp of who’s going to be at dinner next month or where it’s going to be, but most of us live in Denver, so I guess it makes sense it would be us who meet more often,” Isabella said.
I nodded. “And my house is big enough for all of us, but we don’t always have to be here. I don’t want you to feel like I’m taking over.”
“That’s what I was going to say,” Isabella put in. “I was talking to Blakely earlier, and she warned me not to take over like I usually do. But I’ve always done it with my siblings. I can’t help it.”
Sophia squeezed her sister’s hand. “And we love you for it.”
Isabella had so casually dropped Blakely’s name, that I swallowed hard, trying not to think too much about the woman that wasn’t part of my dreams.
Isabella continued as if she hadn’t dropped a rock in the pond that was my mind. “We can make a schedule for dinners in the future because that’s what dear old Dad wanted, and we’re trying, but this is awkward. And I don’t know what else we’re supposed to say. We can go over childhood trauma, what we did in high school, what majors we had in college, but I don’t know what he wanted.”
I stood up, gesturing toward the kitchen. “Dinner is ready to be served, and we can talk over dinner exactly what we want out of this.” I looked around at the people who were all my siblings, in one way or another, and nodded tightly. “That man does not own us. We will not allow him to change everything about us. So let’s figure out a way to make this work.”
“I would love that,” Sophia said with a smile. “I don’t want the resentment over what that man did to hurt us. I’m sure you are all very lovely, and Phoebe speaks highly of you,” Sophia said, gesturing toward Ford. “So let’s make this work. Whatever this is.”
And as we made our way to the dining room, each bringing something from the kitchen, the awkwardness settled in more.
Here we were, breaking bread with people who we shared DNA with, and nothing felt right.
And maybe we just needed to get over ourselves.
“I forgot to ask if you have any allergies?” I asked, frowning. “I didn’t even think to ask, I’m sorry about that.”
“It’s okay, none of us have food allergies,” Sophia said.
Isabella rubbed her arms. “I suppose we should make notes of who has allergies, and who will be in town when. You know, little things that we should know. I don’t even know if any of you guys are married. Or have children. Are we aunts?” she asked, her brows raised.
Ford cleared his throat. “I’m married. But you both know that.”
“We do, but anyone else?” she asked.
I shook my head. “No. None of us have been fortunate as of yet.”
She nodded, her expression unreadable for a moment before she blinked it away. “Same here. ”
“I wouldn’t say all of us are single,” Dorian said.
I scowled at him. “Really?”
“I’m just saying, I feel like I need to ask everyone’s middle name from now on to make sure that I’m not accidentally dating a sibling.” He visibly shuddered.
I choked on my drink. “Are you kidding me?”
Dorian raised a brow. “Don’t think it hasn’t crossed your mind. We were very lucky. I mean, there are horror stories out there about children who were donation-conceived, finding out that they’re married to their sibling. That’s just one less thing I’m going to hate Dad for.”
“Thank you for that lovely image that is never going to leave my brain.” Isabella said it so matter of fact, that we burst out laughing, trying not to, and I did my best not to throw a roll in Dorian’s direction.
“Should I ask for Cale’s family tree?” Sophia asked, blinking. “I mean, I feel like this is pertinent information.”
“His name wouldn’t be Cale Cage,” Isabella said, her eyes dancing.
I leaned forward. “I take it your boyfriend’s name is Cale?”
“Yes, and I should probably ask him…you know, if he knows exactly who his parents are.”
“Great, we’re going to need a questionnaire from now on for anyone we sleep with,” Flynn muttered, and while Sophia laughed, Isabella just shook her head.
“Hopefully it’s just the twelve of us.” Sophia paused, shuddering again. “ Twelve .”
I held up my drink, knowing that this was probably as good as it was going to get, at least for the first dinner. “To the twelve of us. And spiting that man.”
Everybody held up their glasses, and toasted, and I figured that was at least one way to get the ball rolling.
By the time everybody left and we had a plan in place for the next month, I was tired, grumpy, and felt off.
I just wanted to go to bed and pretend this hadn’t happened. But we couldn’t.
I had rules, and a life put before me. At this point in my life I honestly thought I’d already be married, maybe a father, starting the next generation of Cages. Instead, I was single, looking at a vast family tree that exploded in front of me, and thinking about a woman that I couldn’t have.
The doorbell rang and I frowned, a small part of me hoping it was Blakely.
Which would be idiotic because she didn’t know where I lived. Of course, Isabella could have told her. Yes, Isabella could have told Blakely where I lived, and Blakely was here to make everything far more complicated.
No, that would break the rules. Not that I knew what this rule would be.
I opened the door, and cursed at myself for not checking who it was at first.
A blonde woman stood there, in a white suit, and red lips. The suit was form-fitting, a soft blouse that billowed in the wind. I knew she had a six-thousand-dollar purse on her arm, because I had bought it for her, and bright green eyes that shined under the moonlight.
“Meredith.”
She leaned forward and pressed a kiss to my cheek, and I did my best not to push her away. That scent of Chanel Chance slid over me, and I knew the only reason I had an inkling of what it was called was because yet again, I had bought it for her.
I took a step back and realized that was a mistake because it looked as if I was letting her inside. She took one step forward, and I blocked her entry.
She raised a perfectly manicured brow and pouted those bright red lips. “Aston. It’s so lovely to see you.”
“What are you doing here, Meredith?”
“I just wanted to say once again I’m so sorry for your loss. I know you were close to your father.”
I thought I had been. But clearly, I hadn’t.
“So you said at the funeral,” I said through gritted teeth.
“And I wish I could have said more that day, to reach out to you like we once had been. You did so much for me when we were together, you were so caring, and I regret to this day that I broke off our engagement.”
I held back a snort at that, because she might have been telling the truth. We had been engaged for nearly a year when she had broken it off, suddenly for no reason. I didn’t know if it was for another man, or that she just didn’t love me. It had been a blow like no other, and I hadn’t wanted to see anyone else until that dance with Blakely.
“Thank you for your condolences, but it’s getting late.”
She stared into my face, those bright green eyes filled with something I couldn’t understand. “Just know if you need a shoulder to lean on, I’m here. I was on my way home from another event, and I couldn’t help but drive down your lane like I used to. Muscle memory I suppose. But I miss you, Aston. I hope we can still be friends. And I hope you know I can be that shoulder. Especially with so many changes in your life. What with secret siblings? I couldn’t even believe it when I heard.”
Oh yes, her gossip circles had run wild with it, but I just shook my head. “Thanks for your condolences,” I repeated. “But it’s late,” I repeated again. “Goodbye, Meredith.”
“Well goodbye. And I’ll talk to you soon.”
I didn’t say anything in answer, instead closing the door in her face.
I didn’t love Meredith anymore. I didn’t want her. I wanted the one woman I couldn’t have.
And yet, nothing it seemed went my way.