Chapter 29 Elijah
TWENTY-NINE
ELIJAH
“Bro, what the fuck did you do?” Axel seethes, nodding his head to where Lily’s walking and chatting with the girls.
We had an off day today, so everyone decided to explore Amsterdam together. I’ve truly never seen such a whimsical city before.
“Don’t know what you mean,” I reply casually, looking at the world through my tinted sunglasses.
“She hasn’t looked at you once this whole week.” He points out something that was impossible for me not to notice. “I would need a butcher knife to cut the tension.”
“Is your name Captain Obvious?”
He tilts his head and yelps, dodging the old lady he was about to run into. “Huh?”
“You like pointing out the obvious,” I mutter, annoyed that he’s even bringing it up. I’m trying to enjoy my day off in the sun, explore a new city in Europe, and he wants to act like my therapist. “So, you’re Captain Obvious.”
Grabbing the back of my neck, he hisses in my ear, “Fuck off.”
I punch him in the shoulder. Staggering back, he groans.
“Can we stop abusing each other? Imagine the headlines if someone recognizes us.” Levi turns around and walks backward, giving us a stern look behind his sunglasses—like a dad. “No more commotion, got it? Stella is with us, and I don’t want her freaking out again.”
“We’ll be good boys from now on. Sorry, Daddy.” Axel’s smirk reminds me of the Grinch.
A disgusted shiver travels through Levi’s body. “If you ever call me that again, I’m kicking you out of the band.”
Axel sticks his tongue out, egging him on. “I’m the star of the band; you can’t do that.”
“The star?” I cock an eyebrow up, ganging up on him with Levi.
“Don’t you know all the ladies come to our concerts for him?” Levi’s elbow connects with mine.
Snorting, we both laugh at Axel’s unamused face.
“Leonidas, come get your brother and future brother-in-law; they’re being mean to me!” he screams at Leonidas’s back, who’s ignoring us a couple of feet away.
We both shush him like he’s crazy. We look around, and everyone is still minding their own business, getting on with the day ahead of them.
“Are we young?” Trinity asks the group, looking around at the makeshift circle we’ve formed in our hotel suite.
“Depending on who you ask. Stella would say we’re old,” Levi says.
Amelia smacks his arm with a hint of a smile.
“The answer was no, but you had to make it all complicated,” she groans. Head resting on Leonidas’s lap, she continues her speech. “All I’m saying is, we need to act more thankful for where our feet are.”
Rowan asks, manspreading on the couch beside Lily, “How do you propose we do that?”
Is it weird that jealousy is choking me as I watch her sit in the middle of Rowan and Axel? Why does she look so comfortable with them, but with me, she’s so tense?
Damn it.
Crushing up the can of lemon sparkling water I just downed until it’s almost an inch thick, I look up and notice the room has gone quiet and everyone’s looking at me.
“What?” I ask, confused.
“Not much, just watching the Hulk completely annihilate a can without any hesitation,” Leonidas chimes in, speaking so casually that I burst into laughter.
Tossing the squashed-up can on the coffee table in front of where I sit on the floor, I smile sheepishly. “I don’t know what happened. One second, it was just a can, and the next, I saw your face.”
His foot grazes my shoulder.
“Back to what I was saying,” Trinity stresses, holding her out-of-control boyfriend down when my foot lands on his ankle. “We are only young once, and we’re in Amsterdam. What are we doing, locked inside at night?”
“That right there is a lady who knows the way to my heart.” The minute Axel finishes his sentence, he slaps his hand over his mouth, looking at Leonidas with wild eyes. “I didn’t mean that. Please don’t kill me.”
His glare even scares me, and I’m not the one it’s being directed at.
“You’d better count your blessings because if I didn’t have my woman on my lap, you would be face-first in the ground right now.”
“Is that a kink of yours, Leonidas?” I wiggle my eyebrows at Trinity.
Her smile speaks volumes. Grinning up at him, she shares a look with him that needs to stay in the bedroom.
“Are we going out or what?” Rowan gets up from the couch, and the jolt on the cushions sends Lily into Axel’s lap.
“Whoa there, girl. If you want me, just tell me.” He puts his hands up in surrender when she scrambles off with a blush coating her cheeks.
Amelia grabs the girl who’s pretending my existence is nonexistent as she slouches further into the blanket that is wrapped around her like she’s a burrito. “Come on, Lily. Let’s get ready for the night.”
All three of them giggle and run into Amelia’s bedroom that she’s sharing with Levi, and the door slams shut.
“We have a wild night ahead of us, boys,” Rowan says, unfazed by all the chaos.