“Anything to share?” Summer asks boldly, her gaze wandering between Nate and me.
“Haven’t heard from Daniel, no,” I reply, knowing full well that’s not what she meant. I wasn’t expecting an ambush first thing in the morning.
“Alice, your evasive maneuvers suck when you haven’t slept much,” Summer continues. Next to me, Nate presses his lips tightly together in an obvious attempt to keep a straight face and not laugh. He’s not helping my case at all, the bastard.
“I slept well, thank you very much.”
“That smug grin can only mean you had a great night… but no sleep,” Blake says helpfully. Turning to Nate, he adds, “You hurt my sister, you’re a dead man, family friend or not. Just so we’re clear.”
“Crystal clear,” Nate answers with a smile and a wink.
“Can’t wait until Sebastian and Logan hear about this,” Blake continues, and Nate’s smile fades a tad. “Sebastian will be calm, but Logan? Man, oh man.” My brother rubs his palms together like a cartoon character. “I’ll ask for a front-row seat to the show.”
“I used to like this one,” Nate tells me, jerking his thumb toward my little brother. “Don’t remember him being such a dickhead.”
“I’m like red wine,” Blake retaliates. “I grow more intense with age.”
“I bought breakfast for everyone,” Nate announces, though now that he’s in the lion den already, food isn’t likely to help his case much.
“Oooh, you’re a lifesaver.” Summer reaches for the bag with grabby hands, reminding me of her toddler days when she’d sit on the floor of the kitchen while Mom cooked, reaching up toward her with both hands when Mom was tasting the food.
“Just make sure Blake doesn’t get anything,” Nate tells her.
“So, what are your intentions?” Blake asks him.
“Blake, come on,” I complain.
“What? It’s good for him to rehearse this. I’ll give him honest feedback if his answer isn’t good enough. Our dear brothers might punch him.”
Summer holds her salmon wrap with one hand, patting our brother’s chest with the other. “Since when do you actually like it when Logan is in alpha-ninja-brother mode?” she asks Blake.
“Hey, I like when he’s riding other people’s asses. Come to think of it, I like when he picks on me too, just because I have a reason to give him shit. It’s good for Logan too. Constructive. No one outside the family dares to give him shit. He’d start buying his own hype without me.”
Ah yes, if there’s one thing you can count on in my family it’s that they’ll keep you grounded.
“Fantastic logic,” Nate deadpans. “You’d be an excellent salesman, Blake. You could sell ice to an Eskimo.”
“What did I miss?” Daniel’s voice booms from behind us. I turn around, and Summer immediately hurries to him. I inspect his appearance, cataloguing the long scratch running from one corner of his mouth up his cheek, the purple spot under the other eye. The rest of his body is covered by clothing, but he limps slightly on the left side.
“Summer, you’re strangling me,” Daniel says after a few minutes pass and our sister still doesn’t let go. Reluctantly, she steps away from him. I want nothing more than to hug the living daylights out of him too, but if I do, I’ll get emotional.
“Are you okay? Did the paramedics check you again in the morning?” Summer inquires.
“Yes, they did. They even walked with me right to the hotel entrance.”
“What happened?” I ask.
“Wanted to try one of the more challenging climbing routes.” He shrugs and something in the forced casualness of the gesture tips me off that he’s trying to downplay everything.
“And what happened?”
“Well, part of the thrill is completing the route without part of the equipment.”
“What? Why?”
“Adrenaline,” he says simply. “Some customers pushed for a more extreme variation of climbing, and I wanted to try it out before—”
Blake swears and Summer covers her cheeks with her fingers, pressing so hard she’ll have marks. Nate shakes his head.