“Yep.”
“Have I met him?”
“Yes, you have met all of my brothers and sisters.”
“And you’re not close?” she asked.
“No.”
“Why not?”
“It doesn’t pay my father for his children to be close.”
“So have you all been competing for his attention or to be better than each other?” Alex asked.
“No. We don’t have to. As my dad said, there’s no competition. I’ll be the one in charge, the boss, and everyone else will learn to fall in line.”
“That must have been tough,” she said.
“Not really. As you can see, I was never close to any of my siblings. Most of my life I’ve been training and preparing to take over. To lead.”
Alex didn’t like it. The life he spoke of was one of loneliness. “I’m sorry.”
“Why?” he asked.
“It sounds lonely. You were all alone.”
“Alex, I wasn’t alone. I had Antonio, Marlo, and Cash. You want to know what we all have in common?” he asked.
“You’re all firstborns.”
“Anyone ever tell you, you’re a bit of a pain-in-the-ass know-it-all?”
She smiled and rested her head on his arm. “It would seem only you get to tell me that.”
“Damn straight.”
Why did this feel good?
Roman took her hand and locked their fingers together, and to Alex, it felt like the most natural thing in the world.