“What?” Raegan said, flipping around in her chair. She immediately righted herself in the chair, cringing.
All three of my brothers and our cousin Colin were walking toward our table.
Colin, the oldest and the only one with a legit ID, spoke first. “What the hell, Camille? I thought you were out of town tonight.”
“My plans changed,” I snapped.
Chase spoke second, as I expected he would. He was the oldest of my brothers, and liked to pretend he was older than me, too. “Dad’s not going to be happy that you missed family lunch if you were in town.”
“He can’t be unhappy if he doesn’t know,” I said, narrowing my eyes.
He recoiled. “Why are you being so pissy? Are you on the rag or something?”
“Really?” Raegan said, lowering her chin and raising her eyebrows. “We’re in public. Grow up.”
“So he canceled on you?” Clark asked. Unlike the others, Clark looked genuinely concerned.
Before I could answer, the youngest of the three spoke up. “Wait, that worthless piece of shit canceled on you?” Coby said. The boys were all only eleven months apart, making Coby just eighteen. My coworkers knew my brothers had all scored fake IDs and thought they were doing me a favor by looking the other way, but most of the time I wished they wouldn’t. Coby in particular still acted like a twelve-year-old boy not quite sure what to do with his testosterone. He was bowing up behind the others, letting them hold him back from a fight that didn’t exist.
“What are you doing, Coby?” I asked. “He’s not even here!”
“You’re damn right he’s not,” Coby said. He relaxed, cracking his neck. “Canceling on my big sister. I’ll bust his fuckin’ face.” I thought about Coby and T.J. getting into a brawl, and it made my heart race. T.J. was intimidating when he was younger, and lethal as an adult. No one fucked with him, and Coby knew it.
A disgusted noise came from my throat, and I rolled my eyes. “Just . . . find another table.”
All four boys pulled chairs around Raegan and me. Colin had light-brown hair, but my brothers were all redheads. Colin and Chase had blue eyes. Clark and Coby had green. Some redheaded men aren’t all that great-looking, but my brothers were tall, chiseled, and outgoing. Clark was the only one with freckles, and they still somehow looked good on him. I was the outcast, the only child with mousy brown hair and big, round, light-blue eyes. More than once the boys tried to convince me that I’d been adopted. If I wasn’t the female version of my father, I might have believed them.
I touched my forehead to the table and groaned. “I can’t believe it, but this day just got worse.”
“Aw, c’mon, Camille. You know you love us,” Clark said, nudging me with his shoulder. When I didn’t answer, he leaned in to whisper in my ear. “You sure you’re all right?”
I kept my head down, but nodded. Clark patted my back a couple of times, and then the table grew quiet.
I lifted my head. Everyone was staring behind me, so I turned around. Trenton Maddox was standing there, holding two shot glasses and another glass of something that looked decidedly less sweet.
“This table turned into a party fast,” Trenton said with a surprised but charming smile.
Chase narrowed his eyes at Trenton. “Is that him?” he asked, nodding.
“What?” Trenton asked.
Coby’s knee began to bounce, and he leaned forward in his chair. “That’s him. He fuckin’ canceled on her, and then he showed up here.”
“Wait. Coby, no,” I said, holding up my hands.
Coby stood up. “You jackin’ with our sister?”
“Sister?” Trenton said, his eyes bouncing between me and the volatile gingers sitting on each side of me.
“Oh, God,” I said, closing my eyes. “Colin, tell Coby to stop. It’s not him.”
“Who’s not me?” Trenton said. “We got a problem here?”
Travis appeared at his brother’s side. He wore the same amused expression as Trenton, both flashing their matching leftsided dimples. They could have been their mother’s second set of twins. Only subtle differences set them apart, including the fact that Travis was maybe an inch or two taller than Trenton.
Travis crossed his arms across his chest, making his already large biceps bulge. The only thing that kept me from exploding from my chair was that his shoulders relaxed. He wasn’t ready to fight. Yet.
“Evening,” Travis said.