Ivan moves from the door, smiling easily as he tucks his hands into his slacks. He looks so different from when we were kids. He dresses like a businessman, a crispwhite shirt buttoned over his wide chest. His charming features have matured into a sharp carving as if etched from stone. “Do you need me to do anything?”
“Can you bring the pot to the table?” I ask.
He moves past me, grabbing it and revealing Kaden. My heart stammers at the sight of him until I see his face. He’s unfocused, staring at the marble countertop of the island pensively. His good mood has faded into something that makes me frown.
I glide over to him, waving a hand in front of his face. “Earth to Kaden.”
He blinks, his gaze softening when he notices me standing right in front of him.
Odd.
“Is it ready?” He asks. His voice doesn’t have the playful edge it once did. It’s bland.
My frown deepens as I take his hand in mine. “Is everything okay?”
He pulls away quickly, making my head rear as pain lances through my chest. He’s never done that before.
“Um,” he runs a hand through his hair, staring above my head. “Yeah, everything is okay. Let’s eat.”
“Okay…” I trail as he shifts around me and heads for the table. I’m left blinking at the spot he once stood in, unsure of what to make of his sudden mood change.
I take my seat at the table, and Kaden doesn’t even try to sit beside me. He takes the head of the table, two chairs down from me, creating a distance that doesn’t feel right.
What is going on?
Saint talks boisterously, reaching across the table as he smacks a helping of noodles onto his plate. “Big plans tonight. Am I right, Kaden?”
There’s a tension in the air I can’t place as my brother grips the edge of the table so tightly his knuckles turn white. “Stop.”
My eyes bounce between the three men in the dining room. “What’s going on tonight?”
Ivan tilts his head, sitting back in his chair. “Kaden hasn’t told you?”
I shake my head, turning to my brother. “Told me what?”
Kaden doesn’t look at me as he fixes his plate and begins to eat as if he can ignore the thickness in the air. Suspicion tugs at my gut—a deep feeling that there’s something wrong and he isn’t telling me.
“Is it another meeting?” I ask, trying to battle past the churning in my stomach.
Wrong.
This is wrong.
“Is that what he’s calling it?” Ivan croons, rolling his head to the side. “That doesn’t seem fitting—“
“Shut.It.“ Kaden warns with a bite, his glare cutting into his friend.
Whatever is going on, he doesn’t want me to know. As everyone continues to eat, I stare at the wooden table, my mind moving miles a second as I try to reason this.
“Have you noticed anything weird?” Ivan finally asks, cutting through my haze. “Kaden disappearing at odd times—”
“Ivan,“ my brother warns.
”—Maybe he’s coming home later than promised? He only stays at your dorm twice a week, right?”
My mouth moves without sound before I pin Kaden with a glare. “Did you tell them?”
“It’s obvious,” Saint shrugs before shoving a forkful of pasta into his mouth. “We’ve always known about you two.”