Page 28 of Tell Me It’s Right

Leo hums thoughtfully. “Asher got someone pregnant.”

“Or several someones. Maybe Taylor found a way to buy a personality.”

Leo chokes on his beer. “Your family’s hidden past with the Mafia has finally been revealed.”

I throw my hands up. “Finally.”

“They just can’t decide on the name for the new taffy flavor.”

I nod solemnly. “It’s been an ongoing debate.”

“What are you two snickering about over here?” asks Fletcher as he digs beneath the bar for more glasses.

“Theorizing about what the latest Brooks family meeting could be about,” says Leo.

Fletch waves a hand as he sets the glasses on the bar and fills them with water. “Oh, that’s easy. They need Liam to model for the next ad campaign.”

Leo bursts out laughing so loud the group at the other end of the bar turns to stare.

I scowl. “Why is that funny?”

But that just makes Leo laugh harder. He gasps as he wipes a tear from the corner of his eye. “Did you—see—the last—ad—your family—did?”

I frown, trying to think back, but I stopped paying attention years ago. Between the Brooks Candy Company and the million little businesses along the shore we’ve acquired over the last century, it’s impossible to keep up with it all.

Now Fletcher’s shoulders are shaking like he’s holding back a laugh.

“What?” I demand.

“That collab they did with the candy-flavored hard seltzers?” says Fletcher. “The girls on the beach, with their bikinis made of…” He gestures vaguely to his chest.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake.” I slap Leo’s arm, who’s now bent over his knees, laughing so hard that no sound is coming out.

“I’m—picturing you—buck-ass naked—holding a lollipop over your?—”

I raise my beer to my lips to cover my smile. “Neither of you are funny.”

“All I’m saying is, if you do it, I’ll frame it and hang it over the bar for free,” says Fletcher.

Leo points at him. “Put one in your new house as décor.”

“Make sure to get a copy to Gracie so she can post it all over your new social feeds,” says Fletch. “You’ll beswimmingin customers.”

I groan and cover my face with my hands.

“Helloooo?” complains a woman down the bar. “We’re still waiting over here.”

Fletcher sighs, scoops up the waters, and heads that way.

“Good riddance!” I call.

Grinning, Leo tries to pat me on the back, but I move a seat away.

“Run all you want. We are bonded forlife.” He holds up his pointer finger, exposing the scar from our stupidblood brothersritual we did when we were ten.

I wag my own scarred finger in the air. “And it’s all been downhill since then.”

Chapter Twelve

---