Page 13 of A Sudden Response

Alice sighed, taking a sip of the wine she’d somehow managed to get without Joe noticing during this deeply disturbing conversation.

Camie put her fork down and crossed her arms defiantly over her chest while glaring at her and Eric. Seriously, was anyone else freaked out by this?

“Well?” Joe demanded.

Eric cleared his throat uncomfortably. “It’s really no big deal.”

That left Nathan struggling to breathe as he laughed his ass off.

Oh, she had a feeling that she wasn’t going to like this.

Not one bit.

“Care to explain how I was in the room with the two of you while you broke off your engagement without getting woken up by a woman who never said anything below a shriek?”

Nathan grabbed his chest as tears rolled down his cheeks, only to follow that up by falling out of his chair and hit the floor with a loud thud.

Sighing, Alice took another large sip of wine.

“How?” Joe demanded.

Eric gave her that bad boy smile that was going to get him killed. “I made sure you wouldn’t wake up.”

“How?”

Clearing his throat, Eric said, “I may have,” he cleared his throat again, “had to, um, place a pillow over your head just for a little bit there.”

She gasped. “You smothered me?”

“Yes!” Nathan somehow managed to get out as he continued laughing his ass off.

“Youbastard,” Joe breathed.

“Oh, come on! I made sure you were still breathing! You only turned blue once and that was because I was too busy defending you to notice!”

CHAPTER 6

“Thanks a lot, asshole,” Eric said, snatching the cake knife out of Nathan’s hand and made short work of cutting a huge slice of their mother’s triple-layered double chocolate cake with fudge and peanut butter frosting. He plopped the huge slice of cake in a bowl and tossed the knife behind him in the sink.

Nathan rolled his eyes. “Real mature, dipshit.” He made a move to steal Eric’s cake, only to have his hand slapped away. “Ow! What the hell?”

“What’s going on in here?” Alice asked in the same exasperated tone she’d used when they were teenagers and she’d caught them smoking. At least she didn’t look like she was about to make them smoke an entire carton of cigarettes this time.

“Nothing,” they both grumbled.

She made her way around the counter and grabbed a clean knife out of the drawer as she looked at Nathan, only to frown. “Sweetie, shouldn’t you be getting Caitlyn a slice of cake?”

“I was trying to,” Nathan bit out, rubbing the back of his hand as he glared at Eric.

Their mother let out a sigh as she grabbed more plates. She raised an eyebrow as she glanced at Eric. “I’m assuming you’re getting Joe a plate.”

Eric looked pointedly at the large slice of cake he’d grabbed as he scooped out some M&M ice cream.

“Are you getting Camie a slice as well?” she asked, sounding hopeful.

“And encourage her stalker tendencies? I don’t think so,” Eric said, shaking his head in disgust.

Nathan chuckled as he looked over his shoulder to make sure that the three of them were still alone in the kitchen before glancing back at their mother. “Seriously, Mom, what were you thinking? That woman is terrifying,” Nathan said, feigning a shudder.

---