Page 20 of Gratification in Gluttony

“I’m not appreciating your cavalier attitude,” Toni snapped as they stepped into the elevator.

“I’m not appreciating the hostility,” Gem retorted.

Toni ground his teeth, and Gem’s demeanor softened. He turned and cupped Toni’s face, turning it up so he could gaze down into Toni’s eyes with all eight of his. “Deep breath, babe. Everything’s gonna be okay. Your mom is gonna be fine, I know it.”

“What if she’s not?” Toni asked, his throat tightening.

Gem pressed their foreheads together, his soft from thin, downy fuzz, Toni’s smooth and cool. “Then I’ll be right beside you the whole time.”

The elevator chimed, and the doors opened. Hand in hand, Toni and Gem stepped out into the hall. Idyllic music played over the speakers, and Toni could hear the buzz of voices coming from the different suites. He tried to locate familiar ones, but Gem shattered his focus.

“Oh, vending machine! Dinner and a show? If you insist,” he tittered as he skipped to the vending machine several yards away.

“What are you doing?”

Gem gestured at the machine. “Getting a snack. Ooh, they havedokaseeds. Score!”

Leaving Gem dancing at the snack machine, Toni strode down the hall to Suite Three. He closed his hand around the knob and steeled himself. Not only was his mother in mortal danger—most likely—but he was about to face his entire family for the first time in a while.

It made his already roiling stomach cramp, but he shook off the nerves. It wouldn’t be pleasant, his family never was, but he was stronger now. And he wasn’t alone. For all Gem’s glibness, Toni knew he’d come to ensure he didn’t have to face this alone, and Toni loved him for it.

As Gem stepped up beside him, a packet of crunchy doka seeds in his grasp, Toni took a deep breath, turned the knob, and opened the door. The mood inside the sitting room was as grave as a crypt. Gods and goddesses, his mother was already dead, wasn’t she? And he’d missed it.

Damn that sponge bath!

Most of his family was already there, and he barely had a chance to exhale before Flo was throwing herself into his arms, sobbing hysterically.

“Am I too late?” Toni asked, stroking the broad side of Flo’s spinal fin in comfort. “Is Ma—”

“It’s just so terrible, Toni. I’ve been a mess all day.” Flo stepped back, dabbing at her nose with a tissue. “Did you bring my crisps?”

Well, shit. In the madness, Toni may have forgotten that request.

“Oh, well, you see, funny story—” Toni’s chuckle was strained, and Flo’s miserable expression soured.

“Did you forget my crisps?” she said, and Toni splayed his empty hands.

“He forgot the crisps,” his other sister, Kat, echoed, shaking her head in disapproval.

“Of course he forgot the crisps,” Mins, Toni’sotherother sister, agreed.

“You said to hurry—” Toni tried.

“I said to hurryandget my crisps. I told you they had a gift shop,” Flo said.

“The gift shop’s right downstairs,” Mins said.

“It’s impossible to miss, honestly,” Kat said.

“Okay, just wait a second—” Toni tried again.

“Bro, she’s pregnant,” Flo’s husband, Mak, joined in. “What? You want her to starve?”

Flo pressed a manicured hand to her chest. “You want me to starve?”

“Of course I don’t want you to starve!” Toni cried.

“Oh, so he wants the babies to starve.” Mins cocked a hip and glared at him.

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