Page 6 of Winter Glam in Amsterdam

We look at each other, this time faces grimacing with confusion. That’s not where I thought the conversation was going.

“What the hell did I do now?” I cross my arms in front of my chest.

“Should I have brought a lawyer?”

I shake my head at Reed’s attempt to be funny.

“No lawyer required. And the two of you can relax, I’m not about to ground you.” Adam chuckles and takes a sip of his drink.

“You know I love you, right? So I’m saying this with the best of intentions, but you two can act like ungrateful brats.”

Before Reed or I can even open our mouths to utter the ‘what the fuck’s that are running through our brains, he continues.

“I don’t expect a gold medal for stepping up, but what I do expect are some sort of check-ins, every once in a while. More often than on a birthday or New Year's Eve.” He takes a deep breath and my heart sinks.

Are we really that bad?

“I mean at this point, I barely know anything about your life apart from what I see at work when one of your managers check in. Do you know how much it sucks to hear from a third party that either of you have been nominated for awards?”

Reeds eyes jump to mine and I can’t help but drop my gaze to the ground. He got me there. Half a year ago, I was nominated for a voice actor award for a movie I did and actually won. Truth be told, I only went there to get drunk, meet some women, have a great time. Who knew I’d actually be called to stage? I certainly didn’t expect it.

“To be fair, the ceremony was in LA,” I point out. “None of you could have gone anyways.”

“How do you know?” Reed is in offensive mode, glaring at me. “I would have made the time.”

“If you had let us, we would have found a way,” Adam adds, and I roll my eyes.

“Sure, Mr. ‘I’m-skipping-Saturday-game-nights-to-spend-time-with-my-girlfriend,’” I shoot back, my glare intensifying when Adam slowly shakes his head.

“I’m not saying I’m all innocent here,” he admits, his tone returning to its usual bossy self. “So don’t twist this around. I’ve booked this holiday so we can spend some time together. I don’t expect all of us to be the best of buddies afterward but let me be real with you two for a moment.” He closes his bottle again and leans closer. “I’m not going to continue to financially support strangers.” His eyes jump from Reed to me, and I gulp.

It’s not like either of us would become homeless if he closed the money-faucet on us, but it’d be… noticeable.

“Okay. So why isn’t Zoey coming?” I ask, raising an eyebrow at him but he steadily holds my glare.

“Because it’s her exam season,” Adam points out and I deflate at once, conceding. “And don’t worry,” he adds, leaning back again, but his jaw tightening with stress. “We’re going to do another vacation with Zoey. But you’ve already gone through the same phase Zoey is in—freshly found freedom, no brothers up your asses all the time. Let’s give her some time to find herself beforeambushing her. God knows having to deal with four brothers can’t have been easy on her.”

“And fighting. Always fighting brothers, nonetheless,” Reed points out, slowly regaining his composure. But I can see his jaw twitching, the way his fingers flex against his arms. He’s not happy. And neither am I.

Adam takes a deep breath and pinches the bridge of his nose.

“Yeah, I’m sorry for my part in that,” he says, lowering his hand and holding Reed’s angry gaze. Holy shit, he’s good at that. Nothing seems to faze him. “Still, all Jackson and I are asking is that you keep in touch, okay? We’re doing our parts to better ourselves and manage time together without fighting. But we’re a family. Not acquaintances. Jackson and I can’t fix this without you two meeting us halfway.”

“All right,” Reed finally agrees, the corners of his mouth twitching into a mischievous grin. I can already imagine the kind of malicious compliance my younger brother might come up with. “God knows we’re all grown now. We should be able to handle a message or call from time to time.”

I can see Adam struggling, probably with the urge to throw his still half-full water bottle at him, knowing him as well as I do.

“Okay,” I add when his eyes jump over to me. “Yeah. I guess I’ll do that.”

“Good.” He seems happier now, like a weight is off his shoulders. “I wanted to get that off my chest in the beginning. Now we can enjoy our time in Amsterdam. Although I can imagine Jackson will want to talk to you guys as well.”

“Well, let him, we’ll survive.” Reed waves him off. “You do know that I’m spending at least one evening during this trip stoned out of my mind, though, right?”

“I had no doubts about that,” Adam answers with a hint of an amused grin playing on his lips. “Just make sure you’ve got nothing stashed in some pocket when you’re going through TSA on our way back, all right? Because I’m not bailing you out for something that stupid.”

“Mean,” Reed grumbles as he crosses his arms in front of his chest, and I try to swallow a chuckle.

That’s totally something Reed would do, and as funny as that would be, I’ll definitely check his pockets before our flight back. I’m with Adam on this one, that would be a painfully stupid reason for him to land in jail. If we get the first criminal in this family, it better be for something good.

---