Page 11 of Winter Glam in Amsterdam

“Can’t really deny that.” He grins and looks down. He moved there for his latest movie, but from what I’ve heard, they finished filming a while ago. Plus, there are the glances he always casts behind his computer screen when we’re playing, or the times we heard him whispering, just as we entered the call.

Oh, he’s totally got a girlfriend waiting for him there. I wonder when we’ll get to meet her.

"Hello, Earth to Adam." Reed waves his hand in front of Adam's face, but he fails to get his attention. His eyes are firmly on his girlfriend Lily, who is sitting at a table with Luca, Millie and their families at the other side of the room. They seem to be having a lot of fun, judging by the amount of laughter and giggling we hear all the way over here.

"What? Sorry." Adam finally shakes his head and looks at us, a hint of red on his cheeks.

"Oh, look at him, he's blushing," I tease him. And even though he's shooting me a glare, I know he knows I’m only teasing him out of love. We all know by now that Lily is the best thing that could have happened for him.

"Really, it's about time that you found someone,” Reed adds, making him the receiving end of Adam’s glare. “Don't look at me like that—I'm happy for you. We all are," he adds with an eye roll, smiling gratefully when the waitress finally comes over with our food.

"Thank God, I'm starving,” I say once she’s gone again after setting our plates down. “So, really? No plan? None at all?"

"Nope. None at all. It didn't seem too fair for me to order you here and then plan out the whole thing without your input."

"Seriously?" Reed gasps, clutching his heart dramatically. "You're not going to boss us around? That's a first."

My eyes jump over to Jackson. Usually, he'd be the one making a snarky comment, never missing an opportunity to argue with Adam, but he's smiling. God, the fact that they’re not at each other's throat yet is so unnerving.

"Okay, guys, this is getting really fucking creepy. What's going on? Who of you got replaced by a shapeshifter?" I ask, popping a fry into my mouth.

"I told you we made up," Adam points out, waving his fork holding a piece of steak through the air.

"Well, I didn't believe you,” I admit, and he rolls his eyes at me. “And by the way, I’m still curious about that whole story. You seriously made up? Just like that?"

"'Just like that' would be a bit of an overstatement," Jackson chimes in with a soft head shake. "We had a fight. Then we had another fight. Then we had abigfight. And then we actually talked to each other and made up."

"Yup, turns out I'm an idiot. Jackson's an idiot. We've talked it out," Adam adds, and my eyes jump between the two of them.

"I'm calling bullshit." I shake my head, disbelief coating my voice. "The two of you are way too stubborn for that to work."

Or maybe I just don't want to get my hopes up. We hold weekly gaming nights, but Adam has missed them for a while now. So when did all of this happen?

"I'm with Tanner here. I’ll believe it when I see it longer than one evening," Reed says, crossing his arms in front of his chest and sinking into his chair.

"Well, we'll prove it." Adam shrugs. Reed and I shoot each other a look.

As we grew up, the two of them would always be fighting. Now that I'm grown myself, I really don't blame them for their complicated feelings about each other.

When our parents died, they were the ones who had to step up. Adam immediately took our dad’s place in his company, going straight from university to leading a growing talent management company, while Jackson took over us siblings. While Adam was leading Crony, his company, Jackson drove us to school and our respective extracurriculars. He was the one to comfort us when we were hurt, the one who celebrated our successes, all while putting his life on the back burner.

Both of them pulled the short end of the stick. Looking back, all of us know we’re incredibly lucky they took on that responsibility.

Yet it is obvious that both of them resent a great deal of what life handed to them, even though they made the best of it.

So I'd love it if the two of them had made up. I truly would. But I've known them to be at each others’ throat for the past fifteen-ish years of my life, so yeah, I'm not buying that they have become a happy family overnight.

"Just be happy," Reed whispers, and I glance at him. “Enjoy it while it lasts and hope for the best."

"Like we have a choice," I hiss right back and finally dig into my burger. "I’m just hoping they don’t kill each other when it goes sideways.”

"Same," Reed answers and pops a fry into his mouth. Adam’s eyes jump to us, and we quickly shut up and eat.

"Are you sure you don't want to come along?" Adam asks, shooting me a worried glance when we leave the hotel restaurant after dinner. We’d spend the evening joking and I found myself hoping. Hoping that this would last, that the two of them actually buried their hatchet.

"I'm sure," I tell him with a thankful nod and smile. "I’ll try to catch some early sleep and prevent jet lag, you know?" I hide a yawn behind my hand. The nap on the plane wasn’t enough to keep me going and I can’t wait to shower and sleep the flight off.

"Well, I don’t know," Jackson laughs, and I roll my eyes at him.

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