Page 91 of Blood & Lace
"Huh?" If it was possible, the man looked even more confused. A weird sound came from his stomach and bounced off the walls. His pale cheeks went a splotchy red before he jumped back and placed more distance between us. "Great, well, you saw me and now you can get the hell out. I was busy."
"No, I can't leave you like this. What kind of husband would I be? Let alone a brother." I smiled at him, grabbing the overflowing trash can and shoving everything down before tossing the lasagna. "My mom said no member of the family should ever go hungry."
"Look, your mom sounds lovely—hey, put that down, I'll clean it." He rushed past me to grab the trash off the counter. He grumbled as I moved to the next pile. There was a roll of trash bags buried underneath a few magazines. "Don't touch that, it's gross."
I snatched the plate covered in furry mold out of his reach. "Careful, inhaling this stuff can really mess you up. I'll dispose of it."
"This is gross.” He attempted to jump and take the plate out of my hand. His feet barely lifted off the ground before he gave up and glared at me.
“You two could have been twins. My sweet bella gives me the same look.”
“Qu'est-ce que Louis a bien pu se mettre sous la dent ? Je vais le tuer la prochaine fois que je le verrai.”
“Did you two grow up speaking French at home?”
He stopped reaching for the plate, and I was finally able to toss it in the trash.
“Our mom only spoke French, she didn’t care to learn English.”
Wow, this trip was already turning out to be well worth it. I had so many questions for him. I wanted to know everything about Onyx. I went to scoop up more trash, and Onyx’s brother shouted, trying to stop me again.
“It's my mess, I'll take care of it."
His stubbornness brought a smile to my face. "You two are definitely brothers." I moved past him and continued to clean up. "Do you have cleaning supplies here?"
"If I say no, will you leave?"
"No, I'll have some delivered to us."
He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Yeah, it's under the sink." His shoulders looked tight as he stood there. "I don't need your help."
I nodded, knowing Onyx would say the same thing. In fact, he was saying the same thing. "I know. Doesn't mean I don't want to help."
"This stuff is gross."
"I've helped clean up a decomposing body filled with maggots more times than most of my siblings. This is nothing compared to those times."
"That's not a funny joke. Where the hell did Louis even find you?"
I wasn't joking. Prince and Nash both had tricked me a few times into handling a rotting body. I was now the only one able to stomach it most times. "At an event. He doesn't remember it but I do. It was love at first sight."
"That's cheesy as hell."
I shrugged. "Doesn't make it any less true." I passed him a trash bag so he could empty his hands. He took it from me and began to clean. He tried to beat me to the spots that looked worse for wear.
"Oh, what's your name? I should stop calling you Onyx’s brother in my head."
"Wow, he's really ashamed of me. Maybe you shouldn't know it.” He let out a snort of laughter that sounded more sad than funny. “It's best if I stay a dirty secret."
I stopped short, papers in hand. "I don't think it's shame." My head tilted.
"What would you call it when your brother's husband doesn't know about you and you weren't invited to the wedding?”
I winced. "That was my fault. I didn't know he had family." I scratched my chin. "He's very secretive because of his work. If anyone ever found out about you, your life could be in danger."
Onyx's brother didn't look convinced. "Yeah, okay."
"I'm serious. He threatened to end our marriage if I ever discovered who he was hiding."
