Page 6 of Charming Cruel Boys

Walking up to my brother, I take the smoke from his hand and stare daggers at him.

“Give me that, Duke. I need to calm my nerves if Mom wants me to sit in there and behave,”Knight grumbles, running a hand through his hair.

Taking a pull from the cigarette, I blow the smoke out slowly before handing it back, only coughing a little bit.Fuck, that tastes like asshole.Knight arches his brow at me, the hint of a smile lifting his lips. “Since when do you smoke?”

“Since I need to keep you in line all the damn time,” I answer with a heavy sigh. Just because I don’t mind stepping into this responsibility for Mom, doesn’t mean I’m not pissed that Knight can’t keep his shit together on his own. I have enough to worry about without looking after him. “Look, just play nice tonight. Mom seemed excited about dinner. Don’t ruin it for her with your shit attitude.”I’ve noticed over the past couple months that she’s been dressing up a bit more, spending evenings out. I think she’s dating again, and I expect she’ll be telling us tonight. It guts me, but I understand. She’s lonely and heartbroken. I get that.

After stubbing out the butt on the sidewalk, Knight cracks his neck and shakes out his shoulders like he’s getting ready for a brawl. “Alright, I’ll dial it down. Let’s go.”He nods and leads the way. My shoulders sag in relief a bit, but I won’t let my guard down too much. Knight’s version ofdialing it downcould easily be code forI’ll play nice until something pisses me off, then all bets are lost.

We walk through the doors and find Mom sitting at a six-seater table in the back of the modern steak restaurant.The tables and chairs are sleek, black metal and the walls are exposed brick and piping. There’s soft instrumental music playing in the background and my fingers tingle to grab my guitar and play along. I’ve been writing songs, but every time I try to actually play them, I just get depressed. Dad won’t ever hear my music again...

“Kind of a big table for just us, Mom,” Knight gripes under his breath as we take our seats on either side of her.Her hands are jittering in her lap, so I grab one and give it a reassuring squeeze, trying to be a strong presence to combat her nerves.

She looks at each of us with a bright smile before blowing out a breath. “Well, it’s not going to be just us tonight.”

“Who’s joining us?” I question as I glance at the menu.

She opens her mouth to respond when a rough voice speaks up behind me.

“Sorry we’re late, Rose,” Principal Williams says as he leans down to kiss my mom’s cheek, forcing me to lean back a few inches so he doesn’t bump into me. Straightening, he says, “Remi doesn’t seem to understand the concept of time.”

All the blood drains from my face as I hear her name. Sure enough, when I turn around, there she is. Standing statue-still, her gorgeous gray eyes wide as they meet mine.She’s wearing a charcoal dress that cuts off at her knees and barely dips in at the waist, not truly showing how alluring her curves are. Her brown hair is in a curly, sexy bun, and she’s got no makeup on, except mascara.

I turn back to the table and fist my hands in my lap.

What. The. Fuck.

4

Remi

Fuckmesideways.Ican barely stand walking around school knowing that Duke is somewhere in proximity. And music class is going to nearly kill me. But sitting down with his family for dinner? Absolutely not. I have to draw the line somewhere.

Turning on my heels, I start to plan my exit route.Get outside, call a cab.Yeah, that sounds good.

“Remi,” my dad calls, his voice a low warning.

“I need to use the restroom,” I say over my shoulder.

“Sit. Down,” he seethes.

Swallowing back bile, I slowly face the table again, noting my father’s cold, angry expression. I’m praying that my eyes were deceiving me the first time, but when I swing them over to Duke, I frown. Of course not. Why would I be so lucky? Today will go down as the worst day of my life for all of eternity. It beats all the screaming and spanking from my dad throughout my entire childhood. Well… okay, that’s a bit dramatic. My father has been my tormentor for as long as I can remember, but this day comes in a close second to all of that combined.

When I take a seat, across from Knight instead of Duke, I fold my hands in my lap and hold my breath, staring down at the menu in front of me without actually seeing anything. The whole table is silent for a moment while the shock sinks in.

“What’s going on, Mom?” Duke finally asks warily, and I snap my eyes up to him at the sound of his voice. I haven’t heard that smooth, deep voice in a long time. It hurts just as much as it soothes.Dammit, Remi, quit it. You don’t miss him anymore.

Their mom beams, reaching across the table to take my father’s hand as he chuckles. I’ve never heard that easy, carefree sound come out of his mouth before. What the hell is happening? “Well, boys, Remi,” she looks over at me with a wide smile and kind eyes. “Charles and I have exciting news, and we thought we’d share it with all of you at once.”

I swing my gaze to my dad, waiting for an explanation. He clears his throat, reaches into his pocket, and slips a giant rock of a ring onto her left hand. My stomach drops right out of my ass. I’ll never find it again.

“Rose and I have grown very close, and I know this is going to come as a shock for you kids since we’ve kept it a little secret, but I’ve never been happier.” Looking at each of the twins in turn, he says, “I’ve asked your mother to marry me, and she said yes.”

“What?” I screech at the same time Duke breathes, “Holy shit.” Our eyes meet across the table, and I’m sure the look of shock and disgust he’s wearing is a mirror image of my face. My dad and Duke’s mom? No, actually, I think the fuck not.

Knight grabs his mom’s glass of red wine with a deep frown and then swallows it down before she can stop him. He stands from the table without a word and storms outside as I force my jaw back up off the floor.

“Knight!” Rose cries, pushing her chair back. Duke grabs her arm and whispers something to her before following his brother out. Settling back into her seat, Rose looks at me with a sad, hopeful expression and it cracks something inside me. I offer her a small smile and mutter, “Welcome to the family.”

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