Page 58 of Chloé

Dad held up a cheese platter. “Justin, eat a cracker.”

They all laughed as Justin took two and a couple slices of Brie, then Dad held it out to the rest of them.

Once they all had a snack to eat, and Papa had brought over their drinks, Chloé decided the best way for her brother to get to know her men was to do what their family always did—cook together.

But too many cooks in the kitchen could get ugly, so she quickly shooed her fathers into the living room and told them to get comfortable.

* * *

PASTA NIGHT.

IT was an experience unlike any Zayne had had throughout his life, but one that was quickly becoming his favorite. If someone had asked him if he would enjoy spending a good hour planning and cooking his meal before eating it, his immediate answer would’ve been a hell no. But something about getting in the kitchen with this group made the experience an absolute blast.

It’d also taught him a hell of a lot about making good pasta—and by good, he meant it’d ruined store-bought pasta for life.

He was on dough duty tonight. It was something Chloé had taught him the first time they’d attended this little shindig, and after doing it a couple times, he was getting pretty damn good at it.

Flour, eggs, mix until it’s a “shaggy” dough, then dump it out and start kneading. Easy enough, right?See, even he could do that.

As he was kneading away, he glanced over to where Ethan was busy washing and chopping up mushrooms for the filling. They’d been told that tonight’s dish was mushroom tortellini in a garlicky cream sauce with parm, and holy hell, had his stomach growled in excitement.

Chloé’s fathers had been sent away to the living room to relax, but Zayne had a sneaking suspicion she had orchestrated that so they could have a little alone time with big brother.

Zayne snuck a peek at Justin across the kitchen, where he was working with his sister on dessert. He’d been looking for some kind of family resemblance between them but hadn’t been able to spot any just yet—unless you counted the confidence and attitude.

There was quite the age gap between them, too. Not that that was unheard of, but it was interesting just the same. It wasn’t like they had Justin and then one day whoops, Chloé came along—that would’ve had to have been planned out, given the circumstances, which then had him looking to their fathers.

Call him curious—or nosy—but Chloé bore a striking resemblance to Priest, so he was trying to see if Justin had any distinguishing features of the three men. But there was nothing as obvious as Chloé’s eyes or confirmed red hair. Not unless you counted the dimples. Then maybe…Julien?

“How are you doing over here?”

He whipped his head around to where Chloé stood smiling at him, and he felt a stab of guilt over his nosiness.

Not that she knew what he was thinking.

“Uh, good, I think?”

She looked down to the smooth dough and nodded. “It looks perfect, actually. If you want to ball it up and wrap it, we’ll let it rest and come back in a few.”

He grabbed the cling wrap and pulled out a section, then placed the dough inside and wrapped it up nice and tight. Once that was done, Chloé gestured to his empty cup.

“Would you like another drink?”

“No. I’m going to drive us home tonight, so one is enough for me.”

“Anything else, then?”

“What was the special drink your dad made for you?”

Chloé grinned. “A passionfruit and elderflower spritz.”

Zayne screwed his nose up. “Okay, not that. How about a club soda?”

“I can get you that. I’ll be right back.”

As she headed off to the living room, Zayne made his way over to where Ethan and Justin were getting the filling ready for the tortellini. The mushrooms had been chopped and Ethan had moved on to the rest of the vegetables, while Justin was hunting around for a frying pan.

“You must have the patience of a saint,” Ethan said as he grabbed a shallot and started to chop.

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