Chapter 10

CHAPTERTEN

Never trust a redhead with a blender.

~Ethan

“HELLOOO, IS ANYONE home?” Chloé pushed through the front door of her old house, with Ethan and Zayne hot on her heels. “We’re about to come upstairs. Make sure you’re decent.”

Zayne chuckled, and Chloé glanced back at him.

“You can laugh, but you weren’t the traumatized fifteen-year-old bringing home a friend only to find her fathers shirtless and pretty close to—”

“Chloé…” Her dad’s voice at the top of the stairs cut off her story midway. He headed down and kissed her on the cheek. “Are you trying to scandalize these young men before we’ve even opened a bottle of wine?”

Chloé snorted. The idea of anything she said to Ethan and Zayne scandalizing them, after what they’d done last night in the cabana, was downright laughable.

Not that she was going to tell her dad that.

“I suppose you’re right. We should save the many ways you three have embarrassed me for when we’re a few glasses in.”

“Or bottles.” Her dad waggled his brows at them, and Ethan and Zayne laughed.

“Speaking of wine…” Ethan held out a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon. “I grabbed this from our cellar before we headed over. I’m told it’s a wonderful year.”

Dad looked at the label and whistled. “Impressive. We had some at the restaurant lately. Julien will be thrilled.”

Chloé rolled her eyes. “In other words, we’ll be lucky if he lets us have any.”

Dad grinned at Ethan. “Oh, he’ll share with the one who brought it.”

“Looks like I’m in luck, then.”

Chloé eyed Ethan’s smug smile and shook her head. She had a feeling he would’ve been in luck with or without the bottle of wine. Her père had a soft spot for stoic, controlling types.

“Is everyone here?” And by everyone, she meant Justin. If he’d punked out on her tonight, she just might kill him.

Right on cue, Justin’s loud laughter filled the air and Dad nodded.

“They sure are. We were just waiting on you, so come on.”

He turned for the stairs, and they followed him up. When they reached the main living floor, she spotted Papa, Père, and Justin in the kitchen. Her fathers were seated at the counter and Justin was standing on the opposite side of the island, beer in hand—and suddenly the nerves kicked in.

It was ridiculous, she knew, to be nervous about her brother meeting Ethan and Zayne. But she was one of those people who wanted everyone in her life to get along, especially those she loved.

She took in a deep breath and reminded herself that if she was calm then everyone else would be too. Hell, they’d made it through meeting her papa, and he was the scariest man she knew—though also one of the most loving.

“Look who’s finally here,” Dad announced, sashaying his way into the kitchen. “They might be a little late, but all’s forgiven—look what Ethan brought us from their cellar.”

He presented the bottle of wine like it was the Ark of the Covenant, and Père’s brows rose. “You just happen to have a bottle of this in your cellar?”

Chloé didn’t have the heart to tell them that he had several. Hell, for all she knew, Ethan might own the winery that produced said bottle of wine. It wasn’t that outside the realm of possibility—after all, he owned the store that most of the items and food in this kitchen came from.

Holy shit. Now that was a mind trip.

“We did, and I have it on good authority it will pair brilliantly with what we’re cooking tonight.”

“Oui, it will. Merci.”

“Of course.”

Papa got out of his chair and came over to shake Ethan and Zayne’s hands and kiss Chloé’s cheek.

“Can I get you gentlemen anything to drink?”

Ethan looked at the glass in Papa’s hand. “I wouldn’t say no to whatever you’re drinking.”

“Scotch. That work for you?”

“Sure does.”

Papa then looked to Zayne. “And you?”

“I’ll take the same.”

“Sounds good. Chloé? Your dad mixed you up something special.”

“Special, huh?” she said.

“That’s what he called it. So, I’ll be right back with your drinks.”

As he headed off to the bar, Chloé noticed Justin eyeing them quietly from the other side of the kitchen counter, and decided it was now or never.

God, why am I so nervous about this?

But as she walked closer to the kitchen area, she knew why. Justin was her person. The one she could count on no matter what kind of bind she found herself in. He’d come into her life and stolen her little heart as the brave boy she’d instantly looked up to, and pasta night had always been their night—family night.

Now here she was bringing two new people in on that tradition, and her only hope was that everyone she loved would get along.

“Finally cleared up that busy schedule of yours, huh?” she said as she walked around the counter to give him a hug.

“Yeah, well, someone begged me, and I didn’t have the heart to let her down.”

“I didn’t beg you.”

“Hmm, that’s not how I remember it.” He took a swig of his beer and looked to where Ethan and Zayne stood. “So, you gonna introduce me to your boyfriends, or stand here and run interference because you’re scared I might steal them off you?”

Chloé scoffed, but then a wide smile stretched her lips and she mouthed, Thank you.

Justin winked at her, then she turned on her heel and all but skipped back to Zayne’s side. Justin followed, his eyes traveling over her two men, and she preened like a peacock, proud of what he was seeing.

“I’ve heard a lot about you two.”

“Vice versa,” Zayne said, holding his hand out. “The famous brother. Have to admit, it’s nice to see there’s no shotgun behind your back.”

Justin’s lips crooked and one of his dimples popped. “Nah, that’d be too obvious. I prefer the element of surprise.”

Zayne chuckled. “Good to know. I’m Zayne, and this is Ethan.”

“I figured.” Justin turned his attention to Ethan and held out his hand. “Chloé went into great detail on how pretty your faces are.”

“Oh my God.” Chloé shoved him in the arm.

“What? You haven’t shut up about them since they came to the restaurant that first time and—”

“Seriously? Dad, do we have any food I can shove in his mouth to shut him up?”

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.

“I don’t know about a saint,” Justin said over his shoulder. “But I’m pretty even-tempered for the most part.”

“You’d have to be in a room full of high school students all day.”

“Eh, they’re not that bad. Most the time it’s the parents that make my job difficult.”

“Really?”

“Oh yeah.” Justin got to his feet, pan in hand. “I mean, look at our fathers. You think they would’ve taken kindly to a teacher telling them that Chloé or I were failing or acting out?”

Zayne chuckled. “No. But two seconds of thinking about it and they’d probably believe that Red was running riot around a classroom.”

“Red… I like it.” Justin grinned. “And you’re right. She’s quite the handful.”

Zayne wasn’t going to touch that one with a ten-foot pole. But Ethan knew exactly where his mind had gone, judging by his smirk.

“So teaching, huh?” Zayne leaned up against the counter and crossed his arms. “You didn’t get the chef bug?”

“Definitely not.” Justin grabbed a stick of butter and cut off what he needed. “I’m only allowed to cook for them on pasta night while supervised. Let’s just say cooking is Chloé’s calling, and eating it is mine.”

He flashed a smile that was downright charming, making his dimples appear again, and it wasn’t until Ethan cleared his throat that Zayne realized he’d been staring.

Justin headed over to the stove, seemingly oblivious, as Zayne walked around to Ethan to kiss him on the cheek. “You think Julien or Robbie is the dad?”

Ethan followed his gaze back to Justin. “Ah, so that’s what you’re looking for.”

Zayne frowned. “Huh?”

“You were looking a little longer than usual.”

“Oh.” Zayne grinned. “Were you jealous?”

“No. But his sister might’ve been.”

“Nah, I’m just a nosy shit, that’s all. Aren’t you curious?”

Ethan scraped the shallots and garlic off to the side of the cutting board and picked up a couple of sage leaves. “She definitely has a unique family, that’s for sure.”

Zayne rolled his eyes. “That’s not an answer.”

“Then yes, it might’ve crossed my mind.”

“See, I knew it.”

“Shh.” Ethan chuckled.

“You were wondering just like me.”

“You could just ask.”

“Justin?” Zayne’s eyes bugged. “I don’t know the guy well enough to ask that.”

“I meant Chloé. You could ask Chloé.”

“Ask me what?”

Jesus, she was getting really good at sneaking up on a person.

“Uh, um…” While Zayne stuttered around trying to think of something he could say, Chloé handed over his club soda.

“Are you okay?” She frowned, and then looked past his shoulder to Justin. “Did he say something to you?”

“Say something? What do you mean?”

“Did he say something to make you uncomfortable?”

“No,” Zayne rushed out. “No. Nothing like that, Red.”

“Good. That’s good. I’d hate to have to kick his ass.”

Ethan’s lips twitched. “Yet I might pay to see that.”

Chloé snorted and shook her head. “Only people with too much money spend it on ridiculous things.”

For a second there Zayne thought she’d forgotten what they’d been taking about, but no such luck.

“So what did you want to ask me?”

“I, uh… It’s nothing.”

“Oh, come on. What do you always tell me? You can ask us anything. Same thing goes.”

That was true, they did say that. He just wasn’t sure whether this was appropriate to ask.

“Zaaayne. It can’t be that bad.”

“Okay, but I want you to know I wasn’t trying to be rude or anything.”

Ethan chuckled. “Good luck,” he said as he picked up the cutting board and took it over to Justin.

“Okay.” Chloé sidled in closer to Zayne, her wide eyes begging him to continue. “Now I’m really curious.”

“I was just wondering about something, that’s all.” Shit. Now that he was asking, it seemed totally weird and rude to even voice the question on his mind.

“What?”

He let out a sigh, then decided to just rip the Band-Aid off. “Okay, here goes. You look a lot like your papa, and, well, Justin doesn’t. Sooo…”

A smile slowly curved Chloé’s lips as she stepped in close and put a hand on his chest. Then she whispered in his ear, “Are you asking who’s my daddy?”

The comment was so unexpected but so spot-on that Zayne couldn’t help his burst of laughter. “I guess I am.”

Chloé was grinning from ear to ear as she pulled away from him, and Zayne was happy to note she didn’t look offended at all.

“You’re not the first, I promise, and you’re right. Papa is my biological father—”

“And Julien is Justin’s?”

“What?” Chloé looked over her shoulder to where her fathers sat, then back to Justin, who was smiling at something Ethan had said. “Oh, because of the dimples?”

Zayne shrugged. “Seemed logical.”

“You’re right, that does seem logical, but no. I thought I told you—Justin was adopted when I was four. He was a teenager.”

Oh shit. That makes total sense. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t trying to be rude. And if you did tell us, I totally forgot. You’ve just got a really interesting family, Red.”

“I know, and it’s not a secret.”

Oh thank God.

“I would’ve been curious too. And for the record, you can ask me anything about them—you’re my family too.” She kissed him on the cheek. “Now come on, let’s get the blender out—those mushrooms aren’t going to take long to cook.”

* * *

“THEY’RE TALKING ABOUT me, aren’t they?”

Ethan put the cutting board on the counter next to the stove and looked at Justin. “What makes you say that?”

“Because I can feel their eyes on me, and you left the conversation.” Justin glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. “You don’t strike me as the type to gossip.”

Ethan smirked. “Don’t I?”

“Nope.” Justin took a swig of his beer and slid it onto the counter. “You’re like our papa—you’d rather go straight to the source than beat around the bush.”

Shocked by Justin’s accurate insight, Ethan laughed. “That’s very astute of you, Mr. Thornton-Priestley.”

Justin shrugged. “I’m a teacher. I have to read people all day. So, what are they gossiping about?”

Ethan turned to see Chloé with her hand on Zayne’s chest, laughing at whatever he’d just said.

“If I had to guess—”

“You don’t have to guess.”

He looked back to Justin, who was now stirring the butter.

“You’re right, I don’t. Zayne’s curious about who your biological father is out of the three. It’s obvious Priest is Chloé’s, but you’re more of a challenge for him to pinpoint.”

Justin’s eyes narrowed a fraction, and Ethan wondered if he would take offense to Zayne’s curiosity. He knew it came from a place of innocence—Zayne had such a shit father of his own, and he was likely trying to decipher why their relationship had gone so wrong, when Chloé and Justin had three wonderful dads.

But the answer didn’t lie in who the blood relative was. His relationship with the senator went to shit because the senator was a piece of shit.

“I don’t actually think he’s trying to be gossipy,” Ethan explained. “You see, our fathers aren’t in our lives anymore, and I think he’s just curious about the three of yours. The relationship between all of you.”

Justin gestured for the cutting board, and Ethan handed it over. “That’s right—his dad is that asshole senator, right?”

“Right, and mine passed away when I was young.”

Justin’s hand hovered over the pan with the board. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know that.”

“I know. But I’m digging into your personal life, so—”

“Tit for tat.” Justin nodded and scrapped the chopped vegetables into the sizzling butter. “I like you.”

“Well, three out of four isn’t too bad.”

“Three? Who doesn’t— Papa.” Justin scoffed. “I told you. You’re too much alike. But he’ll come around.”

“We’ll see.” Ethan leaned against the counter as Justin started to stir.

“So, who does Zayne think is the likely candidate?”

“Honestly, I don’t know. I left before he got that far, but he was going back and forth between Robbie and Julien.”

Justin let out a loud laugh, and Ethan took a moment to study his features. The hair, the eyes—they could’ve gone either way, but the dimples bracketing his mouth? That was what Zayne had been looking at.

“I’m thinking he’s leaning toward Julien.”

“Not Papa?”

“You’re nothing like Priest. Looks or temperament.”

“You’re right, I’m not.” Justin’s expression softened as he looked over to Chloé, and then the men in question. “I would be honored to be any of these men’s child, but I was lucky enough to be adopted by them instead.”

Adopted. Ethan wasn’t sure why, but that had never even occurred to him. With Chloé bearing such a strong resemblance to Priest, it had been a natural conclusion Justin would be one of theirs too.

“Should I apologize?”

“Why? Did you do something wrong?” Justin chuckled and stirred the contents of the pan. “I’m proud to be their son. Biological or adopted. I have three amazing fathers and one super-smart, talented, precocious sister. I’m never ashamed to talk about that.”

“I wouldn’t be either. I think you’re one of the luckiest men in the world.”

Justin tossed an easygoing grin his way. “I am.”

As he went back to stirring the filling for the tortellini, Ethan looked at the rest of the family.

Chloé and Justin really were two of the luckiest people he knew. They’d won the lottery when it came to a loving household and parents who cared for them.

Robbie, Julien, and Priest had raised two wonderful children, and the more Ethan got to know all of them, the more he was moved that they were letting him and Zayne into their close-knit family. That they’d been willing to accept them, even after the unusual way they’d met their daughter.

“You never did say,” Justin said. “Do you have any brothers or sisters?”

“No. Zayne and I are both only children.”

“That explains a lot.”

“Such as?”

Justin laughed and shook his head. “You two just strike me as the kind of guys who are used to getting what they want. You know, only-child syndrome.”

“That definitely wasn’t the case with us when we were young.”

“But it is now?”

Ethan thought about that for a second, then a wolfish smile curved his lips. “We got Chloé, didn’t we?”

“Ha, yeah, but we both know she went after you.”

Ethan laughed, remembering the way she’d doubled down on her lie to get into the club that second night to see them.

“You know your sister well.”

“Let’s just say being alone for the first four years of her life made a lasting impression. She still suffers from only-child syndrome. Even though there’s— Heeey, kiddo.”

Ethan turned to see Chloé standing behind him with her hands on her hips, and Zayne beside her holding a blender.

“Don’t you ‘hey kiddo’ me. Here I am over there talking all nice about you, and you’re telling my boyfriendI have only-child syndrome?”

Ethan looked to Justin, who smirked. “If the shoe fits.”

“I don’t think so,” she said, snatching the blender from Zayne and putting it on the counter, where she jammed the plug in a little harder than necessary. “Who always got away with everything in this house? Not me.”

“I was older than you. I was allowed to do more than you.”

She walked up to poke Justin in the arm. “Even as a kid? I don’t think so. You had them wrapped just as tight around your little finger as I did. Psh, only-child syndrome.”

Zayne moved in beside Ethan. “You think we should step in?”

“No. I think this is a brother-sister thing.” He grinned, wishing Justin all the luck in the world. Chloé’s temper had clearly been provoked, and it was a thing of beauty—when not directed at them.

Justin switched off the stove and pointed the wooden spoon at her. “Don’t act like you didn’t bat your lashes and look all cute to get your way when you were little. You did it with me just yesterday.”

“I did not.”

“You did so. You know exactly how to play me and the parental units. Probably these two also.”

Her mouth fell open in sibling outrage, a gasp leaving her as she grabbed the pan off the stove and took it to the blender. Ethan and Zayne were quick to get out of her way as she dumped the contents inside, then jammed the lid on top.

“I don’t play anyone,” she said. “But just remember, I do know how to use a blender.”

All three of them winced as she hit the button and the appliance roared to life, and Ethan learned a very valuable lesson from Justin that night about his sister: never make Chloé mad while in the kitchen.

It seemed Zayne had been right after all.