The Five Brothers Next Door by Nikki Chase

Author:Nikki Chase [Chase, Nikki]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-10-03T03:00:00+00:00

Aubrey

Dinner does not start well.

Firstly, Aiden only left fifteen minutes ago. It took longer than I thought to prepare the food. Maybe I was underestimating the amount of work I had to do, or overestimating my speed at doing all that work. So we had to rush and my heart’s still racing now.

And now, as I’m holding the door open for my parents, I notice them staring at something on my neck and then glancing at each other.

Oh, no.

Do I have a hickey?

. . .

Or several?

Ever since Aiden learned how much being bitten on the neck gets me going, he’s been doing it all the time. I’ve had to wear concealer to cover the dark marks when I go outside, but I just had a shower and I was so nervous I forgot to check myself in the mirror.

“How was your trip?” I ask, in an attempt to act normal.

“As usual, it took too long, the seats were too small, and the babies were too loud,” Mom says as she gives me a hug.

“How are you, sweetheart?” my dad asks, his gaze still fixed on something on my neck.

“I’m good.” I give him a hug and close the front door.

“It smells good,” Mom says.

“Wait until you taste it. Take your seats.” I gesture at the dining table. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

As soon as I get to the bathroom, I lean forward over the vanity to look more closely at my neck.

Damn it.

I grab some concealer from my medicine cabinet and dab it over the purple mark on my skin. It’s a small one, but it’s pretty close to my throat and I have no doubt my parents saw it.

But what the hell, right? I’m a grown-up. I can do whatever I want.

That said, though, I realize how high school hickeys are. But what can I say? I like what I like.

I check my reflection one more time, then take a deep breath before I walk outside to face my battle.

As far as battles go, this one starts out pretty peacefully.

We have some pasta while we talk about my work. My dad asks me who my attending physician is, and he says it’s good that I have a “female role model.” I tell them about the time I told a nurse to “call a doctor” before I realized I was the doctor, and they laugh.

All in all, it’s a pretty normal dinner for the three of us. Still, I don’t know about my parents, but I feel like there’s a lot of tension going on just under the surface.

Can they feel that I’m about to tell them something big?

How are they going to react?

I try to tell myself it’s going to be fine. It’s been ten years. Does my dad really still hate Aiden that much after such a long time? As stubborn as my dad is, I find it hard to believe that. Aiden was just a teenager.

But on the other hand, there are a lot of things I don’t know.

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