Infini (Aerial Ethereal #2)(94)

I figured as much. We raise our shots, clink them together, and down them in unison. When we turn to face the couches, I spot Sergei by the floor-length window. Nighttime, the Vegas lights sparkle in the distance, and Sergei laughs with Matvei about something on their phones.

I hear his truth about choosing his career over us. Repeatedly on blast in my ears.

I didn’t even hesitate.

I didn’t even hesitate.

I’m not angry. Because I’m standing beside the selfless brother who thought about us in his choice. Who asked for nothing in return. I have Nikolai when I could’ve easily had no one.

I lean my head towards Nik. “For what it’s worth,” I say, “I’m glad you were the one who chose us.”

Nikolai isn’t surprised. “Because you dislike Serg.”

“Because I love you.”

He rests his hand on the back of my head, one gesture that says he feels the same about me. And I hear him breathe deeply, “It’s worth a lot.”



*



While the girls finish getting dressed, Timo and I guard Katya and Bay’s bedroom door. Just so our cousins stop banging on the wood and screeching, “Who’s in there?!”

In front of the door, we dance to a popular song, and I fit on my baseball cap backwards. Timo pushes up his gold Venetian mask to his head, twirling a scepter in his hand, and we both sing somewhat off-key. Our voices aren’t that great, but we don’t hold back.

Most of our cousins are playing beer pong, and Robby hands Timo a bottle of Fireball. My brother takes a swig, passes it to me; I take a swig, and then crack open the door and stick my arm through.

Baylee grabs the Fireball out of my hand. Just by touch, I can tell it’s her. Our fingers hook for a second longer, before we have to let go. “Thanks,” she says. I picture her smiling, and it’s enough to make my lips upturn.

“Cool brother!” Camila calls out, not loud enough for everyone else to hear.

They shut the door.

Timo grabs hold of my shoulder, shakes me to the beat, and I feel happy. Which scares me more than usual. Every time I capture this kind of light, it sputters out and turns impossibly bleak.

No one says the truth. That at the end of every good moment, there’s a bad one waiting.

Timo senses my slight change in demeanor. His feet fall flat, and he tosses me the scepter as he asks, “What’s on your mind, brother?”

I pass the gold staff between my hands. Nikolai gifted him the scepter for his sixteenth birthday. “I just have a bad feeling.”

I haven’t really felt this way since the three of us were little kids. And one of the worst things happened…

(Don’t make me say it. I can’t touch it. I’m sorry.)

“About what?” Timo asks, his features still endlessly bright despite cradling worry.

I spin my hat but keep the rim backwards. “I don’t know. It’s probably nothing.”

Timo bites his thumbnail, and I toss the scepter back. He grabs hold, and close enough to whisper, he quietly asks, “Can I tell you something? I’ve been keeping it in, and it’s starting to get to me.”

“Yeah.”

“Katya thinks you’re in love with Baylee. That you’ve been in love with her for years, and honestly, I think she’s onto something here.”

I open my mouth to deny on impulse, but he keeps talking fast, knowing I’d shut this conversation down early on.

“I mean, we all skirt around some stuff, but you refused to say her name like you were told not to—”

“Dude, stop—”

“There you go, clear as day.” He shakes his head like he should’ve confronted me sooner. “I just don’t understand what the big deal is? Hey Jude, you love her, now go and get her.” He points his scepter at the door beside us.

I try not to laugh. “It’s not that…” simple. My smile vanishes in one instant. With one thought: the contracts. The no minors policy.

Timo twirls the scepter, his eyes still twinkling. “You’re hiding something.”

I shake my head. “No.”

“Okay truth,” he says so quietly that only I could hear over the music. Then he leans against the door, and I lean beside him. Timo swings his head to me. “I’ve never believed that you got into cocaine. Not even on a spur of the moment. It’d make you feel…”

His gaze says: out of control.

I don’t nod, but he’s right. “So you just thought I lied?”

“I thought that you couldn’t be honest, but one day you would be.”

Today’s not that day. Tomorrow’s not it either. I can never be honest with my little brother. With my sister. The lie will always remain, and it eats at me more than Timo knows.

The door cracks, and the girls tell us that they’re ready. Timo and I drop our conversation, and we step back so they can slip out.

Thora is the first to exit, wearing a low-cut silver dress, and immediately, she gapes at the five-foot gift, still wrapped and standing next to the television.

“What is that?” she asks Dimitri. “What happened to the list?”

Timo and I exchange a knowing smile.

“I wiped my ass with that list,” Dimitri says crudely. “Do you want it back?” He jokingly digs into the pocket of his slacks.