Page 19 of Donut Disaster
Everett’s lips twitch. “She can explore her feelings for you while I explore her. Don’t worry, Noah. I’ll make sure she’s good and excited.”
Someone from the opposite end knocks their knuckles against the table.
“So who do you think killed my brother?” Jeremy suddenly sounds like a concerned relative who actually wants vengeance for this heinous crime. I think once the shock wore off, he came to the realization death is forever. And even though he won’t be able to patch things up with his brother, at least he can bring his killer to justice.
Noah gives my hand a squeeze. “Getting down to brass tacks. I like that.”
Everett leans in. “Jeremy, would you mind giving Lottie, Lily, and Cormack a little background on your family? I think most of us here know, but it might help the case if they knew it, too.”
By “they” he meant me. But Everett is such a gentleman he wouldn’t want anyone to feel left out.
“Thank you, Essex,” Lily says, and Cormack is quick to echo the sentiment.
Essex.
I roll my eyes. I keep forgetting that just about every female I come into contact with has slept with Everett.
It says a lot of his character that he’s finally decided to settle down with one woman, and the fact that woman is me is nothing short of a miracle.
“Sure,” Jeremy chirps. “My dad was a pilot. They used to call him the King of the Sky. About seventeen years ago, he was flying a plane chartered by a tech company in California when his plane went down over a valley and into a tract of houses. Half the people on board lost their lives. He survived initially, long enough to help move more passengers out of the wreckage, but the last time he went back into the plane he never came out. The fuel cell blew and he got caught up in the blast. At first, everyone hailed him as a hero. Then, about a month later, it was discovered that he didn’t have the proper credentials to fly the plane. He went from hero to villain in one fell swoop. The survivors and relatives of those that perished sued the pants off the private airline he was working for. They tried to sue my mother, but my dad had some ironclad umbrella policy in place and they couldn’t get anything. My father was vilified and we received death threats.”
“Oh my goodness,” I say, leaning his way even though I can’t see a thing. “That must have been terrible for you.”
“It was.” He takes a deep breath. “My brother, the golden child, decided he would go on to do great things in the name of our father who seemed like an upstanding guy. But I sort of waffled. It was my father’s tough love that made me bitter to begin with. I didn’t want to honor him. And I sure as hell didn’t want to watch my mother venerating Morgan day in and day out.”
The snap of chewing gum becomes more pronounced.
“That’s right,” Jessica Nicole chimes in. “All poor Jeremy ever heard growing up was Morgan this, Morgan that. It will be a nice change of pace to hear Jeremy’s mother praisehimfor once.”
Lily scoffs. “The guy is dead. I hate to break it to you, but the dead are always venerated. Face it. Morgan has gone from golden boy to perfect angel in one failed heartbeat. And you’ll never hear the end of that one.”
Everett and Noah quickly start in on a few good memories they had of the four of them while growing up and the mood lightens a bit.
Leave it to Lily to glom onto the rift between brothers and expound on it. It’s clear Jeremy is still hurting. I hope for his sake he gets over his bitterness toward both his brother and his father.
A smattering of stars appears from the right as the form of a dog bounds over, and sure enough Cookie jumps up in the empty seat next to Lily and illuminates the area—just for me, that is.
“What did I miss?” He shakes himself as if someone just gave him a bath and his fur fluffs up until it’s gloriously luxurious.
“Nothing yet,” I whisper as I take up both Everett and Noah’s hands.
“Good. Because I don’t like these two together.” He rolls the R intogetherand it sounds as if he’s growling. “Jeremy never did have good taste in women. And it only seems to get worse as time goes by.”
Both Noah and Everett share a light chuckle.
Alex is regaling us with a blast from the past at the moment, something about playing tackle football with these boys. I think it’s adorable that Noah and Everett were once boys, let alone that they were quasi-related.
Cookie Monster plops his paws onto the table with an audible thump, but no one says boo, and I take a moment to examine each of the faces. Noah is looking right at Alex as if he could see him, as is Everett, and Lily is looking every which way, obviously bored by the conversation at hand. Alex looks as if he’s talking to thin air the way he’s looking straight ahead, and Jeremy is staring intently at Alex’s shoulder.
Ha! This is hilarious. Thank goodness for celestial-based mercies or I’d be in the dark with the rest of them.
Something odd is moving along the table in front of Jessica Nicole—something very familiar and arachnoid in nature.
My first thought is to screamtarantulaas loud as I can and flip the table, but I squint into the dim light instead, only to realize it’s her hand—specifically her fingers that are crawling like a terrifying tarantula.
What in the heck is she doing?
And then she hits pay dirt.