Page 63 of Sing For Me

“What about—”

“Okay, can we be done with this conversation now?” I beg. “How did girl’s night turn out? You guys convince Pres to put paint on her nails?”

Rose narrows her eyes. “You’re not going to distract me, Will.”

“We could talk aboutyourdating life,” I suggest.

She rolls her eyes at me. “Fine. Go get me a burger and I’ll drop it.”

I jump up off the blanket. “Done.”

“You’re pathetic, you know that?” she calls after me as I jog towards the patio.

“Will,” Vega shouts as I pass the Jenga set. Cade and Ash seem to have given up and are now playing a jousting game with the large wooden pieces. “Tell them to knock it off!”

“You’re just mad because you lost,” Cade says. “Hey, Will, grab me a burger.”

“Me too!” Ash calls.

“That’s gonna be a no,” I respond, waving. “And stop hitting each other with those things.”

My dad and uncles are still arguing when I get to the grill. “Those ones are too done already,” Lennon is saying, pointing at a row of burgers. “They’re practically hockey pucks. Why don’t you let me…” he reaches for the spatula and my dad smacks his hand.

“Get out of here, they’re fine.”

“I don’t know, old man,” I say, coming up behind him. “They’re looking pretty dried out.”

“Not you too,” he grumbles. “I expect betrayal from my brothers but from my own son?”

“Not at all dramatic there, Cash,” Uncle Daltrey says. He fixes his blue-eyed gaze on me, so similar to my best friend’s. “Why didn’t you bring your girlfriend over to meet the family, Will?”

I do my best to keep from groaning aloud. “I don’t have a girlfriend, Uncle D.”

“Sure, you don’t,” Reed says, brushing hair off his forehead and peering at me with his piercing eyes—eyes that look way too amused right now for my liking.

Like Daltrey, Uncle Reed is blond, tall, and lanky. My Uncle Lennon looks more like my dad, with darker hair and a stockier build. I look like all four of them. I have the same broad chest and blue eyes as my dad but my hair color is closer to Lennon’s, and I match Daltrey and Reed in height—something my dad is still bitter about to this day.

“That picture sure looked like the two of you are getting pretty cozy,” Uncle Lennon points out.

I stare at him. “Yousaw that picture?”

“Oh, buddy.” Uncle Daltrey slings an arm around my shoulder. “Weallsaw that picture.”

“Looks like one of my cousins needs to get their ass kicked,” I mutter. “What happens on the group thread is supposed to stay on the group thread.”

“Ooh, are we talking about the picture?” an excited voice squeals and then my Aunt Paige is wrapping her arms around me, her wild black curls covering my face as she squeezes me. “She’s so pretty, Will! When do I get to meet her?”

“Oh, God,” I mutter, pushing her away as gently as I can.

“Give the kid a break, Paige,” Aunt Daisy says, joining us. Uncle Daltrey immediately grabs her around the waist and pulls her into his lap. “He obviously doesn’t want to talk about his girlfriend yet.”

“She’s not my girlfriend.”

“Sam and I were just talking about them,” Paige tells Daisy, ignoring me. “She says she has a good feeling about it.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” I mutter, running a hand through my hair. Why did I think it was a good idea to come to this thing again?

“Did you meet her at the gala?” Aunt Daisy asks Paige. “I heard she was there but I didn’t get a chance to talk to her.”