Chaos & the Geek (Grace Grayson Security #1) - Elizabeth Stevens Page 0,72
front door.
Mum had it open before we got there and there were actually tears in her eyes. “Oh my God. It’s a dream come true. Dream. Come. True. Angela!” she yelled into the house. “Look at you. Angela! All three of you together again.”
Angela appeared at the door and she was just as excited.
“Oh, look at them!”
“Mum,” Kit said tightly. He’d always silently suffered his mum’s affection.
Both mums rushed forward and hugged their boys. I snuck inside and hoped I could avoid the overzealous welcoming committee.
“Amber!”
I turned and there was little Chaos 2.0. Angus Grayson. Nicknamed Toad by Kit and Pat when he was about two. At twenty-four, he was the near spitting image of his older brother, just a little bit less in every way. But he was still one of my favourite people and much more like a brother than Kit would ever be.
“Angus!” I went over to hug him.
“You’re looking good, considering.”
I rolled my eyes and shoved him playfully. “Thanks. Parentals catch you up?”
He nodded. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I thought you were still in Japan.”
“You were in Japan?” Kit asked from behind me and I felt his hand brush my back.
Angus looked up at his brother and years’ worth of history flooded me. The two brothers had never really got along. They loved each other. They respected each other. Kit was Angus’ hero – not that he’d ever admit it out loud. But they weren’t friends.
“Yeah. Holiday with the boys,” Angus replied.
“Cool. Have fun?”
Angus lost most of his awkwardness – reverting back to the younger sibling desperate for his older brother’s approval. I knew the feeling well.
“Yeah. It was great.”
“Well, well,” came Phil Grayson’s voice. “If it isn’t a full house.”
“First time in how long?” Dad asked.
“About ten years, I reckon,” Phil said.
“At least,” Angela said.
“It wasn’t the boys’ eighteenths was it?” Mum asked.
“You know, it might have.”
“No, it was Christmas,” Phil said.
“Oh!” Mum cried, laughing. “Yes. It was…”
I quickly sidestepped it out of there and into the kitchen to find some booze to get me through the night. As I pulled myself out of the fridge with a beer, I saw Mum next to me.
“You’re looking good, baby,” Mum said, bumping her hip into mine.
I nodded. “I feel good.”
“I worried. When we talked earlier, I worried. But you’re really looking good.”
I looked at her. “I told you I was good.”
“And does this have anything to do with Kit?”
“Mum!” I laughed, but my heart pounded. “Ew. No.”
Mum snorted. “Oh God, no! I didn’t mean like…No!” she giggled.
I huffed an awkward laugh. “No. Good. Me either. Because ew.”
“What’s ew?” Pat asked as he came in.
“Kit and Amber,” Mum giggled.
I heard a spluttered cough and turned to see Kit was behind Patrick’s grimace of disgust.
“That’s not ew,” Pat said. “That’s illegal.”
I swallowed hard and caught Kit’s eye.
“Oh,” Mum tsked with a laugh. “It’s not illegal. It would be weird though. Ange and I always wondered if Amber and Angus would get together. Didn’t we, Ange?” Mum called into the other room.
“Ew.” I wrinkled my nose.
“Toad?” Kit asked as though it was laughable.
“Yeah,” Patrick added. “He’s not nearly geeky enough.”
Now I was spluttering a cough.
“You right, Bert?” Pat asked as he got a beer out.
I nodded. “Totally fine.”
Mum ushered us out of the kitchen and the Grace Grayson clans spent the evening catching up on everything. There was a lot of pooh-poohing Dannie and Brent which I thought was sweet, but the way Mum and Angela cooed over how sorry they were my relationship was over in front of Kit made me feel weirded out.
When I ran into him in the bathroom before dinner, all I could do was hug him.
“I’m sorry,” was the first thing out of my mouth.
“For what?” he asked.
“For our mums and all the Brent stuff.”
He looked at me like he wasn’t sure if it was funny or my reaction was sweet. “It’s fine, darlin’.”
“Because it doesn’t bother you… Because we’re–?”
He took my hand. “Because it’s in the past and there’s nothing I can do about it.”
Kit had always been annoyingly good at looking like nothing bothered him and I’d always had trouble seeing through him. I couldn’t tell now if he was legitimately not bothered, or just hiding it really well.
“It’s fine,” he said gently as he leant down to me.
I looked behind him as I put a hand on his chest. “Kit!”
“What?”
“No one knows about us. What are they going to say if they see us kiss?”