“What fucking thing are you talking about?”
“The thing with your right eye,” Noah said. He adopted a drunken expression with his right eyebrow arched. “You always do that when you’re perturbed about something.”
“I do not,” Colton said. But he lifted his knife to look at his reflection, and sure enough, his right eyebrow was arched. He dropped his knife. “Fuck off.”
Mack nodded appreciatively at Noah. “Perturbed is a good word.”
“I use good words because I’m a genius.”
It was actually true. Noah had a genius IQ. “Well, you’re wrong about me,” Colton complained, reaching for the carafe of coffee in the center of the table. “There’s nothing wrong.”
“Did everything go okay with the meeting?”
His stomach soured. “Great. Fine.”
“Fine?” Noah repeated.
“Yes.”
“That’s all we’re going to get?”
Colton forced a shrug. “There’s nothing else to tell.”
“So, they liked the new songs?” Vlad asked.
Luckily, he was saved from answering by the arrival of Gavin, Yan, and Del. They strolled in together, dressed in workout gear again, probably for a training session after breakfast. They sat down and looked at Colton, and then all three of them leaned closer.
“For fuck’s sake,” Colton grumbled. “Nothing is wrong with me.”
“He’s doing the eyebrow thing,” Del said to the table.
“We know,” Noah said, once again mimicking the expression.
Colton fell into a silent sulk when a waitress appeared to take their orders. They’d been coming here for so many years that the entire staff knew them well enough to just ask, “Y’all want the usual?” For Colton, that was ham-and-cheese grits. The Six Strings was the only place that made them the way his mom used to when he was a kid. She’d make a panful every Sunday night, and it was just enough to feed Colton, his sister, and his brother for breakfast before school all week. There were a few years after he’d left home that Colton couldn’t stand the thought of eating it again, not because he was sick of it but because he resented it. The memories it evoked. His siblings were too young to know the reasons why their parents had to rely on cheap, filling meals that lasted a long time, but Colton knew. Just like he knew his parents were lying when they said they had to leave their house and move to a small apartment in 1991 because they thought the kids would enjoy living closer to the park.
The waitress left the table, and Colton hoped the guys would move on from berating him.
They did not.
“Out with it, douchebag. What’s going on?”
It was pointless to avoid it any longer. Besides, they’d find out sooner or later. His life intersected with Gretchen’s in too many ways; it was actually a miracle they hadn’t crossed paths until last night. There was no guarantee Gretchen wouldn’t mention it to Elena, Liv, or Alexis.
“Fine,” Colton said, leaning his elbows on the table. “I saw Gretchen last night.”
Mack’s eyebrows tugged together as he stirred cream into his coffee. “Gretchen . . . Winthrop?”
“Yes, fuck stick. Which other Gretchen would I be talking about?”
Mack and Noah exchanged a glance, probably at Colton’s petulant tone. “What do you mean, you saw her?” Noah asked. “Like, for a date?”
Ha. Right. Colton ripped open a packet of sugar for his coffee. “Did you know she was one of the CAW whiskey Winthrops?”
Mack lifted his mug. “Yeah, didn’t you?”
“Wait, I didn’t know that either,” Gavin said. “Are you serious?”
“Doesn’t make sense, does it?” Mack said. “She wears secondhand clothes, lives in a tiny apartment, hates expensive gifts.”
As Mack talked, Colton felt an unfamiliar surge of jealousy. He hated being reminded that Mack and Gretchen had briefly dated. Which made zero sense and was sexist as hell, to boot. She didn’t belong to either of them, yet here Colton was. Seething because Mack knew where Gretchen lived.
“So what happened last night?” Malcolm asked.
“She was sent as an ambassador.” His words were even more bitter than his coffee. He reached for more sugar.
“What does that mean?” Noah asked.
Colton leaned back in his chair and spread out his arms. “CAW whiskey wants to sign yours truly to an endorsement deal.”
“Holy shit,” Del said. “That’s fantastic. Congratulations.”