“Hey, I’m Cillian,” he says, coming straight over to shake their hands. “The best of the Kingston brothers.”
Midge playfully hits him and rolls her eyes. Gia snorts and Nova grabs onto my arm. “I’m not so sure about that.”
“Oh!” Cill says, his eyes widening. “Babe, you gonna vouch for me or what?”
“After you didn’t let me bring the bacon? I don’t know. I may be on Nova’s side.”
“Who brings bacon to a bonfire?”
“You wrap it around the hotdog!”
“Who wraps bacon around a hotdog?” he questions, looking disgusted as he glances around the group, hoping someone is on his side.
“I’d try that,” Nova says.
“Me too,” Gia adds. “We always try new things when we can.”
“Well, we can’t, because Cill thought it was weird,” Midge says, making a face, and making everybody laugh in the process.
Cillian wraps his arms around Midge. “Aww, baby. I’m sorry. Want me to go out and buy you a pound of bacon? Cause I will.”
Midge rolls her eyes, a smile playing on her lips. “Whatever. You’ll make it up to me later.”
“You guys want a drink?” Royce asks. “We have beer, water, soda, but I have liquor in the house. I can whip up a cocktail or something.”
Greg says he’ll take a beer, and ends up talking to Cill near the cooler. London and Midge want a cocktail, so they go inside with Royce, leaving me, Nova, and Gia to congregate around the food table.
“Well, lookie here.”
I glance up and peer over Nova’s shoulder to find Merrick strutting out of the house, a small grin on his face.
“Hey, man. You hiding from the cameras?”
He shakes his head. “Can’t get away from them.”
After we embrace, he turns and faces Nova, gracing her with his lopsided, boyish smile that can charm the pants off anyone.
“You must be Nova.”
She smiles as she looks up at him and gives him her hand to shake. “It’s nice to finally meet you. I love your band’s music.”
“Oh yeah? Well, thank you.” He turns to Gia. “I’m assuming this is your sister, because you guys look alike.”
Gia giggles. “You’d be correct.”
“Where’s the rest of the band?” I ask.
He shoves his hands in his back pockets. “They went to San Francisco. Jay has a place out there.”
“You didn’t want to go?”
“And miss this? Not meet the woman who got you to settle down? You kidding me?”
Nova grins at me and I shake my head. “Well, I’m glad you chose to hang with us.”
“I also promised Cill he could give me some ink. He’s been jealous that I’ve been getting tattoos all over the world and he’s yet to do any of them.”
I tilt my head up. “Ah. Yeah, he’s still trying to convince Royce to get his first tattoo.”
“So, Elijah said something about another tour or another album,” Nova says.
Merrick nods, running his hand through his hair. “Yes to both. We’re finishing up the second album now. Once that releases, we’ll be on tour promoting it.”
“How long are you gonna be here for?” I ask.
“Not long. A couple days. I’m gonna meet up with a couple friends tomorrow then be on my way to New York.”
“Yo, rock star. Just because you’re rich and famous doesn’t mean you can’t help,” Royce calls out with a smile on his face. “Can you grab one of those coolers and take it near the bonfire.?”
“I got it.”
“And you,” he says, pointing a pair of tongs at me. “Can you help me bring these to the table?”
After we lay all the food out, and uncover the side dishes, everybody lines up and makes a plate then heads to the chairs to eat around the fire while music plays in the background.
I look around at everybody’s faces—everyone’s talking, laughing, smiling, and having a good time. The merging of our families makes me feel good. There’s no awkwardness, and nobody feels left out. Greg’s a quiet guy, but even he’s cracking up over the crazy shit my brothers say.
I hear Gia tell Nova she’s happy for her and that she’s glad she has such a good support group here.
Everything is perfect.
They say that rules are meant to be broken, and while I never fully agreed with that, I know Nova’s worth breaking the rules for. I’d do it a thousand times over if I had to and wouldn’t regret it a single time.
She’s the love of my life.
I watch her laugh loudly, cracking up with all the girls. When the song changes to something with a Latin vibe in it, she gently tugs the girls out of their seats and starts dancing. Her and her sister try teaching London and Midge to salsa dance. I recognize the steps, because she’s done them with me in the kitchen.
Merrick squats next to me, watching them dance.
“She’s great, bro.”
I don’t take my eyes off her. “She’s gonna be my wife.”
Merrick slaps my shoulder. “You lucky ass.”
He’s right. I’m so fucking lucky.
The End
Preview of On the Rocks Kingston Brothers Number One
Royce
“You break up with your boyfriend for me yet?” I ask London as she wiggles into the barstool across from me.
She purses her pink lips and tilts her head. “Sorry to disappoint,” she answers, placing her wallet down in front of her. “You know what I want.”
I smirk at her. “You know what I want, too.”
She rolls her eyes, but a smile plays on her lips. Her head turns toward the stage where the band is setting up.
“New band?”
“Yep,” I answer, pulling the Johnnie Walker bottle out and then pouring it over ice. “They’re pretty good.”
“Gonna be hard to fill the last band’s shoes,” she says, raising her brows at me.
I chuckle. “Yeah, I’d say so. But we can’t keep doing karaoke every Saturday night. It’s been months of that shit, and the last thing I want to hear is a bunch of drunk asses getting up there and screaming the wrong lyrics into the mic.”
