“That’s Alannah,” Cyrus answered. Trenton’s best friend.
“I couldn’t tell with her back to us.” Gavin shifted his gaze to Trenton and then back at Alannah, who’d now turned around and was in conversation with their mother. “What’s up with you and her? The two of you still just friends?”
“Don’t go there,” Cyrus warned.
“She’s more than a friend. She’s family,” Trenton said.
“She ain’t my family,” Gavin said. “I’m just asking a question. The two of you still platonic? Because if you are, I might take a shot at her. I’ve always thought she was kind of cute.”
Cyrus anticipated the impending explosion as Gavin purposely baited Trenton.
“Cut it out. She’s a good girl.” The note in Trenton’s voice had grown harder.
“You’re a better man than me,” Gavin continued. He kept his eyes on Alannah. “She’s got the nerdy librarian thing going on with the glasses and the bun. If I hadn’t seen Alannah in a bathing suit when she came on vacation with us, I’d swear she didn’t have a body under those oversized clothes. Makes me want to take them off and find out how—”
Trenton walked up to his brother and stood nose to nose with him. “Enough.”
Gavin put up his hands with a laugh. “I can’t pay your friend a compliment? Calm down, I’m kidding.”
“It’s not funny. She’s a nice girl. Show some respect.”
The stare off ended when Trenton stepped back and looked out at the lake. Gavin locked eyes with Cyrus.
“I told you,” Cyrus said with a shrug.
Gavin patted Trenton on the shoulder. “I’m sorry, all right? I didn’t come home to create problems. I came to celebrate my sister getting engaged and meet the guy she’s supposed to marry. Let’s forget I said anything about the nice and sweet Alannah.” He flung his arm around Trenton’s neck.
Trenton didn’t hug him back. “You play too damn much.”
Gavin grinned to neutralize his brother’s anger. “Come on. Introduce me to the women who aren’t so nice. Those are the ones I really want to meet.” With his hand still around Trenton’s neck, he hauled his younger brother with him toward a couple of women.
“Those two together will mean nothing but trouble,” a voice said. Xavier had walked over with a drink in his hand. As usual, he didn’t dress the part of a wealthy man. He never wore name brand anything, and today had on a plain shirt and jeans. His dreads were pulled back from his face in a thick ponytail.
Cyrus nodded his agreement. “I feel like I should issue a warning to all the women here.”
Xavier didn’t respond, but Cyrus could tell he wanted to talk. They stared after their brothers as they chatted up two of Ivy’s friends standing over by one of the tables.
“You look tired. You need to get some rest,” Xavier said.
“Somebody has to put in the long hours. You wouldn’t know anything about that, though, would you?”
Xavier bit his lip in annoyance, as if biting back harsh words. Shaking his head, he shot his brother an angry look. “I’m tired of your cracks about the work I do. You’ve never respected it, but it’s work, even if you don’t think so.” Working with nonprofits, he brought attention to the economic inequalities in resource-rich African countries.
“Not the work you were meant to do.”
“What was I meant to do, Cyrus?” He lowered his voice because he’d gotten rather loud. “I’m not you, okay? I was never the CEO type. Father knew that. It’s why he left you in charge. You’re practically a clone of him.” He said the last with disgust, which made Cyrus straighten and stare at him. “Do you even know who you are—outside of being Cyrus Junior?”
“Who else would I be?”