It all started with a game

Chapter 21.1

"How did it go?" Klaus whispered, staring at my mother as she talked to her new boyfriend.

I grimaced. "He hugged me."

Klaus chuckled, knowing how much I hated it. "He what?"

We didn't get a chance to finish the conversation as our mother wrapped up her own conversation, dragging us into observation. "Mi amor, these are my children: Sonny, Klaus, y Violeta."

"It's lovely to meet you all. I'm Elijah. And this is my nephew, Jaylen." He gestured to Kavinski.

I'd always wondered if Kavinski was his last name, I guess that answered the question. I kept hold of Ryder's hand, hoping it would be enough to soothe the searing anger rushing through him. "And that is my daughter's friend, Rafael." My mother directed our attention to Ryder.

I locked eyes with my mother, a coy smile playing on my lips. "Well, I don't know who Rafael is but this is my boyfriend, Ryder." I didn't take my eyes away from my mother for a second, earning me a very disapproving look from her. My brother's tried their best not to laugh.

Ryder rested his hand on my thigh, stroking his thumb across it in a soothing motion. I took a deep breath. Fine, if he wants me to calm down, I will.

"I met him at the door." The man's smile was beginning to become sickening.

My mother allowed Elijah—if he wasn't so nice I'd probably pretend to forget his name just to spite her—to take a seat, serving the appetizer. I don't think I've ever even eaten an appetizer before.

She set the bowl of soup in front of us. "Tortilla soup—"

Ryder and I struggled not to laugh, remember her prior comment about the tortillas.

"I hope you like it." She smiled at Elijah. "And don't worry, I remembered, no tomatoes in one bowl," she informed the three of us, mostly directed towards me but she was too caught up in her pride to actually say it directly to me. "Rueben-"

I already knew who she was referring to. "Ryder."

"Ryder. I hope you like tortilla soup. I had the menu planned before I knew you were coming." Before she knew of his existence is what she wanted to say, clearly another shot at me. "Jaylen, if you don't like it, I can always make you something else."

Oh, but if Ryder doesn't like it, he just has to suck it up and deal with it?

Deep breath. My brothers started digging in to their meals way before I even got a chance to think about it. I was far too angry to eat. I scrunched my nose, at least thankful that I got my favorite meal, the only good part of the night. I blindly scooped a random ladle of soup, not bothering to see if I actually got any of the good part or just the broth. I brought the spoon to my lips. Ryder and Klaus both shot their hands out, catching my wrist before I could get the spoon into my mouth. I glared at both of them, wondering what in the world got into them. The two of them had a death grip on my wrist, surely going to leave a mark. "What?" I snarked, immediately feeling bad for taking my anger out of them, especially after I saw the reason they were holding onto to me: sitting dead center of my spoon sat a small sliver of a tomato, enough to block my airways and leave me for dead considering my epipen was lost somewhere in my room. That could have been bad.