Snow Job by Tara Wyatt (best classic books to read TXT) 📕

“Man, I had this nice speech prepared about how much I miss you guys and everything, but forget it.”

Rolling her eyes, Aerin stepped in. “How’s everything out in SoCal?”

“Good,” he said, his eyes darting back and forth as he checked for traffic before crossing the street. “Life is really, really good.” His smile was downright goofy when he turned back to his phone, and Sebastian was happy for him. Truly.

And maybe a little sad for himself, but that didn’t take away from the fact that he was happy Theo had found love and happiness and all that sparkly shit.

“Look at you, you’re like a puppy,” grumbled Max, shaking his head. “It’s almost sad.”

“Um, excuse me, aren’t you developing a dating app?” asked Aerin, tilting her head to the side.

“Lots of people create things they would never use themselves. The online dating market is lucrative. So sue me.”

“Speaking of douches,” said Sebastian, grinning despite the fatigue pulling at him. “You should’ve seen this kid I had today. Entitled, enormous chip on his shoulder, horrible attitude. Thinks he’s smarter and cooler and better than everyone else. He’s got crazy talent though.”

Lucian let out a soft snort. “That sounds familiar.”

Sebastian held up his hands. “I know, I know. But it makes me want to help him. Or throttle him. I haven’t decided which yet.”

“Please don’t murder a child. Even I can’t help you get away with that.” Lucian smirked. He pretended to be annoyed with the family’s gossip about him—gossip that he was connected to the mafia, that he was dangerous, that he was a motherfucking badass no one dared to mess with—but Sebastian was pretty sure he secretly liked it. Lucian had taken so much shit while they were growing up that it probably felt pretty freaking good to be king of the castle now.

“How’s Shelby?” asked Theo, referring to the surrogate currently five months pregnant with Javi and Aerin’s twin girls.

Aerin beamed. “She’s great, and the babies are great. I can’t wait to start setting up the nursery once we get back to Dallas after spring training.”

And there went that familiar pang, right in the middle Sebastian’s chest. This feeling of being left behind almost swamped him and fuck did he want a drink or a woman or to go do something else that made him feel alive.

He forced himself to take a breath. To sit with the feeling until it passed. Because it was only a feeling. Nothing bad was going to happen if he just stayed here, right where he was. He just had to keep telling himself that.

“Well, maybe they could be flower girls? At the wedding?” asked Theo. “Lauren and I picked late June next year.”

“Hey, you set the date! That’s great.” Aerin smiled, and they all nodded along. Then, her eyes drifted above the screen of her laptop and her mouth fell open. “Um, yeah, I…I have to go.”

“Is Javi naked? I bet Javi’s naked,” said Sebastian, simultaneously jealous, disgusted, and happy for her.

“Ugh, I don’t want to know,” said Theo, rubbing a hand over his eyes. “I don’t want to think about my sister having sex. There isn’t enough brain bleach in the world.”

“Oh, grow up, Theodore,” she chided, her cheeks pink.

“No, and I’ll give you two reasons: I don’t wanna and you can’t make me.”

“Have to agree with Theo on this one,” said Sebastian. “I don’t want to think about you getting it on with Javi, or Javi naked, or Javi and anything to do with sex. No offense to Javi.”

“None taken!” came Javi’s voice just as Aerin said, “okay, love you, gotta go, bye” and then she slammed her laptop shut.

“I gotta go, too,” said Theo as he stepped inside what Sebastian assumed was the lobby of his office. “I have some phone calls to return before I can head home for the day.” To his gorgeous fiancée, where they’d probably open a bottle of wine and maybe go for a walk on the beach and then have hot, sweaty monkey sex until they passed out.

Not that Sebastian was jealous. No. Definitely not.

“And then there were three,” said Max, shaking his head sadly. “For the record, those two are crazy. I’m happy for them because duh, obviously. But they’re crazy.”

Sebastian shrugged. “I don’t know. Are they? They seem really happy. Happier than the three of us.”

Max frowned. “Hey, I’m plenty happy,” he grumbled.

“Very convincing,” said Lucian, rolling his eyes. Then he turned his attention to Sebastian. “How are you, really?”

“If you’re asking if I’m still sober and in one piece, the answer is yes. Even if it feels like I’m hanging on by my fingertips sometimes.” His voice came out a little raw, a little rough around the edges. He felt naked admitting that he was still struggling, even if he was doing so much better than he’d been a couple of months ago.

“You’re doing great, man,” said Max quietly. “I’m proud of you for getting your shit together.”

Sebastian snorted out a laugh, feeling uncomfortable with Max’s praise. “Yeah, well you might want to hold the fucking parade. I haven’t done anything yet.” After a pause, he asked, “And what about you, Lucian? Are you happy?”

He looked right at the camera and blinked slowly. “As happy as I have any right to be.” He gestured to his expensive suit, his gorgeous apartment. “I get by.”

“But isn’t there a part of you that wants to find what Theo and Lauren have? What Aerin and Javi have?” he asked, wondering if his brothers felt that way too, or if it was just him.

“That’s not something that’s in the cards for me, brother.” Lucian’s voice was gruff, resigned.

“Why not?” asked Max.

“Why are you single?” Lucian shot back.

Max’s jaw went tight, his eyes dark and bright. “That’s a fucking shitty question, Lucian. Because you know the answer.”

“Maybe it’s time you forgave yourself.”

Max said nothing, simply went stone faced and then sighed. “I gotta go. Hang in there Bastian. You’re doing great.” And