Kiss My Sass [Books 1 & 2]

[book 2] chapter five: the end of the summer solstice

SILENCE. NIKO WAS met with pure silence. I looked to Brenton who looked to me, in hopes that one of us would react on behalf of the other. There were a million thoughts whirring through my head, none which I could say aloud. Marriage? Niko was considering marriage? He was only twenty-three years old! He didn't even know how to tie his own shoelaces, how could he be ready to get married?

"Wow," Brenton finally said.

"Yeah, wow," I added in a shaky voice.

"You guys are so happy for me you're speechless? Come here you two!" Niko pulled us both in for a hug, not realizing our speechlessness had nothing to do with happiness. He wrinkled his nose as he stepped back. "One of you stinks."

"You're right, I should go shower," Brenton abruptly said.

"Why don't you take a warm bath to calm your muscles?" I offered. "I'll go draw you a nice bubble bath."

We both swiftly turned on our heels and went up the stairs, taking them two at a time. Once we were in our bathroom, we shut the door and turned on the exhaust fan so no one could overhear. Despite our previous fight, we had more serious matters at hand.

"Is he insane?" I cried.

Brenton looked mortified. "He's giving up his freedom!"

"He has no plans for the future."

"He'll never get to hook up with another girl again."

"He doesn't have a secure job."

"He'll be stuck with the same woman for the rest of his life."

"He doesn't even have his own place."

"He's signing his life away."

"And what about kids?"

Brenton's eyes widened. "I'm too young and hot to be an uncle!"

I rolled my eyes. "We can't let Niko make the biggest mistake of his life."

"I'm pretty sure his biggest mistake was dating our stepsister three years— uh, yeah, we have to stop him," he corrected when he saw the glare on my face. "But we can't tell him ourselves."

He was right. If we weren't supportive then Niko would be upset and he'd probably go through with the wedding anyway to prove us wrong. What we needed was for someone else to intervene and stop this from happening. We needed someone like...

~*~

"Pardon me?"

I pulled my cell phone away from my ear, wincing at how loud she screamed.

"It's true, Mom," Brenton spoke into my phone speaker. "He's getting married."

"Getting married? He can't even tie his own shoelaces!"