Bonham (Pushing Daisies Book 3) by Heather Young-Nichols (the little red hen read aloud txt) 📗

returned to whatever they’d been talking about before we’d gotten there. It was a full minute before I realized what that was. Van had done this jump on stage weeks ago and had almost knocked Daisy over. She’d played it off, of course, and it hadn’t interrupted the song, but she’d teased him mercilessly to the crowd once it had been over. My sister was not only a musical genius, but she knew how to interact with the crowd and make sure everyone had a good time.

“You didn’t tell me you have a twin,” Jurnie said quietly.

“I didn’t?”

She shook her head. “And you’re identical. Like identical-identical.”

A fist came down against the table hard. “You didn’t tell her about me?” Van asked, his face contorted like he was about to cry. “I’m crushed. That’s bullshit, Bonham.”

“I’m used to people already knowing.” In my defense, most people did already know. The people who needed to know anyway. Fans of the band clearly knew.

“How?” he asked loudly. “How would she already know? She didn’t even know about us.”

“Don’t be needy,” Lexi told him. “We’ll compare sometime and see how identical they are.” Then she fucking winked at Jurnie.

A double groan came from across the table. Daisy had a hand over her face and Lawson’s jaw was set hard.

We’d all given Lawson a hard time about being with Daisy since there were six years between them. But no one had given him a harder time than Van. I wasn’t sure why Van was being the most overprotective, but he had been. Once we’d all known we were going to have to accept it, things had been better. Though Mack still grumbled about the age difference. He was the same age as Lawson, so maybe he saw a side of it that the rest of us hadn’t.

Then when Van and Lexi had gotten together, Lawson had been all over Van about his own sister. That had only been a few weeks ago, so we were all still coming to understand our new dynamic.

I guessed the thought of her brothers having sex, for Daisy, wasn’t something she wanted to hear. As a brother, I knew that Lawson didn’t even want the knowledge that his sister was having sex, which she’d basically just said in front of everyone with her comment about comparing Van and me.

That was something I used to worry about.

Van had hooked up with a lot of girls in high school. I’d had a few girlfriends. He’d hooked up a lot on the road until Lexi had come along. I’d hooked up less.

Now, I didn’t care. Compare us because I knew for sure that anyone I was with didn’t leave unsatisfied.

Jurnie bit her lips together when her gaze jumped to mine after Lexi’s comment. Her fingers played with the hem of her shirt, so once again, I reached out to still them.

“We heard your spot on the radio show the other morning,” Daltrey said once the conversation about the on-stage antics of Van Thompson came to an end.

“It was so fun,” she told him.

“But you’re going into accounting?” Mack asked. “You seemed pretty natural in there with the guys.”

“That was the first time I’ve done anything like that.” She wet her lips before continuing. “I loved it.”

“And you’re not unfortunate-looking at all.” Daltrey tipped his beer at her.

Without missing a beat, my girl said, “I’ll take that as a compliment, but I assure you that some people can have a decent personality without being ugly. Or unfortunate. That’s an awful stereotype.” Then she scooted to the edge of her seat and I couldn’t stop watching her. “For example, Van, is Lexi beautiful, or is she awesome to be around?”

“Both,” he said without hesitation.

“And Lawson,” Jurnie said. Damn, it was surprising that she remembered everyone’s names. There were a lot of us and she hadn’t known who we were before. “Would you say Daisy is beautiful or awesome to be around?”

“Both.”

“Point made then.” Jurnie lifted her pizza but paused halfway to her mouth. “For the record, I wasn’t implying that I’m beautiful. Just that people can be both.”

“You are,” came out of my mouth before I had the thought to say it. “Both, but I meant beautiful.”

The group of us basically stayed in the dining room the rest of the night. Mack had some things to go over with us and he had a pad of paper in front of him on which he was taking notes. Every once in a while, Lawson would make a suggestion, which was brave of him. He had no idea if we were open to his suggestions since we weren’t exactly all that welcoming to him in the first place. But he’d taken Courting Chaos from their little gigs around Chicago to headlining an arena tour. That meant he knew what he was doing, so we’d fucking take the advice.

As we talked business stuff, Lexi and Jurnie were beside me whispering a conversation among themselves, even though I’d pulled Jurnie’s chair back toward me so I could rest my arm over the back and trail my fingers up and down her arm. They’d laugh once in a while, but I had no idea what they were talking about.

“Hey, Lawson.” Van interrupted something Daltrey was saying, but I couldn’t for the life of me remember what it was. “Do you want to join the girlfriends over here?” He pointed at Lexi and Jurnie.

Lawson lifted a middle finger toward Van but said nothing and actually didn’t even look at him. Daisy… She might’ve been his girlfriend now, but she was still one of us. She chewed on the corner of her mouth to keep from laughing. Daisy was sticking out from the group with her copper hair, unlike any of the rest of us. The rest of the table varied from Jurnie’s auburn to brown to almost black. Only my sister could be the focus of the room without trying.

When we were finished, Jurnie excused herself to the restroom before we