“I need to cool off,” he said and wiped his sweaty forehead.


    Then, he grabbed his ss of water and opened the door to the windy balcony.


    Richard–who had finished two bowls of stew–joined him after getting an ice–cold beer from the fridge.


    The two men were chatting with each other. Even though the balcony doors were open, bringing in a gust of cold air from outside, their words were lost with the winds. They had both unbuttoned their shirts halfway to cool themselves. My mouth became dry as I stared at the two guys‘ muscr chests. I wasn’t surprised to see that Richard was fit since he was a bodyguard, but Aiden looked almost as strong as Richard.


    Ava rolled her eyes at her brother. “My brother is always showing off his weightlifting muscles,” she said.


    But I noticed that she was staring at Richard with interest when she thought no one was looking.


    After a few moments of staring at the men, I realized that Alexander was watching me with a smirk. When I realized I’d been caught ogling their muscles, my stomach jolted, and my body heated.


    “So, who do you think has the better muscles of the two?” Alexander murmured in a low voice so that only I could hear him.


    His tone was joking, but I could hear an undercurrent in his words. Was he jealous?


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    There was just no way that I was answering that question. Not when Ava was sitting right in front of me and especially since Alexander was the one to ask it.


    “What are you talking about?” I asked, praying that I actually sounded confused. “I was just staring off into space.”


    “Really?” Alexander raised his eyebrows suspiciously.


    “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said and shrugged. “I lost my contacts a few days ago. I can’t see things that are far away.”


    My hands shook slightly when Alexander frowned, and just from his expression, I could tell that he didn’t believe me.


    Thankfully, Ava jumped to my rescue. “Even with your contacts, you can’t see anything, especially at night,” she said.


    I sighed. “Yeah, you’re right.”


    Alexander’s brow furrowed, but after a moment, he shrugged and then resumed eating.


    When he was looking down, I mouthed a silent thank you to Ava.


    Gai was staring at Aiden with interest, her eyes tracing his strong muscles like I’m sure she wanted to do with her hands.


    “Remember being young,” she said and sighed wistfully. When she nced at Alexander, I almost choked on the sip of water I just


    swallowed. “Remember how we could eat whatever we wanted and not gain an ounce?”


    When she realized what she said, Gai’s eyes swam with regret, and she pped a hand to her mouth.


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    My eyes widened, and Ava looked between Alexander and Gai like they were about to fight.


    Alexander’s fork fell from his hand and ttered onto his te. He red at Gai, and fear made my blood run cold. Would he fire her right here and now?


    “Oh,e on, now,” Ava said, attempting to keep the peace. “None of us are that old. Besides, being young is not all it’s cracked up to be. Aiden is an idiot.” She smiled affectionately at her brother. “I love him, but he’s young and dumb. At least all of our frontal lobes are fully developed, and we aren’t stumbling through life.”


    But Ava’s speech didn’t seem to lessen Alexander’s bad mood. If anything, it seemed to piss him off even more.


    I shifted in my seat and cleared my throat. Quickly, my mind shuffled through all the possible ways I could save this night, but I couldn’te up with anything.


    *Olivia*


    To make matters worse, Richard and Aiden weren’t helping. They were acting like stereotypical men: flexing andparing their muscles on the balcony and arguing over who was in better shape.


    The wind had died down a little, and now we could hear what they were saying.


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