"Yeah, mate, I know. But luckily your brother is a party connoisseur, like myself, and believes that we should party at least three months in advance. Which I can get behind."

"Of course, you can. You realize we basically do this every weekend anyway, right?"

He grinned at me sloppily. "Did you have a point, mate?"

I shook my head. "No. No point. Having fun?"

He grinned and slapped me on the chest several times. "Yup. Having a blast. I'm going to go find a very pretty blonde and have her sit on my lap instead of me sitting on yours. You're not as pretty, sorry."

Bullshit. I was fucking pretty. "No offense taken."

He tried to climb up on his own, but eventually, I had to shove him up off of me. My brother leaned over the back of the couch I was sitting on. "Are you having fun, baby brother?"

"Yeah, are you?” I tried not to slide my gaze to his drink. But it was difficult.

You don't have to take care of him anymore.

It's not like it would help. But Xander was different now, no longer trying to numb his pain with pills and booze. A year ago, I had been chasing after him, worrying about him, trying to get the booze out of his hands and keep the drugs out of his nose.

But he'd gotten a handle on things. He’d stopped with the drugs and seriously pulled back on the alcohol. I didn't even think he liked the drugs. They’d just been something to do, and then eventually they’d become something he needed to function. But when I’d managed to get a camera back into his hands, he’d quit.

The drinking now was more of the social variety. But still, the memory of that time, trying to keep him from killing himself, was stamped fresh on my frontal lobe, and I couldn't shake it.

He caught my gaze then lifted his glass toward me. "Just the one. It's your birthday. You get to celebrate."

I shook my head. "Nah, mate. I'm just not in a celebratory mood yet. Got a lot on my mind."

He nodded. "Dear old dad?"

"Ah, it's like you’ve met him. He's a right downer, isn't he?"

"Yeah. That's his job, being a total arse. But try and enjoy this. Birthdays come only once a year."

"This coming from the bloke who insists I celebrate all year? Who celebrates their birthday like that?"

"We do. We're the Chase brothers, and we can do whatever the fuck we want. So if you want to celebrate your birthday all goddamn year, we can. After all, we are royalty, aren't we?"

I snorted. "Forgotten princes of a forgotten land."

He clinked his glass with mine, "Uh, don't forget exiled and forgotten princes. Ahh, imagine what it would be like if our dear old ancestors hadn’t been ousted. How different do you think shit would be?"