My hand shoots up. “Don’t say her name. Please, for love of everything…I’ve had a good four days. That’s about to take a dip being in the same house as Dad. Don’t say her name and just fuck it all to hell. It’s like summoning Lucifer. No. He’d be better than her. Besides, none of that is your fault. That’s all on me.”
“You protected her. You protected her in ways I didn’t know she needed.” His voice cracks with emotion, not something I’ve seen from my brother often.
“What are big brothers for, right? I mean, it’s definitely not to fall in love with them and defile them.”
His jaw ticks, and I grin. “I’m letting that slide because her…here,” he points down the hallway, “is a big fucking deal. It is a big deal, right, Jagger?”
“I fucking wish it wasn’t, but yeah, Graham, it’s a big deal. I have no goddamn idea where it’s going, but I hope it’s somewhere good.”
“Okay. After you drop her off, come to the house. I really do need your help. Casey won’t let it go unless I promise to do it all myself. For some sadistic reason, she said no staff or hired help.” He walks toward the door, pulling it open. When he’s in the hallway, a smug smile breaks across his face. “By the way, this,” he holds up two fingers with paper between them, “I’m not letting it go. My office, Monday morning.”
He’s turned the corner before I realize what he had. I take off after him, but the elevator doors are already closing.
And I know I won’t see that paper again until I give in to his demands.
Jagger
“Scale of one to ten. How much does Graham hate me and think I’m a home-wrecking slut?” Poppy asks, coming from the bathroom and tucking a pin in her hair.
My laughter echoes through the room from where I sit, pulling on my boots. “I don’t think you meet the requirements to be a home wrecker, Halfpint. He’s my brother, not my wife.” I set my foot on the floor, grab my other boot, and tug it on. “But he doesn’t. On either account.” If he weren’t so floored by the fact Poppy was here at all, he might’ve said something about moving too fast because it’s not like him to not have an opinion at all. I think for a moment his big brain short-circuited, and I enjoyed watching him sputter. It should annoy me that he’s been spying on me for so long. I knew about the last several months, but years? I guess I just assumed he spent all his time and resources keeping tabs on Casey, figuring he was too busy to give me a second thought beyond what I knew of her.
“Okay, so not a home-wrecking slut, but maybe a family disrupting ho? He can’t really just be that chill.”
“I’m sure he has an opinion, but it will take him a bit to get over the misfire his brain had.” I lean forward, gripping her hips to pull her to me. “Stop worrying about my brother. I wasn’t worried before he found out. I’m not now.”
“But what about Casey?” She worries her bottom lip, and her eyes are full of anxiety.
I’m trying not to let it affect me. We’ve had a good few days, and I don’t want it ruined now. The day is going to be hard enough. Getting a head start with her won’t help. But her concern over Casey makes my chest ache. My mind is at war with itself as my insecurities battle with what I know. Trying to convince me that she’ll always choose our sisters’ feelings over me.
It’s been four days, asshole. Calm the fuck down.
Yet, the doubt still comes with a growl. “Thought we moved past this.” I want to look at her, but all I can do is grind my teeth as I fight the bullshit in my head.
God, I’m such a fucking little bitch.
She slides onto my lap, cradling my face between her hands. “Choosing to find out what this is between us—”
“You know what it is,” I growl, my mood in the toilet, too far gone for denial or deflection.
Her breath hitches, nervous. “I know what I think it is and what it could be, which is why I’m risking a friend, which I kind of need because all of mine are scattered across the globe, and possibly a chance at ever reconciling with my sister. Mytwinsister, Jagger. Our estrangement isn’t your fault, but this won’t make a reunion any easier. But being more afraid of regret—of walking away, always wondering what we could’ve been, doesn’t make my concern about their reactions and feelings go away.”
Great. I’m an insecure little bitch, losing his shitanda massive fuckwad, throwing a tantrum like…a little bitch. Apparently, this is me when I like—much, much more than like—a fucking girl.
Be a fucking man, Jagger. Not a tool.
“You’re right.” It burns to admit that, by the way. “But as far as Casey goes, I want to tell you what I told Graham. Neither of them has room to judge you or me. Graham is my biological brother. Casey has been my sister for over a decade. And they’re together because they said fuck what anyone has to say about it, including me.” My head does a little wobble, and I amend the statement. “Okay, maybe Graham said fuck them all. Casey cared, but not enough to walk away.”
Poppy’s thumb continues to stroke my cheek, a smile lighting across her face. “He doesn’t strike me as the type to havelet her walk away.”
I scoff. “He’s not. He bulldozed her ass so hard, but she’d been in love with him since she was a kid. When his feelings caught up—after he stopped seeing her as a kid, it was inevitable.”
“One question. How are we navigating this at the party later?”
“Fucking party.” I would rather have a colonoscopy than be there. I drag my hands up her arms, more for me than her. “How about we just play it cool for now?” It grates my nerves to say that, but it’s for the best.
“Cool? Like we’re fuck buddies? Or something else?”
My fingers dig into her sides, pinching a little while, tickling her sides. “How about two people who find each other attractive and interesting? That are curious where it might go. No need to let on that I’ve been inside every fuckable hole of your body countless times over forty-eight hours.”
