Page 23 of Scotch & Dreams

“Aye, we are, thank God. She’s the baby in the family. Heart of gold, that one, and a little spitfire too. Orlagh. Helena had called her Rolo since she was a baby. And after a while, we all started to call her by it. Before Helena died, she'd roll her eyes at us when we called her that, but since, it's like she wears the name proudly. She was only twelve when Helena died. It was hard-on all of us, but Rolo looked up to Helena so much. We all did, but I think being the only other lass in the family, she idolized Helena. It was really hard to see her so heartbroken.” His sister's pain felt almost worse to him than his own. He remembered wishing he could take the pain for both of them. Like if he could only carry her burden, he would.

“I can’t imagine.” Violet’s eyes glistened with tears.

“Anyway, we got through, I suppose. We are all close,” Lachlan felt a familiar heavy ache settle in his chest, “except for Drew.” He rubbed a hand over his jaw. “In some ways, I think he took Helena’s death the hardest.”

“What makes you think that?”

Lachlan didn’t really have an answer. “Drew was thirteen when the accident happened. I think maybe it was his age. Our poor mam, she thought she’d had a hard time with my twin, Alex—he was a dare devil. My da swears he is the reason for his white hair, but Drew? Drew was a rebel. Always trying everything from smoking to drinking to sex. He was always playing in various bands with his friends—which was sometimes a good thing—but trouble always seemed to find him.”

Slipping her hand from his and moving to lean back against the arm of the tuxedo sofa. Her knees bent up, and her bare feet settled mere inches from his thigh. If it had been anyone else’s feet, he’d throw a pillow over top so he didn’t have to look at them, but with Violet’s, he had to fight the urge not to pull them onto his lap. And slowly slide his thumb along the hollows of each feminine arch.Christ Mackenzie, he chided himself inwardly and lifted his gaze to the darkness outside so he could focus his thoughts.

“Your brother played in music bands?” she asked, blissfully unaware of his unruly musings.

"Aye, there was barely a day that went by when there wasn't a racket in the garage. When Helena died, it was like Drew cut himself off from all of us. He was just with his friends, and a lot of them were absolute shite disturbers.”

Violet’s chuckle drew his attention. Her apple cheeks were rosy, perhaps from the whisky. “Sorry,” she grinned, “didn’t mean to interrupt.”

“Shite disturbers,” she said in a mock serious tone, urging him to continue.

Feeling his lips tug in a smile, he carried on. “Aye, shite disturbers. I dinnae ken. It’s like Drew just got swept away into a different world. There were various bandmates over the years, but also he seemed to always hang out with some real arseholes.”

“Got it, shit disturbers and arseholes. That can’t be good.” She bit her lip, clearly trying to stifle a giggle.

Cheeky lass. Christ, he liked her teasing, though. “This is a serious story,” he admonished with an arched brow.

“I’m sorry,” she said soberingly as she repositioned her long, slim denim-clad legs to sit cross-legged, and he regretted her feet sliding away from him.

“Och, lass, yer showing yer Canadian again,” Lachlan teased, and the smile she gave him made his heart stutter.Damn.

“Tell me what happened with Drew,” she coaxed with her throaty honey voice.

Lachlan stretched his arms over the length of the settee and crooked one arm to take a fortifying sip of his whisky. “Drew had less and less to do with us, and then about two years ago, he just up and left without a word. After a few days, he messaged Orlagh to say he was gone and for us to not bother trying to find him. He’d find us if and when he was ready. Today was the first time I’ve seen him or spoken to him since.”

Surprise flashed in her eyes. “You haven’t spoken to him at all since he left?”

Lachlan shook his head. “We didn’t even know where he was for the last two years.” His brow creased, and his voice grew thick. “The older Drew got, the more he began to drink. He’d lose himself in drink and women. He was always a flirt, our mam said he flirted even when he was a wee babe. I suppose it is his nature, but god, he went through women like they were nothing more than chewing gum. New flavour all the time, chewing them up, and he just spat them out. It’s no’ that they werenae willing participants, but it just seemed so meaningless. I thought he was trying to numb his pain with women and alcohol, and I made the mistake of telling him so.”

“Oh,” Violet said with her mouth in a perfectly shapedO.

“Aye, it wasnae good.”

“I can imagine.”

“I called him out on his shite—told him he needed to grow up.” Lachlan shook his head, the memory sitting like a lead weight. “I didnae handle it very well. And neither did he. He came out right and told me that he blamed me for Helena’s death.”

“Oh, wow. That’s heavy.”

Lachlan nodded.

“I’m so sorry. If I hadn’t been there today, things could've gone so differently,” Violet said, regret marring her beautiful features.

“What? No." He didn't want her thinking that today had anything to do with her. It hadn't. Not really.

“Lachlan, you literally punched your brother defending me,” Violet argued.

“Ach, Lass, I’ve been wanting to punch him fer years. Ye just gave me a good excuse.”

“Really?” she said meekly.

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