Page 12 of Her Brother's Keeper

“I asked you to shovel the driveway!”

“I’ll do it later,” he said but I was less concerned with that.

I set the basket of clothes down and told him, “Never mind that. Get off the game and put these away.” He rolled his eyes so hard I was pretty sure he saw his own gray matter, but he paused the game and slid off the end of his bed, standing. He grabbed the basket off the floor and put it on his bed and started going through it.

“Thank you!” I called over my shoulder, my feet already carrying me back to the stairs, the front door the next target in my sights. I wanted to know who was out there. I pulled my coat off the line of hooks by the door and shrugged it on. I opened the front door, stepped onto the front porch and squinted in the direction of the drive, blinded by the sun reflecting off of the snow, my eyes automatically watering as they struggled to adjust.

I blinked at the two bikers, snow shovels in hand, a pickup parked at the curb as they cleared out in front of my garage. They looked up and Nox gave a wave.

“Figured you could use a hand.”

“You have no idea,” I said back and rolledmyeyes pretty hard. “I’ve been asking Sage to get out here all morning, but you should have said something, or come to the door!”

“Nah, wanted to make sure you could get out so you could get to work on time.”

I smiled in spite of myself and wondered if my dad were up there, playing some kind of a funny on me, sending me angels dressed in leather and black. The other biker stomped his feet on the drive.

“Is it okay if I salt this?” he asked. “Temperatures are supposed to drop, and if you come home after dark, it’s gonna be an ice rink.

“Uh, no, no problem at all! Please, in fact.”

“Cool, I’m Rush,” he came forward and stuck out his hand, “I’m this retard’s twin brother.”

I shook his gloved hand and smiled, “Maren, and my retarded brother is upstairs.”

The front door opened, and Sage cried, “I am not, and you’re retarded!” before he slammed the door and I heard him lock it.

I sighed and said, “Jokes on him, my keys are in my pocket.”

Rush and Nox laughed, and Nox shook his head, eyes unreadable under his wraparound sunglasses.

“You want, I can have a talk with him later,” he said.

I sighed again and it was a heavy one this time, “It’s okay, I wasn’t exactly leading by example there, you know?”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself, Sweetheart,” Rush said. “It ain’t easy raising a kid at your age, let alone a pre-teen.”

“Thanks,” I murmured. “Um, can I get you guys something hot? Coffee, tea, some soup maybe?” I asked, remembering my manners.

“That’d be great,” Nox said with a smile, “Whatever ya got, you know? Whatever’s easiest,” he said gently.

“What he said,” Rush replied, going back to shoveling.

“Okay,” I murmured, blushing lightly. I couldn’t help it, Nox had a good smile.

I let myself back into the house and called up the stairs, “Sage! I’m making lunch, what do you want?”

“Food!” he called down over the heavy artillery of his video game.

“Fine, but turn that down!” I yelled up.

He turned it up louder and I hung my head. “Pick your battles, Maren,” I reminded myself under my breath and was shrugging out of my coat when the front door popped open. Nox winked at me, his sunglasses on the top of his head.

“Hey, Sage!” he called up the stairs.

“What?” my brother demanded rudely.

“Shut that off, man! I can hear it all the way outside. Better yet, why don’t you come down here and help us out?” Nox called.

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