Page 15 of Her Brother's Keeper

“Shut up, Rush,” Nox grated at his brother. He sat down next to me while I tried to regain my composure.

“I’m okay,” I lied, standing up abruptly. If Nox touched me, I couldn’t guarantee I wouldn’t fall completely apart again and I couldn’t risk it. Not with Ariel coming any minute.

“Um, let’s just get the furniture moved back, please?” I asked and I hated how my voice held that tremulous edge to it like I was a crazy person on the brink.

“Just breathe, Angel,” Nox murmured, but when he stood, he made no move to touch me. Just shrugged out of his jacket and hung it on the banister. I blinked, I hadn’t realized he was so heavily tattooed. His one arm done from what looked like his shoulder, all the way to his wrist. The design ending in a neat line at his wrist, like he wore skin tight shirt sleeve on one arm.

“Where’s the sofa go?” he asked gently and I shook my head, “It goes here, but let me run the vacuum over it first,” I said, sniffing back new tears and got into the hall closet so I could pull out the vacuum.

I ran it over the area rug in the living room and set it aside just as Ariel knocked on the door.

“Just a minute!” I called softly, but Rush was already there, pulling the door open.

“Oh! Hi,…um, who are you?” Ariel asked, both taken by surprise and nervous.

“Rush,” he answered succinctly and Nox went over to him and smacked him on the shoulder.

“Gonna have to forgive my retarded twin; that’s Logan, I’m Landon, and we were just helping Maren out, shoveling the driveway and now putting back the living room furniture for her.” Nox turned to Rush and said, “Make yourself useful and let Sage know his ride’s here.”

He scowled at Rush and Rush looked back raising an eyebrow. It was subtle what they were doing, but the silence stretched on for almost a full minute, and in that time, it was as if they held an entire conversation that neither Ariel nor I were privy to.

“Sure thing,” Rush said, and took the stairs two at a time, stopping outside Sage’s door and knocking.

“You okay, Sweetie?” Ariel asked and I nodded.

“Sage is really upset, I’m trying but it’s um…”

“Exhausting?” Ariel asked, “Overwhelming?” she supplied and I smiled nervously and nodded.

“Yeah,” I agreed. Nox gently took my elbow in his hand.

“That’s why we’re here to help. Steady.”

I nodded some more and Ariel eyed Nox cautiously. I could see her taking in his tattoos and his and his brother’s jackets over the railing. Rush’s had joined Nox’s while I’d vacuumed the rug and I could tell Ariel was uneasy about their being here.

“It’s fine, Ariel. I promise these are the men I was telling you about, the ones that made sure Sage and I had Christmas.”

“Oh,” she said and didn’t sound quite convinced.

“Sure did, we put together a charity ride. I was impressed with how much the club and its supporters put together on such short notice, but we did it.” Nox smiled the smile that always managed to disarm me, and it apparently had the same effect on Ariel. She smiled back and some of her nervousness eased.

“Thank you so much for what you did for these kids,” she said and Sage came down the stairs, his backpack on and a gym bag over his shoulder. Rush came down just behind him, a hand on my brother’s shoulder.

“Be good for Ariel, please,” I asked him and managed to keep my voice even.

“I will,” he said and pushed right past me out onto the porch, making his way to Ariel’s car and his best friend Ian without so much as a goodbye.

“Is it bad?” she asked and winced at my expression.

“When he’s not telling me that I wanted our dad to die, it’s not even close to pleasant, why do you ask?” I said, voice dripping with sarcasm.

Ariel looked stricken, “Oh Maren, I’m so sorry!”

I grimaced, “It’s alright if he misbehaves, just call me and I’ll come get him.”

“I think it will be just fine, maybe he just needs to get out of the house,” Ariel suggested.

“Yeah, I hope that’s just it. Speaking of which, I need to finish this up and get myself to work. Thank you so much for taking him tonight.”

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