Page 17 of Her Brother's Keeper

“Okay,” she murmured softly and came down the steps the rest of the way. She lifted her scarf off from the hook it was on and wound it around her throat, next she pulled on her coat and zipped it all the way up. A fluffy, purple thing, filled with goose down but a little worse for wear. Probably last year’s or the year before’s coat.

Rush and I did the same with our jacket’s and cuts and made to follow her out. She paused in the archway leading into the living room and took in our furniture move job.

“Is it not right?” I asked and she shook her head.

“No, it’s right,” she intoned hollowly and slipped out the front door. Rush followed her, and I made sure the doors were locked before slipping out myself.

She rode in silence at my side, her leg pressed the length of mine where I sat bitch in my brother’s truck. I didn’t think she’d be comfortable smashed between us, so I’d climbed in next to my twin without a word. He kept glancing at me, giving me the side eye that said clearly,are you sure you know what the fuck you’re doin’?

I gave him a furtive look back that clearly said back,fuck no, but I’m doing it anyways.Rush rolled his eyes skyward and gave his head a little shake, all the while Maren stared sightlessly out the passenger side window deep in thought. Her expression just plain gutted in the reflection against the window glass. It was as if she’d been hollowed completely out and the girl just wasn’t there anymore; like her physical presence remained but emotionally and intellectually she was as checked out as she could get… although I supposed she didn’t need to really be with it to be a cashier for groceries and shit.

We let her off in front of her store and she turned, a little apprehensive, and I smiled, “What time are you off, Angel?”

“Ten-thirty,” she murmured.

“I’ll be here at ten,” I told her and the tenseness in her posture eased a little.

“Okay, thank you,” she closed the door to the truck and went inside. I slid over on the seat, opened up the door and closed it for real, she hadn’t closed it hard enough to latch. Rush let out an explosive breath.

“That girl is wrung the fuck out,” he said, driving us along towards the exit.

“Who you tellin’?” I asked. “She’s as emotionally exhausted as anyone could get.”

“You can’t save everybody, you know.”

“Not trying to save everyone, jackass.”

“Nope, just her and her little shit of a brother for right now.”

“Can you blame me?”

“Yes.” I looked at him and scowled, but he kept talking anyways, “Okay, no. I’d have a hard time not doing something about it, too, but watch yourself Nox. I don’t care if she’s emancipated, at or above the age of consent or whatever – she’s still jailbait.”

It was my turn to stare out at the passing scenery, even though it was dark already. I sighed, and said to my reflection “It isn’t like that.”

“And how the fuck would you know? You know how many guys have said that before? How many of ‘em ended up on the registry because the girl –”

“Rush, stop. I’m a big fuckin’ boy. You should know that. I can take care of myself.”

My twin looked at me like he highly doubted that for a fraction of a second longer than what kept me cool, being that he was the one driving. I snapped at him, “Watch the fucking road,” before I turned and stared out at the gloom and scenery whipping past the window.

I stared down at my cut across my knees and wondered if what I was doing was the right thing too. I mean, I’d known more than a few guys caught up by younger women and fucked over hard for it. I really just wanted to help her, but there wasn’t any denying she was attractive. Part of that attraction was definitely how much she was handling and how much grace she was handling it with. I’d met some thirty-year-old women who couldn’t handle half of what Maren was going through right now.

I mean, she just lost her dad and pretty much become a parent overnight. While I would catch her staring, wide-eyed and vacant, it was far from empty. You could just see the wheels turning as she worked through how she was going to handle this, or how she was going to deal with that.

It hadn’t gone unnoticed by me how much she hoarded the money we’d given her. Instead of blowing it on more Christmas, or hell, even groceries for that matter, she held it aside like it was her lifeline, and to be honest, that was what it was meant for – in case something around her house broke to where I couldn’t fix it, or even one of the guys on a volunteer basis.

She was mature, way beyond her years for sure, but was she really?Doesn’t matter,I told myself.Attractive, sure, but that doesn’t mean you are or should be, looking for any kind of relationship other than friendship.

“I’ll be careful,” I told my brother finally and Rush sighed.

“I know you will, other than Arch, you’re the most careful out of all of us.”

“Arch can’t hold that title anymore,” I said grinning, and Rush laughed.

“Yeah, I guess not… still, can’t believe that bastard gotmarried.”

“It was a good call, though,” I said.

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