Page 74 of Her Brother's Keeper

“Oh,” Everett shrugged, “why not?”

“Uh, because I have some class?” I hazarded and was met by peals of laughter from the both of them.

“Ha, ha, ha! Laugh it up!” I mock-griped.

“Take me home and you can be as classless as you’d likeaftermy brother has been fed and watered.”

I pulled her into my arms and kissed her carefully. We hadn’t really let on to her brother that we were sleeping together and it’d pretty much been pure hell sleeping alone in my bed since. Especially considering the sheets had still smelled like my angel for a good night or two after she’d been and gone.

It was Friday, and while I still had to work tomorrow, I had every intention of sleeping well tonight in my girlfriend’s bed. Maren smiled back at me after our kiss and let me lead her out the front door to Soul Fuel with some lingering goodbyes to Evy. While we got astride my bike, Dray pulled up on his to pick up his woman.

“Keep the shiny side up, brother!” he called over the mutual chugging of our motors and with a quick fist bump, I turned Maren and I out into the lot and went for the road. She held onto me tight, but not out of fear. My Angel was fearless on the back of the bike, and I do meanfearless.

The other day on the way to her school, she’d wrapped herlegsaround me and when I’d glanced in the side view mirror it was to see her leaned comfortably back against the sissy bar, texting a message to someone on her phone. When we’d stopped, I’d asked what the hell that had been about and she’d given me a cheesy grin and had told me it was her research partner for a science project, asking a question.

I’d shook my head, and had to laugh at it. I think she’d scared the hell out of me with that, but she seemed completely unfazed. The whole thing had made me not only admire her but love her even more. The fact that she loved to ride, a thing that was just so basically and fundamentally a part of me… I loved her for thatso hard.

The windows of the house were all aglow when we pulled up to the curb. The light had failed a while ago out here, even though the days were getting longer; it being a Friday, Maren had worked late which is why it was fully dark when we pulled in. She got off the bike and took off her helmet, holding out her hand to me and it made my heart swell. I took it and stood, following her into the house, fingers loosely clasped together through the thick layer of our mutual gloves.

“Sage! We’re home!” she called up the stairs, pulling off her gloves. When no answer immediately came, she let go of my hand and pulled the face mask off, her lithe fingers going for the buckle on her chin strap.

“Sage!” I called out, and Maren and I hit the stairs almost in unison. I stepped back and let her lead, but stayed right on her heels.

We found her little brother sitting in the middle of the floor of her dad’s room; boxes scattered around him, bits and bobs taking up room in some of them, a photo album sitting open in his lap. His face was stained with tears and he looked up at his sister.

“I thought I could do it, so you didn’t have to but there’s so much stuff here.”

“Sage, what are youdoing?” she asked, aghast.

“You should take Dad’s room. We can’t leave it like this, you know? He’s gone and he’s not coming back… You’re dad now, and mom, and my sister and you should have his room. It’s the biggest.” Sage broke down, started crying, and like the lost little boy he still was, he reached for the only comfort available to him, his big sister.

Another reason I loved Maren, she went to him without the slightest hesitation. She went down on one knee and pulled him into a tight hug and let him break down. No matter all the shit he put her through, no matter how rough he treated her, she was always there for him and every time I saw it, I melted just a little bit more inside.

It was everything Rush and I had ever dreamed of having in a mother, growing up. Everything we wanted, and couldn’t have, and I was man enough to admit, if I couldn’t have it there, I would rather have it here, in the woman who shared my life and my bed. I just never expected that generosity and healing to come in such a young package.

Maybe I was a selfish son of a bitch being thirty-six and taking everything freely that Maren had to give at eighteen, but she was the first person I’d found this kind of selflessness and love with and I didn’t want to give it up. I wanted it, and I wanted to give hereverythingfor it.

I leaned a shoulder against the doorjamb, blown away by some of these silent revelations inside my head. Working my own issues I’d carried surrounding our age difference that’d been silently gnawing at my underbelly. I put ‘em to rest right there. Let ‘em go, and cemented my place in Maren and Sage’s lives. I went a step further by murmuring, “You guys take your time, I’ll go down and get dinner started,” before I stepped back and did what I knew I could to make this difficult time easier on the both of them.

I went downstairs and checked out what Maren had thawed and started making something out of it. She came down after a bit and wrapped her arms around me, snuggling up to my back. I put my hands over hers at my waist while the meat crackled in the pan on the stove and asked low and quiet, “You okay?”

“Yeah,” she said, “We will be, I just had no idea he felt that way about Dad’s stuff.”

“I think that’s what his shrink would call a breakthrough, wouldn’t you?”

“Mm, he’s washing his face and putting on sweats, he’ll be down in a little while.”

“When do you want to finish what he started up there?” I asked, and took back my hands to stir the chicken in the skillet.

“I don’t know, maybe some here and there until it’s done?”

“Sounds fair.”

“I don’t know howIfeel about taking Dad’s room,” she said.

I turned around, twisting in her arms to pull her close, tucking her head under my chin and pressing a kiss to the top of her hair.

“Let me ask you something, knowing you as I do… Does itmatter?Angel, we both know you’re gonna do whatever it takes to make your brother happy. It’s who you are. It’s what you do… my question is; what can I do to make this transition easier onyou?”

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