“No, but I figure if you had a baby sister she totally would.” Ava sucks in a breath as a look of horror takes over her face. “Oh my God! I’m sorry.”
“She was older.” I know what she was thinking. Ava would never want to hurt me, never want to hurt the memory I have of Steph, not that she knows that much about her. I’d love to share it with her sometime if she’d be up for it, and, knowing what a great person she is, I’m betting she would be.
She gives a solemn nod. “I sort of like being your kid sister.” She winks, carefully pushing us past the awkwardness we landed in. “You definitely have that overprotective brother mechanism built inside of you.” She glances past me toward Rush and frowns. “But I was sort of hoping Rush would have picked me—you know, that night, to be his little sister.”
The crowd screams in unison as if agreeing with her.
My heart thumps wild like a sledgehammer trying to drum its way out of my chest. “Why’s that?” I think I know why, but I want to hear her say it.
“I don’t know.” She shrugs, turning her face to the field. The floodlights overhead wash her white as snow—nothing but lashes and those raspberry lips. Her eyes glint in the light, and you can make out her pupils lost in a clear sea of blue. I’ve never seen a creature quite so perfect, so boldly beautiful that even nature isn’t quite sure what to do with her otherworldly beauty. Ava is a stunner. There’s no way I’ll ever let Rush get his sexed-up hands on her. Not happening. “If I spent as much time with Rush as I do with you, maybe he would have noticed me by now.” Her cheeks piqué with color. “You know, as a woman.”
A quiet roll of laughter rumbles through me, but I stop short of letting it loose. Ava is a woman? Avaisa woman. A damn beautiful woman. Yeah, she is somebody’s kid sister, but technically, she’s not mine. An image of her sitting on my lap, that wicked grin of hers ignites as she strips off her sweater, and I’m met with a lacy bra, that deep well of cleavage.
I snap to and take a quick breath. Shit. Down, boy. Do not go there.
“I think he notices you.” I swallow hard. It’s tough not to notice Ava. I’ve seen half the guys at the frat house notice her on more than one occasion.
Ava leans back, inspecting me for moment, her brows bent with disappointment.
“At least someone does.” She gives the slightest hint of a frown, but I can feel her displeasure with me.
The crowd loses it, and we spend the rest of the game on our feet.
Ava wants to be noticed, and I can’t seem to stop doing just that.
All night long I make sure Rush is too busy noticing anyone else but Ava.
Now that’s a good big brother.
But the last thing I’m feeling toward Ava anymore is brotherly.
Saturday morning, I get up with the sun and head to the place I haven’t been in weeks. The Hollow Brook Cemetery is icy, abysmal with its spray of fallen maple leaves tickling the gravestones as they dance in the breeze. I make the trek to the crest of the hill where we laid Steph to rest all of those horrible years ago and kneel at her headstone, wiping away the grime that’s settled over the granite while thumping my fingers over her carved name.Stephanie Nicole Jones, Loving daughter and sister. Gone too soon.I wanted to add to it at the time. Something poetic that painted a picture of her nestled in God’s arms, but my father thought simple was best. He was probably right.
“Hey, Steph.” I lay a single white rose over her grave, the granite frozen like tundra.
“Sorry it’s been so long. I guess you can say I’m enjoying Whitney Briggs.” I let the breeze whistle by me a moment as I gather my strength. “I have something to tell you.” A knot builds up in my throat. All night I thought about doing just this. For some reason, it feels right breaking the news to Steph even before I break it to myself.
“I met a special girl.”
Sibling Rivalry
Ava
“Imet a special boy.” I stare at my sister with that red moppet that sits on her head twirled in a bun. Aubree has always dyed her hair a beautiful auburn as a quasi-ode to her moniker, but at the North Carolina Women’s Correctional Facility all she can purchase in the commissary is a bottle of peroxide, thus the burnt orange ball of fire resting on her head like a flame.
“A boy!” She claps her hands together as if I just announced Ihadone rather than spotted one in the wild. Not that I’ve simply spotted Grant. I’ve talked and stalked him into a near oblivion over the past few weeks. I can’t help it. That boy is perfection through and through, not to mention his heart is so big all I want to do is quell the pain he’s constantly in.
“Yes, a boy.” I glance back in the event Owen is about to walk through the door. He excused himself to the restroom, which means I have less than five minutes to spill the hormonal details to my older, not wiser, nor saner sister—and I do.
“Wow.” She winces as if I just gutted a fish on the counter between us. “You joined Kappa G?”
“Would you pay attention to the important details? This boy makes my heart swim into my throat. He’s drop-dead gorgeous, and, for the life of me, I can’t get him to notice the fact I actually belong to the opposite gender.”
“Maybe he doesn’t like theoppositegender. You ever think of that? You’re hot, honey. If that boy doesn’t notice you, then he’d better get his eyes, heart,andballs checked out.”
“He has an ex. Some long-time girlfriend that he broke up with last spring. She’s coming down in a few weeks—I’ll get to meet her. Oh joy.” My stomach sours at the thought of meeting the formidable Darcy. “She still texts him all the time. I’m practically joined at the hip with him, so I sort of have a front row seat to the technological debauchery.”
“Joined at the hip, huh? And you honestly don’t think he notices you?” Aubree licks her lips from side to side two times fast. It’s a habit of hers I remember from as far back as when she lived at home. It’s kind of heartwarming to see that the girl I once knew is still buried inside of this stripped down version of my sister. “I had a big brother myself, and we were never joined at the hip. I mean, we hung out, got coffee once in a while. I think we saw a movie once, but that was a member function.” Her lids flutter as if reliving the memory. “How about the other girls? Any other brothers sniffing around their matchups?”
