“What did I do? Is that the kind of welcome your most favorite little brother in the whole world deserves?” Justin asks playfully, twin dimples forming on his cheeks as he smiles down at her.
“You’re my only brother, little or big. And speaking of… Did you hitanothergrowth spurt?” She slaps his arm and scowls. “Unfair. How did I get stuck at 5’1” and you just keep growing? You’rehoardingthe height in this family.”
“Can’t help it if I inherited the tall and charming genes,” Justin says with a shrug.
“Tall, sure. Charming? Questionable.” She drags him toward where I’m standing at the counter. “Syd, look who came crawling back from nerd camp! And he brought you a giant stuffed animal to add to your growing collection!”
Justin sets the bumblebee on the countertop, turning his attention to me with a crooked grin. “Hey, Syd. It’s been a while. You look good.”
“And you look…tall,” I answer, fighting to keep a straight face. “You know, for a brat.”
Justin recoils. “No, don’t do that to me. Don’t try to bring that stupid nickname back.”
“Like it ever went away. Come on, if you act like a brat for most of your life, you’re going to earn the nickname. It’s only fair,” Jade says. He was never that bad, not really. But it only took him tattling on us one too many times for the name to stick. “But you’re avoiding my question. What are you doing here?” Her grin widens, and she pokes his ribcage. “Did you graduate early, you little brainiac?”
“Close!” Justin says excitedly, matching her smile with one of his own. “I quit!”
The smile slips off my face, and I turn to Jade in shock. It takes a few seconds for her brain to catch up.
“What do you meanyou quit?You dropped out of your PhD program?”Jade asks in disbelief. She smacks him on the arm, and when he barely reacts, she smacks him again, punctuating each word with another slap. “Aftereverything? You were so close to finishing!”
“Hey, back off! Mom and Dad already gave me hell for it. I don’t need this from you, too,” Justin says, fending off her punches. He rubs his arm where she was hitting him, but I know it’s just for show. There’s no way she was doing any damage with those adorable little slaps. The physical strength of an infant, my Jade.
“You already told Mom and Dad?” Jade swallows audibly. “Yikes. How’d they take it?”
“Well, let’s just say I would love to crash on your couch,” he says, avoiding her eyes, a blush coloring his cheeks. “Because I am not really welcome at home right now.”
Jade winces. “Fuck. I mean, yeah, of course you can crash at my place, butfuck. At least you’re avoiding the dropout stereotype of living in your mom’s basement.” She says it as a joke, but there’s no disguising the pity in her words.
“Somehow crashing on my sister’s couch doesn’t feel much better.” Justin throws back his head and blows a lock of darkhair out of his eyes. “But thanks. I just need to make a little money and crash somewhere while I figure out what my next steps are. So, if you hear of any place that’s hiring—”
“He could work here,” I say to Jade immediately. “I mean, it’s not a lot of money, but we’re finally turning enough profit to hire someone. And we’ve been talking about needing some part-time help.”
“Yes!” Jade says, clapping her hands together excitedly.
Justin doesn’t look so convinced. “I don’t know. I don’t want to put you out and?—”
“Shut up, stop acting like you’re even remotely considerate, you brat. You’ll take the job. In fact, you can start right now,” Jade tells him, picking up a dish rag and chucking it at him.
He catches it, frowning. “Does this mean I have to call you ‘boss’?”
“Absolutely you do!” she says cheerily, with just a hint of evil coloring her smile.
3
ALEC
My entire life,I’ve only let four people get close enough to know the real me.
The first was Ashton. After what happened with my parents, I spent years living on the streets, no better off than the rats that infest this city, fighting for every crumb of food and scrap of shelter I could find. The orphanage wasn’t much of an improvement. It was kill or be killed at a place like that. At least it was for the lifers like me, the kids no one would ever want, with no hope of adoption or a happily ever after. The broken children.
Ashton was different. He wasn’t broken, not fully. He got the attention the rest of us craved, landing himself a foster family after only a few months in the system.
And another after that.
And another.
No matter how many times he forced them to bring him back to the orphanage, the universe still gave him another shot.
