Chapter Seven
Luke
Luke:I fucked up
Billy:u did? call the fucking pope
I scowled at my phone. Having this conversation with my renegade little brother was the worst idea in the world, but I was desperate. Telling Gus how I’d made his sister come all over my hand on his kitchen counter wasn’t an option, so I was resorting to my own flesh and blood to talk me down from theedge.
Billy:so...u gonna tell me what you did?
Luke:Mia’s back
Billy:THE Mia? the bird whose <3 you broke to be Captain Birdseye?
Luke:fuck off
Billy:stop texting me then
I tossed my phone aside with a disgusted sigh, then immediately picked it up again and stared at the screen, trying to find the words to explain what had happened between Mia and me two nights ago.Words that Billy would take seriously and not judge by his own low standards.
Luke:I went home with her
Billy:u fucked her
Luke:no
Billy:but...
Luke:...
I let it sit a few minutes. My brother was a wanker, but he had rare moments of intuition that had kept our bond alive since he’d gone off the rails. Moments when he forgot how much he resented me for leaving him alonein Rushmere, and when I put aside how hard I hated him for getting to stay.
But this wasn’t one of those days. Billy didn’t reply, and I had to go back to work.
Later that afternoon, Gus brought me lunch.
I grunted my thanks. He rolled his eyes, but instead of sauntering away, remained at the foot of my ladder, eyeballing me.
Sighing, I slid down and claimed the sandwich he’d dumpedon my toolbox. “What do you want? A fucking snog?”
Gus scoffed.“Je préfère ton frère.”
I scowled at him. Mia had often chewed me out in French, and even when I knew she was calling me a bastard, it had always got me going. Gus was just annoying. “The fuck are you saying about my brother?”
“I’ll tell you if you spill what went down with you and my sister the other night.”
No fuckingchance. Gus wasn’t fourteen anymore, and I doubted he’d take kindly to me finger-banging his sister in his kitchen, regardless of it beingheridea.
A demand that drunk me had apparently been powerless to resist. Did I regret it? Yes. No. Probably.
Fuck. I had no clue. All I knew was that my Mia brooding levels were at an all-time high and I was about to lose my shit if Gus didn’t leaveit alone. “Nothing happened. I walked her home, becauseyouleft her in the pub.”
“Dude, she’s an adult and we live in spitting distance of the boozer. Besides, you’re not convincing me that she let you babysit her. She’d kill you first.”
“So? What do you want me to say? If you’re that interested, ask her.”
“I did.”
