I laughed, but it didn’t feel that funny.
“You not seeing anyone, Seph?” Callum raised a brow and took a sip of his bourbon.
“No. I’m done with picking random women up. I leave that to Shay now.” It was true. I’d still been socialising, but most the time I wasn’t drinking. My workload was huge and I needed to be at the top of my game. Nights out during the week didn’t help when I needed to be at my desk before seven.
Callum gave me the side eye and shook his head. “Don’t forget, you’re younger than us.”
I shrugged. “I’ve found your report from when you were fifteen, Cal.”
He groaned. “I don’t want to ever fucking relive those years. Put it away.”
I opened it out, seeing the near perfect grades and the comments that suggested his teachers had been frustrated with his lack of effort. “There are some classics here:Callum really must proof read his work; Callum would benefit from spending more time focusing on the task in hand, rather than what might be at hand laterand here’s my favourite,if charming other people was a subject, Callum would gain an A. However, with current progress, the best Callum can hope for in French is a C.”
“My French teacher was an absolute brute. He hated the fact that I could remember stuff when I looked like I wasn’t listening.” Callum whipped the report from my hands. “I’ll show this to Wren later; she’ll probably frame it or something.”
“How is married life?” I looked round at my three brothers. “Any different than before?”
“Fucking awesome so far.” Max beamed bigger than I’d ever seen. “Just can’t wait for the baby.”
Jackson tapped his fingers on the table. “I know it’s a crude statement to say ‘you’ve locked it down’, but being married does make you feel like you’re in a partnership and someone’s always got your back. I don’t feel like I have to keep impressing Vanessa to keep her with me – I do it now because I want to make her happy. I’d do anything to make her and Teddy smile.”
“Apart from take your muddy shoes off when you come in,” Max muttered.
“Don’t get me wrong, we argue, and I still have no space in the bathroom, but that’s just part of being married. I should put a note up about the shoes.” Jackson looked at Callum. “I doubt Wren gives a shit about muddy shoes?”
Cal laughed, a genuine happy laugh. “Or she gives a shit. She doesn’t say anything, she just gets revenge. Last time she used one of my favourite T-shirts to mop up.” He sobered his laugh. “I still feel like standing on top of a mountain and screaming that I managed to get the girl. Finally.”
“You go stand on top of a mountain and shout. That’s fine. As long as we can’t hear you,” Max said. “We sound like a bunch of soft-arsed bastards.” He looked at me. “But don’t get serious with someone just for the sake of it, Seph. You need to find the right woman.”
“How do you know?”
Max looked at Jackson and then Callum. “We never repeat this conversation, especially to any of the women.”
They both nodded.
“You don’t stop thinking about them. You’ll do anything to spend time with them; you’d do anything to look after them, even if they can look after themselves, you just don’t want them to have to; you’d gladly walk over broken glass or sell a kidney or watch Real Housewives, just to make them smile.” Max folded his arms and tried to look menacing, obviously needing to do something to balance the soft shit he’d just come out with.
“One thing to remember though,” Callum kicked my shin. “They need to feel the same way about you.”
27
A box of condoms, extra small – Seph to Shay
Shay
“You realisethis is the first time I’ve been out properly in about two months?” I pushed a hand through my hair and wondered whether it was fashionable to have hair that looked like it needed a cut.
My cousin shoulder checked me out of the way of the mirror and straightened the glasses I knew he didn’t need. “That’s because you’re a workaholic. You’re not going to convince me that you haven’t had sex for that time though.”
“Sex is a form of stress-relief.” He was right; I’d not gone without. Caroline, a paediatrician I worked with, and I, had a friends-with-benefits arrangement. She was tall, Amazonian woman who pretty much scared the shit out of me, and had no intention of ever settling down with anyone. The first time we’d slept together, she’d kicked me out of bed before my dick had even softened and demanded I leave so she could get five hours sleep before her next shift. I’d felt slightly used, to be fair, but not enough that we didn’t make a semi-regular thing out of it.
There was also a nurse who’d started at the hospital and we’d managed a few hours in between shifts in her rented room in a shared house nearby. I suspected she’d like something more, but I was in no position to promise anything to anyone.
I was married to my job.
And maybe someone else too – just I had no idea where she actually was right now to be able to ask for a divorce.
“Dry spells are something I manage to avoid.” I watched Seph ruffle his hair and pretty much pout at his reflection. “Unlike you.”
