Page 148 of My Brother’s Best Friends Entanglement

Elliot's ranch sits in the middle of nowhere, just like he likes it. Red dirt, distant hills, a homestead built for every creature comfort imaginable, and not another soul in screaming distance. So remote that if any of us don't survive whatever Leon has planned, nobody's finding the bodies in a hurry.

Marcus starts a fight over bedrooms before we've even got our bags out of the car.

“I called the one with the jacuzzi from the plane,” he says, already jogging for the door.

“You cannot call a room from a plane. It's the whole shotgun conversation all over again,” I mutter, and get a look from Rhys.

Got it. We're not talking about her.

“Not my fault you were too slow,” Marcus calls over his shoulder.

“I'm bunking with Rhys, then, and we're going to stay up all night talking about you,” I say, and the look on Marcus's face, genuine, wounded betrayal, like I've just told him Christmas is cancelled, is worth every second of being bagged and thrown in a van.

“You are not. I wanna have a sleepover too.”

“Too late. We're going to watch the first season of The Sopranos too.”

Marcus actually gasps.

“Yeah, good luck with that,” Rhys says, already halfway out the door towards the verandah, not even turning around. “I only share a bed with one person, and it's not either of you animals.”

Well, so much for not bringing up Alexia.

Marcus opens his mouth to argue, then runs out of steam. For a second none of us say anything, we all know what's coming, and bickering won't put it off much longer.

Leon wheels himself into the middle of the living room and parks dead centre, like he's chairing a board meeting, and looks at the three of us with an expression I haven't seen on him since we were teenagers and he found out we'd cut class and gone to McDonald's without him.

“Alright.” He folds his hands in his lap. “Who wants to start.”

No one says anything. So he starts for us.

“Fine, let's do this the hard way. How, and when, did all three of you fuckers decide my little sister was someone you should be involved with.”

No one rushes to answer.

Finally, I step forward. “I can only speak for myself, but I can't tell you exactly when it started.”

“When she moved in with us.” Leon says it like a statement, not a question.

I wince. “No.” I make myself hold his eyes. “Before that.”

He frowns. “How much before? She wasn't even in Adelaide.”

“Before she left.”

Was it really six years ago?

“Are you talking about my twenty-fourth birthday?” Leon's face has gone very still. “I asked if I walked in on something and you said no...”

“I lied. And honestly, it was probably before even that.” I have to look at the floor to get the rest out, throat gone tight. “I'd never done anything about it. But my control slipped that night. We almost—I almost kissed her. If you hadn't interrupted us, I would've.”

Leon swears, low and vicious, at the ceiling.

“We did kiss.” Marcus's voice is quieter than I've ever heard it in fifteen years. He's not looking at any of us, staring instead at a spot on the floorboards. “Three months after your birthday. We ran into each other at a party.”

Leon pins him with a withering look. “Is that all you did?”

“Yes, but...” His jaw works. He drags a hand down his face. “But I did something afterward that's haunted me ever since. I went back inside. And when I knew she was about to walk in and see, I let her catch me kissing someone else.”