Page 117 of Dead Pretty

I lower my cell phone to the sofa, putting it on the arm.

Jack comes over and sits by me. Eleven is now squished between us. She doesn’t seem pleased by this at all and jumps down from the sofa, wandering into the direction of my bedroom.

“You have a brother?” Jack says quietly beside me.

I bring my eyes to him and nod.

There’s a flash of something in his eyes that I can’t quite decipher and a little line between his brows.

I know that happens when he’s thinking intently about something. Which is why I ask, “You’re frowning. Why?”

“I’m not.”

I press my finger against the little crease, rubbing it out.

“That’s just called old age.”

I laugh. “You are older than me, so it makes sense you’d wrinkle first.”

He rests his head back against the sofa, eyes still on me. “Does it bother you that I’m older?”

I shake my head. “Does it bother you?”

“No.” He’s still watching me.

I know there’s more he wants to say, and the anticipation jangles my nerves.

“So, you have a brother …”

And there it is.

Jack lets the words hang in the air.

“Yes.”

“Does he live close by?”

“No.”

He nods in response to my answer. “Any other siblings?”

“No. Why all the questions?” My voice is a little sharper than I intended. But I don’t want to have this conversation about my brother. Because it will lead to my adoptive parents and their deaths, possibly even my biological parents, and I really don’t want to talk about any of them right now. I don’t want to talk with Jack about my past, period.

“Just wondering if I need to look out for more than one brother who will want to kick my ass for screwing his sister.” His eyes are smiling, but the lines around his mouth are tight.

I’ve upset him with my harsh tone. I hate that I have.

I don’t like that I’m so messed up. I wish I were different for him.

Jack and I are in this pseudo relationship, where neither of us really knows the other.

All I know about Jack is that he was in the military, he’s an author, and he fucks like a god.

And all he knows about me is that I have a brother.

We know so very little about each other.

How can we have a real relationship when we don’t know anything about each other?