“No, you won’t,” she says with the kind of smile you see nurses wear in care in retirement homes. “Look, we all know you’re at home on Saturday night because you’re just far too busy mastering the universe to be interested in love.”
“I have a date,” Brin pipes up. “That’s nothing to do with love.”
Primrose spins around. “Don’t make me get the spray bottle again.”
“You might need to take it home with you. Mum’s doing a roast for lunch tomorrow, and I’m not the only one out tonight. El’s bound to turn up reeking of sex particles.” He wiggles his finger in the air as though sex particles were an actual thing.
“Urgh, why are my brothers so gross?”
“Looks like I’ll be leaving my money to the cat and dog’s home.”
“Not you, Leif, obviously. You’re my favorite.” Prim flounces away, snatching up the TV remote as she throws herself into the middle of one of the sofas. “I’m going to catch up onLove Island. Is that all right?”
“Go ahead. They’re your brain cells to lose.”
“I’d rather eat my own feet,” Brin says, lifting his beer bottle to his mouth as the panel concealing the TV begins to slide automatically apart. The monied classes don’t like to admit to owning idiot boxes, it seems, despite there being one in almost every room of this house. Even in the bathrooms.
“Where’s El off to tonight?” I pull out a stool at the kitchen island.
“You mean you don’t know?” He puts the bottle down, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.
“Would I be asking if I did, arsewipe?”
“He’s taking Mimi out tonight, the bastard.”
“What?” Something pinches between my shoulder blades, forcing me to sit straight.
“You know why, don’t you?” Picking up his beer, he tips the base my way. “It’s because he heard I was taking her out to lunch on Monday.”
“You were what?”
“I brought her coffee and offered to take her to lunch. Speaking of which, you know,” he adds, shifting his weight to his left leg, “it’s not right, making her work through her lunch hour. A girl’s got to eat.”
“I didn’t—” Fuck it. What’s the point in arguing when there are more important matters at hand. “I thought they weren’t going out until next week.” That’s what Mimi said, hadn’t she? Something hard and cold settles in my belly, and I begin to wish I hadn’t been such an avoiding prick and called her after yesterday. She probably thinks the worst of me, feeling her up like that, then ditching her to make her own way home. This family sometimes…
I realize Brin is still talking.
“I told him, you’re just jealous because she smiles at me.”
“She smiles at everyone,” I mutter. Sunshine is second nature to her, but what neither of my brothers is conscious of is that she also burns in my arms hotter than the sun.
“Yeah, but she smiles at me more.”
And she tells me she’s curious. That she enjoyed my direction. That she wants to know more. She playfully suggests she takes me shopping and accuses me playfully of being everything from a grump to a voyeur. I see so much more of her than they do, and I’m not just thinking about her arse in that skirt.
But that doesn’t mean anything. It can’t mean anything. I have to let this go. El is nearer her age, and he’s fun. If you have a thing for gormless idiots, I suppose.Hell, Brin’s even closer to her age. Maybe they’d be better for her.
“Anyway, he only brought the date forward because he wanted to get in before me.”
“In?” I sort of growl, the connotation making my blood boil.
“Yeah, you know. In with a chance.” He makes a rough gesture with his fist, the kind that pisses me right off.
“If either of you lay a finger on her…” I mutter, rapidly changing my stance. This pair is unworthy of her attention, let alone her kisses.Or more.
“Come on, bro. You can’t blame us. Mimi’s fucking gorgeous—she’s banging!”
“Urgh! Can you actually hear yourself?” We both turn to the sound of Primrose’s disgust. “That’s an actual human person you’re talking about!”
