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Ben
She turns away from me, her finger still in the air, and returns to boxes that sit on the floor around her. She moves through the space leisurely, finding homes for pots and pans and glasses and coffee cups, and I watch her.
I watch as she crouches beneath the counter and pushes pans into corners and as she climbs up on the workspace to reach the top shelf for her coffee cups. I can’t help myself when she hops down, all pleased with herself and proud, and a huge grin splits over my face. At some point she’s going to change her mind about that placement, but right now she looks so goddamn happy.
My eyes skim over her body as she reaches up to another shelf, pushing spices and sauces into the back corner. She’s standing with one leg stretched out behind her and her weight balanced on the tips of her toes, as if leaning like this gives her some extra height, and I shake my head. My eyes linger on her hips and I grunt a little as I shift where I lay. As much as I have spent years trying to deny it, I have always loved to look at Mikaela.
The sting of the smack yanks me from my thoughts as a small parcel hits the side of my face and ricochets under the couch.
Jamie hisses at me.Hisses. “Stop.”
I grunt and twist to see the fortune cookie that had been perfectly aimed.
“Why are you throwing shit at me?” I fish it out from under the couch and tear off the wrapper.
“Because you’re ogling my sister like I just fell into ten years ago.” Jamie whispers as he glances to where Mik stands tying her hair up into a high ponytail, oblivious to the whispered conversation just a few feet away from her.
“First of all, I’m not.” I scoff, breaking the cookie in two as I avoid meeting his eyes. “And secondly, I wasn’t ogling her back then either.”
“Like shit you weren’t.” Jamie pushes forwards on the couch and drops his voice further. “She’soff limits,Ben. She is not the girl you fuck and fuck up. Just remember that.”
Sometimes I fucking hate Jamie and the person he still thinks I am.
I huff as I adjust my position on the floor and glance up at Mik as she walks back to us, three beers in hand. This conversation with Jamie will have to wait.
When she extends a bottle towards me I take it with a smile and she scrunches her face up as she looks at me.
“What?” She raises an eyebrow.
“What do you mean ‘what’?”
Mikaela drops back to her spot beside Jamie and passes him his drink, clinking her bottle against his before taking a sip.“I mean, why are you smiling at me?”
“Jesus Christ, the two of you are such suspicious people.” I groan before drinking. “Must be a family trait.”
Mikaela laughs as she looks to Jamie for an explanation. “The two of us?”
Jamie shrugs, his eyes burning a hole in the side of my face. “Yep. The two of us.”
Mikaela
Somewhere in the mess of half unpacked boxes and piles of books, cushions that have been strewn over the floor, and empty beer bottles is my phone. And it won’t stop ringing.
Jamie groans as I lift his legs from my lap and stumble away from the couch, careful not to step on Ben as he snores on the floor. The soft glow from the TV helps me find my way to the kitchen without making too much noise, following the buzz of the phone against the worktop, and I answer quickly, not stopping to check the caller ID.
“Hello?” I whisper, blinking as my eyes adjust to the dark.
What time is it?
“I know I said I’d leave you alone if you didn’t call, but I couldn’t help myself.” Josh laughs and suddenly my stomach is knotting and turning. “I hope you don’t mind me calling.”
“Oh. Erm.” I turn on the spot. Once. Twice. “I don’t mind.” I push myself onto the counter and run my thumb over my ring as I try to wake my mind up a little. I had meant to call him. “Sorry I haven’t called you. I was going to, I swear. I’ve just been moving.”
I hear people talking in the background as Josh hums and glasses clink.
“How is it? The move?”
“It’s going well. I have a lot of unpacking to do this week but I’m in. Jamie helped.” I glance to my sleeping brother, wary of disturbing him, and feel my chest tighten at the sight of Ben sprawled out on the floor. Ben helped too. Even if he did it all with that infuriating little grin.
