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“Maxxie!”Cassy squeals as she runs towards me and wraps her arms around my shoulders. She’s wearing her dark brown hair down today and she looks happy, genuinely pleased to be here and to be seeing me. My sister has always had a damn good poker face to everybody but me, well I thought that before she snuck around with Finch for so damn long. If she’s as nervous as I am to see her then it’s news to me.
“Hey, sis,” I whisper as I hold her close to my chest for maybe a beat too long, she doesn’t comment though when I let her go, she’s still smiling wide.
“How are you? You never call me anymore,” she sulks. Straight in with it, my sister never has liked small talk.
“It’s a phone, Cassy. You can use it to call out too you know,” I correct her, trying not to laugh at her pouty bottom lip. That was always her best trick when we were kids, stick that bottom lip out and I’d do whatever it was she needed me to. Beat up someone who teased her on the bus to school, steal money from whoever was fostering us so I could buy her something, hold her hand when it thundered. I always was an over-protective big brother, but she’s all I ever had.
“Well, yes, but you stopped answering,” she reminds me and she’s not lying. I suppose I’ve just not had a lot to say.
“Hmm yeah.” I kick the floor a little as I let the guilt consume me, we’re in a side room of this little venue off King Street. It’s called the Riverfront, when we first played here, we thought we really had made it, that seems like a million years ago now. “So, how’s college going?” My sister is in the middle of her nurse training. I’ve never been prouder of her when she told me she was going for it.
“Yeah, I’m loving it. It’s hard work. Really hard, but I feel like I’m doing something good, giving something back, you know?” She tips her head at me, I don’t know. I’ve got no fucking clue what it’s like to be so selfless to want to give something back to the world. The only thing I’ve given anyone is the music I’ve made with my band brothers. I would have told you twelve months ago that, that alone was enough to move mountains but now not so much.
There’s some commotion by the side door, and it’s like I can sense him before I actually know he’s in the room. I didn’t think I’d ever feel like this around Finch but he feels like a stranger to me now.
“Let me introduce you to the others,” Kyle says to the lad he’s just walked in with. I presume he’s from one of the local bands who are doing this show. He must be about 6ft, his blonde hair perfectly set across his face like a poor man’s Machine Gun Kelly. I imagine he’s taken longer to choose that outfit than I ever have in my life. He can’t be much older than Cassy, but you’d think he’s already a fully-fledged rock star from the cocky way he is walking over towards me. Finch nods at me, barely meeting my eye.
“Josh, this is Max.”
“Hi, man, massive fan.” He tells me and I reach a handout to take his. He cups mine a little strangely, like we’re friends rather than anything else, but I try not to read too much into it.
“And this is my girlfr—” Finch hesitates as his eyes find me again, he spears his hand through his unruly wave of dark curls, he doesn’t look able to finish his sentence. She’s his girlfriend. Yes, we fucking get it.
“Cassy! Cassy, Is that you?”
My sister lifts her head up and a confused smile crosses her lips. This night is awkward enough without spunky wannabe’s hitting on my sister.
“Josh,” she greets him almost curtly. “How are you?”
“Yeah, I’m good, babe, really good. It’s great to see you again.”
She nods. “Likewise.” I don’t believe a word she’s saying. I’m not sure Finch does either as his arm has just weaved around her shoulders, she melts into his tall frame. Like she was meant to always be there.
“You two know each other, baby?” he asks, and I can hear the possessiveness in his voice, I suppose he can’t help it. She nods.
“Yeah, we’ve met.” Her voice is a wobble, and I notice Finch’s hand tighten on her shoulder, a frown covers his face. I should probably feel really mad that he’s holding her that way, but she looks so safe under his arm.
“We’ve more than met, Cassy.” The spunky blonde tells her, and I watch as Finch’s hand clenches into a fist and then unclenches again. As much as I didn’t ever want to admit it, I do like this fiercely defensive streak in Finch when it comes to Cassy. He does care. He’d kill for her, and all I’ve ever wanted is for my little sister to feel safe. He’s got that in abundance; truth be told there’s no one on this planet I trust more than Kyle Finch. So, I should be pleased he’s looking out for her. I’d be pleased if he was just looking out for her. But he’s fucking her brains out too and that’s something I just can’t think about.
Me and Cassy have always been open. Our mum never taught us to shy away from anything. Saying that we’ve never gone into details about it with each other. She knows what it’s like for the band, the different girls every show is not a shock to her system, and I’ve always known she’s had boyfriends and one-night stands, even though I’ve been adamant I don’t want to know a thing about them. I mean, I’ve been known to threaten one or two that I knew would not be good enough for her, not in the slightest. But hey, I am her big brother. Even on the tour I threatened my tech for trying to reach up her skirt, when really my attention should have been on my best fucking friend.
Cassy doesn’t reply, she looks a little lost as she looks up into Kyle’s eyes like he is some kind of prodigy.
“Although it looks like you’ve traded up since then.” The kid with the smirk, who Finch bought in says, did he say his name was Josh? I can’t remember.
“Josh?” Finch’s question is addressed to Cassy rather than him though, she nods a small nod and rolls her eyes, it’s as if they are talking in some secret code or something.
“Josh, are you really Frank DeLacey’s nephew?” Finch’s voice is menacing as he stares down the wannabe.
The blonde kid nods. Frank is Kyle’s security guard and he’s always been close to him. They both have that big-hearted-yet-moody bastard thing going on.
“Amazing, he’s such a great bloke yet you are a grade-A dick,” Finch spits his words out.
Hang on, I’m missing something here.
“I can’t believe it. I’m sorry, princess,” Finch addresses my sister, a scowl crossing his jaw and she still looks at him like he’s a miracle worker.
I’m missing something major here?
