AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She’s quiet for a moment. Then she says, “Generous, loyal, kind, gentle, sexy, genial, affable, wicked, gorgeous… How’s that?”
“Okay, that’s better,” I say, mollified.
“You, Mack, and Titus are similar in many ways, larger than life, like planets or stars. Mack’s like the Sun, with all this intense energy, as if he’d burn you to a crisp if you get too close to him. Titus is like Mars, the God of War, defender and protector.”
“You’re going to make a joke about Uranus now, aren’t you?”
She laughs and lifts a hand to stroke my cheek. “You’re Jupiter, King of the Gods. How could you be anything but?”
“And you’re Venus,” I murmur, stroking up her ribs and across her belly. “Made for loving.”
She has another mouthful of whisky and shares it with me. I dip my tongue into her mouth, and she giggles as the whisky runs down her chin.
“This is wonderful,” she says, leaning back against me again. “I’m having such a great time.”
“I’m glad.” I stroke down her arms, then back up underneath them.
She looks out at the stars again, her eyes distant. “Can I ask you something?”
“Of course.”
“What happened with your brother?”
My hands stop moving. I’ve never discussed it with her—with anyone, in fact. Not even Mack knows the whole story.
“Sorry,” she says, obviously sensing my reluctance. “You don’t have to talk about it.”
I don’t want to tell her everything now. But it doesn’t feel right to refuse to talk about it when we’re sharing such an intimate moment. “No, it’s okay.” I start stroking her again, the water swirling around us. “Guy’s two years older than me. He was trouble all the way through childhood—he was the sort of kid who fell out of trees, got caught shoplifting, bunked school. I don’t know why. All my sisters were impeccably behaved, and although I wasn’t an angel, I worked hard. I was head boy, for Christ’s sake.”
“Were you?” She laughs. “I didn’t know that. It doesn’t surprise me.”
“I don’t know why Guy fell so far from the tree, but he was nothing but trouble, and gave my parents permanent headaches. It continued into his teens—he left school after year eleven and stumbled through several jobs. Fell in with a bad crowd. Took harder drugs, lots of alcohol, got into trouble with the police. Mum and Dad did everything they could, but he was out of control. It was always going to end badly.”
“What happened?”
“He got caught doing an electronics shop over. Mum was very upset, and Dad—as you can imagine—was furious. He paid for a top lawyer and got him off, but gave him an ultimatum—turn your life around, or he was out of the family. You can guess which Guy chose.”
She’s quiet for a moment. I stroke up and down her arms and the outside of her thighs.
“Where is he now?” she asks.
“Mum and Dad think he went to Australia, but he came back a year ago. He’s in Dunedin.”
“You’re still in contact with him?”
“Yeah. I send him money from time to time. I haven’t told Dad because he wouldn’t understand. He believes in tough love, but it doesn’t work for everyone. Guy doesn’t step up, pull himself up by his bootstraps, or take responsibility. He crumbles. He’s weak, and he needs help.”
She has a sip of whisky, passing her spare hand through the water. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.”
“Of course you didn’t. I haven’t told anyone.”
“Not Victoria? Or Mack?”
“No.”
“Does Brandy know?”
“Why do you ask that?”
