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“Well, fuck.” I say, honestly perplexed. Hannah and Aleksy are like magnets. They pull each other back whenever she's not with James but she’s with James.
He rolls his eyes. “You’re going to make it a big thing when it's not.” He gives me a look that tells me to keep it to myself. A very stern look actually.
“I won’t say a thing,” I say innocently.
He scoffs, doesn’t believe a word of it. Smart man. “Anyway, I’ve got to go eat something, I’m starving.”
“Look after yourself, please? I miss you.” I say seriously.
“Miss you too, I'll speak to you later.” He hangs up the phone and honestly, I thought speaking to him would put my mind to rest but I’m more worried. He doesn’t look like himself. He seems deflated and this business with my dad, he would never admit it to anyone else but Alek is deeply affected by what happened when we were kids. He felt the absence of our father more greatly than I did. He isn’t as close to Steve and when Jack and Michael were born, I think Alek felt pushed out. So It was always me and him as our own team. The guilt is eating at me if I'm honest, maybe I'll try to visit sooner than Christmas.
4
Casimira
9 Months Earlier
Brixton, London
“Alek, are you in?” I call as I shove his front door open. The smell of lemon disinfectant fills my nose as I step into the narrow white-tiled hallway. He keeps this place immaculate. He’s always been like it, ever since we were kids he’s been a total clean freak. I don't know where he finds the time between working on his cars, sleeping and being the friendly neighbourhood drug dealer. I’m 99% sure he has more hours in the day than me.
“I’m in the kitchen.” He calls just as Julius, Alek’s dog comes trotting out to greet me. His paws click on the tiles, big sandy face excited to see me. He’s a big lump, an American pit bull. Looks terrifying but he's a real baby. I heft the still-warm glass dish higher on my arm and kick the original hardwood front door shut behind me. I pause to give Julius a scratch behind his big ear. He's gorgeous, sand coloured with white patches on his legs. I call them his stockings. He sniffs at the dish in my other arm. “In a minute,” I promise him before strolling into the light grey kitchen. Alek’s house is lovely. Two bedrooms, neutral colours, lots of natural light. The kitchen is my favourite. It has a big skylight and patio doors so it feels super airy and when it rains the sound is almost spiritual. I fell asleep in here once during a thunderstorm, very easily done.
He sits on the low sofa by the doors to the garden, protein shake on the table in front of him whilst he types on his phone. “God, put some music on its depressing as fuck in here,” I say. He glances up and spots the dish in my hand as I place it on the kitchen counter, Julius hot on my heels. “Tell me that's what I think it is?” He asks.
“Golabki.” He’s on his feet before I've finished speaking. “Mum sent me over with it,” I say as he grabs a fork from the drawer and peels the tin foil back.
“It's still warm.” He groans. “That woman is an angel.” He starts attacking it and I grab a fork so I can hold some out for Julius. Alek tries to grab it before I do but Julius is quick, he snatches the pork and darts out of reach. “You’re the reason he's a fat fuck.” Alek says muffled from his full mouth. I laugh as Julius licks at his chops giving me grateful eyes. Alek is meticulous about his Julius. Raw diet only, health supplements, he religiously takes him on two long walks a day. He’s ridiculously strict on his training and treats him a bit like a military dog if you ask me but not my circus, not my monkeys. Alek rolls his eyes and I push away from the counter and head for his bedroom. “I need to grab my passport from your safe.”
He says something unintelligible before catching up to me, still chewing. “I’ve got a new one. It's fingerprint recognition.” He glances down at my shoe about to touch his carpeted stairs and he gives me an annoyed look. “Shoes.”
I roll my eyes and slip my sliders off, kicking them to the side. “Fingerprint, really? What are you, MI5?”
He rolls his eyes and pushes in front of me, using the bannisters to launch him up the last couple of steps. Opening up the spare room which acts as his wardrobe. The rest of his house is minimalism but here it's maximalism at its finest. Overflowing with clothes and shoes. Majority of his stuff still has the labels on because he buys more clothes than he has a chance to wear. He opens a cupboard in the centre dresser and presses his fingerprint to the pad.
“Christ Alek, why do you need one that big?”
The door clicks and swings open. He starts rummaging around, his back to me. “Why do you think Einstein?”
I take a peek and shut my mouth when I see the amount of money in there. That's a lot more than I remember. I’m not an idiot. I know he’s progressed recently in terms of the volume in which he sells but, most of the time I just try to ignore what he and Tom do. It’s easier that way.
He slaps my passport in my awaiting hand and locks it again motioning with his head towards the safe. “Whilst you're here, put your print in.”
He codes mine to it as well. Not out of the ordinary, I always know the code to his safes for emergencies.
“You booked your flight then?” He asks as I follow him back downstairs.
I hop up on the counter whilst he goes back to eating. “Yeah, two weeks.”
“How's she getting on over there?” He asks, tone neutral but I know he’s still hurting over her. To be fair the feelings are mutual. They have a very on-off relationship corresponding to the very on-off relationship she has with James. She loves them both in very different ways and I'm not sure she knows how to handle it. I hope Hannah and my brother are end game. I've never known two people to be so in sync and gravitate towards each other as those two but, the only way Hannah would go there with Alek for real is if he gave up selling drugs and got a proper job, which I can’t see happening anytime soon.
“She's good, I think they are finally settled in. You should come?” I knock his shoulder with my elbow.
He gives me a dirty look over his fork. “Fuck that.”
“You wouldn't have to see James.”
“That prick would make it his business to get in my way and you know it.” As you can imagine, Alek and James do not get along. There was a particularly nasty fight between them last year where he broke James' nose. Not exactly ideal.
