Aaron came through the door, closing it behind him, clucking his tongue at her. “That’s not very sisterly of you, Abby.”
She led him to the dining room table, not wanting him to get comfortable on the couch. “Abandoning Mom and me for two years isn’t very brotherly.” She sat down, not offering him a glass of water or anything. “Why are you here, Aaron? What do you want?”
Pulling out the chair across from her, he leaned back, slouching down, one ankle propped on the opposite knee. “I thought we covered this before. I came to visit Mom for Christmas. And now I want to see how you’re doing. Make sure this guy is treating you right.”
With a bark of laughter, Abby shook her head. “Whatever, Aaron. You haven’t given a shit since you left. Why now all of a sudden? Where’ve you been? Why did you come back?”
“Oooh. ‘Shit,’ Abby? Your language has devolved since I left. Your boyfriend a bad influence?”
“You know, it hasn’t escaped my notice that every time I ask you a question you refuse to answer or change the subject.”
He smirked again. “You always were the smart one.”
She stared at him. His expression didn’t change. “Okay. Well, you’ve seen where I live. Now it’s time for you to go. I have homework.” She stood.
He didn’t budge. “I thought you said you had plans.”
“I do. That’s why I need to get my homework done now. Time to go. It shouldn’t be a problem for you. You’re good at leaving.”
His hand flew to his chest, clutching at his sweatshirt under his open coat. “You wound me, Abby.”
She didn’t say anything, waiting for him to stand up. She knew her barb hadn’t actually hit its mark. Not with Aaron.
The sound of the door handle turning broke their staring contest, Abby’s head swiveling toward the sound.
Lance walked through the door. “Hey, Abby. How was your—” He cut off when he saw Abby standing at the table, her brother sitting across from her. “What’s going on here?”
“Aaron came by for an unexpected visit. He was just leaving.” Abby stared at her brother some more.
He stood, slowly unfolding himself, puffing out his chest as he stepped closer to Lance. “So this is the boyfriend, huh?” He glanced pointedly around the apartment. “I’d’ve expected better from some guy with a full time job. According to Mom, you make good money.”
A muscle ticked in Lance’s jaw as he set down his keys on the little table near the door and took off his coat. “Is that why you’re here? Money?”
“No, Lance—” Abby tried to break through the extra tension between Lance and her brother.
Aaron cut her off. “Why? You got some for me?”
“Aaron!”
Lance stared him down, his nostrils flaring. “If I do, you’ll leave and leave her alone.” It wasn’t a question, but a hard command. Abby had never heard Lance use that tone of voice, not even when he’d been angry at his dad when they were in Texas.
Abby tried to step between them, but Lance reached out and pulled her to his side. Aaron still wore his smirk, his blue eyes calculating as they ran over her and Lance standing together. Lance reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet, taking out a handful of bills and holding them out toward her brother. “Here. This is all the cash I have on me. Take it and leave.”
Abby drew in a breath, ready to object, but the pressure of Lance’s fingers on her hip stopped her.
Aaron looked them over again, reached out, and snatched the wad of bills from Lance’s fingers. He gave them both a nod, his shoulder colliding with Lance as he passed them to leave. Abby knew it was deliberate.
Once the door clicked close, Lance strode over and flipped the deadbolt and the lock on the handle before coming back to Abby. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her in close. “You okay?”
Abby nodded. “Yeah. He showed up like ten minutes before you got home. He still won’t tell me why he’s here.”
“What did he say?”
“Just that he wanted to visit Mom and make sure you were treating me right.”
Lance made a sound in his throat that Abby couldn’t decipher.
She pressed her face into the fabric of his dress shirt, inhaling him, letting his scent fill her to replace the smell of stale smoke that followed her brother around and letting the feel of his arms around her ground her again. “I wish he’d just leave. We were fine without him. Why is he here? What does he want? I wish he’d never come.”
Lance ran his hands up and down her back, soothing her. “I know. Me too.”
When Lance inhaled to say something else, Abby pulled back and pasted on the brightest smile she could manage. “Hungry?” She didn’t want to hash this out right now. There were too many things going through her mind. Worry, irritation, frustration. At her brother. At herself. At Lance. She couldn’t believe he’d just given Aaron money. She didn’t even know how much. And she’d just stood there and let it happen. She knew that money would seem like just a little taste to Aaron, and he’d be back for more now.But right now, anything she said would come out sounding angry and the last thing she wanted was to get in a fight with Lance over that. Better to change the subject.
His brows were still drawn down, his eyes searching hers, but he let go of whatever else he might’ve said, brushing his lips against hers in another brief kiss. “Starving. Did you have anything planned for dinner?”
“Not really. Delivery? Or should we go get something?”
“Let’s go get something. Let me change real quick.”
He disappeared into the bedroom, leaving the door open while he discarded his work clothes for jeans and a long-sleeved henley shirt. Abby put on her shoes and jacket while she waited for him, completing the actions on autopilot. Aaron had grown more and more manipulative as a teenager, and his sudden reappearance and evasiveness meant he was working some kind of angle. Money seemed to be the key to Aaron’s appearance today. Once Lance gave him the cash, he left without protest, making Abby think that’s what he’d been hoping for all along and why he hadn’t acknowledged her attempts to get him to leave. He’d been hoping to catch Lance at home and get money out of him, because he already knew Abby didn’t have much of her own.
Why did he need the money? She harbored no illusions that what Lance gave him was enough to get him to leave for good. And she knew that he would leave again at some point. He’d done it once already. She’d rather he just go sooner than later so she could quit worrying about it. How much money did he need to leave? And could she come up with it without involving Lance?
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“Lance gave him cash? And then he just left?” Megan gaped at Abby, her soapy paintbrush suspended over the pool of brown suds in her palm.
“Yeah,” Abby sighed. “He’ll be back though. I couldn’t tell how much Lance gave him, but it couldn’t have been more than maybe sixty bucks.” Abby sat on the edge of the counter next to the kitchen sink while Megan cleaned up after working on the painting Abby was modeling for. It featured her hands surrounded by two other pairs of hands, each progressively darker in tone. Posing with three people, two of whom were large football players, made for some awkward contortions. They ended up with Abby kneeling on the floor with her hands on a table draped with a neutral silver cloth, one guy standing off to the right with his hands around hers, and the other guy off to the left with his hands surrounding them both. The guys were awkward about it at first, hesitant to touch each other that much or for that long, but Megan and Abby kept chatting and cracking jokes. Eventually the guys relaxed enough that it wasn’t too bad. Hopefully the next session would be less awkward. And it would be the last one.
Megan stopped staring at her, returning her attention to the paintbrushes that still needed cleaning. She shook her head. “Man. I still can’t believe he’s back at all. I didn’t think we’d ever see him again.”
“Me too. I didn’t want to see him again.” Not like this, anyway. Not with him showing u
p and being the asshole who left and would definitely leave again once he got however much money he was after. It would be different if her brother actually wanted a relationship. But that’s not what was happening.
Megan made a sound in her throat. Abby wasn’t sure what that meant, but decided to take it as agreement, because anything else would piss her off right now. “I’m not surprised he’s after money, though,” Megan said.
Abby sighed again. “Yeah. Me either. I wonder what he wants it for.”
“Drugs?”
Abby considered that. The thought had occurred to her too. She shrugged one shoulder. “Maybe. Who knows? He won’t tell me anything. If he can’t deflect a question, he just refuses to answer it. It’s maddening, but I can’t force the information out of him. I don’t really care, honestly. I just want him to go. And not come back.”
Chris came into the kitchen, clutching his chest, a look of mock-pain on his face. “I’m wounded, Abby. Why do you want me to leave and not come back? And this is my house!”
He came up behind Megan, placing a kiss on her cheek. She turned her head to kiss him on the mouth. The somber mood in the room lightened with Chris’s antics and subject change.
Abby shook her head, chuckling. “Not you. I’m happy for you to stick around. And you know I’d never try to kick you out of your own house.”
With an arm still around Megan’s waist, he lifted his head, his hazel eyes twinkling. “Nah. You just steal my roommates. You can’t have this one back, though.”
Abby laughed. “That’s okay. I’m happy with my current roommate. He’s messier, but he doesn’t get hungover as often.”
“Hey!” Megan reached over and smacked Abby’s thigh, leaving a wet handprint on her jeans.
Abby laughed. “You know I love you, Megs. If you got desperate, we could find a two bedroom, and you could move in with Lance and me. But I’m not trading back. Chris’d just have to deal with living with Matt on his own.”
“Aw, man. Don’t sentence me to that. Dude’s been moody as fuck since he came back after Christmas.”
“Oh, oh, oh!” Megan’s eyes widened, and she clutched Abby’s leg, making another wet handprint since she’d gone back to washing her paintbrushes and not bothered to dry her hands.
“Hey! You’re getting my jeans wet! It’s cold out!”
Megan rolled her eyes. “Don’t be a baby. You’ll dry before you leave. Shut up and listen to me. You’ll never believe what happened last weekend.”
Chris snorted, suppressing laughter and drawing Abby’s attention for a minute, but when she looked at him he just shook his head. She refocused on Megan. “What happened?”
“Matt brought a girl home. From the club we all went to, except you and Lance decided to be boring.”
Abby made a face. “You know I don’t like clubs. They’re too loud and everyone’s drunk and grabby.”
Megan waved a hand. “That doesn’t matter right now. Anyway, so Matt was fine at first, but then got all pissy after a while. We figured he’d bail on us, and he did. What we didn’t figure on was walking in on him and some chick half naked on our couch when we got home.”
“What? Oh my god.” Abby had seen Matt with girls at parties and stuff since the summer, but he’d never had anyone over that she knew of either when Lance had lived here or since Megan had moved in before fall semester.
Megan nodded her head, her brown curls swinging wildly, her brown eyes wide and gleeful. “Yup. He was shirtless and grinding against her. She had on a dress, but a few tugs and she wouldn’t anymore.”
“What did you do?”
Chris broke out laughing. “She asked her to model for her paintings.”
“You didn’t.” But Abby knew that was totally something Megan would do.
Megan waved a dismissive hand. “Of course I did. She’s exactly what I’d been looking for and didn’t realize it. And she agreed. She’ll be coming over on Saturday. I’m kind of surprised she’s not here now, actually. She’s been over most days this week. Her name is Hannah. I like her. She agreed to model for me, so she’s got my stamp of approval. Matty’s been really quiet about her, though. He won’t give me anything but the most basic info. I’m not sure what the deal is there, but I hope it works out for him.”
Chris grunted. “Me too. Maybe he’ll be less pissy if he’s getting some on the regular again.”
Megan gave him a look. “Be nice.”
“What?”
Megan rolled her eyes at him, and he moved away, getting a glass out of the cupboard on the other side of the sink and stealing Megan’s water to fill it up. He gave her one more kiss on the cheek and left the kitchen.
“You know he knows everything about what’s going on with your brother, right?”
Abby tensed up. “What?”
Megan wrapped the paintbrush in her hand in a paper towel, her eyes wary as she looked at Abby. “He and Lance talk. Whatever Lance knows, Chris knows. And Chris asks me how you’re doing with everything too. He cares about you, you know.”
Abby made a noncommittal noise in her throat.
“It’s not a bad thing.” Megan’s voice was carefully neutral, which Abby knew meant she’d been thinking about saying this for a while. “He’s very protective of the people he cares about. It’s one of his better qualities.”
“If you say so.” Having overbearing dudes offering their “protection” didn’t always feel like a better quality. She loved Lance, so she was willing to make some concessions for him, especially since she knew he did the same for her. But Chris? He was a good guy, and she was happy for Megan and him to have found each other. But she wasn’t in the market for another protector.
Megan glared at her. “I do say so. It’s okay to let other people help you out, Abs. You know I’m always here for you, but you can let in other people too. Like Lance. And Chris, and Matt too when he’s not being a tool.”
Abby made a face. “I do let other people care about me.”
The noise Megan made this time was clearly disagreement.
“What? I do! I flew to Texas to meet Lance’s family, and I didn’t even fight him on who should pay for the plane tickets,” Abby pointed out reasonably. “And I had you and Chris look after my mom while we were gone.”
“Yeah. I know. You did. And that’s good. It’s a start.” She gave Abby a sardonic look. “Though I still maintain that you didn’t fight Lance about the plane tickets because you couldn’t afford to pay for yours and still pay for your half of the rent.”
“So? I could’ve just refused to go. A few months ago I would’ve.” She’d considered it for a few minutes, actually. But she could tell how much it meant to Lance to take her to meet his family. And even though she’d been nervous, she wanted to meet them too. It was a big step, meeting the parents.
“Yeah. That’s true.” Megan finished with her last paint brush, laying it on the counter with the others, crossing her arms over her chest, and propping her hip against the counter. “And I’m glad. But now that Aaron’s here sniffing around for money, I’m worried you’re going to shut us all out again. And I’m not in your apartment to pry you open when you close up like a clam. So don’t do that, okay? Tell me if I can help you. Let Lance help you. Let Chris and Matt help you. With anything. Everything. Okay?”
Abby studied her friend, appreciative of the concern and the gesture, but knowing deep down that there was no way that she’d ask them for money for her brother. It bothered her enough that Lance had given Aaron the money he had already, but she couldn’t have stopped that at the time even if she’d tried. But Megan wouldn’t understand all that. She’d insist that they’d all help however she needed, even if it meant paying off her brother.
Not wanting to argue, she just said, “Okay.”
Megan studied her before nodding once. “Good. That’s settled. Now we need to discuss your birthday.”
Abby groaned and slid off the counter, following Megan back to her studio so she could finish puttin
g everything away. Chris glanced at them over the back of the couch as they passed.
“No moaning or groaning, Abby. It’s your twenty-first birthday. We’re going to celebrate, and you’re going to like it.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Abby gave Megan a salute.
Megan stuck out her tongue. “Shut up. Don’t be a brat. I know you don’t like going clubbing, so I won’t drag you out to that.”
“Oh, thank god.” She knew Megan thought it was boring to stay home and watch a movie on a Friday night instead of going to a party or a club, but getting Lance all to herself? That was heaven. And it’s not like they actually watched the movies they put on anyway. It was just an excuse for naked sexy time, which was anything but boring.
Too bad Megan wouldn’t let her get away with that excuse for her birthday. And she did want to spend time with her friends, too. Just not anywhere overly loud. Or full of random strangers.
Megan gave her another sour look. “I was thinking we’d just have all of us hang out here. We’ll have dinner, cake, wine, whatever other alcohol you might want.”
Relief washed over Abby. Even though Megan was her best friend and knew her almost better than anyone, sometimes Megan decided that she needed to broaden Abby’s horizons. Push her out of her comfort zone. And Abby could even admit that sometimes Megan had a point. If she hadn’t allowed Megan to drag her to that party over the summer, she never would’ve met Lance. But for her birthday, she really wanted something more low key. And it looked like she would get it after all.
Leaning against the wall, Abby watched Megan put her brushes away. “Wine’s fine, plus whatever anyone else wants. I think I can handle that kind of birthday party.”
“Good. It’s settled. Fortunately, your birthday is on a Saturday, so we can do it on the day you turn twenty-one.” She grinned. “It’ll be tons of fun. Even if it is quieter than what I would want.”
Abby gave Megan a knowing look. “You got to booze it up when you turned twenty-one in August. And I went with you even though I was depressed as all hell because that was after Lance left, and I thought I’d never see him again.”
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