JOSH
The brief camaraderieJules and I experienced at the clinic fizzled less than twenty-four hours later, when I arrived at the airport’s private jet terminal to find her looking bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, and all too smug about beating me to the airport.
“You’re late.” Jules sipped her coffee. No doubt it was a caramel mocha with extra crunch and oat milk because she was lactose intolerant and hated the taste of almond milk.
So predictable.
“We haven’t boarded yet, which means I’m not late.” I dropped into the seat opposite hers and frowned at her outfit. Yoga pants and boots, topped with a fuzzy purple jacket and giant sunglasses she’d propped on top of her head. “Where the hell did you get your jacket? Barneys R Us?”
“I wouldn’t expect someone who showed up to the airport in sweatpants to understand fashion.” Jules’s eyes flicked toward the sweatpants in question, and my irritation melted into smug satisfaction when she lingered a second too long on a certain area.
“Take a picture. It lasts longer,” I drawled.
Her eyes snapped up to mine. “Thanks for the offer, but I’m just thinking about how easy it would be to cut your prized possession off.” She smiled. “Sleep tight this weekend, Joshy. You never know what goes bump in the night.”
I didn’t bother responding to her ridiculous threat, but my eyebrows popped up when she picked up the small white paper bag next to her and tossed it at me without warning.
I caught it easily, my reflexes honed from years of sports.
I opened the bag, and my eyebrows rose higher when I saw the blueberry muffin sitting at the bottom.
“In return for the cupcake.” Maybe the lighting was playing tricks on me, but I thought I spotted the faintest pink tint on Jules’s cheeks. “I don’t like owing people.”
“It was a cupcake, JR, not a loan.” I shook the bag. “Did you poison this?” I asked, mirroring her question from yesterday. “Ava will be upset if her beloved brother drops dead during her birthday trip, which means Alex will be upset, which means you’ll be dead.”
Her sigh contained the weariness of a thousand ages. “Josh, eat the damn muffin.”
I debated for all of two seconds before I shrugged.
What the hell. There were worse ways to go than death by blueberry.
“Thank you,” I said grudgingly.
I ripped off a piece of the pastry and popped it in my mouth while my eyes roved the terminal. “Where’s the happy couple?”
“Probably whispering sweet nothings to each other over breakfast.” Jules tilted her head toward the fancy-looking restaurant further down the terminal.
I snorted at the thought of Alex whispering sweet anythings to anyone, even my sister. “You didn’t join them?”
“Didn’t feel like third wheeling.”
“That’s never stopped you before.”
Instead of responding, she eyed me over the rim of her cup, a small notch forming between her brows. “Is it weird for you?” she asked. “Going on a trip with Alex.”
I paused, my jaw tensing for a second before I resumed chewing. “It is what it is. Ava asked, so I’m here. The end,” I said after I finished eating.
A taut silence stretched between us, ripe with unspoken words.
Jules lowered her drink before raising it to her mouth again, like she wanted to shield herself from what she was about to say next. “You’re a good brother.”
No snark, only sincerity, but the words hit me somewhere south of my gut.
“Your sister’s in the hospital…”
“Almost drowned…”
“I’m sorry son, but your mom…she overdosed…”
“He lied to us.” Tears streaked Ava’s cheeks. “He lied to both of us.”
“Join us for the holidays.” I clapped a hand on Alex’s shoulder. “Spending Christmas alone is just wrong.”
“I’d feel better if I had someone I trusted looking after her, ya know?”
“You’re the only person I trust, period, outside of my family. And you know how worried I am about Ava…”
Disjointed memories crowded my brain.
Was I a good brother?
I hadn’t been there when Ava almost died, twice. I’d been too blind to see the truth about our father all those years. I’d looked up to the man, did everything I could to make him proud. And I’d all but pushed Ava into Alex’s arms because, once again, I’d trusted someone who ended up betraying me.