Star-Crossed Secrets

by Kali Brixton

  I open my door and toss in my duffle, only to feel his hand band around my arm.

  “Will you please stop?”

  My only answer to his question is flicking Osiris open as I turn and hold him about two good inches from Kieran’s carotid.

  Kieran’s eyes are ablaze, not pleased with my move. “Get that damn knife away from my throat, Ev!”

  We stand at an impasse—him holding my arm, me holding his life in my hand. My face is stone as I stare him down, neither of us flinching. He’d better hope for his sake, I don’t.

  “Lower it. Now.” He says, his voice with a dangerous edge.

  Hell, no. He wants to open his big mouth and give his snotty, unfair opinion of me? Then he can deal with the consequences. I continue holding my stance as my eyes flick to where his hand is still holding my bicep. You may be a mountain, you bastard, but you’ve lit a stick of dynamite. I go off, and you will crumble.

  If anything moves right now, though, it better be his hand because I’m not moving. Judging by the look in his eye, he damn well knows it too.

  Finally, the firm press of his fingers slowly eases on my arm. Once he’s put his hand down by his side, I lower Osiris and flick him closed. Such a shame, too. Red is definitely Osiris’s color.

  “I know you hate me, but I wanted to tell you I was wrong. What I said the other night…” He pauses, his Adam’s apple bobs with a heavy swallow. “Was inexcusable. You didn’t deserve any of it.”

  No, I did not. Glad we agree. His apology begs for my acceptance, but I remain silent.

  He continues. “I wish I could take it back, but I can’t.” There’s a twinge of sadness around his eyes, but I ignore it. Kieran’s impulsivity is rarely a good thing, and he’s going to have to learn to think before opening that big yap of his.

  God help the poor, misguided soul who falls for him someday.

  “It’s just…” He scratches the back of his neck and blows out a long breath. “It was nice to see you as anything but the golden child.” I narrow my eyes at him. Not the best way to close out an apology, dumbass. “You have no idea how hard it is to live in your shadow all the time. There’s nothing I can do that will ever top how you can do it... Nothing. If I got an ‘A’ in a really hard course in college one semester, you made the Dean’s List. I train hard, but you somehow are the better fighter. I followed in Dad’s footsteps. Yet somehow, he’s prouder of you for teaching monsters who throw pudding cups at people’s heads. My God, Ev. It’s like you walk on water while I can only keep my head above the waves.”

  I run my tongue against the inside of my cheek. He’s got to be kidding me, right? “So, this was your plan? Come to me with some generic apology, then gaslight me? Because somewhere in that pea brain of yours, me being a hard worker and not as selfish as you must mean this is all my fault?”

  His eyes spring open and his hands fly up in defense. “No! That’s not what I’m saying at all… I—” A frustrated groan bubbles up from his chest. “Shit, I don’t know how to say it.”

  “Then, we’re done here.” I open my driver’s side door and climb in.

  As I turn the ignition, he pinches the bridge of his nose, by all appearances immediately regretting that choice because his face looks like it’s been through a round or two with a very pissed-off person, and touching those tender spots couldn’t have felt good. “You’re better than me. Is that what you want to hear?”

  I sit there for a second and think about his words. My key twists once more and the engine cuts off. “No, Kieran, I don’t. I’m your sister. This isn’t some third-grade contest to see who gets the most gold stars for being the winner. We’re adults and this is the real world. I may give you grief and yes, we may compete in many things, but I’ve always had your back when you’ve been in the right—always. That’s what siblings are supposed to do.” My fist clenches around the steering wheel. “What you said to me last weekend wasn’t just misinformed, it was hurtful and completely unnecessary. The very least you could’ve done is not assume the worst about me without some proof.” His cheeks redden at my words. “You’re in the GBI, for fuck’s sake... Is that how you run your investigations?” God help us all if it is.

  “You know it’s not.” He shoves his hands into his pockets and kicks a random pebble on the asphalt. “I’m just tired of being seen as the family fuck-up.”

  “The only person who can change that is you. Feel like a fuck-up? Then, change your mindset. If you are a fuck-up? Be an adult and change your behavior. That poor, pitiful me bullshit shtick gets old after a while when everyone else can see you’re your own worst enemy.” Now he’s speechless, which is fine because he put the crack in this dam, so he can fight against the flood. “Mom and Dad trust me because I’ve given them very little reason not to over the years, K. I’m not perfect, but I always tried to make them proud—and I can’t do that by making stupid or selfish choices all the time. I mean, can you honestly tell me, as much ridiculousness as you got into your last two years of high school and in college, that you blame them for not always trusting your intentions?”

  There’s defeat in his stance. “I’m trying to be a better person, Ev.”

  “Don’t try. Be. It’s a choice every single day, Kieran.” Why the hell am I getting these annoying tingles in my eyes? I’ve cried more in the past year than I have in the past ten collectively, and I refuse to shed one more tear. “You don’t think I’ve had days where it feels like I’m a failure at everything?” Especially in the past few months.

  He offers a sad chuckle with an eye roll. “Yeah, right.”

  “I’m serious. I don’t need someone to be hard on me because I’m hard enough on myself. It’s why I’m constantly pushing my limits to get better, to be better. That’s not a slight to you.” My voice tightens as I try to push through it. “It’s because I’m a fixer who wants to make everything okay for the people I love, but I’m only human and there are so...many things…” Don’t do it. Not in front of him. “I can’t f-fix...for myself...eith-her.” My face draws up as a tear rolls down my cheek. The world darkens as I cover my eyes, trying to mask the emotions of this week bubbling over, weakness trying to seep through.

  I lost my job, I may have screwed up Rory’s and Greta’s lives, my dad’s a liar and a cheat, and my brother called me a harlot. One good thing has come from all this; Luca’s trying to prove that he’s here to stay. Given my luck, though, even that’s not a safe bet. I want to believe him with every fiber of my being, but he’s left before and he could again, even though he says he won’t. I sob into my hands.

  Sometimes, there’s just too much shit and not enough shovels.

  “Aw, fuck, Ev...” Kieran pulls me toward him and wraps his arms around me. “I didn’t mean to make you cry.” He rubs circles on my back as I lean my hand-covered face into his shoulder. “Shit, you’re gonna make me cry.”

  I release a hand and swat at his chest, earning me a laugh and an Ow! “Don’t...be a...d-dick.”

  He holds me until the last tear falls, even though at one point he let me know Duke was watching him with a murderous gaze. I should laugh. Instead, I bawl even harder and louder. It’s hard to hear over my blubbering, but I’m fairly certain he whispers, “I’m going to die today, aren’t I?”

  All I can do is nod.

  “Listen. You don’t have to forgive me for being an asshole, but Dad wants us to be at the house at five.”

  Swallowing hard, I look in my rearview mirror. Lord Almighty, I’ve got the Kim Kardashian ugly cry face going on right now. “Are they going to tell us they’re…?” I can’t finish the question because living in a world where my parents’ perfect love story is over is more than I can take at the moment.

  He shakes his head. “No, nothing like that. Why don’t you let me drive and we’ll go find out together?”

  Not wanting to fight anymore, I scooch over and let him in the driver’s seat.

  The ignition starts again. He gives Duke a wave and a thumbs-up, wh
ich doesn’t put a dent in Duke’s locked stare. “If I leave my car here, Duke’s going to slash my tires, isn’t he?”

  “Maybe,” I offer with a small laugh.

  “Thought so.”

  I take a moment to text Luca and tell him what’s going on and that I won’t be back until later. He doesn’t respond, so he may be still meeting with Jarrett. While driving to my parents’ home, Kieran tells me about his undercover assignment and what’s been going on.

  “So, how did you get the black eyes and the nose job between Saturday and today?”

  He snorts. “Your...boyfriend.”

  I wait for him to crack a smile, but he doesn’t. “Luca did that to you?”

  His brow furrows. “Yeah, the fucker. I thought he would’ve told you?”

  “No…” I wonder why he didn’t mention it. Because he loves you, you idiot. “Where did y’all even see each other?”

  “At the gym. He came in and punched me right in the face, then called me out on being a dick to you.”

  My head whips around. “Wait, as in the gym we’ve trained at for years?”

  “Yeah.” Damn. What I wouldn’t give to have been a fly on the wall during all that. “He told me about you all...and the Mystery Girl thing.”

  I understand his shock because that was news to me as well on Saturday. “Seems like we’re all good with keeping secrets, I guess.”

  We drive for a few minutes before he breaks the ice again. “Can I ask you something, Evergreen? You said you loved him for a long time before…” His voice trails off as my cheeks heat because sex is still not a topic I need to be candid about him. “Was that true?”

  “I’ve always had a thing for him, but he was out of my league.”

  He squints his eyes. “But you gave him just as much shit as me. I mean, I’ve thought a lot about it the past few days and there were hints, but nothing I can think of that was blatantly obvious.”

  Keep telling yourself that, K. “He didn’t want to ruin your friendship. Plus, all the arranged marriage junk with his dad was another ordeal.”

  Another moment of silence passes as he mulls over my words. “Did you sleep with him because I kept telling all those idiots to stay away from you?”

  “Kieran, I would’ve wanted to be with him, regardless. Look, we’ve all made a lot of mistakes in the past. Don’t let a lifelong friendship go because of me. It would break my heart to lose Nolie over something like this.”

  The sound of his throat clearing fills my Jeep. “You’re my little sister, Ev. I’m always going to look after you—even if your right-hook is better than mine.”

  I give him a small laugh as he chuckles. There’s too much in the past to forget, but maybe we can start fresh. Together. “How about instead of being my ‘big brother’, can you just be my brother and my friend? Someone I can talk to without all the older sibling judgment. And I’ll do the same for you if you’re not doing something stupid or making a terrible mistake?”

  “I think I can work with that.” He removes his right hand from the steering wheel and holds it out to me. “Truce?”

  I grab it and shake. I can’t ask him to be the bigger person if I’m not willing to do it myself. “Truce.”

  40

  Luca

  “Counselor,” Judge Walker greets me in his dim chambers as I extend my hand to him.

  “Judge Walker. Thank you for seeing me so last minute.”

  After talking with Jarrett today, he arranged a meeting for me with Judge Walker, who’s known for being a hard ass with a soft spot for kids. They’ve known each other for a long time, so considering the situation surrounding Ev and Rory, he thought Judge Walker might be a sympathetic ear.

  I guess we’ll see…

  “Mr. Thompson brought me up to speed on the case and its...complications,” he adds as he clears his throat. “I’m going to be honest… This is a bit unorthodox for someone looking to adopt a young child. He said you’ve known Ms. Greene for a very long time, though, and as such are a better judge of her character than he is. So, I want you to tell me why he’s going to bat for her on this.”

  I sit up a bit straighter and hope my plea can sway the judge’s opinion in Ev’s favor. “Everleigh...I mean, Ms. Greene, is a testament to what it means to be a mother, even though she’s never been one herself.”

  He laces his hands together on top of his desk. “How so? And don’t give me a canned answer. Tell me what you really think.”

  Offering him a small smile, I go to bat for my girl. “She’s the kind of person who always puts the needs and wants of others before her own. I think her time in the classroom, volunteering at the domestic abuse shelter her mother and aunt co-run, helping with self-defense training at a local gym, and her willingness to take in a child who would’ve become an orphan speaks a lot louder than her investment in a gentlemen’s club does.”

  “I took the liberty of speaking to her principal—off the record, of course. She was very complimentary of Ms. Greene’s time spent at Hearst and seemed very disappointed to have lost her on the faculty. Can you tell why someone with so much to lose would chance working at a place like RISE?”

  I think back to Ev’s explanation of how the club came to be and why she stayed on with the other owners when she could’ve walked away. “It’s because RISE isn’t just a gentleman’s club, judge. It was more of a mission to her.” He listens intently as I go through all the safeguards the owners put in place to protect the people who work for them, some of which Ev insisted upon before ever agreeing to be a part of things. How she’s taken the time on more than a few of her nights off to help tutor the children belonging to some of the workers there at a restaurant near the club because the kids were struggling so much in school... Lia let more slip than she realizes when it came to talking about Ev.

  Judge Walker rubs his thumb against his lower lip and stares at a picture on his desk. “I’m glad that the establishment has a bit of a soul to it.” He gets very quiet for a moment. “What I’m about to tell you is to remain in confidence and is not to leave this room.”

  I nod in agreement before he stands and walks over to a window. The early December sky is clear with streaks of color from the sunset that’s filling it from top to bottom beyond the buildings obstructing the rest of the view.

  “I once knew a boy whose mother worked at a place similar to RISE, but it didn’t have its workers’ best interests at heart. Most places like that don’t. She worked in that club because it was one of the few decent-paying jobs for a young woman who was a high school dropout and raising the child her old flame had abandoned. My friend’s mother and he struggled for a long time, but he swore that one day, he’d make something of himself and buy that club—if nothing but to bulldoze it to the ground for the way it treated his mother and all the other women there.

  “He studied hard, got a scholarship, worked his way through law school. The American dream.” He chuckles. “When my friend finally had made enough money, he purchased the lot where the club used to stand and built his law practice upon the foundations of that place. All because that boy’s mother needed to know that her sacrifices created a brighter future, not just for my friend, but for everyone he could help out of a dire situation with his degree. She always brags about how proud of her son she is, but she couldn’t be any prouder of him than my friend is to call her his mother.”

  There’s a look of nostalgia on his weathered face. Wow. I wonder if any of the kids of the RISE dancers will ever have a story like his friend’s one day. “Does your friend still practice law?”

  He shakes his head as he returns to his desk and picks up the picture he was looking at a moment ago. “Not anymore. After some advice he received from his mother, he ended up running for office and took that passion for justice with him behind the bench.” He sets the picture back down, this time with it facing me. An elderly woman sits on a stone wall, holding the judge’s hand in both of hers on her lap. They both have big smiles on their very s
imilar faces. “Good mothers and fathers are hard to come by in today’s world. I hope that you and she can be the parents that little girl deserves to have.”

  I give him a confused look as I shake his hand once more. “Sir?”

  “I don’t just pour over legal mumbo jumbo all day. I read people for a living, son.” He grins with a pat on my shoulder. “So when’s the big day?”

  My grin is uncontainable. “As soon as I can get her to agree to marry me.”

  “Well, maybe when you tell her my decision, she’ll be a little more amiable to the idea,” he says as he releases my hand.

  “Ms. Greene and I really appreciate this, Judge Walker.”

  He waves it off like he didn’t just change the trajectory of so many lives with one decision. “Thank me by raising a good kid and helping all the other ones who’ll come to you for help in the future, counselor.” With a wink before he turns to his desk to gather his belongings, I leave there feeling light for the first time since I punched my former best friend in the face yesterday. Ev and Greta both will be so relieved.

  As I fall into my driver’s seat, I notice Ev sent a text while I was in the judge’s chambers, telling me she and Kieran are on their way to their parents’ home. Looking at the time on my dash, I realize I’d better get a move on myself if I’m going to make it there by the time Rian told me to be there yesterday.

  I just hope that my answer is the right one because Lia and the girls are planning to go get a ring from Ev’s apartment and get it sized for me.

  After all, we’ve waited nearly seven years to be together. All I need is the correct ring size and two right answers to make the woman of my dreams officially mine.