December (The Oliver Brothers Book 1)

by Watson, Q. M.

  I cry and thrash more, feeling defenseless.

  I can’t move.

  I can’t breathe.

  My sister needs me.

  I have to move.

  Gray gently strokes my hair back as tears leak into my hairline. “Look at me, December. Calm down. Breathe and calm down. Everything’s fine.”

  “Please, Gray.” I sob, helpless. “My sister needs me.”

  “I’m okay, December,” July whispers, rushing to kneel by my side. She has nothing but a sheet draped around her body and under her arms.

  The sight of her bright grey eyes eases me. “Did he hurt you?”

  She shakes her head, taking Gray’s place to smooth my hair back from my wet face. “It was a nightmare. That’s all.”

  “But you’re bleeding.”

  “Nose bleed,” she murmurs, lowering her eyes as if ashamed. “Jarvis was trying to wake me while I was in the throes of a horrible nightmare. I couldn’t separate reality from my nightmare, and I snapped. It’s not his fault. He didn’t do anything wrong.”

  I close my eyes, releasing a heavy breath.

  “Are you okay? Or do I have to keep you pinned to the floor?” Gray asks.

  I can tell he’s smiling.

  “I’m okay,” I say quietly, hiccupping “I just want to hug my sister. Like really bad.”

  Gray gradually releases me. I turn to my sister, and we wrap our arms around one another. May and January join us. We all whisper how worried July had us.

  “I’m fine, guys,” she whispers, getting choked up. “I know I’m not known for being strong, but trust me, I’ve learned. So please stop worrying. I’m okay.”

  When we break apart, I glance at Danny and Jarvis. Jarvis is still hunched in a corner, shaking badly with his head between his knees. Danny kneels by his side and strokes his back, whispering words into his ear that seem to calm him.

  If anybody can bring Jarvis back from the brink, it’s Danny.

  There was a dark point in Jarvis’s life when Danny spent a lot of time rehabilitating him. Jarvis was drinking heavily and doing heroin occasionally. He dabbled in drugs, living with one foot in death’s door. It just seemed like Jarvis kind of gave up for a while. He checked out. He was in a bad space when July took the rap for him and was locked away in a youth detention center for six long months. Those were the worst six months of Jarvis’s life, or so I’ve heard. But Danny brought him back from the brink of extinction, and Jarvis got back on track with music. Things got complicated after July came back home.

  One time they shielded her and kept Jarvis outside for hours. Jarvis would get so worked up over something July did that she had to run to one of the Oliver’s houses and hide behind all three of his brothers. They shielded her and kept Jarvis outside for hours. No matter what anyone said to him, Jarvis couldn’t calm down. He kept ramming his head into the door. He cracked his skull before he got to July. They rushed him to the ER. He had ten staples in his head after that night.

  There’s a great deal of rage and fury and wrath inside of Jarvis. Jarvis is chaos unleashed. I don’t know how July does it. Living with him is like living with a ticking time bomb strapped to your ankle. Jarvis is capable of plenty when it comes to July. It’s like he builds her up just to tear her down. But deep down, I know he loves her.

  Jarvis has always admired his big brother. Danny is Jarvis’s real-life hero. He taught Jarvis everything he knows, even if Jarvis doesn’t use a third of what he’s learned.

  Jarvis will always admire Danny.

  Sucking back a breath, I head toward Danny and Jarvis and kneel on the other side of him. “Hey,” I murmur to Danny.

  His concerned expression lightens a little. “Hey.”

  “I want to apologize to Jarvis.”

  Danny nods, kissing my cheek before leaving us to go check on July.

  I take one of his balled fists in my hand and give it a squeeze. “Jarvis, I’m sorry—”

  “I didn’t do it,” he whispers, barely audible. His pupils are large, his eyes stark. He’s looking at me, but he doesn’t see me. His eyes are haunted. They’re blinded with fear and horror.

  Something happened to him.

  This is disturbing.

  “I know you didn’t. It’s all right.”

  His eyes are still vacant and empty. “I didn’t do it.”

  July kneels beside me, grabbing his other hand. She places his fist to her face, lightly stroking his knuckles down her cheek. She stares into his hollowed gaze. “Come back to me, Jarvis. Come back to me, warrior.”

  I mimic her actions with his fist, stroking his tattooed knuckles down my face. I don’t know if this helps, but I hope it does.

  His breathing slows. Then he reaches up to our hair, grabbing a fistful and rubbing the silken strands between his fingers. He tugs our heads down to rub our hair over his face and nose.

  Jarvis groans, coming back into himself.

  My eyes expand as I look to July.

  “Relax,” she tells me. “He has a thing with hair. He likes to touch it, smell it. It sooths him.”

  Before I can say anything, he rips a handful of strands out of my scalp.

  Tears sting my eyes. “Ow. Fuck, that hurts,” I mutter, caressing my stinging scalp and missing roots.

  Jarvis holds my strands of hair to his nose, staring strangely at me. “That’s what you get for breaking my nose.” He shoves the handful of my lost hair into his jean pocket.

  I look to July, bewildered. “Your rock star boyfriend gives me the creeps. Is that why you chopped your long locks?” He didn’t pull any of her short hair out.

  “If only you knew.” She laughs, lifting her brows at Jarvis.

  He grimaces, shrugging.

  “I think this trip is officially over,” Gray says, shaking his head.

  “Our family is certainly one of a kind,” May tells Miles as she leans her head against his shoulder.

  “Amen to that,” Miles mumbles, wrapping an arm around her waist and kissing her temple.

  “Do you guys wanna build a snowman?” Bliss asks, standing in the middle of the doorway in her blue Frozen nightgown and rubbing her eyes.

  All the tension is instantly erased, and everyone laughs, breaking out in happy smiles.

  “Sure thing, Bliss, but I gotta put some clothes on or I’m going to be too frozen to help you out,” Jarvis says, pushing up from the floor to stand on his feet.

  She goes to him and takes his hand, curling her small fingers around his. “You can wear my princess hat and gloves. Come on. Uncle Danny and Daddy can wear my other princess gloves and hats. This is gonna be so much fun.”

  I look at Danny.

  He stares at me.

  And we grin at each other.

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  THE PAST

  December, age 17

  Danny, age 27

  “So this is it?” I ask Josh, helping him load his truck with the final box of his belongings.

  “This is it,” he says, shoving more boxes into the flatbed. “This won’t be forever, December.”

  “It may as well be,” I mutter, my eyes stinging. “You’re leaving me.”

  “I’m not leaving you,” he says quietly, taking me in his arms for a very long hug. “I’m taking a job.”

  “A job that you’re stuck with for two years,” I add, squeezing him tightly and rubbing my face in his chest, inhaling his clean scent. “And you won’t even be in the States. You’re going to be off in some exotic country in some strange village, taking pictures of wild animals and getting paid to do it. You’re going off to have the time of your life while I’m here suffering.”

  “Stop it.” He laughs, holding me tightly and rocking me. He presses a kiss to my cheek. “You’ll be fine and fully grown when I come back. We can celebrate.”

  “You won’t forget me?” I ask, fisting my hands in his shirt.

  “Never,” he whispers against my hair. “I could never forget you, December, not even if I wan
ted to.” He holds me at arm’s length, giving me the most saddened look I’ve ever seen on him. “Stay still for me, okay? I want to see something.”

  “Okay.” I breathe, clutching on to his elbows.

  His eyelids get heavy as he stares at my lips. He looks drunk. Josh’s head tilts at an angle, and his fingers sink into my hair, his hold is like steel bars. He leans in close, and my heart begins to drum in my ears.

  My breathing becomes shallow, my own eyelids getting heavy.

  His pink lips gently brush mine. The touch of his warm mouth is whisper soft as if I’m kissed by his fragrant breath alone. My knees get weak as the ground underneath my feet disappears.

  So this is what it’s like to kiss Josh.

  Heavenly.

  I clutch on to his shoulders, melting into him.

  He pulls back, gracing me with a smile as bright as the sun. “I’m going to miss you.”

  “I’m going to miss you more.”

  He taps his fingers against my lips, grinning. “I don’t think so.”

  I follow him as he glides down into the driver’s seat. “Take me with you.”

  “I wish, but you have high school to finish and your own life to live.”

  Sighing, I shut his door and pout as he straps on his seatbelt and shoves his key into the ignition. “Later, Josh.”

  He gives a salute as he reverses out of his driveway.

  “You better think about me and all the fun you’re going to miss out on.”

  “I can guarantee I’ll be thinking about you wearing that short little white dress and pressing into me when I hardly kissed you. Nice dress, by the way. Were you trying to seduce me to stay by any chance?”

  I thrust my chest out and shimmy. “You know me so well.”

  Josh slams down hard on the brakes, screeching to a complete halt. His expression is dumbfounded and hilarious. “You offer me the goods when I’m leaving?”

  “Maybe you’ll get them when you come back,” I say in a honeyed voice, lifting up the hem of my dress to flash him my panties quickly before smoothing my dress down.

  He opens his mouth, his jaw dropping to the floor. “They’re pink with little hearts, and you have a bow on them.” He growls. “I’m going to remember this when I come back.”

  I shrug, smiling hard. “You could’ve undone the bow with your teeth.”

  “I weep with sorrow.”

  I give a dismissive wave. “Be gone.”

  “I love you, little heartbreaker.”

  “Love you, Josh. Come back to me.”

  He gives me a tender smile. “I will.”

  I remain standing by the curb of his driveway, waving as he drives down the street. When his truck is completely out of sight, I shed the stinging tears that burn my eyes. A gaping hole has formed in the center of my chest, and I have nothing to fill me up now.

  Damn.

  I didn’t think my heart could break again after Danny.

  I was wrong.

  I’m going to miss him.

  ***

  This is not my day today, or should I say night? Danny is sitting outside my porch, drunk and calling my name from the top of his lungs. I’m home alone on Friday, and everyone is at the football game. I’ve avoided Danny for an entire year with Josh’s help. Now that Josh is gone, I have no one to interfere with Danny and me. Danny still has no clue that I know he screwed Piper on my birthday.

  I’m almost tired of the anger that’s been simmering in my veins for a year now. It’s like I’ve been swallowing poison, and I’m so ready to spit it in his face. It’s nothing less than he deserves.

  Lifting my window, I shove the glass up and stick my head out. “Go to bed, old man.”

  He stumbles off the porch and races into the yard to see me, his beer bottle hanging loosely in his grip. “I love you, December. Why do you like to torture me?”

  “This is hardly torture,” I mumble, rolling my eyes. “Go home, Danny, before you pass out in my front yard.”

  He plants his feet in the grass, his thick brows pushing together in defiance. “No. Come down and talk to me.”

  “No,” I refuse, laughing at him as he wobbles on his feet like a toddler. He’s drowning in self-pity. I’m going to let him drown and die off it. “You’re drunk and half out of your mind. You’re crazy, old man. You sure the war didn’t fuck you up in the head? Because you look pretty shitty to me.”

  His beautiful face contorts in anger, and he slings the beer bottle against the wall of the porch. Glass bursts everywhere. “I’m only drunk and out of my mind because of you. Yeah, get a good laugh. You did this to me.”

  “I’ve done nothing to you.” I laugh scornfully. But my laughter is starting to hurt. This isn’t right. I’m wrong. I shouldn’t be saying things I can’t take back, but I don’t know if I can stop.

  “You’re killing me,” he whispers, dropping to his knees in the grass. “Please come down and see me. I’ll leave afterward. I promise. Please, December. I need you.”

  “The sprinklers are about to come on.”

  “I don’t care.”

  “You’ll get wet,” I warn.

  “There are worse things I’ve survived.”

  “How much do you need me?” I ask, lifting a brow at him.

  “As much as I need a heartbeat.”

  I shiver from the weight of his words. “Go talk to Piper. You need her more.”

  He shakes his head, and the sprinklers turn on, raining down on Danny. “I don’t want anyone but you, December. Only you.”

  Sighing, I shut my window and sit on the edge of my bed for a moment. If I get close to him, then everything along with the intense hatred is going to spew out of me. I know I’m going to lose it if he’s anywhere around me.

  Can I afford to lose what little sanity I have left?

  I guess my answer is yes because I’m on my feet, walking down the steps and to the front door. He’s still on his knees when I step out onto the porch. The cold air bites at my bare legs. Danny makes a face at me. He seems astounded.

  “You’re wearing a dress?”

  “You like?” I ask, twirling for him. “It was a going-away present.”

  His jaw turns to granite as he rises to his feet. In a few short strides, he’s standing in front of me. His big body casts a full shadow over mine, every muscle in his neck and broad shoulders rigid and twitching. I have to lift my head to look into his eyes. How did I forget how tall and physically imposing he is?

  The scar by his eye puckers as he narrows his eyes. His dark gaze drifts down the length of my body and up again. His eyes settle on the glinting ring hanging from my necklace.

  “Did Josh touch you?”

  “Why do you care?”

  A thick vein in his forehead pulses. “You promised yourself to me,” he says through clenched teeth.

  “I’m not yours anymore,” I whisper, stepping back.

  The fury is rolling off him in bolts of thunder.

  He grabs my waist, pressing me into every hard and wet muscle in his body. A severe shudder ripples through me. Danny is drenched from the sprinklers. He’s cold and wet and savagely handsome. Beads of glittering water cling to his thick eyelashes. Why is he so freakishly beautiful?

  My hands fist on his sculpted chest, ready to push him away. He doesn’t give me a chance to think before Danny seals his lips over mine. His tongue slides into my mouth, and I instantly thaw. My cold demeanor shatters at my very feet.

  My fingers curl in his soft hair as he lifts me off the ground. I wrap my legs around him, and he carries me into the house, kicking the door closed behind us. He shoves me against the wall, licking at my lips.

  “You’ll always be mine no matter what, December.”

  He sucks on the hollow of my throat before biting my earlobe.

  I groan out in a mixture of pleasure and pain. My legs tighten around his waist, dazed and dizzy and so intoxicated off his lips.

  He captures my hands in one of his, holding them h
igh above my head as he presses me more into the wall with his strong body. He shoves a hand under my dress and through my panties. I gasp and shudder harshly as his fingers spread me open. His dark eyes are scrutinizing mine as he presses a thick finger into me and pushes against my hymen.

  I hiss out in pain, and he removes his hand and then slowly releases me. He steps back, staring at his glistening fingers as if it has the answer for his question. “You’re wet for me, and you’re still a virgin.”

  “Oh my God. You did that to see if I am still a virgin?” I shout, anger causing my vision to blur. “You didn’t have the right. Get the fuck out, Danny.”

  “I had to know,” he murmurs more to himself, wiping his wet fingers on his shirt before placing that same hand over his heart.

  “Are you even sorry?”

  He lifts his intimidating gaze to mine, and they’re more sober than they were a second ago. “No. If you weren’t seventeen, I’d fuck you against the wall and show you how out of my mind I am.”

  My mouth drops open. I don’t even try to hide my puzzlement. “Now that you know I’m still a virgin, you can leave. Bye, Danny.”

  “Can I have a kiss before I go?” he asks quietly, stepping forward.

  “You’re crazy.” I laugh.

  With a determined gleam in his brown eyes, he gets into my personal space and crowds me. I feel like I can’t breathe. I’m smothered by his presence alone.

  He sinks his fingers into my hair, his other hand grasping my jaw. “Give me a kiss.”

  “No,” I say huskily, frowning at the sound of my voice.

  I sound in need because I really want to kiss him.

  “Then stop me,” he whispers, leaning in to take my mouth.

  Why would I do such a thing?

  Once Danny’s warm, firm lips are pressed to mine, everything vanishes. His tongue slips into my mouth, coaxing mine out. Danny tastes of beer and peanut butter. It’s an incredible combination. I moan into his mouth. Danny sucks on my bottom lip before nipping it and thrusting his tongue back into my mouth. Josh may have made the world disappear when he kissed me, but Danny makes the universe fade away.