Deserve Read Free

chuckle. We live to bait each other.
“Where’s Maggie living in the city?”
    “She’s going to move into the dorms so it should be a pretty
safe environment. But I want you to run through the dangers of living in New
York with her.”
    Did I mention Cael is protective?
    “Don’t worry. I’ll use NYPD stats to put the fear of God in
her,” I offer, and since he can’t see me, I allow myself an eye-roll. Chicago’s
crime rates are worse than New York’s, but Cael is
not in the right frame of mind to listen to reason. Come to think of it, he’s
never in the right frame of mind when it comes to his baby sister.
    “I wish she would just stay here for grad school. The
University of Chicago has a great program, but she insists she wants to attend
Columbia. By the way, I put in a transfer to work for FDNY.”
    After Cael left the army, he
trained to be a firefighter. It’s the perfect profession for him. It requires
minimal interaction with the public and the mission is always clear. I can’t
see him in a desk job or in any line of work where he’d have to navigate office
politics.
    “No shit! Aren’t you taking the protective thing a bit far?”
    “Not you too. I haven’t told Maggie yet because she’s going
to blow a gasket, but she’s my only remaining family, Sean.” Cael’s voice becomes tight toward the end of the sentence
and my throat constricts.
    Cael and Maggie’s bastard of a
father abandoned them when they were kids, leaving Lorna Jackson to raise them
on her own. She was an amazing woman and she would be proud of how her kids
turned out. I would never forget her kindness; she had welcomed me into their
family unit with open arms. She fussed and fretted over me like I was one of
her children. Cael thought her mothering would irritate
me, but I loved it. I spent more holidays with the Jacksons than with my own
family. My mom died in a car accident when I was a teen. When Lorna died from
cancer five years ago, I felt like I had lost my mom all over again.
    “You’re going to catch hell when she finds out.” I could
just imagine Maggie’s pointy chin jutting out in rebellion as she goes
toe-to-toe with her tough-as-nails older brother.
    He makes a scoffing sound. “Which is why she’s not going to
find out until it’s a done deal.”
    I snicker at his answer. Strike first and ask questions later is a good strategy when dealing with Maggie.
“It’ll be great to have you in the same city. Maybe I can help you get laid.”
    “Fuck off, you asshole.”
    “Charming, as always, Cael . Hey!
You can always crash at my place when you move here. God knows I have the
space.” My thirty-five-hundred-square-foot, four-bedroom, five-bath apartment
is an obscene amount of space for one person, but I can’t bear to sell it. My
mom left it to me and I like knowing she lived there when she was young and
single—when she was happy.
    “Hell no! I don’t need to witness the endless parade of
women going in and out of your bedroom. Besides, Rob says he knows a couple of
ex-military guys who can hook me up with a place.”
    “Well, the invite’s an open one. I’ve lived with you before
so I already know what a pig you are.”
    He snorts in disbelief. “Right. Who woke up next to a
congealed piece of pizza, reeking of cheap beer?”
    “Ah…those were the good ol ’ days.”
I smile at the memory of the first time I met Cael . I
had moved into the dorms a day early and had a party in the room to celebrate
my emancipation from my father’s thumb. When I woke up from the aftermath, I
saw a grim-faced, hulking giant frowning down at me in disapproval. It was my
new roommate. And the rest, as they say, is history.
    “I don’t have time to go down memory lane with you. Besides your
life is one long poorly written porn,” he utters with disgust.
    “Hey, I resent that! It’s not all poorly written. Remember I
dated that English major? What was her name? Amanda? No…Samantha! She was going
to be a