Holding On (Memories) Read Free Page B

y'know.”
    Yes. Yes, you are working hard. Ahem.
    I slide off the counter and fill two glasses. I cross the room, and hand Alec and Bing one each.
    “I thought we were all doing some work here?” Bing grumbles.
    “I am working,” I say innocently. “I'm supervising.”
    “Supervising doesn't involve ogling your boyfriend.”
    “You're just jealous because there's no-one to ogle you, Samuel.” Jen smirks.
    My brother glances at her. “If you're my only option, I'd rather have no-one ogling me.”
    “Just as well I'm not likely to look at you like a piece of chocolate any time soon then, isn't it?”
    Bing grunts a reply and finishes the water, handing it back to me. “Thanks, sis.”
    “Welcome, bro.” I take Alec's glass and set them on the counter, turning to Jen. “Is your room done?”
    She nods excitedly. “Come see!”
    I follow her in and smile at the new room. It was the first room to be done, and it shows. The pink and chocolate brown floral wallpaper on one wall is set off by three bright pink walls, a large brown shaggy rug, and brown and pink bed covers.
    “Love it.” I grin. “And your easel is in the corner!”
    “Or course.” She touches the top of it. “I have to have an easel in my room. Early morning painting is the best.”
    “It still amazes me that someone as crazy as you does something as calm as painting.”
    “It's where I get my crazy from, Lexy. It’s stored up as I paint.” She grins, and winks.
    “You win,” I concede and make it back into the front room. The stripy wallpaper is finally up, and both boys are collapsed on the main sofa. Jen claps her hands.
    “Up! You have painting to do! I'm not paying you to sit on your arses.”
    “You're not paying us at all,” Bing replies dryly. “There's no pizza, no money, no beer. Nothing.”
    “I'd go and get some, but I don't have a car.”
    “And you can't drive.”
    Jen coughs. “I can drive, thank you very much.”
    “Driving people up the wall doesn't count, Jennifer.”
    “I passed my driving test first time, six months after my seventeenth birthday, Samuel.”
    Bing looks at Alec in disbelief. “Is that true?”
    Alec nods. “She passed before me. I just got a car first.”
    Jen smiles widely.
    “Fuck,” Bing curses. “Here.” He grabs his keys from his pocket, and chucks them at Jen. “Scratch my baby, and I'm gonna kick your ass. And for fuck sake, don't do anything that'll get you pulled over.”
    Jen dangles the keys from her finger. “I didn't know you had a car.”
    “Well, I do. No need to sound so surprised. Now, for that pizza?”
    I hold out a hand. “Now, for that money?”
    “What?” Alec looks between us then at Bing.

    “We're students.” I put a hand to my chest. “You can't possibly think we have money for pizza and beer.”
    Bing huffs and pulls out his wallet, shoving a twenty pound note in my direction. “I want the change.”
    I slip my feet into my boots, grab my cardigan, and open the door. Jen giggles as she passes through, and I shoot my brother a final smile. “It's not likely. Sucker!”
    “Bitch!” he shouts after me.
    “Takes one to know one!” I yell back. “Bye now!”
    I shut the door and run after Jen, giggling with her. I sigh happily and show her the money.
    “I think I fancy a bottle of rose wine tonight, Lexy,” she muses. I point her towards Bing's Ford.
    “You know what, Jen?” I grin at her over the top of the car. “I think I do too.”

BING

    I watch my sister and Jen leave the flat, gritting my teeth together. Jen winds me up like no-one I’ve ever met before, and I know exactly why it is.
    It’s because I’m as attracted as hell to her cocky little ass, and there’s sweet fuck all I can do about it. If she was any other girl, I’d take her by the hands, lock her in that pretty pink bedroom of hers, and keep her there until we’d worked the attraction out several times over.
    Alec smirks at me. “Got an itch you can’t scratch,