Page 42 of Just Between Us

The next time I wake up, it’s dark and the only sound that fills the air is gentle breathing. I’m in a bed, lying between Levi and Cole. I panic, sitting up immediately, my heart in my throat before I feel a careful hand on my arm.

“It’s okay,” Levi says, his voice heavy with sleep, “Go back to sleep.”

His voice is so soothing that I can’t help but listen. I sink back into the plush bed, two solid bodies against me and melt back into dreamland.

Chapter Twelve: Kai

12 YEARS AGO

“Your wrist is fractured so you will have to keep that brace on for a few weeks, understood?” the nurse said.

I nodded quickly, too tired to use my voice. I had a black eye, a busted lip and a fractured wrist. This was the second time Kenny had landed me in A&E.

“Kai is there something you’d like to tell me?” she asked.

Her brown eyes assessed me carefully, pleading with me to tell her the truth. I could tell she knew I hadn’t just been in a fight with some kids around the estate. If I had, I’d have defensive wounds, but she couldn’t do anything if I refused to tell the truth.

Outside, Kenny was waiting for me with the twins. Mum was at her sister’s in Bolton, and Kenny had cornered me in the bathroom again and knocked me to the floor. He was drunk, wreaking of alcohol.

I looked at the kind nurse and shook my head. “Nah,” I said, trying for a smile. “I was just messing around with my friends and things went too far.”

She gave me one last look and nodded. “Sure,” she said. “I’ll give your father the rest of the instructions.”

With that, she left me sitting there, my stomach in knots because if I didn’t do something soon, one day Kenny was going to kill me.

***

I stare at Zara from across the table and then at Zoe who is looking at me just as blankly. They came over on Thursday and we’ve spent the entire weekend together at our mother’s.

“What? You didn’t get drunk when you were in uni?” Zara asks.

“Not drunk enough to pass out in a ditch!”

“In her defence, it wasn’t a ditch, it was a hallway in our building,” Zoe says.

My eyes move to her. “And where were you in all of this?”

“Studying,” Zoe shrugs. “I had a test on Monday.”

I look at both of them across me, Zara sipping her matcha latte and Zoe biting into her raspberry tart. Zara went out and forgot her floor, so she fell asleep in a random hallway until a security guard woke her up. I open my mouth, ready to lecture them on the importance of safety but Zara lifts her hand.

“Before you continue, I know I messed up. Zoe did enough lecturing for both you and Mum. You don’t have to do it too. Trust me, it won’t happen again.”

As much as I still want to give them both an earful, I keep my mouth shut. They are both smart and I don’t want them to think I’m the same overbearing brother who would lock them in their room, even though sometimes I feel like I still need to be.

I sigh, “As long as you’re looking after each other.”

Zoe smiles. She looks just like Mum when she does that. As they’ve gotten older, their features differ slightly. Zoe’s eyes are narrower than Zara’s and she’s dyed her curly hair a honey brown. Zara on the other hand keeps her hair long, all the way down to her back and she generally has a smile on her face, no matter the situation—like explaining to your brother how you blacked out.

“You need to chill a little, Kai. We’re good. There is no need to work yourself up over us all the time,” Zoe says.

“What Zoe is trying to say is that you need to get laid.”

I choke on my coffee, coughing loudly enough that a few people in the café shoot our table with a few concerned looks.

“I am not discussing my sex life with you two.”

Zara pouts. “Oh c’mon. We’re nineteen! We know about this stuff.”

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