Page 5 of Taking Root

“Hold the gauze pad tight. We’ll medical tape it this time.” Adrian wanted to sink back into his couch, drink a beer, and kick himself for not getting Danny’s number. But since his four siblings lived nearby, peace was a relative thing. Lex slapped the gauze pad on the oozing crimson wound, putting the necessary pressure for him to bind it. He zoned out as he wrapped, transported to his workday as the motions grew mechanical.

“Come on, bro. Let’s eat.” Lex clapped a hand on his shoulder as she hopped up from the toilet seat. He shook his head and tried not to cringe as he re-entered his kitchen with the barely cleaned bloodstains he needed to take care of. Before he could grab a towel and some bleach, Lex shoved a bowl in front of him.

He grabbed the mess of stir-fry that smelled far better than if he’d ordered out. Chicken, broccoli, mushrooms, and onions all formed a colorful spread over the bed of rice. While Lex failed in the cleaning department, she was a master in the kitchen. Adrian fished her two paychecks out of his pocket, placing them on the black marble countertop of his bamboo kitchen island. He shoveled a bite into his mouth before placing the bowl down.

The cabinet doors under the sink thwacked open as he pulled out the bleach spray and began attacking the smudges on the floor and the bloodstained counter along the back wall of his kitchen, framed by big bay windows. He kicked a cleaning rag to the floor, and Lex dived in to move it around with her foot, blotting out what remained of the blood smudges. He tackled the counter.

“Just wanted to make dinner as a thanks for picking up my paychecks,” she muttered, running a hand through her blunt black strands. “How’s Mitch doing?”

“Good as always, even though he thinks you’re being a chickenshit,” Adrian responded as they tossed the towels, and he washed up before returning to his meal. Lex didn’t bother and plunked her fork in. “Gin Mill was pretty lively tonight, though. A brawl almost broke out between some hulk of a jackass and a gorgeous redhead. She punched him in the face.”

Lex fanned herself, a wicked glimmer in her eyes. “Sounds like my type of girl. Please tell me you got her number.” Adrian chewed on another bite of stir-fry to avoid answering. Lex hip checked him so hard he almost spluttered. “You ass. Apart from a couple of flings, your entire dating history has involved two girls—Betty, your weak-willed slut of an ex-fiancée, and ‘the one who vanished,’ Sammy Peterson from back in high school. I’m taking you clubbing, no arguments. You need to get your dick wet.”

“Ugh, can I not be having this conversation with my sister?” He groaned, walking over to his fridge to grab two beers. The way he threw himself into his job at the hospital and fixing his family’s quarrels was what Betty had flung in his face as the reason their relationship fell apart. Those words scraped beneath his skin along with the fear she’d been right. Once a control freak, always a control freak.

He passed the porter over to Lex and cracked one open for himself, tipping back the smooth liquid that meshed with the malty taste of the soy sauce in the stir-fry. God, Sam Peterson had been an obsession for him, a best friend he’d always hoped would be something more. They’d been heading for that trajectory with every secret glance, every too-casual touch—it had been inevitable.

Except in the middle of senior year, she disappeared. Got pulled out of class, evacuated her house overnight, and he’d never even caught sight of her on social media, let alone seen her around town. He’d spent most of high school chasing after her, stopping by her locker almost every day for the chance at a wry smile and the glimmer of amusement in her jade eyes.

The same expression he’d seen at the Gin Mill, belonging to one Danielle Reynolds.

There was no mistaking it. The way she chewed on her lip, the familiarity in their conversation.

Sam Peterson had returned to Charleston.

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