Page 67 of Branson's Promise

“It’s about time. Maybe that house Noel was on about? The three of you cannot live in a hotel forever. I mean, I guess you could,” she pursed her lips again and turned her eyes to the ceiling. “The hotel does have an onsite cook, and housekeeping, so maybe - “

“We broke up,” I interrupted, and Mia’s brown eyes - the same shade as mine - snapped to me. Her mouth fell open and in any other situation, I’d have found the fish-like gape comical.

“What. The. Actual. Fuck? Why? You three were like…. perfect.”

Mia sat silently, fiddling with her thumbnail as I told her everything. From Noel’s dad’s illness to him moving and wanting us to go with him to Branson’s accident, repeating what the doctor had said about him being in a stable condition. Her eyes remained wide as she listened, not moving an inch until I fell silent, finally reaching the end of my recount of the evening.

She shifted in her seat, pulling her legs up until she was cross-legged on the sofa, Branson’s favourite yellow throw cushion resting on her lap. “Wait, so Noel told you his dad is dying and you broke up with him? God, Milo, where is your heart?” I straightened my back, squashing myself into the arm of the couch, and widened the gap between us.

“Did you miss the part where he was trying to move us to theother side of the fucking world?” I itched at the back of my neck then ran my hands through my hair, tugging on the damp ends. “He was being all rich-Noel again, offering to pay for everything, including taking you with us!”

She had to understand my point of view, surely?

“He isn’t trying to move you to the other side of the world, he’s trying to keep you all together because he loves you. And thanks for turning him down on my behalf. Fuck you very much but I would have loved that.” Her sarcasm hit with the velocity of a boulder being launched off a cliff.

“You’d have moved to England and let him pay for it all? Be indebted to him? Cause that’s what would happen - not like we could pay for it - and I’m sorry but I can’t…won’t do that. I will never put myself in a position like that again.”

Mia rolled her eyes at me before aiming an exasperated scowl my way. “I love you, so understand that when I say this, it is with all the love in the world. But you, dear brother, are a fucking idiot. Since day one, you’ve had this idea that because Noel has money, he is going to use it to control you. Newsflash, he hasn’t, not even once, because he’s not that type of person. And secondly, our father never controlled you with money. He controlled you with fear and shame. All this time you’ve perceived wealth to be some devil lurking around but it’s not. Sure, dad withheld it from us when he didn’t get his way but that was never the problem. He’d have been an awful human evenwithout it. It was a weapon, but it wasn’t his greatest one or even the one he used the most. Don’t you see that?”

I thought about all those years I’d lived in that miserable mansion. All the times he’d hit me, locked me in my room, the way he’d erased my mother from my life and all the hurtful vitriol he’d spat my way. All the worst things he had done to me had nothing to do with his wealth and everything to do with the rotten parts inside him. Then I thought about Noel. My beautiful, protective Noel, who praised and listened to me and never let me feel like I was anything short of amazing. Who was willing to risk being sued, for me. He never pushed me, supported my career and never even suggested we give up this place. Every decision we’d made had always been discussed together - none of us taking charge or acting like what we had to say was more important. Even on our trip to London, he never argued when Branson or I offered to pay for something.

And, oh God, Mia was right.

Hanging my head in my hands, my shoulders drooped and I whispered the honest truth. “I was wrong, and I fucked up so badly.” The entire night could have been avoided if I’d put my ridiculous misconceptions aside. I’d acted without thinking, not even allowing us a chance to have a proper civil discussion about everything. Branson was mad at Noel for not telling us sooner, but we could have worked through that - understanding that he was afraid. It was me,me,who impulsively said no and then, like a child stuck, my fingers in my ears and refused to hear anything more. “What if it’s too late to make it right? Branson got hit by a fucking car because of how I acted!”

Mia’s warmth embraced me, the sweet smell of her strawberry shampoo tickling at my nose as she rested her arms on my shoulders.

“It’s not too late. A love like the one you three share is too strong to end over a silly argument. You made a mistake, Milo.Everyone does but now you fight for them because they are worth fighting for.”

Me:Any update on Branson? Are you still at the hospital? I’m coming back now.

Noel:He will be out of surgery soon. I’m trying to get August to get me permission to see him. Fucking next of kin bullshit.

Looking at my watch, I estimated it to have been around three hours since the accident. August would still be on his way, which meant Noel was sitting alone in the hospital and by the bluntness to his messages, it was clear he wasn’t handling it well. He always wanted to be the caretaker and the fact that August had a say over Branson’s wellbeing was probably bothering him. “Mia,” I started, lifting my exhausted body from the sofa, “I’m going back to the hospital. I need to talk to Noel, get this all sorted before Branson wakes up.”

Mia strolled back into the lounge, having taken a call in my room moments earlier. “I figured as much. Theo is on the way and will drop you there.”

With a raised eyebrow, I asked, “Who exactly is Theo?” The name and the face were familiar but still, I could not place them.

“He works for dad,” she shrugged, then pulled on her coat, reaching for an old one I had hanging near the door and throwing it to me.

“And he just happened to be with you when I called because….?” I let the question hang in the air.

Mia smirked and the cheeky glint in her eye reminded me of Branson. It was no wonder the two of them got on so well, what with the trouble they liked to cause. “Because when dad is away, Theo and I have a little um… Noel would call it atete-a-tete.”

I didn’t want the mental image of my sister and this Theo guy together but the thought of what she was doing behind my father’s back as a big fuck you to him did make me smile. “Is it serious?”

“Pftt,not a chance. He’s not my type but he’s good with his tongue, if you know what I mean.”

She laughed and I visibly cringed, just as her phone pinged, announcing Theo’s arrival. “Let’s get you back to your men.”

I arrived back at the hospital to find August had in fact passed on our details to whoever was in charge, allowing me to be shown through to Branson’s room, where he was due to be moved once they were happy to transfer him from the recovery ward. The nurse in charge told me that the surgery - a splenorrhaphy - had lasted little over an hour and had been successful in repairing the damage to his spleen. She then showed me into a small, clinically white room with tiled ceilings and grey linoleum lining the floors.

The pungent scent of disinfectant and some weak air freshener greeted me as I stepped inside, closing the door behind me. Noel stood with his back to the door and his forehead pressed to the glass of the room's one and only window. His hair was dishevelled, the shirt he had on untucked and rumpled and his broad, strong back was slumped as though shielding the rest of him from an oncoming attack. His usual air of confidence was nowhere to be seen, and in this moment he seemed smaller but no less beautiful.

Clearing my throat so as not to startle him, I took a step forward just as he turned. His eyes were dull, and his lips sat in a tight line. He didn’t smile, nor did he make any move towardsme. Tension hung thickly in the air like an oncoming storm, an electric buzz that tickled my skin.

“Hi.” My voice was soft and gentle, as though speaking to a spooked dog. “When are they bringing him through?” All of this - his father’s illness, the breakup, the accident, the losing control of the situation - had very visibly taken a toll on Noel. Gone were the jokes and the smiles, and the light that exuded from him, replaced by exhaustion and unhappiness.

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