Page 1 of Three Little Words

Chapter One

Bryn

Five Years Ago

The stink of cheap alcohol and weed announced Bryan’s arrival before he even hit the door.

I sighed and put down my pencil.

The key slid into the lock, and I watched as the door opened and my idiot younger brother walked in. He looked like a taller, male version of me—sandy brown hair, dark brown eyes, light skin. He wasn’t terribly tall, either, but at five-ten, he practically towered over my five-foot, two-inch frame.

He was wearing the same jeans and t-shirt as yesterday.

And he smelled fucking terrible.

“Welcome home.” I frowned at him as he opened the door.

“Bryn, hey, what—what are you doing up?” He smiled, wavering where he stood.

“It’s, like, ten a.m. A normal hour for people to be up.”

“Oh, right. Right.”

He crossed the room and flopped down on the other end of the couch.

I was supposed to be looking after him, and he was making it real fucking hard.

Taking care of Bryan had always been my job, as far back as I could remember. Mom always had to work hard to provide for the two of us, and as soon as I was old enough to know how to microwave a frozen dinner, I’d been babysitting my little brother.

That hadn’t changed as we got older. I spent a lot of high school with Bryan tagging along, until people just stopped inviting me places. It was, according to many of them, lame to have a freshman hanging around when we were seniors.

But I loved him. Even when he did stupid shit like get mixed up with a motorcycle gang.

I turned on the couch, looking at him. “You’re still drunk. You haven’t even hit the hangover yet.”

“It’s fine.” He chuckled, waving one hand dismissively.

It was not fine.

“Bryan.”

“Bryn.”

I hated when he did that. Just a reminder that our parents hadn’t been creative enough to give us unique names. No, Mom had always thought it was cute that we had matching names.

I hated it.

I felt my jaw clench and took a deep breath. “Look. You have to get your shit together.”

“My shit is together. God, get off my ass for a minute.”

“Bryan, I’m trying to look out for you.”

“I don’t need you to look out for me.”

He shrugged, folding his arms.

I sighed heavily and looked away from him.

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