Page 89 of Her Brother's Keeper

I perked up a bit, and the three of them joined me at the table. I took a fortifying sip of my tea and waited Rush out patiently.

He addressed Sage first, “So, you know, part of being in the club is having your brother’s backs and holding them accountable, right?” he asked.

“I guess so,” Sage said slowly, his face guarded.

“Well, the same is true in reverse,” Nox said. “Part of being in the club is that your brothers have your back, but that they hold you accountable when you f-fudge up.”

I bit my bottom lip and tried to hide my smile at Nox’s last second correction.

“Okay, did I screw up?” Sage asked.

“No, man.Iscrewed up, at the lake, and I need to apologize to your sister,” Rush said.

“It’s okay,” I said softly, shifting uncomfortably in my seat.

“It’s not, and I’m really sorry for what I said to you, Maren. It was unfair. I fucked up, it came out of my own bad history and insecurities. I upset you, and your brother by default, for no reason and it wasn’t cool. I hope you can forgive me.”

The silence stretched between us for a moment as I tried to find words, “Of course I forgive you. I’m sorry I reacted badly…”

“See, you ain’t gotta apologize for that…”

“No, in some ways I do. It came from a similar place, out of my own bad history and insecurities.”

Nox was staring at Sage who was ping-ponging between me and Rush as we spoke. He nudged my brother and said gently, “See, this is what real men do. We apologize when we screw up, and we own it. We don’t try to hide it, or pretend whatever we did, didn’t happen. That’s called honor and if you don’t have honor, you have nothing.”

“Youarenothing,” Rush added. “It’s okay to make mistakes. We all do. I did. It’s what we do after we make them, how we handle them, that matters. You get me?”

I smiled then, eyes growing wet with tears as my heart swelled to ten times its size with both gratitude and pride. I could see it in my brother’s face that he was really thinking about this. Filing it away for future reference and that what Rush and Nox had just done was making quite the impression and I couldn’t even begin to tell them just how grateful I was for it.

Sage looked over to me and asked, “Think this calls for ice cream?” a hopeful edge to his voice and the two men laughed with me.

“I think that’s a fine idea,” I said.

We had ice cream and talked until way past mine and Sage’s bedtime, but it was worth it. When I saw Nox and Rush to the door, it was with a bittersweet longing for them both to stay. I wasn’t quite ready for the magic captured that evening to end.

It’d felt like family around our little dining room table. For a moment or two, it had felt like when my dad was alive and I missed him, so, so, much. While it hadn’t beenexactlyas when he’d been alive, it had been close enough, and I wanted to hold on to that feeling.

Nox kissed me goodnight, and whispered “Goodnight, Angel,” against my lips.

I smiled and had the thought that he had it wrong… if anything, Nox wasmyangel.

“Can you come back?” I whispered.

“After Sage is asleep?”

“Yeah.”

He smiled, “I think that can be arranged. Let me ride to the club and grab a change of clothes for work in the morning. Sound good?”

“Sounds good.”

I let him go, and set about getting ready for bed along with Sage who surprised me when he said, “Nox should move in with us.”

I spit out my toothpaste, holding my hair aside, and asked, “What makes you say that?”

He shrugged, “He’s family now. I like him, and you don’t think I know he sneaks back here and stays the night?” My brother rolled his eyes at me, “I’m eleven. I’m not a baby anymore, and I’m not stupid.”

I made an incredulous sound, my mouth falling open as he headed out the bathroom door and went to make the turn into his bedroom.

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