Page 1 of The Jock
CHAPTER 1
COLBY
There wasa fancy word for killing your brother and Colby was sure his older brother Jonah would know what it was. Of the three of them, Jonah was the brains. Colby was the brawn. And Taylor was a dead man walking.
“What the fuck am I going to do with…” Colby examined the potted plants. “Trees, of some kind. Probably fucking orange trees.”
Colby wanted to kick something, but he refrained, only because the last time he let his temper get the best of him, he broke a toe. Running a CrossFit gym and having a broken toe was a bad combination. There was no such thing as downtime.
“Fucking orange trees.” Colby moved them to the window of his apartment where they could at least get some light until he figured out what to do with them. Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he dialed Taylor’s number.
“Yes?” Taylor answered, the sounds of the kitchen at Bennett’s Diner clattering in the background.The youngest child, Taylor was the only one who wanted to work at the family diner long term.
“I’m going to kill you, Taylor. And then I’m going to kill your plants. Stay out of my apartment.” Colby hung up the phone to the sound of Taylor’s cackling laughter.
“Glad you’re proud of yourself, you little shit.” Colby loved his brothers, but Taylor’s plant obsession had gone too far. It started a few years ago when the internet taught him how to propagate plants from seeds. Done with your avocado? Why throw the pit away like a normal human being when you can grow a fucking tree to leave in your brother’s apartment to drive him insane.
Colby lived in a secured building across town from the diner. It was closer to work, so he had to go out of his way for Sunday morning family breakfasts, but it was a tradition Colby clung to. Taylor was probably too young to remember their mom… Hell, some days Colby was sure he’d imagined her. Jonah was the only one with real, concrete memories of her. Sometimes Colby envied that. Sometimes he didn’t.
The diner was almost a member of the family and some of the women Colby dated didn’t understand that. Yes, he would sneak out of bed Sunday morning to have breakfast with his dad and his pain-in-the-ass brothers. And no, they weren’t invited. He didn’t want to give them the wrong impression by bringing them to family breakfast.
When Jonah had been away at school, Colby would make him FaceTime during breakfast whenever possible. It wasn’t the same, but it helped with the itchy feeling that something was missing.
Colby scowled at the orange trees again. Maybe they were lemon trees. Who knew? He sure as hell didn’t. Ever since Taylor discovered he could grow anything, he’d been a menace. His green thumb would’ve been impressive had it not been for him using his powers for evil. Colby didn’t have plants for a reason. He was a terrible plant dad. He was either at the gym all the timeworking, or working out, or he was at the diner. His apartment wasn’t much because he was never there.
Colby didn’t have room for plants in his life. He’d probably end up killing them. He didn’t know what Taylor was thinking when he’d snuck in. Which brought up another question in Colby’s mind. How the hell had Taylor gained access to his apartment?
He stewed about it while he heated his dinner. Every Wednesday was meal prep day, which meant Thursday was his favorite day of the week because everything was freshly made and he hadn’t yet grown tired of this week’s selection.
Tonight’s dinner was a turkey salad wrap that Colby ate standing in the kitchen, staring at the plants forced upon him. There was no way he was going to keep them, but what the hell was he going to do with them?
An idea took root in Colby’s head and before he could think better of it, he grabbed the plants and headed out, locking the door behind him. Taylor still lived at home. Sort of. He’d taken over the basement unit in their childhood home, which meant that Colby could easily gain entry into Taylor’s apartment.
If Taylor kept insisting on sneaking plants into his house, Colby was going to fight back. He’d simply return the plants. And then he’d have his locks changed. He could simply put the trees outside and see if they survived on their own, but that would be cruel. For as much of a pain as Taylor was, his plants were important to him and Colby couldn’t stand the thought of hurting his brother like that.
Sure, he might hate that Taylor had broken into his apartment, but that didn’t mean he wanted to actually upset him by taking his annoyance out on an innocent plant. It never asked to be dragged into this.
Colby carefully set the plants in the back floorboard between the seats. They would make the journey fine if Colby drovecarefully. Looking after himself was enough work, and he didn’t need to add other living beings into the mix.
The diner was close to their childhood home, and it wasn’t unusual for Taylor to walk to work, so the presence of his car didn’t mean much to Colby when he parked behind it and carefully retrieved the plants from the back seat.
The house was a single-story ranch with a basement suite that could be accessed by a door in the kitchen. It hadn’t been used much by anyone until Taylor took over the suite for himself. Everyone respected his space, but Taylor had been the first one to declare war.
Colby sneaked into the house. Their dad was still at the diner most likely, which meant Taylor was probably there still too, even though he should’ve been off hours ago.
Quiet as a mouse, Colby tiptoed through the house and to the kitchen. He opened the basement door slowly and crept down the stairs. He made a point to walk on the right side near the wall because the other side of the stairs squeaked.
“Holy Christ. Is he playing Jumanji? It’s a fucking jungle in here.” Colby looked around at the space. Grow lights compensated for the lack of natural light, and suddenly it wasn’t a secret why Taylor was sneaking his plants into other people’s houses. There wasn’t room for anything else down here. The walls were covered in climbing vines and there was an entire wall of trees in the living room. Even his television was surrounded by plants.
Colby set the trees down on the kitchen counter. A potted plant sat on top of the fridge. It was a damned good thing the basement wasn’t dug deep like some that only offered tiny windows at the tops of the walls or nothing down here would grow at all.
“What the fuck, Taylor” Colby whispered to himself.
From down the hallway, Colby heard a sneeze and he went still. Taylor was home. Colby grinned and tiptoed down the hall. The bathroom door was open and the room was dark. That left Taylor’s bedroom.
As slowly as possible, Colby turned the knob on Taylor’s door, and then all at once he flung it open and shouted, “Hey, fucker!”
Taylor scrambled for cover, yelling obscenities at Colby, a ferociousness in his voice that he’d never heard before.
