Page 26 of Begin Again Again

And they weren’t. Sal had always made everything about themself work. They were gorgeous. Shameless. They turned heads wherever they went, including half the guys he played footy with. And they were justSal. Sending him memes, kicking him under tables, standing on the sidelines at every single footy game, screaming‘Run, brother! Run!’

“Sal, who gives a shit what Mum and Dad think? You know you’re the best.”

“You promise?” They were crying now. “You promise you don’t hate me?”

“You know I don’t. You can do whatever you want, I’ve told you that.”

“I know.” They sniffed. “But why can’t Mum and Dad think that way?”

“I don’t know,” he lied. No matter how many ways he tried to get Sal to see it, they never joined the dots. And how was he supposed to spell out to his baby sister that they’d broken the family contract just by being themselves?

“I should run away,” Sal said. “Now the borders are open, I should join the fucking circus.”

Byron had a horrible flashback to the months Sal lived with their first boyfriend. All those long, heartbreaking calls. The stupid shit he put them through. “Don’t. Stay for now. You’re right, they’ll get used to things and you’ll get more work and move out. Just… try not to put too much pressure on them right now, okay? For me?”

Sal harrumphed. “Fine. How are you anyway?”

Byron opened his mouth, but the word ‘fine’ wouldn’t come out.

“Shit, hey?” Sal said conversationally. “What’s up? Is Derek still acting like a parking ticket?”

“He’s not a parking ticket.”

“I said ‘acting like one.’ And I bet he is. Remind him how he pissed our downstairs bed. That’ll get him to act normal.”

Byron grinned. “Yeah, I’ll get right onto that. I…”

“Yeeeeeeees?”

He couldn’t bring himself to say Beth’s name. “I brought a girl home last night.”

“Oh my god! Wow! And who?”

“Just someone. Anyway, Derek caught her heading out and this morning he asked me if she was ‘trouble.’ I think he got up when he heard her leaving to check on her.”

“And make sure she wasn’t stealing his shit?”

“Probably.”

Sal laughed. “So, being a footy player doesn’t take up enough of his time, he needs to run private security as well?”

“He’s got his reasons for being paranoid.”

“Because of those chicks you brought home that went through his stuff?”

Byron said nothing.

“He’s the one who fucked them,” Sal reminded him. “He should screen his thots better. I say that as a thot.”

“Don’t call yourself a thot.”

“You know I can’t do that, brother. Anyway, Derek can’t put that thot-stalker freak out experience on you.”

He could. But Byron wasn’t going to tell Sal that. He’d reached the corner store and headed inside for iced coffee. “Well, that’s the state of my life. I’ll let you go, Sal. I’ve gotta get back to work.”

“Hang on there, Superchief.” More springy sounds. “Who’s the girl you brought home?”

Fuck.

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