Page 121 of The Otherworld

BANG-BANG-BANG!

I gasp, watching in wonder and amazement as the indigo sky erupts with bursts of glittering light that dwarf the stars and drench the world with color. They reflect on the glassy water below, then fade into long, cascading trails of sizzling sparkles and smoke.

“That’s fireworks?” I whisper to Jack.

He nods, looping his arm around my shoulders. “That’s fireworks.”

BANG, BANG, BANG!

Purple, gold, scarlet.

“They look like sea urchins,” I say, which makes Jack laugh. It sounds like an insulting laugh, so I return with a sharp “What?” and he answers, “Only you would say that.”

When I turn to look at him, I’m only a little surprised to find him not watching the fireworks, but watching me. A flash of reddish gold lights up one side of his face, sparkling in his hazel eyes—and the next thing I know, his lips are pressed against mine.

It happens so suddenly that I don’t see it coming. My whole body freezes up, a confusion of emotions stirring inside me as the realization hits in slow motion.

He’s… kissing… me.

Just like Adam kissed me at the top of the lighthouse—but so incomparably different. When Jack’s lips capture mine, I feel nothing but a small jolt of surprise. No dizzying storm surge of love rushing through me, no butterflies swirling, fluttering, pressing against my ribs—

Nothing but a half-empty ache in my soul.

Kissing Jack feels wrong when my heart is so full of Adam.

I dip my head down, shying away from his lips with a nervous blush. The fireworks go boom, boom, boom, then sizzle out to bathe us in darkness once more.

“Sorry,” Jack murmurs, easing back to put a bit of space between us. “I, uh… I couldn’t resist. You’re just so beautiful. Please don’t hate me.”

I breathe a sheepish laugh, looking down. “I don’t hate you, Jack. You just took me by surprise.”

“I know. I’m sorry. Sometimes I don’t think before I jump.”

“Sometimes?”

He smirks, eyes glinting in the dark. “All the time.” He threads his fingers through mine and gives my hand a little squeeze. “Forgive me?”

I shake my head with a reassuring smile. “Nothing to forgive.”

40

The Church Register

ADAM

Jack is sound asleep when I wake up at seven a.m. He stayed out late with Orca last night. I know because I heard them pull into the driveway at quarter to midnight. Jack tried to be quiet coming in, but stealth has never been his forte. I could hear whispers in the hallway. His voice. Orca’s soft laugh. That kept me awake long after Jack had crashed into his bed and fallen asleep.

I keep telling myself, This is better. Orca needs to experience being with someone other than me. Even if that “someone” is my brother. Even if it kills me to think about her going off with him alone. To think about her and Jack in the bed of my pickup truck, watching the fireworks together.

It’s not jealousy I feel. Jealousy is too simple a word to describe it. Too black and white. If Orca was spending time with some other guy I didn’t know, maybe jealous is exactly what I’d be.

But this is Jack.

My brother.

Jack, who I’ve been sharing a room with since he was two years old. Jack, who used to have nightmares and climbed into bed with me to feel safe. Jack, who wanted to do everything I did, so I taught him—how to fish, how to fire a gun, how to fly a plane.

He could never be my enemy, my rival. He could never be anything except my little brother. And if Orca had to be with anyone else in the world, I would want it to be him.

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