Page 7 of Faux Beau

“I missed you,” Brynn said. Her fingers were too short to make it fully around his waist but her grip was like a vise.

The family huddled around him and there they all stood like the San Francisco Forty-Niners after winning the Super Bowl.

He soaked up the love like a starving man. The love that was given so easily made him wonder how he’d stayed away so long. Then he met his twin’s gaze over the top of everyone’s heads and it all came rushing back. The hurt. The betrayal of finding his brother meeting with their mom behind his back. Laughing and hugging, all the while keeping Jax in the dark. He remembered the argument that followed, the surging anger, the words and the feel of his fists splintering Lucas’s nose.

They continued to stare, Jax’s heart in his throat. Lucas’s face blank, an impenetrable shield of I don’t give a shit. For the first time in Jax’s life he couldn’t read his brother.

As twins they used to be able to read each other’s thoughts. Finish each other’s sentences. Not tonight. Not since the night their brotherhood was broken.

One time Jax had been surrounded by a group of bullies who were saying shit about Cindy being a junkie. He knew his defense of his mom was going to get him pummeled, but at the last minute Lucas had shown up saying he felt Jax’s fear and just knew where to go.

No matter that they were younger, Jax and his brother had bashed those kids. Because of the neglect and indifference they’d experienced in their childhood, he and his brother had to become scrappy, resourceful, and independent at an early age. And because of their mom’s drinking habit and reputation, they’d had to become tough as hell.

Lucas had long ago given up on trying to defend the woman who chose her addiction over her sons, but Jax still held out this ridiculous hope that she’d show up one day, be the mom they knew before their dad killed himself. Twenty years later, and it still hadn’t happened. He wasn’t sure how to fix it, just like he didn’t know how to fix things with Lucas.

“Hey,” Jax said with a nod to Lucas.

“What are you doing here?” Lucas asked. No “nice to see you.” No “Have you missed me as much as I’ve missed you?”

“I wouldn’t miss Peggy’s birthday,” he said. His siblings’ eyes were wide with disappointment, bouncing back and forth like it was a Wimbledon match.

Lucas gave a judgy shake of the head. “You’re a little early.”

Jax looked at the table and confusion lit his eyes. “What?”

Peggy shook her head. “I made you boys’ favorite, double chocolate brownies. And if the two of you fight in my home, you’re both on dishes duty, and your dad cooked so you know that the kitchen is a disaster.”

“No need to fight, Mom. We’re fine. Aren’t we fine, Jax?” his brother said as if Jax were the one to start it.

“Yup, we’re fine,” Jax said when all he wanted to do was punch him in the face for lying. And he didn’t even have to look at his twin’s scowl to know Lucas felt the same.

Brynn looked at the birthday card in his pocket, which Jax had stuffed with two first-class tickets to Puerto Rico, and her smile faded. “What’s that?”

“Mom’s present.”

All of his siblings shared a look and Brynn said, “The birthday party isn’t for another two weeks. We had to move it because Grandma couldn’t make it.”

Jax’s face heated with embarrassment and a little anger. “Why didn’t anyone tell me?”

“I thought I put it in the text,” Nolan explained, sounding genuinely confused.

“I didn’t get it.”

Peggy smacked Nolan in the stomach with a whack. “I told you guys you shouldn’t have started that new text thread without him.”

“He’s not a part of the lodge so why would he be a part of the thread?” Lucas said.

Jax shouldn’t be surprised that Lucas left him out of the loop, but the fact that the others didn’t fight for him left him feeling like he was once again the outcast. Why did he feel as if he was always the last to know shit? And not just since last year; it had been that way since he left for his first circuit tour.

“I’m part of the lodge. I’m on the board for Christ’s sake.”

“Emma, honey, why don’t you go in the kitchen and sneak one of Grandma’s brownies,” Harris said, shooting daggers at Jax for his language.

Emma’s eyes went as big as Frisbees, but she didn’t give anyone time to renege on the offer of dessert without finishing up her salad.

“You haven’t made a single meeting in three years,” Lucas said when his niece was out of earshot.

“My season is five months, and the other seven I’m training.” When were people going to get this? Competing at the highest level meant he trained as hard as any other pro athlete. Just because the snow season in Sierra Vista only lasted November through April, the glaciers in New Zealand were ski-ready year-round.

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