Room at the Top (19 page)

“It’s so cute that he does those.” April blinked at Austin, her words innocent even though they hinted at condescension. “What is it this time, a teeny tiny hospital scene?”

For a second, Austin flashed on a diorama of a BDSM scene, miniature sub tied to a bedframe as his minidom raised a flogger. “Um…no. Alien planet, actually. All these ruined buildings with the proportions not quite right so you know it wasn’t humans using them. It’s really cool.”

“A
dor
able.”

“No,” Austin said, refusing to back down and let his sister get away with mocking Jay’s hobby. Jay had worked so hard on this diorama over the past few weeks, even needing to be prompted to get ready for their visits to Liam. Though once they’d arrived at Liam’s, Jay had snapped out of the creative fog soon enough. Liam didn’t approve of distracted subs with their minds on decorating a slender spiral tower with delicate curlicues of shaved metal. “It’s actually pretty scary, but it’s good.”

“Tell us when and where the competition’s on and we’ll all go and stand around it making appreciative comments when we see the judges approach,” Sean said. “Got to support our own. The Fishers stick together.”

“Jay’s
not
one of the family. He’s just a
boyfriend
. They don’t count.” April’s eyes narrowed, the shadows under them not all down to the heavy makeup she was wearing, Austin thought. She seemed to realize she’d gone too far and smiled. “Sorry. Of course Jay’s different.
Special
. I like him.”

Austin expected April’s nose to grow an inch after that. She’d liked Jay when Austin started seeing him, but as soon as it’d gotten serious between them, that’d changed to hostility.

“If you keep up like this, you’ll be eating your supper in the kitchen,” Sarah told her, not fooled at all judging by the stern look that she gave April. “Jay’s family, and I hope he knows it. With his parents so far away, we’re all he has, bless him.” She turned to Austin. “I’ll put some of this aside for him, and you’re to make sure he eats it.”

“I’ll do that.” Austin eyed the depleted dishes on the table. “Assuming there
is
any left.”

“You’re the one who pointed out I make enough for an army.” Sarah sighed. “It is nice to have leftovers around, though. What does everyone think?”

Tim, who had just shoveled in another huge mouthful of food, said a muffled, “’S good.”

“You’d eat something scraped off the bottom of your shoe,” April said with disgust. “It’s okay. It probably has a million calories.”

“Only a half a million,” her mother said.

“Don’t talk to me like I’m six,” April snapped, eyes flashing. “You know what? I’m not hungry.” She got up and flounced from the room, ignoring her mother’s protests. She reappeared a moment later with a bottle of diet soda in her hand and announced, “I’ll be in my room. Kyle’s picking me up at eight.”

“You’re going out again?” Sarah asked, dismayed.

Austin went to pick up April’s abandoned plate.

“Don’t clean up after her,” Tim protested. “God, she’s so spoiled. It’s a miracle she knows how to wipe her own ass.”

“Timothy!” Sarah exclaimed.

“Well, it’s true.” Tim sulked for a few seconds, then smiled at his mother apologetically. “Sorry, Mom.”

“That’s better.” Mollified, Sarah concentrated on her own food while Austin, wanting to save her at least a little work, packaged up some of the meal in a container for Jay. “I just don’t know what to do about that girl.”

“You could send her to one of those camps,” Sean offered like it was a perfectly reasonable suggestion.

“Camps?” Sarah frowned.

Sean nodded and scooped another bite onto his fork. “Yeah, you know. Scared straight or whatever.”

“He means boot camp,” Austin explained. “Well, not the army version, but the other kind.”

“I never know what any of you are talking about.”

“That’s not a bad thing,” Austin assured her. He hesitated in the doorway. “I’ll go up to her. See if I can smooth things over.”

His mother sighed. “If you manage it, tell me how.”

April’s room was the smallest of the four rooms upstairs, more of a storage closet, something she’d complained about long and loud in the past, but she’d always had it to herself at least. As Austin knocked at the firmly closed door, he tried to remember how long it’d been since he’d gone inside. The last time, the black walls had been covered with posters and every surface littered with makeup, cheap jewelry, and a collection of glasses and plates that needed washing.

When he got no reply, he raised his voice. “I’m coming in, April. You’ve got to the count of three, so if you’re smoking or half-naked, now’s the time to change that.”

She opened the door before he started to count. “You’re not coming in.”

He put his hand on her shoulder and pushed, following her into the room and ignoring her outraged squeal. “Looks like I am.”

“What the fuck do you think—”

“Language, little sis, language.” He pointed at the unmade bed. “Sit. We need to talk.”

He’d been channeling Liam’s command voice, and to a certain extent it must’ve worked, because she sat. With a flounce and another muttered, “Fuck you,” under her breath, but it was a victory of sorts.

“You’ve always been a pain in the ass, but you’re getting worse,” he said bluntly. “If there’s something going on I need to know about, tell me. I’ll deal with it.”

She glanced up at him through her lashes. “You can’t fix me, Austin. I’m damaged goods.”

Not rolling his eyes at the soulful quiver in her voice was a struggle. “You’re a drama queen, and you’re just fine. Selfish, immature, vain, but apart from that—”

“How would you know what I’m like?” she flung at him. “You’re never here! Off in rainbow-candy land playing kissy face with
Jay
.” Her mouth twisted on the last word, turning Jay’s name into a curse.

Austin frowned. “I live ten minutes away, and I come over twice a week, if not more,” he pointed out. “You’re never here; that’s why we don’t see as much of each other as we used to.”

“Like I’m going to hang around here?”

“Like I—” He stopped himself and sat down on the end on the bed. “Five minutes with you and I regress a decade, maybe two,” he said ruefully. “April, you and Jay used to get along just fine. You spent an afternoon in the park finding red pebbles for one of his dioramas, and you told him every embarrassing story about me you could remember.”

“Yeah, well that was before he took you off me.”

Austin stared at her. He found himself really studying her face—God, all that makeup, did she really think it looked good—and he thought he could see, under the paint and defiance, the little girl he used to know. Reaching out, he touched her hair, and April let him. “Remember when we baked the cake for Mom’s birthday?”

She smiled sadly. “You let me help. I dropped two eggs on the floor and half a bottle of sprinkles.”

“And almost set your hair on fire when we lit the candles.”

“It looked like crap.”

Austin shrugged. “It looked like a couple of kids made it. We were proud at the time.”

“Yeah. Mom was too.” April tilted her head to one side and looked at him. “So who
was
that guy? The Scottish one.”

“British,” Austin told her. “He’s just a friend. He’s divorced and…I think he’s lonely, you know? He, um, likes hanging out with me and Jay.”

April didn’t seem convinced, and it was hard to blame her when it sounded lame even to Austin’s ears. “He’s
old
.”

“So? If I remember right, your last boyfriend was almost thirty.”

“That’s different.” April glared at him. “Wait, are you cheating on Jay? With
that
guy?”

“
No
. I wouldn’t cheat on Jay with anyone.” Thank goodness it was the truth.

“Is he cheating on you?”

“No. God, what is your obsession with—Shit, April. Not again?” Her last two relationships had ended when she’d replaced her boyfriend with a newer model without telling him first.

“Kyle’s nice. He’s just…okay, that’s his problem. He’s nice.” April hunched up one shoulder. “Nice is
boring
.”

“Mom doesn’t like him, if that helps.”

April looked at him, then started to laugh. “Maybe. Really? Why?”

“He plays his music too loud in the car.”

April stared at him for a moment, then giggled. “No, that’s me. I make him turn it up as loud as it can get when we turn onto the street. He hates it because everyone stares at us but—”

“But you love the attention.” Austin shook his head. “You’re impossible.” He couldn’t keep his affection from showing. When it came down to it, she was always going to be his little sister. He didn’t want that to change.

She put her hand up, her fingertips touching the place she’d slapped. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that. Did…did Mom notice?”

Austin shook his head. “It doesn’t really show unless you’re looking. It’s fine. I mean, don’t do it again, but I’ll live.”

And I’ve had much worse.

“Jay was mad at me.” Her mouth drooped forlornly. “I do like him, Austin, I do. I’m glad you’ve got someone, even if he is a total geek about dwarfs and dragons and books and stuff. I’ve never met anyone who reads as much as him. It’s
weird
.”

Austin swallowed the words that rose to his lips. Defending Jay wasn’t a good idea right then. “You know, he’d love it if you came and looked at the piece he’s working on.” That was shading the truth, but Jay wouldn’t mind showing it off to her. “God, April, I’ve lived there for months, and you’ve never been over. It’s this really cool Victorian, all nooks and crannies, and the attic—”

“I’ve seen it.” She flushed as he blinked at her. “I might’ve walked past it once. Twice.”

Austin shifted closer and gave her a hug. Her necklace dug into his chest, but he didn’t let go, not once her arms came up, returning the hug. He could see her walking along, hoping that he’d see her, come out, drag her inside…

“Next time, walk up the path and ring, okay? Please?”

“Maybe,” she whispered and turned her head to kiss his cheek where she’d slapped it. A moment later, she was leaning against the pillows, her eyes suspiciously bright. “Now get out. I’ve got to make myself beautiful for Kyle.”

Austin stood and glanced at his watch. “Oh my God! In just two hours? You’ll never make it.”

“Jerk.”

“Spoiled princess brat.”

“Asshole.”

“Barbie lover.”

“I used to dress them in Goth gear and spike up their hair. Doesn’t count.”

“You still owned them.”

“Oh yeah? Wait till I tell Jay about your collection of GI Joes and what you used to do with them. All those cute bare tushes on display…those, uh,
training maneuvers
you put them through…”

Austin swallowed, the back of his neck going prickly with sweat. Sometimes he’d used a red marker and drawn faint lines across their asses, rubbing them off later, but he’d always done that when he was alone. “Don’t you fucking dare.” Belatedly he realized she had to be bluffing. “Wait a minute. I gave them to Goodwill when you were in diapers.” She grinned impishly and he exhaled. “Brat. Really. You are.”

April gave him an enchanting smile. “
Thank
you.”

Chapter Twelve

Jay tripped on the stairs leading up to their apartment, narrowly avoiding dropping the paper bag from the deli. He swore under his breath. “Fucking stairs. Why do they have to be so fucking steep?”

There was no one to answer his purely rhetorical question, which was probably a good thing because it would be embarrassing for someone to see him tripping
up
the stairs. He shouldered his way into the apartment and remembered to close the door quietly in case Austin was sleeping.

Setting the bag on the kitchen counter, Jay kicked off his shoes and dumped the soup from the deli carton into the clean pot that was sitting on top of the stove. He turned on the burner underneath it. They tended to use the same medium-sized pot and large frying pan for almost all their cooking, so it didn’t seem worth it to Jay to put them away between meals. Austin didn’t entirely agree, but in this instance he’d been sick in bed for the past two days and Jay had pretty much been doing what he wanted.

He crept past his bedroom door—it was really the bedroom they shared, but Austin had insisted on sleeping in his bed the night before so Jay could both get a decent night’s sleep and avoid the germs he was coughing up all over the place—and peered into Austin’s room.

“I’m up,” Austin said, and just those two words sparked a coughing fit.

“Feeling any better?” Jay asked hopefully.

“I think I’m dying.” Austin reached for a tissue and blew his nose. The collection of already used, wadded tissues scattered across the floor bore testament to his illness. Under other circumstances, Austin was too neat to let them lie where they’d fallen.

Jay sighed and padded over to sit on the side of the bed, then reached for Austin’s forehead. “You’re still hot, but I think you’ll live.”

“Yeah, it’s just hard to want to.” Austin looked at him blearily. “I’m sorry.”

“Me too, but for you. It’s okay. I’ll call Liam and let him know we’ve got to cancel. I e-mailed him this morning to give him the heads-up, so it’s not like it will come as a surprise.”

Austin’s forehead puckered in a frown. “What? No. I don’t want you to cancel.”

“If you think Liam’s gonna touch you when you’re like this, think again. It’s only because I love you with a deep, undying passion that I still think you look hot enough to kiss. Theoretically, because last time I tried, you sneezed and it went in my hair, which was gross.”

“Yeah, I was sorry about that too. I was aiming for your face.”

“Funny guy.” Austin looked like shit, deathly pale apart from the red nose and eyes, his hair limp and damp. “Smell that soup?”

“Now you’re the one cracking jokes. No. I can’t smell anything but snot.”

“Snot smells? You know what? Don’t tell me. Just lie there, and I’ll feed you some nice chicken soup, spoon by spoon.”

“So I can throw it up, barf by barf.”

“That was yesterday’s fun trick, and it was all the coughing you were doing, not the food I gave you.”