My Best Friends Brother

Chapter 102

Milo was not fucking kidding when he said that May is the best fucking cook. She decided to make lasagne for everybody as a way to bring some peace back to the tension filled house and it actually fucking worked.

Her Granny always said that she never met a problem that couldn't be solved by a good meal. I’m glad to see that at least somebody was listening to her because Brie definitely didn't inherit those cooking skills.

Jayce hasn’t said a lot but he hasn’t said anything bad either, after he came back from his ‘run’ he spent the rest of the day out with Heather and Chase or curled up on the couch with Aleah. His family is clearly his safe space. We haven’t spoken to each other directly but he has been at least trying to make an effort with Miles.

Liam was pretty exhausted after running around the lake with Heather all day so he almost fell asleep straight into his plate of lasagne, I don’t know how Miles managed to get him into his pyjamas so easily last night but tonight I’m pretty sure I got them on backwards.

I was starting to give up on any hopes I had of Charlie and Brie finding some kind of middle ground, we'd tried doing it the nice way; encouraging them to have an actual conversation and even offering them everything from designer shoes too the ability to refer to me as Elmo for the rest of the trip, but nothing was working.

In the end Steve decided that he was just going to go old school; barricading them in a bedroom with a bottle of gin and just letting them scrap it out.

They’ve been in there for an hour now and I can see that both Steve and Han are concerned that we will only find pieces of them both when we open that door again.

I’m actually okay with it, it’s pleasantly quiet without the two of them out here.

“Seriously Al? If you could pick any person dead or alive to date, you’d pick a character from a fucking book?”

She nods, her eyes bright with the love she feels for her latest book boyfriend. I don’t know what it is about her being pregnant that makes her such a horny bitch but she gets like this every time.

“Not just any character! Rayhan! He’s kind of the perfect man; loves unconditionally, fit as fuck, fiercely protective and an animal in the sack  -  what else would I want? You read the last two of Moonlight Muse’s alpha books Josh, why won’t you read Her Destined Alpha? Is it still because of that dream you had where Alejandro was –”

The look I give her is enough to make her stop. I don’t need her telling everyone how weirdly attracted I got to that guy, have you ever just wanted to pull a character out of a book for a night? One hell of a fucking night...

“I thought I was your perfect man?” Jayce whispers in her ear but it's not quiet enough for any of us to miss it.  Al smiles, leaning her head into his neck as he wraps his arms around her body, she's barely left his lap all day.

I’m still pissed at him for everything he’s done to Miles but the one thing I can never fault him for is the husband he has been to that girl. He loves her with everything that he has, he’d die before he ever saw her in pain and the same thing goes for their children.

None of us want to feel this way about him, we all really just want to have the Jayce we all knew and loved back. It’s going to be easier for us than it is for Miles to get there, their issues run a lot fucking deeper.

“What about you Milo? Anyone you want.” Jayce asks, everyone turning to look at Miles. His answer can’t be much worse than Steve’s, what kind of guy still wants his third grade teacher that he had a crush on after all these years? Kind of funny when I think about it now, with her dark curly hair and deep mocha skin tone, she actually had a striking resemblance to someone we know...

Miles looks around slightly sheepishly, the hand he's been secretly using too stroke over my leg under the blanket stills with so much attention on him.

“There’s not anyone I can think of...” He answers, picking at the label on his water bottle and trying to avoid eye contact with everybody.

“Come on Milo, there isn't a celebrity or just someone you had a crush on as a kid that you wouldn’t mind having looking at you like you're the most important person in the world for a night?”  Aleah presses again, twisting into Jayce’s hold and resting herself against his shoulder while his hand smooth’s over her stomach. They’ve got to tell us about that baby soon right?

“Actually.... there was someone.” Miles begins, his hand clenching around my thigh as his eyes quickly come to mine before falling back to look at his feet with a smile. “They’re probably the only person I’ve ever actually had a crush on, but I don’t have to imagine what it would be like to be with them anymore, and having them for one night would never be enough.”

Could he be any fucking cuter right now? When I get him to that room later...

“Oh my God Milo, that’s so sweet, who was-” A large bang from the room that contains the two psychopaths echoes throughout the house and cuts Aleah off from asking a question that I had no idea how Miles was going to answer.

Oh no. She did it. Brie’s killed him.

Han and Steve jump to their feet, looking at each other like they have no idea what to expect.

“Do you want me to come with you guys?” I ask with both of them immediately nodding and waving me in the direction of the room.

“Okay guys; I’ll grab the body, Han you dig the hole and Josh start writing everyone alibi’s. When we’re done I’ll take Brie to Mexico and send you a postcard.” As we reach the door Steve spins, grabbing me and Han by our shoulders and looking at us like this is the final goodbye. “It was a good run guys, but I always knew when I asked that girl to marry me that it would end up this way.”

Me and Han are still laughing when Steve finally manages to untie the rope that he had around the door handle keeping them inside.

I’ve seen a lot of terrible things in my life, things so disturbing and traumatising that you can hardly find the words to describe them...

... But nothing I’ve ever seen before could have prepared me for the scene we are presented with when Steve lets the door fly open.

What the fu...

“You're my best friend!”

“No you’re my best friend!”

“I love you!”

“No I love you more!”

Steve and Han stand as frozen as I am as we stare in at the wreck that used to be Brie’s bedroom. The curtains are no longer attached to the poles, almost every piece of furniture is turned over, while the bed and mattress have been separated; Brie and Charlie now sitting on half the discarded mattress on the floor, half undressed and holding each other whilst sobbing and cradling the empty bottle of gin like it's their newborn child.

I will never un-see this...

Charlie’s arms and legs are wrapped around Brie, her hands keeping his face raised as she kisses him all over. I don’t know what the fuck happened here and I’m not entirely sure that I want to.

“I’m so s-sorry that I said your hair was a w-weave!” Charlie sobs incoherently as he winds one of Brie's curls around his finger. “Your hair is so beautiful! I was just r-really jealous because I can’t get mine to go big like this!”

Brie hardly seems to hear him as she continues to plaster his face in her purple lipstick prints. “No! Don’t ever say that! Bitch your hair is gorgeous, this mop takes so long to get perfect, I bet you just get out of the shower and look this fucking God-like!”

They both continue to laugh and sob in equal measures, clutching at each other like they've just come back from war  -  which it kind of looks like they did in here.

Gin. We must never underestimate the power of gin.

Steve is a fucking genius.

“I love you Charlie! Let’s get married and have babies with really curly hair!”

Charlie throws his arks around Brie’s neck. “Our babies would have the best hair... I hate my father... I need chips!”

Slowly I edge my way into the room, slightly scared that our presence is going to pop the bubble of love that these two seem to have surrounded themselves in, but it only seems to expand further when they spot me.

“Elmo!” They both shout in unison before reaching out to take each of my hands and pulling me straight off my feet onto the mattress before breaking apart so they can wrap their half naked limbs around me.

“Why didn't you tell me what a queen she is?” I could seriously get drunk off Charlie’s breath right now. “I love her, I think she's my other h-half” He hiccups. “Sorry daddy! I don’t really mean that, You know I love you the most!”

Daddy? Oh God, please don't tell me he's talking about...

Han’s smirk tells me everything and honestly I could have lived my entire fucking life completely happy not hearing those fucking words.

Brie starts to laugh so hard that her hair repeatedly whips me in the face.

“Oh that’s so funny because Steve really likes it when I call him–”

Slamming my hand over her mouth, she thankfully chooses to just start laughing again. There’s only so much fucking trauma I can take in one day.

Steve comes over and attempts to free me from their clutches but they’ve got their claws in too deep. Han and him look at each other and shrug, turning to walk back towards the door. No, no, no...

“Don’t you to dare fucking leave me here with them!” But Steve just whips out his phone and takes a photo of Brie running her fingers through my hair whilst Charlie attempts to snuggle himself into my chest before leaving me at their mercy.

That man is no longer my brother.

I get ready to Hulk my way out of this situation when a far more friendly face appears in the doorway.

“Jesus Christ, need some help?” I looked pleadingly up into Miles’ eyes but I’m not the only one to spot him.

“Milo!” They both scream together before beckoning him forward. Don’t do it Miles, there’s still time, save yourself.

As soon as he’s within arms reach Brie snatches his wrist and pulls him down into her lap, cradling his head like a baby and starting to plant kisses all over his cheeks.

“Oh he's so cute! Isn’t he the cutest fucking Thompson you’ve ever seen?”

Charlie leans right over my body, pinching the cheeks that Brie has just finished kissing whilst Miles looks at me like I’ve just thrown him to the wolves.

“I keep telling Josh that I think he’s the most handsome man I’ve ever seen, so sweet too! Josh ever lets this one go and I’m keeping him, I’m serious, I will keep him in my guest room and just get him out for special occasions. Kind of like a Christmas tree but for pride and the Tony Awards, I could get a little star to go on his head!”

Brie laughs so hard that Miles manages to slip free of her clutches, grasping my hands and pulling me to my feet whilst sending Charlie crashing down into Brie’s lap. I’ve never been more grateful to this man than I am in this moment.

He continues to hold both my hands in his, staring down at the two chuckling idiots on the floor before looking back at me and bringing my hands to his lips.

“Awww! Look at them! Bitch what I wouldn’t give to have a man look at me like that!” Brie slaps the back of Charlie’s head.

“Bitch you do have a man that looks at you like that! But I know what you mean... They're just so...”

“Loved up.”

Charlie finishes her sentence for her, both of them holding hands and giggling like schoolgirls as they look up at the two of us. Miles can’t keep eye contact with me and I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing considering what they just said but it doesn't matter, he didn't runaway and that means he's not entirely fucking terrified by the things they're saying, that’s enough for me.

He quickly glances at the open door behind him, checking the coast is clear before pulling me forward by our connected hands, letting them go and holding onto the back of my neck as he connects his lips with mine.

I’ll help Brie and Charlie.. I swear... Just give me one more minute of this...

The drunken idiots continue to ooh and ahh but we both just ignore them. Miles letting his hands move around to cup my jaw before letting go of the kiss and running his thumb along my bottom lip with a smile. We are getting these two out to their men and then I’m taking mine to fucking bed.

“I’ll take gingersnap and you grab the dancing queen, these two need to sober the fuck up if they are going to have any chance of enjoying this place without their head down a toilet all day tomorrow.” He jokes, kissing the tip of my nose before letting go and leaning down towards Charlie.

I learned a long time ago that when Brie is drunk it’s just easier to go along with what she wants, so when she practically launches herself around me, I just about manage to catch her before we hit the window.

“He’s really proud of you Josh...” Brie whispers the words so delicately into my ear that I hardly recognised the voice as her own. “I know he’s happy about this... He told me... Can you believe that it’s ten years in a few weeks..?”

I thought that maybe she was talking about Miles to start off with but when I realise who she’s actually talking about, I wrap my arms around her just that little bit tighter.

Ten years...  I feel like I only said goodbye to him yesterday sometimes.

I lean my head into her hair, feeling her arms clench around me the way they always do when we both know the anniversary is approaching and we find our minds more regularly with our angel.

“I hope so.”

Charlie and Miles appear to be in some kind of stalemate, Charlie refusing to get up from the mattress and clutching the gin bottle for dear life.

“Okay, how about this? Will you let me take you back to Han if I carry you the entire way?” Miles tries to reason with Charlie and appears to be making at least a little bit of headway.

“Will you make sure to keep your hands on my ass the entire time?” Miles starts to laugh but when he nods his head Charlie immediately wraps his arms around his neck before launching his legs around his waist. If anyone else did that to him I would toss them into the lake, Charlie is too lovable for his own good.

Brie slides out of my arms, keeping one looped behind my neck as we slowly walk our way back to the living room. She finds her feet again when she spots Steve, sprinting away from me like she isn't a walking bottle of gin and landing straight in Steve’s lap before shoving her tongue directly into his mouth.

Charlie doesn’t seem to be in as much of a hurry to get back to Han, his husband having to practically peel him off Miles before they settle in together on the arm chair.

I stop for a moment, all three couples wrapped around each other in some form of loving embrace without having to worry about the opinions of the people that surround them. Miles does the same thing before his eyes connect with mine and I know that he’s thinking exactly what I am;

Will we be able to be one of them one day?

Brie manages to pull herself away from dry humping my brother on the couch, turning in his lap but the blanket she pulls over the two of them looks a bit fucking ominous for my liking.

“So what have you lot been doing since you tried to cage us?” She asks, extending her hand over to the arm chair which Charlie immediately captures it.

I wait for Aleah’s reaction to her best friend discovering a new soul sister but when I look at her I realise she’s already fast asleep on Jayce’s lap.

“We were playing that dead or alive game, where you pick someone from history or your history that you could date for the night. Who would you guys pick?” Steve asks looking between Charlie and Brie, if his hand doesn’t stop moving under that blanket I’m fucking off.

The two twisted new besties look at each other before answering in total unison.

“Jesus!” Both their eyes growing wide as they stare at each other before laughing at their heads off.

“He’s a Carpenter so he’ll have those big arms,” Brie comments.

“And he has the whole daddy issues going on, that’s fucking hot.” Charlie says with hysterical laughter.

“Then there’s the turning water into wine thing, imagine what he could turn the stuff your swallowing into.”

Those two are definitely going to hell.

Jayce tries to stir Al but she's clearly in a deep sleep if her ramblings about needing Captain Crunch too smother her in chocolate are anything to go by.

Miles walks over to them laughing, scooping one hand under her knees and the other behind her back to pull her up into his arms. She’s light as hell but we both know that can’t be good for his shoulder. I remember how pissy Jayce got last night when Han had to be the one to carry Heather but there's none of that look in his eyes as he stares at Miles clutching his wife.

“You guys are in the room on the end right?” Jayce nods, standing up to follow his brother and waving goodnight to the room before stopping next to me. Twice his breath hitches like he’s about to say something but whatever it is gets caught in his throat and he decides not to attempt it for a third time, instead just nodding at me before exiting down the hallway.

I sit back down on the couch, watching Charlie and Brie continue their blasphemous conversation and thinking about what the coming weeks could bring.

One of the other hard things about the anniversary is that it comes so close to my birthday. I remember the one after the shooting, my mum tried to get me to leave my bed for the first time since Harley’s funeral with the promise of birthday cake, but it didn't work, nothing worked for those first few months.

She kept telling me that I wouldn’t be that sad forever, that losing your first love will always break you no matter how it happens but that the belief you hold that you’ll never love like that again is wrong.

It took me almost ten years to finally agree with her.

I don’t think this year will be any easier just because I have found Miles; the pain, the hurt... the guilt. That is the only day that I let it all hit me all over again, I have to let it be that one day or I end up drowning in it. It’s all still there though, sitting right under the surface of my skin and bubbling away.

They can’t ever know.

Brie's loud laughter pulls me from my thoughts, her and Charlie now trying to recreate some dance from a musical I’ve never seen as Brie  attempts to show him how to spin correctly, despite both their legs resembling something more like overcooked pasta than actual bones.

Glancing up at the clock on the mantle above the open fire, I realise how long I was zoned out for there.

Miles and Jayce have been gone for a while... Oh god...

Where is he...?

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