Sister Mother

Chapter 6

Leo

"Addie," Vance repeated. "You've had a thing for Addie for years, and now she's your girlfriend?"

"Why are you so surprised?" I asked.

Vance and Brennan cornered me when I got home from my afternoon run. They saw the receipt from the flowers that I bought a few days ago, and started hassling me.

"I thought you hated each other," Vance answered.

I raised my eyebrows. Brennan, Vance and I were watching the game in the center of our apartment.

Brennan and I were about the same size. His hair was dirty blonde and his bangs dangled in front of his eyebrows. Vance was shorter than us and had darker hair. Brennan was a registered nurse and Vance was a chemical engineer who worked for a company and did things that didn't make sense to me, no matter how many times he tried to explain it to me.

Shortly after I left Addie's house, I called Mags and gave her the short version of what happened. She pressed for details on exactly how things had gone down between us. I refused to tell her everything, so she told me that she'd call Addie for details. Then she asked how Addie was doing.

Brennan and Vance weren't as invested in my relationship with Addie as Mags was, but they appreciated how anxious I'd been since I drove out to Worcester. We were currently watching the game from a few days ago. We all had different work schedules and made a pact out of watching football together.

"We never did. We just acted like it," I explained.

"You fooled me. You were a complete douche to her," Vance said.

"I was not. I shoveled her fricking driveway."

"Yeah, now. In college, you—"

"She could have just as easily asked me out," I interrupted Vance. "Doesn't matter. We stopped playing games and we're together."

"You said she kicked you out," Brennan pointed out.

"She's going through a hard time right now."

"So, she says," Vance said. "This is Addie we're talking about. I wouldn't past her to make up a story just to avoid breaking up with someone."

I grunted. Addie was exactly the kind of person to make up a depressing story to avoid breaking up with someone. Poor Timothy. Brennan and Vance didn't know about that.

"She wasn't lying. Ask Mags if you don't believe me."

"Mags would play along with Addie's story. She hates you as much as Addie does," Vance said.

"Addie does not hate me! Mags maybe, but Addie loves me."

"She once told me that if you ever asked her out, she'd cut off your balls and hang them up as Christmas decorations," Brennan said.

I widened my eyes. "What?"

Brennan nodded and patted me on the shoulder. "Good luck with her, man. She might be the end of you."

"I think she might," I whispered, then shrugged. "Doesn't matter. I'm still waiting for her to call me."

"If this isn't all a ruse, which I still think it is, you're lucky. You can have sex with as many women as you want now, and your girlfriend will never know about it," Vance said.

I glared at him. "First of all, this isn't a ruse. Secondly, I'm not doing that."

"Why not? She'll never know," Vance said with a shrug.