“It’s time I stand up for myself. She wants me to make my own decisions, to build my life. I’m doing that except she has no idea.”
The muscles in his neck and shoulders tightened uncomfortably. “And how do you think she’ll take the news? How do you think Kade will take the news?”
Kendall pushed herself up from her seat and walked around to his, settling herself onto his lap. “Not well,” she said as she wrapped her arms around his neck, obviously trying to soften her words with her actions.
Still, it hurt to know he wouldn’t make headway with an apology or change of behavior with Kade. Julian had thrown away a friendship that meant the world to him, but he’d been in so much pain over his sister at the time, he couldn’t see anything clearly. And later, he’d been a complete and utter bastard, jealousy and irrationality ruling his emotions. No excuses could be made.
“Hey.” She clasped her hands on either side of his face. “What matters now is what we have. And I’ll make them see that you’ve changed. Even if Kade won’t come around, I just need to make sure my sister at least understands.”
“The last thing I want to do is create a rift between you and your twin.”
If that were true, you would have left her alone to begin with, his conscience mocked him. But he’d been incapable of keeping his distance, especially once he’d seen her again.
“Is understanding enough for you?” he couldn’t help but ask. There was a big difference between her sister saying, Okay, date the douchebag who hurt you, and Let’s have Thanksgiving dinner together.
All things he should have thought through before bringing her back into his life, for her sake. But as usual he’d been selfish, thinking of only his needs at the time.
She shrugged, which was as honest a response as he was likely to get, and his stomach cramped at her having to make a choice between them. He hoped it wouldn’t come to that.
“Let’s not worry about it until it happens,” she suggested. “I just wanted to give you a heads-up that I’m considering it.” She threaded her fingers through his hair, in a blatant attempt to distract him, he was sure.
It was working. His thoughts shifted from their potential problems with her family to them, and she kept him too busy to think or worry until it was time for him to leave.
* * *
After a long day of work, Julian took Steve out for a walk. With the sun overhead, white clouds dotting the sky, he enjoyed the time stretching his legs and being alone with his thoughts. He and Steve returned home after an hour. Because Kendall had a therapy appointment and he wasn’t going to see her tonight, he planned on crashing early.
Except when he reached his floor, he found his door partially open and heard voices inside, which was unusual because Alex had never had company before. She said she had friends at school but always declined to bring them around. Given her foster care situation and the fact that she’d moved around, he wouldn’t find it all that odd if she was lying and didn’t have many friends at all. Hopefully time would change that.
Thanks to work and now Julian and Kendall, she kept plenty busy and out of trouble. As far as he could tell, she wasn’t the kind of kid who caused problems anyway. From the time he’d met her as a young girl, she’d been easygoing and eager to please. She’d gotten along well with his sister, and because Alyssa was the type of person to embrace others, she called Alex to say hi on her own. Alex treated Alyssa well, not being put off by her speech or occasional forgetfulness.
So he didn’t think there was anything really going on in his apartment, but he pushed the door open, wanting to see who was there without giving warning. Just in case.
Julian stepped inside, shocked to see Alex with her brother, Billy.
“Dude!” From his seat in the family room, Billy saw Julian first. His hair was cropped short, and he wore a pair of ripped jeans along with an old tee shirt.
A wariness prickled up Julian’s spine as he bent to release Steve from his leash. Mixed emotions rushed through him, a combination of gratitude the man was no longer in prison and a guarded feeling of distrust. He couldn’t put his finger on why, except Billy had always been one to make a side deal, to look out for number one. It made Julian uncomfortable that he was here now.
Had he just come to see his sister? Or did he want something more? Because for as long as Julian had known Billy, he’d had an angle.
“Hey!” Julian slapped his old friend on the back.
“Good to see you.” Billy gestured to the table where an open beer can was beside an empty one. “Have a beer and we can catch up.”
Julian’s stomach cramped. Hell, he could be around alcohol no problem, but Julian didn’t keep alcohol in the house, which meant Billy had brought the cans with him. He was drinking around his eighteen-year-old sister for no good reason. When the man was just out of jail. It didn’t sit right with Julian.
He picked up the beer cans and headed for the kitchen, tossing one in the recycling container and pouring the other into the sink.
“Come on,” Billy muttered. “That’s good money down the drain,” he complained. “Are you that much of a straight arrow now? I mean, Alex said you’re clean now, but not even alcohol?”
“Not even that,” Julian said, proud of himself and not about to let Billy make him feel bad about himself or the choices he’d learned to make.
“Umm, I’m going to get some homework done while you two talk.” Alex ducked her head and escaped into the room she’d been staying in.
Julian had a hunch she felt bad he’d found her brother here, drinking, but he wasn’t about to give her a hard time. He understood, at least from her perspective, the desire to see family and not to turn her brother away. Alex was just a kid. Billy was supposedly the adult. And the man was still a question mark as far as what he wanted.
“It’s cool of you to take Alex in,” Billy said, shoving his hands into his pants pockets.