Savage Little Lies: Chapter 28

Sloane

“Are you sure you don’t need anything, Bru?” Callum asked, folding his jacket over his arm. “If not, I was going to go ahead and hit the road.”

When Callum and Dr. Richardson had informed me my brother would be home in a few short days, I hadn’t believed him. I mean, Bru had been a mess when he came in.

But he wasn’t now, my brother taking a seat on our couch. One better, he took one without assistance. He even walked into the house by himself too, up the stairs.

That didn’t mean he did it all without taking a few staggered breaths, and when I raised a hand for assistance, he growled at me.

“If you haven’t noticed, sis, I’m alive,” he said, chuckling. He smiled at Callum. “And I’m good, Callum. Thank you.”

He did seem good, relaxing into his seat. He hadn’t had a fever since he’d arrived at the hospital and his systems had seemed to all but clear, despite his weakness and general malaise.

This was all something Dr. Richardson said should clear too once my brother got his strength up. Bru was told to keep moving, ambulate and eat. The doctor had even taken him off his meds, and I was astounded by what several days in the hospital could do. It was like Bru was getting back to himself.

I couldn’t be more relieved. Whatever bug this was, a hospital stay seemed to have been just the trick.

Callum grinned. “Are you sure?” He eyed him. “I can stay a few extra days and even call the school to hold off on you going back.”

The doctor had pretty much cleared Bru to go back as long as he felt up to it. Since Bru was behind in school, he said he’d start this week, and I’d been surprised by that.

I assumed my brother was trying to prove to the rest of the world he was good, my brother being stubborn as per usual.

I believed him for the most part since he wasn’t currently keeled over. Bru rubbed his legs. “Nah, I’m good. I’m going to go back. I need to. Get things back to normal again.” His head lifted. “Did you talk to Coach for me?”

“I did, and though he’d love to have you on the field right away, he believes it might be good for you to sit out the rest of the season. You’re still a full-fledged member of the team and he said you’re welcome to sit in on practices.”

This didn’t seem to sit well with my brother, and I sat next to him. I jerked my chin at him. “Let’s focus on you getting through the rest of the term academically. There’s always next year, and Coach still says you’re on the team.”

“Yeah, I guess.” He rubbed his hands. “I’m the one who messed up by getting sick, I guess. I was stupid.”

It had come up that Bru had taken a dip in Murphy’s lake on my end. I’d never said why or anything about that haze, but I’d been worried about something in the lake affecting him.

The doctor had assured us that couldn’t be the case, but Bruno was obviously holding on to that.

Callum tilted his head. “You did nothing wrong. Getting sick can happen to anyone.”

Bru nodded, but again, he was holding on to that.

Callum asked him once more if he was okay, but Bru was adamant he’d be fine. Callum must have believed him enough because eventually, our guardian did head out. He asked to speak to me before he did, so I followed him to the door.

“As always, my phone is on for you both,” he said. “I’m not going to be leaving the country this time, so I’ll be close.”

After the not-being-able-to-reach-him fiasco, Callum put me in contact with one of his personal assistants. He said that’d be the quickest way to get to him if needed.

Our guardian had taken these past few days to be there for us, and though I wasn’t certain where he was traveling for business this time, I, at least, had a way to reach him quickly.

It was crazy that, these days, I enjoyed the security. He’d come through so much for us.

“And before I go, I wanted to mention something I’ve been working on,” he said. “I suppose I wanted your opinion on it before I relayed anything to your brother. I don’t want to step on any toes.”

“Okay.” I leaned back against the wall.

“As you both know, I travel a lot for work, but I was thinking about doing more work closer to you both. What happened with Bruno was quite alarming and put things into perspective for me. I’ve been looking into purchasing a home here in Maywood Heights.”

I blinked.

He raised a hand. “But only if that’s all right with you both. I’m having people look into it now, and I think we’ve found something appropriate and not far from here.” His head lowered. “What do you think about that?”

I was kind of at a loss really. He wanted to be here.

He wanted to be here for us.

My lips parted. “Bru would really like that. I know he would.” Callum was like his favorite person ever.

Callum’s head tilted. “And what about you? Like I said, I don’t want to step on any toes.” He put his jacket on. “I know you’re both going to be in college soon, and me relocating here wouldn’t just be for the sake of proximity. I’ve got quite a few business ties out of Maywood Heights, and it’d be nice to be nearer and grow them.”

I really didn’t know what to say. “I think that’d be cool. Actually, really cool.”

The older man smiled. “Excellent. I’ll let my people know to continue with the planning.”

“Thank you, Callum. Just…” I felt myself smiling fully for the first time in days. “Thank you for everything. Everything with my brother and just everything.”

I felt like I was thanking this man every five seconds.

He lifted a hand. “No need. I’ll have my people let you know the status.”

The house was quiet after he left, but I didn’t get to sit long before I was up and answering the door. Someone knocked, and I thought it was Callum. I figured he was trying to be polite or something since my brother and I were home.

It wasn’t Callum, and in fact, I angled to look up at Ares Mallick.

“Little,” he said, a paint cloth on his shoulder. He had his paint bibs on and his signature man-bun tugged tight. He eyed me. “You and the kid home, then? He was supposed to come back today, right? He texted me this morning.”

I panned to see his Hummer parked outside my garage. The garage doors were open. “You just get here?”

Ares had been scarce since that day at the hospital when he’d left abruptly. Actually, he only came by a time or two, and when he did, he’d spent more time playing video games with my brother than talking.

I hadn’t minded it. I was happy Bru had a friend, but I had wondered about that day he’d left.

This was obvious considering the reason why he left.

“Uh, yeah.” He angled around. “Came by to paint. Guess I got good timing running into you.”

I’d say excellent time. We’d just gotten here.

“Saw your guardian leave.” His stance widened. He clasped his long arms. “He mind if I work out here? I can get pretty loud. I’ve been coming here every night to work on the piece and play my music since y’all don’t have neighbors.”

Every night? Really?

I supposed I had given him the code, but he hadn’t mentioned the project since that day.

I braced the door. “Yeah, it’s cool.” I widened the door. “And he doesn’t live here. Doesn’t care what we do. When you passed him, he was leaving town anyway. He’s got to go back to work. I told you he travels.”

“Mmm,” he said, his hand on the doorframe. He shoved a thumb back. “I’m going to get started. I’ll say hi to the kid on my way out. Since he just settled in, I don’t want to bother him.”

That was very considerate of him, and knowing my brother, he’d want to entertain all night.

Ares waltzed back down the steps, but swiveled around when I came up on his heels.

I passed him. “I want to see what you’ve been doing.” I walked backwards. “Got to make sure you didn’t fuck up anything.”

He chuckled, picking up his pace. “Yeah. Definitely don’t need to worry about that.”

He let me go the rest of the way by myself to the garage, and if I saw anything but perfection, I would have handled him good.

His work on the piece didn’t give me the chance.

Midnight blues and dark tones swirled on what used to be a mostly blank canvas, pops of purples and pinks both on the backdrop and the car itself. He’d done a lot of work on them both.  So much, in fact, I wasn’t sure how much longer completion would take. This must have taken him hours.

Days.

“I feel like silence is good.”

Ares came up on me, his smirk high, and I shook my head.

“It’s all right,” I said, more than all right. He’d even managed to mimic my style so well. I had no idea what he’d painted versus what I’d painted.

“Thank you.”

I faced him after what he said, and his expression transformed into a full smile. His head lowered. “You said you loved it.”

I hadn’t even heard myself say it.

But it was definitely true.

“It’s great, Ares. Amazing.” I eyed the muscle car blending into the background. The transition was so seamless it stole my breath. “We’ll finish this thing in no time.”

“That’s what I was thinking.” His hands propped on his hips. “Wanted to do as much as I could so I could free you up. You know, for the kid.”

Again, really considerate, and he was being modest. This would have taken him countless hours. I started to say that, but his phone buzzed.

He pulled it out, texting someone.

“That Dorian?” The words had vomited out of my mouth.

I couldn’t take them back.

They lingered in the air, and Ares dragged his head up slow.

He frowned. “Yeah,” he rushed, then quickly dashed his thumbs on his phone.

“So he’s officially back, then?” I asked. He had mentioned he’d see me at school. “He’s back, and you guys are a bro couple again.”

Ares’s fingers slowed. I didn’t know if he’d finished his text, but he pocketed his phone.

“We worked it out,” he said, his big shoulders lifting. “He made a mistake. He did, and he acknowledged it.”

Yet not one word to me.

As it turned out, the dark prince ended up being my biggest mistake.

“He told me what happened, little,” he said, my head shooting up. His nod was firm. “How he came over and stuff.”

I was sure it was a nice little bro talk for him. I smirked. “He bragged about his conquest, then?”

“It wasn’t like that.”

“Okay.”

“It wasn’t, and he didn’t go into specifics. At least, not about that.” He lounged back against his Hummer. “I assumed that bit. You looked like hell when I saw you at the hospital, and he didn’t look much better.”

“Then guilt, then?” I gritted, and Ares sighed.

“Nah, little. He looked fucked up.” His eyes narrowed. “Like you fucked him up. I’ve never seen him look that way and definitely not over a girl.”

“Well, he can get over it.” I swallowed. “He fucked and dashed, and that was after accusing me of messing around with you. Oh, the sprinkles on top were that he never acknowledged if he believed me or not.”

“He does,” he said, and I shrugged. So what if he believed me now?

It was too late.

I’d waited long enough, and I shouldn’t have had to…

I hadn’t done anything wrong.

My throat tightened. “Well, he’s too late, and even if he wasn’t, your friend could use a crash course in vulnerability. To be human and admit his faults.”

Ares’s head rose, and I threw my hands up.

“I want to paint,” I grumbled. “But if I do, no talking. I don’t want to fucking talk.”

I just wanted to do what I did best—calm down—and a paintbrush only did that for me. Now was a good time anyway since Bru was inside relaxing. I’d just let him know I’d be out here if he needed me.

Ares pushed off his ride. “I’ll get everything set up.” He lifted a palm. “And I promise no talking.”

I’d done that for him once.

I was happy he was doing that for me.