She walked under the beautiful sky towards the clearing where she was sure Silver would be waiting. A year ago, she wouldn't have bothered listening to him, much less come to his rescue. A year ago, he didn't matter to her, blood or not. But now, he was her favorite brother, the brother she will leave a hot lay for.
He was her other half.
Even when she wanted to bash his head most of the time.
Hitching her coat over her shoulder, she winced at the sharp pain that shot down from her right shoulder to the tips of her fingers. Damn it. Damien's bite stung like a bitch. And it brought her back to her bedroom where her bed creaked under her and her breath came out fast but shallow. Her body joined and connected to Damien's violently, as if a moment of separation would mean death for either of them. Her skin prickled, and she had to shake her head to shoo away the blazing thoughts.
Just like that, she was back under the starry night, away from Damien, away from her bedroom, away from the mansion.
She had takeout in a bag under her arm. The scent of french fries and burgers grumbled her stomach, but she had to wait until she was with her brother before she could eat. He would sulk otherwise, and she'd rather skip that than anything else.
She looked around the park with a smile. Wasn't it a wonder what a pair of lovers sitting on the bench were whispering to each other? Or what that old man walking his tiny dog was looking forward to for the night?
The lake was still free of the usual lovers who passed the time by rowing tiny boats to the middle of the lake. The cicadas' voices were the music of the night.
She pushed through a patch of shrubs behind a small restaurant and found Silver sitting under a tree with his camera on his lap, laying like a treasured child.
There were dark circles and heavy bags under his slightly sunken eyes. His cheeks were thinner than they were when she had last seen him just a couple of months prior.
Sometimes, she thought, love can kill you in the slowest and most painful way possible. And it was now killing her brother. He looked so solemn that she felt sorry to disrupt it by clearing her throat.
His head snapped up, eyes wide and dark, body suddenly braced for a fight—hands fisted on his sides, eyes burning with rage—before relaxing again when he realized that it was his sister. "Cal…" his voice was soft, almost whispering, as he opened his arms to her. It didn't carry his usual fire and joy. "I'm sorry to disturb you."
She shook her head and took his hands in hers to give them a squeeze before letting them go. "Nonsense," she replied and sat down beside him, thinking of the incredibly hot sex that she had to leave behind. "I'm always here for you. You don't have to worry."
She watched him while munching on her fries. His eyes were a lighter shade of blue, but they were almost black under the darkness. His skin was pale and a little pasty too, showing how tired he had been. His black hair was pulled back in a short ponytail.
His forefinger tapped on the shutter of his camera in a rhythmic taptaptap-tap tap tap-taptaptap while his eyes just stayed on the ground. "I'm afraid, Cal," he murmured, absentmindedly taking a fry from the bag Lie offered him. "Louie… I think I have to fire Louie if I want some peace of mind."
Callie thought about that while chewing on a burger on her left hand and fries on her right. Louie would be Silver's secretary for 8 years and counting. "Is that what you want?" she asked before taking a huge bite on her burger again. Knowing him, he would never want to fire his right-hand man. If there was anyone who is so much like her in the family, it won't be her twin but Silver. They have the same thought process and everything.
Silver picked a fry from the bag and bit on it quietly. His eyes cast up to the stars before he took a deep breath and released it in a whoosh of air. "No." That sucked big time, but it was the truth. He wanted his peace, but he didn't want to part from Lou either.
She looked at her brother and smiled. Sylvester Fitzgerald was the youngest of Marcus' boys at 25. Now, he was having heart problems that he thinks he cannot open to their siblings or father thus, distancing himself from them as much as possible. "We swing both ways and that's not a shame at all," she told him as she leaned back against the rough bark of the tree.
He couldn't hide the flinch even if he wanted to. He was not in love with Louie. Not at all. It was just that he was having weird dreams about him. That's all. "I love women. I love breasts and thighs and legs. I enjoy them a lot." He wasn't entirely sure who he was trying to convince, though. Was it her or him?
"I enjoy all those too," she replied with a grin, a fry caught between her lips. "Who doesn't enjoy breasts, right?"
The laughter was not something she expected from him at the moment, but that's what she got along with a friendly ruffle on her hair. "I love you, Cal."
"In our family, who doesn't?" Callie queried with a raised brow. "Every one of you has a Calliope complex and I can't even find the fault in it."
Silver just threw his head back and let out a whoop of laughter that he very much needed. It was true. Every member of the Fitzgerald clan was in love with Callie. Not just because she was essentially the newest addition in the family, but also because she had a way of opening them up like the way she was doing with him.
"Tell me about Louie."
He filled his lungs with the cool night air and shrugged. For some reason, his heart trembled as the face of his secretary came into focus in his mind. It was a small flutter that he didn't want, but it was there. "He's in Rome right now, probably making sure that all of my equipment is safe and clean. He'd make sure that only he can touch them. He would be carefully and gently wiping my camera lenses as if they were his treasures." He chuckled at the thought. "He would have a line between his brows while he's cleaning them, and his eyes would go extremely dark when he realizes that I've been too harsh on one of my equipment again."
Did he, she wondered, know that his face lit up when he talked about Louie? Did he know just how deep the envy she felt towards Louie now that he was talking about his secretary as if he was the only person in the world?
Would there be anyone who would talk about her with such a light on their face?
"He would mumble under his breath about being underappreciated and maybe looking for a better job instead of being stuck with me, but then he'll grin when he sees the result of the hours and days of preparation. He would grin like he'd won the lottery once I had bought him food."
His hands moved animatedly when he talks about Louie, and his eyes seemed to be stars. If he wasn't in love, then she didn't know what he was.
He sighed and bit on his burger angrily. "That means nothing. I'm not in love with him. How about you? Are you going to tell me about the person who put those marks on your neck?" He nodded towards her neck and raised a brow at her.
She flinched at that and laughed sheepishly before rubbing the back of her neck gently as to not irritate the bruises. "Well…"
"Well what? Tell me. At least one of us is having some action."
"Well… we're just sex friends. There's nothing special about that, is there?" her laughter sounded forced, even to her, but she didn't care. He satisfied her body, and that was the most important part of their relationship.
Silver raised a brow at that. "You? Entering a friends-with-benefits kind of relationship? That's new. Even for you," his eyes remained on her face, lips straight and face hiding any emotions he might be having. "Are you sure there's no emotional attachment there?"
Callie pulled her knees closer to her chest and leaned her cheek on them as she hugged her legs. She caught her lower lip between her teeth and gently sucked on it as she thought of a reply to her brother. Did she really think there was no emotional attachment or was she just deluding herself? She was not sure at all.
She closed her eyes and imagined Damien's face, letting it float into her vision.
No, she was not a fool.
"I think I have feelings for him, but I'd rather not claim that it's love yet," she opened her eyes and met her brother's gaze. "I just enjoy the unique positions that we try during sex."
There was a moment of silence between them. Eyes meeting, lips twitching before there was an explosion of laughter as Silver threw his head back and smacked his knee with his hand. "Oh, my fucking God! Are you goddamn serious?!"
"Damn right, I'm serious," she replied, eyes squinting from smiling. "You should see how big this guy is. He can throw me over his shoulder with no problem at all. When we fuck? Oh, gods… It's like the earth is shaking under me."
"Oooooohhhh…. You're gonna brag, aren't you?"
"I am definitely bragging. He can do stuff like lift me up and slam me down," laughing at the thought. She shook her head. "We were in the middle of another round when you called."
"Ouch, sorry about that, baby," he ruffled her hair and pulled her to kiss her forehead. "Thank you for coming and for listening."
"Pfft… It's no big deal. I can always handcuff him to have some fun."
"Are you for real?"
"Yes, Sylvester, I am for real, so stand up. Let's go home. Gold and Jonathan are in the mansion and I don't trust them around Damien right now." Standing up, she patted her ass to dust it.
Silver picked up the bag of takeout food and stood up too. "Fine, fine. Let's go home. I have a flight tomorrow. I don't want Louie to chop my head off for taking off without a word."