you these days?’
Adrian held Jared’s bleak gaze with an enigmatic one of his own. ‘If something’s bothering you, J, spit it out.’
Jared’s gaze shifted between her and Adrian once more. Adrian straightened slowly and some message flashed between him and her brother that Lena didn’t have the cipher for.
‘You know the rules,’ said Jared curtly.
‘Do I know the rules?’ she asked. ‘What rules?’
‘He thought I was hitting on you,’ said Adrian, after another long and loaded silence. ‘It’s not encouraged.’
‘Excuse me?’ said Lena. There were two issues buried in that simple little statement, and while her mind shied away from the implication that Adrian might actually like her enough to hit on her, it had no trouble whatsoever grappling with the second. ‘Jared West, are you scaring away my potential boyfriends? Because if you are...and I find out you are...’ Lena narrowed her gaze. ‘Is this why Ty Chester didn’t ask me to the year eleven dance? Because he was going to—I know he was. And then he didn’t.’
‘Nah, that one was all you,’ said Jared. ‘He probably thought you were going to ask him hang-gliding in return. I hear he’s scared of heights.’
‘And kittens,’ added Adrian. ‘Possibly his own shadow.’
‘Maybe I was after a refreshing change,’ she grumbled. ‘Maybe I wanted to see how the quiet, handsome half lived.’ Facts were facts. Ty Chester was uncommonly handsome. Nor would it have killed her to spend some time with people she hadn’t hero-worshipped since birth.
‘You’d have eaten him alive,’ said Jared.
‘Yes, that was the plan. Jared, I swear, if I ever catch you interfering in my love life I will make your love life a living hell. Yours too,’ she told Adrian for good measure.
‘Mine’s already a living hell,’ murmured Adrian and Jared snorted. More silent communication passed between them, effectively cutting her out of the loop. They did it all the time and mostly it didn’t bother her. Today, it did.
‘Lord, you two, get a room.’
‘Yeah, Trig,’ said Jared, darkly gleeful. ‘Let’s get a room.’
‘If we go surfing this afternoon, I’m going to drown you,’ said Trig, formerly known as Adrian.
Jared flipped him a friendly finger.
‘Is this foreplay?’ asked Lena. ‘Because if it is, can it happen elsewhere? I’m trying to concentrate on my homework here.’ A valid point as far as she was concerned. Unfortunately, it focused Jared’s attention back on her books.
‘Since when do you need help with maths homework?’ he asked.
‘Since it got hard. What kind of idiot question is that?’
‘Seriously? You really can’t do basic trigonometry?’
‘This is why I don’t think I’m fully related to any of them,’ Lena told Adrian. ‘I’m the milkman’s baby.’
‘Yeah, baby, but you’ve got a lot of grit,’ offered Adrian. ‘Who cares if it takes you a fraction longer than the rest of them to figure out a trigonometry proof? You’ll still get there.’
‘Yeah, but not fast enough. And then they’ll disown me. That’s what happens to people who can’t keep up.’
‘Since when have you ever not kept up?’ This from Jared who’d never had to work to keep up with anything. He was always out front; always the leader. And Lena had always worked her butt off to make sure that she wasn’t that far behind.
It was costing her, though. More and more, she could feel the gap between what her siblings could do and what she could do widening. It was the curse of being an ordinary person in an extraordinary family.
‘Would you disown me if I did fall behind?’ she asked.
And shocked Jared speechless.
Adrian was looking at her funny—as if he’d known all along that her insecurities were there but he couldn’t quite figure out why she was voicing them now. Lena didn’t know why she was voicing them now either. It was just a maths question.
‘Never mind,’ she said awkwardly.
‘You won’t fall behind.’ Jared had finally found his voice. ‘I won’t let you.’
He just didn’t get it. ‘But what if that’s where I’m meant to be? Water finding its own level, and all that?’
‘No,’ said Jared grimly. ‘The hell with that. That’s just defeatist.’
‘No one’s leaving anyone behind,’ said Adrian soothingly. ‘No one here’s defeated. Jared’s never going to disown you, Lena. He’s insanely protective of you. Did you not just see him go caveman on my arse for daring to look at you sideways?’
‘Sure I did,’ said Lena. ‘But he’s protecting you, not me.’
‘Maybe I’m protecting you both,’ said Jared. ‘Anyone ever think of that?’
‘Overachiever,’ murmured Lena and Adrian nodded his agreement, and it made Lena laugh and broke the tension and she was all for it staying broken.
‘How about I start this conversation again?’ she offered.
‘Can you do it without the emo infusion?’ asked Jared.
‘You want the bare basics?’ She could do that. She pointed the pen at her chest. ‘Imbecile in need of a little help with her maths homework, before she can go surfing. I’m stuck on question six.’
Which was how Lena scored two maths tutors for the rest of the year and how Adrian Sinclair earned the nickname Trig.
Nothing to do with being trigger happy at all.
Even if he was.
It wasn’t easy being green. Green being the colour of envy. Envy being the emotion Lena owned when she saw others walking around effortlessly and without pain. She tried to keep her resentments in check, but envy had powerful friends like self-pity and unfocused anger and when they came to play, Lena’s bright-side surrendered with barely a murmur. Being gut shot nineteen months ago had brought out the worst in her rather than the best.
Focus on the positives, the overworked physio had told her briskly at the start of her rehabilitation.
You’re alive.
You can walk.
The physio had tapped the side of Lena’s skull next. You’re really strong. Up here.
Lena had taken that last comment as a compliment. Right up until the physio had started telling her to back off on the exercises and let her body heal. Lena had ignored her, at which point the physio had started comparing Lena to someone’s pet ox.
As in overly stubborn and none too bright.
It didn’t help that the other woman might possibly have been right.
Still, stubbornness had got her to the airport this morning, and through the airport, and if she sank down into the row of seats next to the boarding gate with a muffled curse and a certain amount of relief, so what?
She’d made it.
Another half an hour and she’d be on a plane bound for Istanbul and when she got there she was going to find Jared, her wayward brother, and haul him home in time for Christmas. She could do this. Was doing this.
Didn’t matter that she was doing it one step at a time.
Lena closed her eyes