My Best Friends Brother

Chapter 42

He steps back towards the door, opening it ajar and checking before pulling it open completely to step back out.

Glancing back at me quickly, he smirks. "Oh yeah, sorry about that. You kind of make me throw away my control sometimes."

Before I have a chance to ask him what the hell he's talking about, he's gone. I know he told me to give him ten seconds but it takes a little while longer than that for everything to settle back down for me. This was all a lot easier when I was still fucking petrified of guys. He's changing me.

What is it about him that just makes me forget all the shit the minute I begin to drown in the pool of his eyes?

I open the door back up only for the one on the opposite side of the hall to open at the exact same moment. May steps out, packs of brushes and paints balancing in her arms.

"Do you want me to carry some of that for you?"

Why the fuck is she staring at me like that? I know my hair is definitely fucked now but I can't look that bad. Her eyes hone in on my neck just as a grin freakishly similar to her damn sister's one appears between her cheeks.

"For fucks sake, if you two want to keep this a secret you should probably not be so fucking obvious. I mean, look at that thing!"

My heart leaps up into my throat so hard I nearly choke on the damn thing. He fucking told May!

Her eyes roll back in her head so hard that she almost loses her own balance.

"Yes Josh, he told me. I'm his fucking sister, he tells me everything." She drags her nails to separate those spiral curls of hers, she's so calm but I couldn't be further from that emotion right now. He told her but he didn't tell me he did... Actually, I told Charlie and Han but didn't tell him either, we need to work on that communication thing.

She notices how flustered I am, chuckling to herself as she rearranges the paint pots in her arm before she loses one. "Stop looking like you're going to shit yourself Josh, it definitely isn't your most attractive look babe." Charming. "I'm not going to say anything, I love him the same way you love Liam, I would never betray him like that."

Brie and May share a lot of qualities, but one aspect of their personality rides above everything else – Loyalty.

"Um, yeah.. Thanks... Are you like, okay with this?"

She shrugs. "I don't care who he fucks, as long as he's happy, and they don't screw him over like that little cheerleader did, then I'm good... Fucking hurt him though Josh, I swear to Lucifer I'll put your body when no one will ever fucking find it."

May is a lethal combination; all the protective instincts of a Thompson, combined with all the violent tendencies of a Parker. If that girl ever decided she wanted to be queen of the world, there isn't an army on this planet that could fucking stop her.

"Trust me, he's definitely not the one that's going to get hurt here."

She sighs, making her way over to the staircase and getting down the first step before pausing and turning back to look at me.

"Don't believe that care free attitude he shows everyone else... He likes you Josh, he really fucking likes you. He acts like the world just bounces off of him, but it's a shield. People forget the pain he suffered because he protects them all with a nice smile. He went through everything Jayce went through growing up, except he didn't always have someone making sure that he was okay after his breakdowns because they thought he was too young to remember. He had to create a family out of the stars to make up for the one that forgot he was on the earth sometimes..."

She looks down the staircase at the living room before her, I can't see what she does but I recognise that look, it's the one I get every time I realise how lucky I am to have Steve and Liam in my life.

"If you think that he can't get hurt here, you're wrong. He doesn't have the power to protect himself from falling for someone.." She returns her eyes to me. "You do. Make sure this is what you want before you give it to him, he might not survive having the next thing he loves taken away again. He's already lost so much."

She makes her way down the staircase but I can't take a step forward.

I've been so caught up in how all this could change things for me, how it could come between my friends and the people I care about. I haven't given enough thought to how just being with someone like me could effect someone like him.

Miles doesn't show it, but he's lost more than most realise. People always see him as a secondary, someone who loses but the loss isn't as big as someone else so they don't consider the damage it causes.

When Granny died everybody rallied around Brie and May, it was their grandmother, but she was his too. She'd been in his house since the day he was born, but nobody treated him like he'd just lost his grandmother.

When his father was killed in prison everybody was so relieved the prick was gone, I'm not sure anybody even checked on the little boy who still kept that mans photograph hidden at the bottom of his draw. Nigel might have been a monster, but kids always manage to find the light in any darkness. It was his dad.

His brother disappeared on him for years when he was mending his broken heart, his sister wouldn't even come back to the same town he was in while we were in college unless she absolutely had to. He was at the school shooting but nobody made sure he could cope with what happened because they were too busy dealing with Jayce being shot or Aleah's guilt over Chad.

He's fallen through the cracks so many times.

I know Cole and Tara have been there for him, but it's never been a secret that Tara has always been more concerned about Jayce than she ever has Miles. Cole has always treated him like a son, he's his dad now, but he wasn't the one taking care of him when the nightmares were keeping him up at night. He was still trying to get his own daughter to talk to him.

Miles went from being the baby to having May sprung into his life overnight and he never complained, not once. For fucks sake, he was run down by a car just trying to get someone to play ball with him!

He's had to take care of himself more than anybody even realises. He's the one that made sure nobody had to worry about him, that stayed the good kid in the background so everyone else could get on without him being a bother. He's made one fucking mistake in his whole life and they still hold it over him!

Now, he's placing that fragile trust he has in me. I have to make sure he knows that I won't break it. I'm not going to leave him to deal with everything by himself, I'm fucking here with him now.

Getting to the bottom step; Al, Heather, May and Miles are all by the back door ready to walk back over to the house. Heather sits comfortably on Miles' back, laughing and giggling as she demands that he takes a selfie with her.

"Heather, I'm literally coming with you, this isn't goodbye."

She crosses her arms around his neck and begins to pout against the side of his head.

"I know that silly! But we're saying goodbye to this house, goodbyes mean selfies!"

I don't know why he's bothering trying to argue with that girl, we both know she's more stubborn than an old mule, just like her mother. He relents, pulling out his phone and stretching his arm in front of them, catching my eye and giving me one of those winks that just makes me want to pull him into my chest once more, before hitting the button and completely ignoring the fact May has shoved herself into the frame. He's so fucking good with her.

Brie smiles at the three of them over her mug of coffee.

"Those three are so fucking cut-" Her mug almost drops from her hand as she freezes and stares at me. I look down at my shirt to see if I've missed a button or something when suddenly she grabs hold of my head with both hands and pulls me ribs first into the counter of the island between us.

Well that fucking hurt! "Holy fucking shit Josh, how did I not see this earlier? That thing is fucking huge! Did you see it that new guy last night or something? Because I want details! Now!"

She runs her hand across the throbbing artery in my neck. What the fuck did he do?

Pushing her back, I look for a mirror but settle on the side of the toaster, almost pulling the entire thing out of the wall as I glance at my reflection, only to be met with a giant purple fucking hickey bang on the side of my neck.

"You let the guy brand you! Al, look at this thing! He let the dude fucking brand him, this must be fucking serious..."

Al rushes is over, tearing my head to the side so she can observe the damage and placing my eyes in a lock with the man who did this to me.

The girls ask me a million questions but I don't hear a single one, my orbs can't remove themselves from basking in the glory of his sexy fucking grin.

I will get you back for this Milo Thompson. Just you fucking wait.

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