Oh Brother (Completed)

Oh Brother

"You're not mad she chose Damien over you?"

Just when I had thought Aden and I were starting to get over the giant mountain that had been between us, he sent the entire kitchen into a state of shock and tension. Against my better judgement, I found my head lifting and eyes falling on Nix in front of me. The moment the question had left my twins mouth, Nix had grown rigid, his jaw clenched so tight I could see a muscle in it beginning to twitch. His hands, which had been clutching a saucer, had begun to drain of color.

"No." Nix finally said through his teeth, but his eyes weren't on me, but on Damien at the table beside Sam. "I understand its what's better for her right now. I loved her when we were kids, I love her now, and I will love her ten years from now. No matter the choices she makes, what happens in the future, I will always be here and she will always come back to me."

Damien pushed away from the table, his chair nearly falling into my older brother's shoulder as he shot daggers right over my head at Phoenix. Aden had sunk into his seat a little, not quite a satisfied look on his face, but something close to it. I knew why he had done it. Yet again it wasn't me he was trying to attack indirectly, but Damien. He wasn't going to tell his best friend his feelings anytime soon, so his best idea of attack was to put a divider between Damien and me, and in this case, Nix would be the perfect candidate for it.

"You're an asshole." Damien purposely rammed into Aden on his way out of the kitchen, shaking his head.

Everyone looked from the door to Aden as soon as Damien's bedroom door slamming upstairs sounded through the house. My brother shrugged a shoulder, looking as if he hadn't been the cause for everything that had just happened. To my surprise, Sam was glaring at Aden as the rest of my brother's were, but at Phoenix in front of me.

"That was a dick move, Nix." Sam whispered. "You didn't have to say that."

"I just stated facts." Nix snapped at his best friend. "He needs to grow up and get used to it. I'm not the only guy that's going to try and sweep in and take Arianna from him."

Phil sighed, pressing his fingers into his temple. "Maybe not. But you're his biggest threat and his biggest weakness."

"How about you teach your little asshole brother had to shut his mouth and we won't have to worry about anything?" Was Nix's response before he stalked out of the kitchen, following in his brother's footsteps.

*

I would have never thought at the beginning of this summer that I would feel sick leaving the beach house. When I had come three months ago, I wanted nothing more than to be back home in Ohio with my mother, curled up beside her as we forgot the world outside of us existed. But as I stood in front of Damien's old Camaro, a present from Phil for his birthday a couple years ago I'd been told, I could feel my stomach churning.

Within the next hour we'd be heading in different directions. Phil would be heading for the airport to head back to Massachusetts, not to be seen again for months. Buck was heading to San Diego. Nix and Sam were heading in the same direction as us, but would be splitting in the middle and heading for USC in LA. Aden had refused to ride with Damien, Hudson, and me, so he'd been left to either get a crazy expensive UBER home or catch a ride with our father. He'd surprisingly chose the latter, but I had a feeling it was do to a lot of coaxing from our Dad.

He'd sat the boys down last night and explained his declining health in detail. The boys had taken it pretty well, with the exception of an outburst from Buck and Aden running off before Dad could explain how limited his time was. Seeing that Aden had started to come around made me happy, even if it was hurting Damien being stuck in the middle and not being able to see his best friend.