~Joey~

"You took it out," Keenan's brother, Rob says, looking at me like I have two heads.

"Yeah, I did. Wasn't that hard." He reaches a hand out and I happily relinquish possession of the heavy battery. I'm proud of myself for getting it out of the car, but that doesn't mean I'll let it rip out my arm. I'm still baffled at why I had to even do this. "Do you make everyone remove their batteries or just me?"

"Everyone who's not about to get their car stolen off the driveway."

I nod. Fair enough. "Where's Keenan?"

"Ashley's room, probably watching her sleep."

"Oh." I smile.

I look around the inside of the house, which is modern looking, but still has some properties that match the old vibe of the exterior. The low coffee table for one, is not only severely frayed, it's overstocked with several magazines and sheets of old papers.

The fireplace is less a fireplace and more a storage cabinet for dust and cobwebs. The bricks that line the arch of the fireplace have black and green mould growing in between them, giving the place an eerie vibe. A old, sad Christmas tree stands in the corner. Sad, I say, because the leaves have arched downward and the star on top is dangling from the tip like it hasn't been touched in years.

"You're way too young to be an uber driver," Rob's voice distracts me from staring at the blue curtains, which are the only things so far that look relatively new.

"Sorry?" I turn around to give him my full attention.

"When you drove up, I thought you'd be an uber driver. But you're young."

I'm not sure how to take that. "Thank you?"

He shrugs. "What are you doing here?"

"Standing," I answer, hoping he has the same sense of humor as Keenan. From the little I've heard about this guy, there's a big chance he doesn't. For brothers, he and Keenan look nothing alike. Rob is a few inches shorter than Keenan, but more muscular, which I'm assuming is as a result of frequenting a gym. He has a big beard which occupies the lower part of his face, adding to his macho man physique, and his eyes are a sparkling green, as opposed to Keenan's gray. The family has looks, I'll give them that for sure.

"Seriously, princess. What's your deal?" He asks me.

"I'm here as emotional support and my name is Joey Alvarez," I say, holding out a hand. I already know his name, but I still ask, "You?"

He pauses and looks at me, then barks a laugh as he shakes my hand with his rough one. A few seconds ago, I thought Keenan had rough hands. I can now say I was badly mistaken. "I'm Robert O'Connor. Keenan's former brother."

Oh, right, cause he emancipated.

"I didn't know emancipation came with a name change."

"It...doesn't," he says, though his confusion is obvious as to how I know that. "How'd you know?"

I shrug smugly. "I have my ways."

He scoffs. "The fuck you don't. Start talking."

I chuckle. "Alright, fine. Keenan told me." He quirks one eyebrow, giving me a look that clearly spells 'liar'. I place an arm akimbo. "How else would I know?"

He stares at me until he realises that he doesn't have an answer to that. "So what? Are you his girlfriend or something?"

I narrow my eyes and tilt my chin up to face him, ignoring the immense joy that coats my insides at the thought of actually being called Keenan's girlfriend. "Or something," I answer.

"So you're just friends. What are you doing here, then?"

I fold my arms defiantly. "I like to think we're more than just friends."

"Meaning?"

I search my brain for a word to describe Keenan and me, and pacify Rob's obviously growing impatience. Eventually, I come up with, "We're more like a really small gang."

He finally beats his stoic persona by laughing. "You have no idea—" he pauses and looks at something over my head. I spin around and find Keenan standing there. He's not frowning, so I know there's no bad news. He's not exactly smiling, either, so he's a bit hard to read.

"How is she?" I ask, gathering myself. I'm hoping being calm and jovial will somehow aid them into relaxing too. I don't know Ashley, but her condition is clearly a huge deal. "She awake?"

"No, she's still asleep," he says.

"She's been like that all morning," Rob says, the amusement in his voice now faded. "Nurse left here an hour ago."

Keenan nods at first, then his eyebrows knot all of a sudden. "Wait. So if there's no emergency, what was last night about?" The room falls silent, save for the joy-lacking sound of his voice. "Do you have any idea what I risked to get here?"

Rob sighs and runs a hand over his head. "I didn't think you'd come."

"Of course, I came. What did you think I'd do if I heard my sister was dying?"

"I didn't say she was dying."

"That is exactly what you said."

I'm not sure if I should move or not, so I stay rooted to my spot beside Rob, hoping Keenan calms down soon enough to at least hear him out.

"Okay, because that's what I thought when I had to carry her in my arms to the freakin' hospital. And no one would talk to me, they made me wait outside and I was sure she wasn't breathing. When I finally got in, she kept coughing and making these sounds and it freaked the fuck out of me. I really thought it was it for her. I prayed last night for the first time in six years. You think I did all this for fun?"

I frown at the thought of what he must've felt in those moments. No wonder he'd had no choice but to call Keenan. Even the strongest of minds break apart when loved ones are in danger. It takes everything in me not to reach out and pull them both into a comforting hug.

Luckily, Keenan understands that and bows his head. "No. Yeah I get it."

"Look, I'm sorry I brought you here, alright? Was there any inconvenience?" He tilts his head to the side.

I shake my head, taking the question off Keenan. "No, we got lucky. That, and we only used a gas station that didn't have security cameras so facial rec couldn't be an issue."

Rob's face morphs into bewilderment once again, reminding me how weird it probably is for him, having me knowing as much as I do. He points to the bags, obviously needing time alone with Keenan. "Upstairs. First door to the left."

Oops.

"I'll be right up," Keenan says. I nod and begin the journey to his room.

I locate the first room easily and push the wooden door open to reveal the place he's spent most of his life. There's a naked twin bed in one corner with no sheets or pillows. No posters on any of the four white walls, nothing that reflects his love for calculations or cars or anything. It's almost like he moved his entire life out of here with him.

Apart from a small white lamp on the bedstand, there are a couple of papers arranged on it. I set the bags down and head to pick them up. The first one is a dusty photograph. I run my thumb over the glossy surface like a wiper, revealing a beautiful woman underneath, smiling at the camera. She has black hair like Keenan's, and grey eyes that are also a reflection of Keenan.

Speak of the devil.

The door opens a few seconds later, interrupts my gawking. When I turn around, Keenan is there, shoulders even more dejected than before.

Did Rob say something to him?

"Hey," I say.

"Hey."

"What's wrong?" I take a step forward, wanting to be close enough to coax the answer out of him if it comes to that.

Instead, he shakes his head and holds a hand up. "I'll tell you later. What's that?"

I follow his line of sight to my right hand, which is still clutching the photo. I hold it up so he can see. "Found it on the table over there."

He takes it, running his thumb over it the way I did earlier. His eyes flicker to me, then back to the photo as he says, "My mother."

"I could tell. You have her eyes."

He smiles but briefly, before going serious again, staring deeper as if mentally going back in time. He eventually takes a deep breath and hands it back to me. "She uh...she passed from diabetes. The same one plaguing Ashley."

"Last night was a close call, yes...but she's alive. She beat whatever happened to her. And Rob said earlier, it's different for everyone. Who knows? We might be looking at two different cases."

He takes a step closer to me, takes the photo and sets it on the stand before I myself get hypnotized. He walks to the bed and I follow suit. The iron frame creaks as our weights come down on it.

"I miss her."

I know he's talking about his mother. "Yeah." I'm lucky enough to still have both my parents, so I can't pretend like I know exactly what Keenan's going through. "Wherever she is, I bet she's proud of you. I mean, I would be, and I've known you for not even two weeks."

He smiles. "How do you always do that?"

"Do what?"

"Talk like you don't see the dark stuff," he says. "Somehow, you act like you only see what's right with the world and every situation."

I've been told I'm unrealistic. That I don't understand the first thing about growing up. That I don't get the concept of adulthood and foresight and all that. To me, it just seems like people choose to weigh themselves down by trying to avoid all the bad things they think they see in their future. "I have nothing against realists. In fact, I encourage people to live life as they want. But I choose to look at the bright side always, no matter how small it is, because then everything else will fade away...and at least give you that one moment of peace that you might just really need."

"Things are brighter when I'm around you." He pauses and swallows. "It's almost like you're my bright spot."

My throat clogs with the amount of admiration I have for him in this very moment. Keenan makes me feel like I make sense, like I'm doing something right. I take his hand and hold it close, interlocking our fingers. "With you, I finally feel like my light has a purpose."

He brings his free hand up to my face and brushes my hair behind my ear. It's a simple act, but it sets off sparks that ripple through my entire body and settles in my core. My heart goes haywire again and starts pounding against my sternum.

"Jo," he calls my name, tentatively repeating the motion, letting his fingers cup my face after. He brushes his thumb underneath my eye and strengthens his grip on the back of my head.

"Keenan," I whisper back, wanting him to continue, to close the gap between us and tell me that the fireworks bouncing around my body are welcome. I want him to tell me that I'm not feeling any of this alone, that I'm not crazy for thinking of a possibility of something happening between us right now.

His eyes are on my lips and mine on his, as I wait for him to make the move. It's his call, he can take the wheel now. He leans in the slightest bit and I bring my face closer to his, such that I'm completely engulfed in the smell of him, feeling his warm, short breaths against the skin of my face.

I reach my hands up to his neck and place my palms against his skin, then slowly ease my fingers up and into his soft, dark hair. Having this little distance between us feels like the most natural thing in the world, and I want nothing more than to feel his lips on mine.

He leans forward again and feathers his lips against mine, so lightly, I can barely feel them. I shut my eyes, waiting for him to close the gap and make real the moment I've secretly imagined since the first time Keenan and I spoke.

But it never comes.

I hear him sigh, and that's when I know it's not going to happen.

"Jo."

I hang my head, eyes still screwed shut because I'm literally too embarrassed to open them right now. I take my hands off him and wrap them around myself.

"Joey."

"It's okay," I say, trying to look like it. I open my eyes and force myself to look like I'm not about to burst into tears. "It's fine, I promise. That...that wasn't anything, I just thought that you—"

"I'm sorry."

"No, I swear it's fine. Probably for the best, I mean that's not why we're here, right? We're here for Ashley, and we shouldn't lose sight of that."

I get up to go take a bath. He stands after me, grabbing hold of my hand before I make it away. "Keenan, you don't have to —"

He shuts me up when he wraps his arms around me, resting his chin a top my head. It takes a minute, but I eventually cave and extend mine around him too, feeling his solid chest pressed against mine. His heart is pounding as hard as mine, and I'll take that as a good sign to ease the heartache I just got from his refusal to kiss me.

I can't help wondering what exactly I've done wrong.

"I'm going to go take a bath."

"Okay."

Another of my heartstrings snaps in two and I slowly pull away from him and turn in the direction of the door.

I'm losing track of my emotions and I'm barely seeing straight anymore. It's only been a little while, but I know myself. I'm not used to having this much restraint, and right now, I think I'm going to have to push my reset button if I'm going to make it out alive.

Because that's how attached I'm becoming to Keenan Reid.