Bewitched by Bella's Brother (7 page)

“I’d never hurt you, Sebastian. Not on purpose. I just

Bewitched by Bella’s Brother |
Amy Lan
e

52

like you, that’s all.”

The hand in his hair left, and Sebastian missed it as he watched Asa disappear gracefully up the stairs.

WEDNESDAY came, and the pool party was a success. Julie

was just as funny when she was yelling at her kids to not run around the pool and to be polite to the nice people with the snacks as she was at work, and her kids made it a point to include Jordan in their antics. Eventually, the mayhem quieted down. The thirteen-year-old lay down to sun herself, the ten-year-old picked up a book, and Julie’s eight-year-old sat quietly, playing with Jordan and the collection of plastic bugs his Aunt Bella had just bought him from the store so he could take them to the pool.

Sebastian watched them curiously—Jordan didn’t say

much to Ariel, either, but Ariel didn’t seem to mind. She would talk and talk and talk, and then ask Jordan his

opinion, and he’d grunt and give it to her, and she’d adjust their game accordingly.

“Whatcha thinking?” Julie asked at his side, and

Sebastian looked up and accepted an iced tea from Bella

before he answered.

“I’m thinking that they’re like Bella and me,” he said

after a moment, and Bella looked to where the little kids were playing and gave a brief smile.

“Ariel talks less,” she said, wrinkling her lip at

Sebastian. Sebastian rolled his eyes back at her.

“Jordan doesn’t get as physically violent,” he said, and stuck out his tongue.

Bewitched by Bella’s Brother |
Amy Lan
e

53

“That’s because she’s bigger than he is!”

“And neither of them need smacking upside the head!”

Julie chimed in, giggling furiously, and the day went on.

But the two conversations had Sebastian thinking about

Bella, and how much he’d give to see her happy. She was a furious worker and a top-notch researcher—she’d make an

excellent professor, he’d always thought. He could never imagine why she’d hitched her horse to his bizarre, fringe theory wagon when he was so obviously bad for her career, but now that they were a couple of months away from

changing states, he might want to do that.

Bella had a family here; she even had some credibility in their field. Why was she coming with him?

The thought was driven out by two events: the kind of

high-drama family things that Sebastian had never had to deal with. He was, after all, the only child of two parents whose complete reserve was one of many benefits of his

upbringing that he chose to neglect. Considering how little experience he had in family drama, he thought he did

relatively well.

The first moment was precipitated by a very tiny, very

pretty woman.

Sebastian and Bella arrived home one day after a short

shift to find her leaning against a little black Jaguar, smoking an expensive cigarette and tapping her long nails systematically on the hood of the car. She had short hair, dyed black, and way too much makeup. She gave them both

a hard once-over with toxic-green eyes and took another

drag.

“Deirdre,” Bella said tersely. “What are you doing here?”

“Waiting for my ex-husband to hide our child from me,”

Bewitched by Bella’s Brother |
Amy Lan
e

54

she responded pleasantly, and Sebastian’s eyes widened.

Asa’s ex. Uhm. Ick.

“That
was
part of the custody agreement,” Bella warned, and Deirdre rolled her eyes.

“I know that, Bella; that’s why I called first.”

Bella grunted and bumped Sebastian’s shoulder.

“C’mon—let’s go inside.”

Once they got inside, Bella propped herself by the

breakfast nook window so they could watch Deirdre finish her cigarette while gossiping furiously about her.

“Twat,” Bella hissed. “What the hell does she want?”

Sebastian rolled his eyes and shrugged. He hadn’t even

known what she looked like—but that didn’t stop him from hating her anyway. A faint creak on the stairs above them was just enough warning for them to scramble back into the kitchen and out the back door to the pool. By creeping to the edge of the house and peering around the corner, they saw Asa gesture his ex-wife up the steps of the wraparound

porch and in their general direction. Wonderful—Asa was

planning to have their discussion out at the pool, and who really wanted to get caught trying to eavesdrop?

Sebastian met Bella’s eyes, and they mouthed “Oh shit!”

at each other and scampered back into the kitchen. When

they got there, Bella propped the door open and, as they heard Asa’s heated voice coming up the porch, dropped out of sight from the window behind the kitchen counter.

Sebastian rolled his eyes in frustration and did the same, coming to a squat next to Bella and practically holding his breath so he could listen to what was going on outside.

“Two minutes, Dee Dee? I get a two-minute warning to

get Jordan up to his room so we can talk?”

Bewitched by Bella’s Brother |
Amy Lan
e

55

“Gimme a break, Ace-hole; I didn’t think I’d find the

place so quickly. Look, I don’t want to see Jordan anymore than you want me to—too goddamned messy, we both know

that. I just….”

Asa made a sound in his throat like a growl, and Deidre

snapped at him.

“You’re not going to hit me, Asa; we both know it. You’re too good a guy for that. But….” A tremor crept into her voice, a sort of desperate hum. “You know what I need, and you

know why I need it, and I’ll tell you why you’re going to give it to me!”

They couldn’t see at all, but Sebastian had an image of

Deirdre coming up and getting in Asa’s face. He fought the urge to run out there and defend the big man, which was

ludicrous, since Asa was damned near a foot and a half taller than she was.

“I’m all ears, Deirdre: thrill me.” Asa’s deep, quiet voice was not nearly as emotional as his ex-wife’s. In fact, he sounded more weary than anything else. “The judge gave me custody; you had a more-than-generous settlement, and it was damned near written in blood. Why would I give you

more money?”

“Because Jim Conrad talks a lot of shit, that’s why, and I know what you did at the Arnolds’ party that weekend.”

There was a sudden sucking sound, like Asa was pulling

in breath, and Sebastian’s and Bella’s horrified—and

horribly curious—stares met.

“I know what you did too,” Asa said, his voice full of

splinters and fury. “And whatever it is you think you know, nothing trumps having three guys snort meth off your tits, now does it, Dee Dee?”

Bewitched by Bella’s Brother |
Amy Lan
e

56

They couldn’t hear anything, but her expression must

have been priceless. Sebastian knew his eyes were bigger than balloons, and Bella was looking no less horrified.

“You saw that?” she asked, her voice broken too.

“Not much could make me down three shots in a row,

Dee Dee, but I say that qualifies. Do you still want that money now?”

There was a pause, and then a furious growl. “Yes. Yes,

dammit, I do. Because if I don’t get it, Asa, I’ll take it to family court. And I can tell our kid that you’ll take blowjobs from a man-slut, and you can tell him that I’m a drug-snorting whore, and we can see just how well adjusted he’s gonna grow up with that shit fermenting in his little noggin, how’s that?”

Sebastian and Bella met eyes and mouthed “Oh. My.

God,” in perfect synchronicity.

Asa must have felt the same way. “Dee Dee, what have I

ever done to you? Seriously.”

“Don’t go there, Asa,” she begged. “Don’t make this

harder… please… just….”

“No—I want to know! Man—we weren’t just married, we

were
friends.
When I found out about the drugs, I tried to get you help; when we had to split, I gave you everything you asked for. All I ask—all I’ve
ever
asked—is that you keep Jordan out of it. Keep him out of the crapfest your life has turned into. As a friend, couldn’t you give me that?”

“We’re not talking about friendship,” she said, her voice practically chattering it was shaking so hard. “Asa, I… it’s been three days, man… and I hurt so bad….”

“Then take your hurt away from our son!” he begged.

“Dammit, he’s a good kid, Dee Dee—all he’s ever wanted is a Bewitched by Bella’s Brother |
Amy Lan
e

57

little bit of love….”

“Well,” Dee Dee sniffed, “it’s good that he has you, then, isn’t it.”

Sebastian gasped, and so did Bella, and now their eyes

met in some serious anger. Sebastian thought irrationally about running outside and keying “Bitch” on the hood of

that shiny black Jaguar parked outside.

“Don’t lie to yourself,” Asa snapped, not begging

anymore. “I saw you with him when he was a baby, in his

first few years, before the drugs took over. You love your son, Dee Dee. You just love the drugs more.”

“Fuck you, Asa.” The words were angry—but she was

weeping, and damn if Sebastian didn’t feel some pity in him now. She’d had everything—she’d had Jordan, she’d had
Asa
for sweet God’s sake—and she’d flushed it all away. “Damn you, don’t make this harder!”

“It
should
be hard! All you have to do to see your son is clean yourself up!”

“I
can’t.
It’s
hard.
It’s hard and I haven’t had a hit in three
goddamned
days
, and dammit, Asa, for once in your self-righteous life can’t you just give me something! Just give me something! Just give me some fucking cash, and I’ll get out of your life and leave you and your precious son alone!”

“Mom?”

Oh
fuck.
Sebastian and Bella looked up to see Jordan rounding the corner of the kitchen, and there wasn’t a

damned thing they could do about it.

“Jordan,” Bella said, standing up and taking his arm,

“honey, they’re talking….”

“Mom!” Jordan broke free and tore out the kitchen door

Bewitched by Bella’s Brother |
Amy Lan
e

58

to the porch with Bella and Sebastian hot on his heels.

“Mom!” The boy ran out the door and in between the two

horrified adults and looked at his mother uncertainly.

“Hi, kid,” Deirdre said, wiping her face with her hands.

Sebastian saw that her mascara and dark eyeshadow had all run, and his pity stirred a little faster.

“Did you come to visit me?” Jordan asked, hope so

naked on his little face that Sebastian found his fists

clenching. “Look!” he held out his hand and there was the red ladybug that he and Sebastian had played with for over a week. “It’s like the ones you used to put on your roses. I… I thought of you when we made it.”

Asa grunted, and Sebastian and Bella both made little

whimpers, and Sebastian couldn’t remember hoping for

anything with as much fervency as he hoped that Asa’s ex-wife could pull herself out of her own misery long enough to not be a total bitch to her son.

“No, honey,” Deirdre said, her voice choked. “No. I’m…

I’m sorry, baby. Your… your dad’s right. I don’t get to visit you until I’m a better grown-up.” She looked at Asa, who glared miserably back.

“Damn you, Asa,” she muttered. “You couldn’t have

made this easy.”

With that she turned and kissed Jordan’s cheek. “You’re

a good boy,” she murmured. “And I can’t be your mom right now.”

And with that Deirdre Bryne stalked off the porch and

out of their day, leaving a track of destruction in her wake.

Jordan watched her go, his lower lip thrust out and his

bony little fingers ripping the red ladybug into tiny pieces.

They fluttered to the ground, and he turned around and ran Bewitched by Bella’s Brother |
Amy Lan
e

59

up to his room.

Bella said, “I’ll get him,” and Asa said, “Bella, he’s my son….”

Bella put out a hand to stop him, and took a deep

breath, and then another, and then smoothed back the loose hair that was hanging in her face. Sebastian had never seen her work so hard to get hold of her emotions.

“Asa, if I don’t go comfort him, he’s going to think every woman on the planet is his mother, and that would be a real fucking shame.” She wiped her own cheeks with the heels of both hands—without the mascara mess that Deirdre had left behind. “Why didn’t you tell us?” she asked, her voice

hoarse. “It was so bad. Why didn’t you tell us?”

Asa looked away. Sebastian noticed that his face was

blotchy and he swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing.

“The same reason you have ‘Bella’s day off’,” he

muttered. “Bella, some shit just hurts too much….”

She nodded and walked up to him, standing on tiptoe to

kiss his cheek. “Yeah. Give us some time.”

Sebastian had a sudden feeling of displacement as he

watched her go. This wasn’t his family. It wasn’t. Something was screaming at him that it was time to walk away. How

could he be here? He didn’t understand family drama, he

had no experience dealing with this, he would really be more helpful in his room, with the covers over his head….

“How much did you hear?” Asa asked, his eyes still

looking out over the porch to the fall of the hill.

“Enough,” Sebastian muttered, and then told the truth.

“All of it. Enough to know why you and I keep running into each other’s heads whenever I open my mouth.”

Bewitched by Bella’s Brother |
Amy Lan
e

60

“I enjoyed it,” Asa said, and Sebastian almost choked on his own tongue. “I did. Deirdre and I hadn’t touched in so long, and then I saw….” He shuddered. “I saw what I saw.

And it was pretty awful, and I got very drunk, very fast, and sat down on a couch in the basement rec room, and when I woke up?” A shrug—so very casual for such a big thing.