I put on the water for coffee and snagged a bottle of water from the fridge. I tossed the water at my brother, who caught it with more agility than his condition should have allowed for. “I think you have this all wrong, Xan. When you give a brutal crit, it’s the student who’s supposed to go get pissed at the pub and drink his sorrows away, not the teacher.” I crossed my arms as I leaned back on the kitchen island. “Come to think of it, they didn’t see you like this, did they?”

Xander wavered on his feet a little. “Don’t be stupid. I waited till they all left then got proper pissed on the good stuff. I might like my students, but I wasn’t going to buy them all sodding hundred-year-old scotch.”

I eyed Xander’s leaning frame and yanked a stool under him, shoving him into a sitting position. “Why the scotch, Xander?”

“Because I felt like it. Now piss off.”

“You’re the one who showed up on my doorstep, remember?” How the hell had the two of us gotten so screwed up?

You know how.

We were close, but the one thing we couldn’t talk about was the one thing tearing each of us up on the inside.

The night I’d killed a man to save my brother. A life for a life.

“Where else would I go, but to my savior?” Xander pushed himself up off the stool, weaving into the living area before finally collapsing onto the couch.

I winced as I watched my brother fall. Nothing made me feel worse than when Xander referred to me as his savior. It reminded me of exactly the kind of human being I was. The kind of man who had let my brother take the blame for something I’d done.

There was a reason we never talked about that night.

“You can have the spare room, Xan. You don’t have to sleep on the couch.”

Xander rolled over and gave me a wicked smile. “I would hate to intrude on Gemma’s space in case she comes over tonight.” Xander grabbed a pillow and plastered it over his face. “You can’t have them both, Lex.” The pillow muffled his voice, but I felt every word like a blow. “I’ll make you a deal. You take Gemma and leave Little Bird for me.”

So that’s what this was about? Abbie. Xander wanted Abbie. “Did something happen with Abbie tonight?” As much as I loved my brother, I wasn’t above giving him a good going over.

“She’s already half in love with you, you know?”

I stilled. The explosion of joy spread quickly making me slightly euphoric, but also possessive. “What are you on about, Xan?”