Page 24 of Contempt

Whatever worked.

All too soon, she had deplaned, and was heading down the escalator for arrivals when she first spotted her brother. It wasn’t like she could miss John, honestly. He tended to stick out in a crowd considering he towered over six feet, always wore a three-piece suit, and practically refused to meet the gaze of anyone who looked his way.

Besides, he wasn’t looking for anyone but her, anyway. His gaze was already locked on her form as she started to come down the escalator. Like he knew somehow that she was going to be the next person coming down.

Lucia still felt the occasional flare of annoyance and anger whenever she saw her brother, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as it used to be. The fact that John didn’t try to make excuses for the things that had happened almost five years ago helped that along.

Right now, she wasn’t sure what—if anything—she felt about her brother. She had been trying to avoid New York as much as possible, and yet, all it took was a single visit and a conversation with her brother to basically put her on a flight less than a week later.

And here she was.

In New York.

Fuck.

“Hey,” John greeted, arms already open.

Lucia took her brother’s hug, and then passed her carry-on luggage over when he offered to take it, too. “Hey, John.”

“Do you have any more luggage?”

“A small bag.”

John arched a brow. “That’s all?”

Lucia didn’t want to say it out loud, but the truth was, she didn’t know how much stuff to bring, or if it would be a smart idea. Hell, if she took a weekend trip to somewhere for work, she would pack a large suitcase full of shit just because she liked to have options. Problem was, if she did that now, it might give her father the idea that she was going to stay for longer than was good for her.

She needed to see him.

Wanted to, even.

That didn’t mean she could stay after it was said and done. Lucia brought enough stuff to get her through a few days, but nothing more. And if she did, for some reason, opt to stay longer than what she prepared for, well she would handle that, too.

She couldn’t do much else.

Lucia offered her brother a shrug, but said nothing. John only nodded like he understood, and then draped an arm around her shoulders as he said, “Let’s go get your luggage then, kiddo.”

She couldn’t help it.

Lucia laughed.

“You know I’m twenty—”

“I know how old you are,” her brother muttered. “Still my kid sister. Even when you hate my guts.”

Damn.

Yeah, that was the thing, right? Even when she had been terrible to John—it didn’t matter how much awful shit she said to him, or the distance she forced between the two of them—he was still there loving her.

That’s just what he did.

It’s what family did.

Lucia still didn’t know how to handle it.

“I don’t hate you, John,” she said.

John’s arm tightened around her shoulders. “Not now, maybe.”