“He couldn’t give me a detailed timeframe, but they definitely won’t be back before Ava and Mia are supposed to move in here.” he sighed.
I looked around the rooms and, while they had indeed fixed the damages the previous owners had caused to spite the bank, the interior was still unfinished. There was no paint on the walls, no lights installed, a few drywalls had to be sanded, and the bathroom with the big door for wheelchairs was missing all the fittings.
“So, get someone else.” I proposed, and he sighed again.
“Already tried. I think we’ll have to finish this ourselves.” he answered in a tone that told me, without a doubt, that he had no desire to do manual labor in any capacity.
“And by ‘OURselves’ I assume you mean...” I let my voice trail off.
“You and the girls, yes.” he nodded with a straight face.
“Thought as much.” I grumbled, silently reminding myself of the money this would bring in. “I changed my work schedule over Spring Break, so I’ll have some time in the afternoons. And Saturday is completely free. But leave the girls out of it. I’m not sure about Maggie, but if I ask Ava to hang a single picture, I’ll have to learn drywalling afterwards.”
That made him laugh.
“Yeah, I’m afraid I also neglected to teach my little girl about home improvements. But won’t this be too much for you alone?”
“Looks worse than it is, I think. The most complicated thing is the bathroom fixtures, because I have no idea what wheelchair bound people need. But I learned how to take care of the essentials when Tess had a dripping faucet. Not much you can do wrong. Worst case scenario, the warm water will come out of the cold water tab and vice versa. When I’m done with that, I’ll sand the walls and paint everything in a nice white. That way, the girls can easily decorate however they want. What about furniture?”
“Trip to Ikea after they got a good look at the rooms?” he offered.
“That’s gonna be your job, then. I’ll do the manual labor and you go shopping with the girls.” He actually groaned about that. “And don’t forget about the bathrooms and the third bedroom. Pick some general stuff for those as well.”
He nodded, but then shoved his hands into his pant’s pockets to just look at me as I pulled out my phone and started walking from room to room, taking photos of everything that still needed fixing. When he had quietly followed me through the condo for quite some time, I finally had enough.
“What is it?” I asked with a wary voice, and I could see on his face how he was trying to decide how to approach whatever subject had him worried.
“Well, you mentioned spring break.” he said before pausing. This was visibly uncomfortable for him. “So, Logan came back.”
“Okay? You do remember me telling you that I don’t want anything to do with him, right?”
“Yes! Yes, I do. But, since he’s back from college, and my parents are still in town, the family is using that opportunity to have a little get-together tonight. If you’d like to join u...”
“No.” I flat out refused before he could even finish his sentence, which he acknowledged with a single nod. Though, he did seem surprisingly sad about that.
“Danny said you most likely won’t be interested. I still thought there may be a chance. You could just stay away from Logan?”
That display of his was intriguing! It really looked like he genuinely wanted me to participate, though he didn’t seem to understand why I would never want to contribute to that shitshow.
“Why are you so eager to have me attend?” I asked him with a single raised eyebrow. “What, now that you’re five girls to four guys, you’re afraid you’ll need help or something?”
“It’s three guys for four girls, actually, given that Aaron is not invited until he properly apologized to Ava, and Claire ... Well, Claire is not in the mood to participate.”
His face showed an undeniable level of bitterness that piqued my curiosity.
“Not in the mood?”
“Yes. First, she took your advice to heart and doesn’t want to do anything that would allow Logan to think his behavior was condoned. She and Danny talked about it the whole day yesterday, and they agree that Logan needs to realize his behavior can have consequences. So, he, much like Aaron, will have to make sure he treats everyone with respect if he wants to participate.” I took notice of him saying ‘they agree’, not ‘we agree’. “Second, she flat out refuses to do anything that you’re not part of.”
“Wait, what!? Are you telling me that she’s been at your place since yesterday and you never fucked?” I asked, my brows raised high in surprise, ignoring his scowl at my choice of words.
That would certainly explain why he didn’t seem too happy with me at the moment, but I had trouble believing Claire never joined in on the fun.
“Yes.” he said, then he seemed to realize something and rushed to continue. “But that’s not why I’m inviting you! I’m inviting you because I also want you to feel like a part of this family, and I regret that you’re not interested. Though, I can understand that you’d rather stay away than be confronted with your brother.”
I had to stop myself from laughing. Not only did he still not understand what my problem with all this was, he also didn’t seem to realize how much contempt he’s been displaying for me since the topic fell onto Claire refusing him.
“Logan has nothing to do with it.” I said firmly, causing him to look rather confused. “Well, Okay, not nothing, but it’s not because I want to avoid him. I just don’t think anything good could come of me participating.”
His face contorted in confusion. “How could it be bad if...”
“Because a pity fuck won’t make me feel like being part of any family!” I interrupted him with exhaustion straining my voice, feeling my patience tested from having to explain myself, and continued with my voice slightly raised when I saw him open his mouth to protest. “Yes, yes, it’s not a pity fuck, sure. Even if that were true, that’s how it’ll always feel to me. If you really wanted me to join, you would’ve asked after you found out that I turned sixteen, and before your fun time with your sister depended on it. If the girls really were interested in doing anything with me, at least one of them should’ve shown some interest after I lost all that weight, and before they felt like they owed me. Now I have a girlfriend who actually wants me, and, since I don’t see sex as a recreational activity like you all seem to, I’m not planning on fucking around behind her back.”
He sullenly looked at the ground for a good while, before he spoke with a voice befitting his expression.
“You’re right. There’s probably nothing I could say or do to convince you that we’re not just asking you out of guilt. Because we do feel guilty. But we don’t see sex as a recreational activity! We show our love that way. It has brought us closer tog...”
“DUDE!” I interrupted him with a shout as I felt a sudden anger explode inside me, and he looked at me taken aback. “You’re about to have a family orgy with the guy who LITERALLY tried to sell out your wife, your daughter, and your sister to a bunch of rapists to save his own skin! The guy who left your sister, his own MOTHER, behind when she needed his support! Don’t fucking tell me this crap brought you all closer together, because that’s bullshit and you know it! It’s about getting your fucking rocks off, plain and simple. That’s why I was excluded when you all thought my dick was too small for your liking, and it’s why Logan is still included despite not giving a SHIT about you all. What you do has NOTHING to do with love!”
He stared at me wide eyed and open mouthed. The uninhibited anger in my face and the borderline rage in my voice stunned him. But the asshole just didn’t get it. Sure, since they were barring Aaron from attending their get-togethers until he showed that he cared about Ava, maybe what John said was actually true and it really was about showing their love to each other. But did he seriously not understand what that meant for me? For the one guy in the family they excluded from being ‘shown their love’?