Chapter 23

The rest of the night was quiet. I kept holding Ava close to me as she cried herself out on my shoulder. I have no idea how long we just lay there, but she made me repeat my declaration of loving her as well as Mia two more times before she finally calmed enough to fall asleep.

The next day started out a lot earlier for me than for those two, since I had to show up in the office, while they didn’t have to go to school. After I had showered and gotten dressed, Mia and Ava were still cozily wrapped in my sheets.

“Love you.” I told my girlfriend, after giving her a loving kiss.

“Love you too, Muffin.” Mia sleepily replied, closed her eyes again, and was out like a light.

Then I moved over to the other side of the bed. Ava was awake and looking at me with a mixture of a pout and insecurity. I smiled, placed my hand on her cheek, and leaned forward. Her eyes widened a little, before her brows furrowed like she wanted to start sobbing again, but I stopped that by giving my sister a tender morning kiss as well.

“And I still love you too, Princess.” That made her smile, though her eyes were still a little moist.

“I love you, little Brother.” she whispered. “I swear I will never forget it again.”

Wherever Mom went before Mia showed up, she wasn’t back yet, so I made my way to the office after only drinking my coffee instead of enjoying breakfast with her.

Since my contract was for a twenty-eight-hour week, I normally worked for four hours a day from Monday through Friday, and then a full eight-hour day on Saturday. But whenever I didn’t have to go to school, I opted to put in six hours from Monday through Thursday, and finish with a half day on Friday. That allowed me a full free weekend!

At least that was the plan.

About an hour before quitting time, John called me, telling me that there was a problem and he’d like to meet me at the condo we had bought near the community college’s main campus. Sighing, I told him the time I could be there and he eagerly confirmed that he would meet me then. After I finished my day, I drove over to the condo while pondering on what would be waiting for me.

“Tim!” I heard John call out, as he jumped out of his car.

“John!” I mimicked his tone, before quickly dropping to a neutral voice. “So, what’s the problem?”

“Let’s go inside first.” he said, before unlocking the door and beckoning me to enter.

“Speaking of which ... What the hell happened with the door?” I asked, pointing at the entrance that had been widened significantly.

“Wheelchair accessibility.” he responded while shrugging his shoulders. “With this place being so close to campus, only having a single floor, and your tendency to get seriously injured, I decided to put up a little extra money and make the whole place disability-friendly. I’m also doing the same with the house for Mom and Dad. They don’t need it right now, but at their age ... You never know. I’ll show you all the other changes later. First, we have to talk about something.”

After we walked inside and he closed the door behind us, he reached into his jacket, pulled out an envelope, and presented it to me.

“What’s this?” I asked after checking over the ten pages of legal text I had pulled out of the envelope.

“Essentially, it’s a partnership agreement.” he grinned. “I created a Holding and I want you to be the controlling partner, since it’s your money that I used for funding. And I named it ‘T.B. Holding’, so it would be kinda weird for me to have a company named after you. If your first name started with a ‘P’, though, I would’ve named it ‘PB&J’. Shame, really.”

“Wait ... what?” I asked perplexed, partly because I didn’t understand how he could simply create a company with me as a partner without telling me, and partly because I worried about his sense of humor.

“I created a holding company.” John started explaining, a little slower this time. “I then transferred the cash you gave me to that company and used it to buy this condo and the house, so both belong to the holding now. The partnership agreement would make us both directors of that holding, but you would be the majority partner calling the shots.”

This time I understood what he said. Though, I still was confused about the details.

“How in the hell did you simply transfer all that cash to a company!?” I asked.

“It wasn’t simple, but it’s possible. You see, the holding is currently owning three assets. The condo, the house, and an imaginary software for online warehouse management that we’re licensing out for $6,500 per warehouse. I know someone, who knows someone, who, in turn, knows someone across the border. I gave them the cash, they split it across twenty of their people to each buy one of our licenses, and the money arrived in our bank account as legitimate revenue.”

When he finished, he stood there with a smug grin on his face. If my math was correct, whoever helped him took roughly a thirteen percent cut. That was ridiculously little as far as I knew, but maybe a thousand dollars per person was worth more south of the border. I had a sneaking suspicion I needed to check, though.

“So ... You gave that money to someone who has twenty Mexican warehouse managers who can smurf the money back into your bank account. What do they use their warehouses for?”

“Avocados.” he said, shrugging his shoulders.

I decided then and there to not ask any more questions, hope this wouldn’t come with strings attached, and never use their services again. I also decided that I should try to find some time to create some kind of online warehouse management software. It didn’t need to be good, or actually work, but I should be able to point at something in case the feds ask questions about it. Maybe it would be enough to modify some open source software that already exists.

Grunting, I read through the partnership agreement. I’m no lawyer, but the language was easy enough to understand. I would be the majority partner, so, while John took care of legal matters because I was a minor, he couldn’t just do with my money and assets as he pleased. It also contained all the procedural details for when he would remove himself from the holding after I turned eighteen. It sure looked like he didn’t intend to screw me over, so I signed both copies and handed him one.

“Pleasure doing business with you.” he smiled, before he continued in a business voice. “Now we have to talk about the condo. The contractor did a fine job. Until now, that is. Apparently, they have another project that takes precedence right now, so they stopped showing up.”

“Oh. How long is that other project gonna take?”

“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’?

“I have to make a few trips to Home Depot. Thanks for the invite, but maybe it’s best if we just remain business partners.” I concluded after taking a few seconds to calm down. “Tell your family that if they fuck Logan, they deserve him!”

Without waiting for him to pull himself together, I walked through the door and got into my Jeep.

When I entered my apartment, I found Ava sitting on the couch alone. Mia had gone home already, so she got comfortable with a bucket of ice cream, wearing a way too big and worn out sweatshirt with faded sweatpants. Everything about her appearance said she was planning on having a relaxing night in, which confused me for a moment. When she saw me, she instantly jumped off the couch to practically throw herself at me.

“You’re back!” she beamed after giving me a kiss that would be more appropriate from a girlfriend than from my sister. Even if I was fucking my sister.

Being greeted so happily, right after John’s reminder of how none of them wanted me, did a great job in raising my spirits. I found myself smiling as I wrapped my arms around her, squeezed her ass, and returned her kiss. Going by the increase in strength of her hold on me, and the soft contented moan she let slip out, it seemed to please her.

“I see you’re all set to enjoy a relaxing evening?” I finally commented with her body still pressed into mine, eyeing the bucket of ice cream.

“When school’s out, I like to use the first few days to refuel.” she giggled. “Why? You have something planned for us? Or do you wanna join me?” I felt my smile widen when she looked genuinely hopeful about me spending the evening with her.

“No, sorry. I’ve gotta get changed and make a trip to Home Depot. Promised someone I’d help him fix up his place. But I thought you would go out tonight?”

“Huh?” Now she looked genuinely confused. “Why would I go out?”

“John told me. They’re having one of their get-togethers.” I said, finally releasing my hold on her and moving towards my bedroom. “With Logan back from college and the grandparents still in town, it’s a rare opportunity.”

“Oh! No, I’m really not interested.” she replied casually, before her voice dropped to a suggestive tone. “I already told you, you’re the only one who gets to pound this little pussy of mine.”

That almost made me stumble as I missed a step.

“And besides.” she continued, casually again. “Dad still hasn’t apologized, and Logan’s still an asshole. So I’d rather spend my time on the couch with the brother I love and that actually cares about me. And takes care of me.”

She added that last part with another sultry look. Though, the beginning of her sentence had me thinking about something else as I entered my closet and got rid of my clothes.

“Well, I understand that Aaron isn’t invited until he makes amends for the crap he pulled on you, and Logan can’t participate unless he treats everyone with due respect. And Claire’s already been there since yesterday, so, if you wanted to go, I’m sure she would keep an eye on Logan and make sure you’d have fun.” I called over my shoulder as I pulled on my worn out work clothes that I had also used when renovating my own apartment.

I didn’t even register how there was no reply from her, until I came out of my closet and saw Ava sitting on my bed looking rather alarmed for some reason.

“What?” I asked, after noticing her expression.

“You’re mad that Mom went.” she said softly, but with concern in her voice.

“Why would I be mad?”

“If you’re not, why did you call her ‘Claire’ instead of ‘Mom’ just now?”

That made me stop dead in my tracks.

I hadn’t even noticed that I did that. I also never realized, until that moment, that I had not only called her ‘Mom’ since the day of my first P.T. session, but even thought of her as my mom since we had that talk about Tess. And now she was back to being ‘Claire’.

I sat on the bed next to Ava, who immediately reached for my hand to hold it, and leaned into me.

“I guess I am a little annoyed that she’s taking part in it.” I lied. I wasn’t just annoyed, I was pissed. But it was clear she knew that already.

That bullshit John had just thrown at me, about how this is their way to show their love for each other, must have played a bigger part in my current opinion of my mother than I had thought. Though, I didn’t think I should tell Ava about that conversation with her uncle. It would just cause more unnecessary tension.

She started wringing her hands while keeping her eyes fixed to the floor, before she took a deep breath. “I don’t think she’s taking part in anything.”

“What do you mean?” I eyed her suspiciously. “John also told me she wasn’t in the mood, but I have to admit ... I find it hard to believe that she would spend two days in his house, watching them all go at it, and never join in on the fun.”

Ava sighed as her shoulders slumped a little. It looked like she was surrendering to her fate or something.

“Look ... I didn’t want to point that out because I was scared that you’ll think I’m trying to influence you ... but that’s exactly what Mom’s doing. She watches them have fun, but doesn’t join in.”

“Why not?”

“It’s her punishment.” Her voice was dire and full of regret when she said that.

“Sorry, what!?” I couldn’t believe what I heard.

“She refuses to do anything, unless you’re involved and willing.” she nodded. “Remember the day of your first P.T. session? She didn’t even try to get something out of that for herself. She called me into the room to take care of you, but she herself was happy to just hold you.”

“And what if it’ll take me quite a while before I’m willing to do anything with her?”

“Then, I think, she’ll be going without for however long it’ll take you.”

“I would’ve thought ... with you two sharing a bedroom...” I said, and Ava started chuckling.

“Oh, no! Mom doesn’t swing that way. Maggie and I enjoy it. Danny will join us on special occasions, like you saw on my birthday, but she doesn’t get anything out of it. Mom is completely straight.”

I could only shake my head as I stared at Ava. Though, once my mind started wrapping itself around the idea, I realized John’s bitterness might’ve been about something other than Mom’s refusal to fuck him. It may have been on his sister’s behalf, as he feared for her happiness.

“How in the world did she come up with that?” I finally asked.

“We spent years enjoying ourselves while excluding you, so now she makes her satisfaction dependent on yours.” Ava shrugged. “Honestly ... I kinda understand her. I’m doing the same thing after all.”

“I mean...” I sighed. “I don’t understand it, honestly. I really meant it when I told you that you’re free to join them. What’s wrong with this family will not be fixed as long as we continue excluding people just to please someone else, so I will never ask you to do that. That’s what caused this whole mess in the first place. I know all that. But, the thought of them fucking Logan, after everything he did ... it just pisses me off!”

“Of course it does! You’re not asking Mom and me to exclude him, and we’re not doing it to please you.” she reassured me, but quickly backpaddled, just like I did in my conversation with John. “Okay, we are partially doing it to please you, since we are feeling guilty for what we did to you. But I want to be only with you because ... well, because I feel like you’re the only guy who’s worth it. And Mom wants to be only with you because she wants to make up for the past. But even without that, what Logan did proves that he only sees us all as readily available pussy, not as family, and letting him have us will only encourage that.”

We sat quietly for a while, with her hugging my arm and resting her head on my shoulder. I have to admit, Ava telling me all that made me feel even closer to her than I felt after her affectionate greeting.

“Why did you forgive me?” I heard her whispered question.

“You made up for it.” I said, and she raised her head to look at me questioningly. “You stood up to your friends to make them stop calling me by that stupid nickname. Then you took my side instead of covering for Aaron, when he emptied my bank account. And ... Mia told me that you spent the past few months working to improve my reputation and undo the damage you caused. A lot of the things happening in school make a lot more sense now.”

Now she looked a little embarrassed.

“She told you?”

“Yeah. I’m glad she did. It convinced me that I have a sister that cares about me.” I said, turned my head, and kissed her forehead.

“I really love you, Tim. I don’t think I can ever make up for the years of hurt I caused you, but I’m damn well gonna try. You did so much for me ... Even after I was a bonafide Bitch to you and didn’t deserve your help, you still came through.” I felt her grip on my arm to tighten. “I never thought that what I did to you would have consequences. I just wanted to make Logan and Dad happy. Until I saw you lying in that pool of blood after you got stabbed.” She shook her head. “I thought you’d die protecting us, while Logan just ran away! And the more I thought about everything I did, the more ashamed I became of myself. You deserve so much better than what you got from me. Last year, you asked us all what changed for us to suddenly care about you. That’s what changed for me. I will do everything I can to be the sister you deserve, and make sure you know how much we love you. Because you’re the best thing that ever happened to us.”

That made me smile. I believed her.

“I love you too, Sis.” I patted her hand that was almost cramping from holding onto me.

“Can I come with you?” she suddenly asked.

“With me?” I had completely forgotten that I was getting ready to start working on the condo. “Oh, uh ... that’s gonna be a lot of dirty work. So, the direct opposite of what you wanted to do. You sure you want to come?”

“Yeah!” she nodded eagerly, and I realized that I could really use her help, even if she didn’t get to hold a hammer.

“Alright.” I shrugged, and she jumped off the bed to rush out of the room.

I found her already waiting for me by the door when I came out of my bedroom after stuffing my pockets with some cash. I decided to drive her to the condo first, so she could get a look at it.

“Wow. Looks like you got your work cut out for you, huh?” she commented after walking through every room.

“Looks worse than it really is. But I think I could actually use your help. As you have seen in my apartment, I lack taste.” That made her chuckle. “If I do this alone, I’ll paint everything gray and call it mission accomplished. So ... imagine you’d live here, how would you decorate?”

That made her whip her head around to look at me suspiciously through narrowed eyes.

“Really? You’re asking your sister how she would decorate? Your friend gives you a lot of leeway when it comes to decorating his place, don’t you think?”

“Why? Maybe he’s even more autistic than me when it comes to this?” I grinned.

She accepted that with a smirk and got to work by familiarizing herself with the condo.

“So, if I’m to imagine myself living in this room...” she asked me with a raised eyebrow after checking out all three bedrooms, the smile never leaving her face. “ ... who should I imagine living in the other rooms?”

“Maggie.” Now the smile died. She had obviously expected - or hoped - for a different answer. “The third room ... Don’t know yet. Maybe you and Maggie can think of someone.”

She thought about that for a while, but seemed to quickly catch on and understand what this was for. She made a few notes on her phone, and then we drove to Home Depot. While she got the different paints and wallpapers she had thought up, I went through the different isles with my phone in hand, getting all the tools and parts that I needed to finish the renovation.

She seemed less motivated to help since she learned that she would live here with Maggie instead of whomever she had hoped for. That impression got confirmed a few hours later.

I had spent about two hours installing all the fixtures in the bathroom, followed by another hour of sanding and priming the drywalls in the living room, before I checked in with Ava. She had decided to paint her room in a very faint mint green, which I found horrible, but I didn’t have to live in it. For the first few minutes, she simply ignored my presence as I went about reinstalling the covers for the power outlets where she had finished painting.

“You don’t want us to live with you anymore?” she suddenly asked with a level voice, not turning around to look at me.

“That’s not it.”

“Then what is it?” Now she did turn around. She looked sad and was clutching the side of her shirt, showing me how this was bothering her quite a bit.

I stayed seated on the ground where I had sat down to reinstall the power outlets, and beckoned Ava to sit in front of me. She quickly followed my suggestion and then waited for me to start talking.

“Promise to keep this a secret.” I said.

“I promise.” There was absolutely no hesitation on her part, but her face also didn’t show the slightest hint of her not taking this seriously.

“How much do you know about ... how we solved the problem with Logan’s bookie?” I asked carefully.

“How we solved it?” She mocked. “As far as I know, you went to Austin in some cloak-and-dagger operation, stole the money from their partners, and then pinned it on the bookie.”

I nodded.

“Do you know what happened to the money?”

“I never asked.” she said matter of fact. “But I assume some of it is in your bedroom.”

That surprised me.

“How...”

“Oh, please, Tim. When you came back from the hospital, Mom and I were practically glued to your side since you couldn’t even tie your shoes by yourself. We’ve never seen you use an ATM, but you still paid for most of our shopping with cash. You also paid Mom in cash when she acted as your nurse, and you give us our allowances in cash. Even just now at Home Depot you pulled a wad of cash out of your pocket. And you always go into your bedroom when you need some more.”

“Does Mom know too?” I asked after I recovered from the surprise.

“No idea.” she shrugged. “But I think she’s had too much else to worry about, to also think about where your money comes from. We see you working enough anyway. I just never knew you could buy entire houses in cash.”