The weather was as miserable as Lachlan’s mood when Ben drove him home from Melbourne airport. The sky was grey and the continuous drizzling rain muted all the colours of the usually vibrant, cheerful city. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Ben glancing at him again but he ignored his brother, hoping he’d get the message not to ask questions.
When they pulled into the underground car park of their apartment block, Lachlan jumped out and grabbed his bag. If he could get to his room without Ben asking questions, then he could shut the door and lock himself away for a few hours, or maybe days.
Of course his brother had other ideas and as he shut the front door of their shared apartment, Ben quickly moved to block the door to Lachlan’s bedroom, his eyebrow raised in silent question. For the first time ever, Lachlan regretted purchasing the apartment with his brother. With both of them travelling for work all the time, it had made sense for them to share an apartment in the city to use as a home base. Now, Lachlan wished he had a place of his own where he would have peace and not have to put up with his brother’s well-meaning bullshit.
“Ben, just move out of the way,” he snapped. He just wanted to fall into bed and not get up again.
“Not until you tell me what’s up.” Ben widened his stance, clearly preparing himself for a fight. But Lachlan was too exhausted to fight, so he dropped his bag outside his door and walked into the lounge where he stretched out on the couch and shut his eyes.
He must have fallen asleep because when he opened his eyes again, it was dark and the rain had stopped. Beside him on the coffee table was a bowl of Spaghetti Bolognese, just about the only thing Ben liked to cook, and the man himself was sitting in the chair opposite him.
“So are you ready to talk?” Ben asked patiently.
“No,” Lachlan said sitting up. He grabbed his bowl and began shovelling the food into his mouth. He hadn’t realised how hungry he was. The last time he’d had anything to eat was this morning when he’d had breakfast with April. And just like that, he wasn’t hungry anymore. He put his half-eaten dinner down again, forcing himself to swallow the mouthful he had taken even though it suddenly tasted like cardboard.
Ben continued to eye him warily. “So what happened with April?”
Lachlan shut his eyes, his heart constricting at the sound of her name. He dragged his hands over his face, massaging his temples, trying to wipe her clear from his memory. “Nothing. It was just a fling and now it’s over.” Even he could hear the lie in his words.
“I thought you didn’t want that.”
“Yeah well, what I want and what she wants are two different things,” he retorted and then a thought occurred to him and a hollow laugh escaped his chest. “I guess Craig was right all along. She was just after a notch on her bedpost.” He got up, walked to his room and shut the door, locking it against his brother.