Best Served Fake

forty-five // bitching it is so much less stressful

Here's the thing about genetics; they're not kind to everyone, but sometimes one family gets so lucky it feels like a grand unfairness to everyone else. If I already thought that about Kai and Isabelle, the close-up of those genes aged into adulthood only served to drive the point home. I had only partially been joking when I'd told Kai his brother was hot. If I was honest, it was an understatement. Zac Delaney was gorgeous. He was darker than Kai and Isabelle, a country tan bronzing the face and hands peeking out from his dark suit.

The real question was what else he'd inherited from the Delaney genes; Kai and Isabelle's good humour and kindness, or the dark and twisted force that drove Maria Delaney?

Zac's expression wasn't vacant like his mother's. It wasn't Kai's smile either, confident and flirtatious. Zac was warm, all big-brotherly charm, self-assured and innately friendly. Somehow, from one smile, I could almost see the years he'd spent in the country, away from the siblings who'd needed him, but which had afforded him far more than just a tan and a few stray freckles. He looked like he could be a worthy contestant for Farmer Wants a Wife, like a wholesome cowboy.

I smiled back at him, and it was only a little bit strained. Kai might've noticed—he'd always been attuned to the almost imperceptible shifts in my expression—but he was absorbed with cataloguing his brothers face, searching for some kind of affirmation. "Hi, it's nice to meet you."

"You as well." His dark eyes—not blue like Kai's, but a deep brown that verged upon black—danced with mirth. "I've heard a lot about you."

Kai scrubbed a hand over his hair. "You don't have to tell her that."

"Probably not," Zac admitted. He ruffled a hand through Kai's hair, and Kai squirmed away, in a move so like a disgruntled little brother—so unlike the role he'd been forced to step into—that I felt almost bowled over by the rapid rush of affection I felt for Kai, and the equally as powerful resentment I felt for Zac. "But I don't get to see you all that much, and when I do, I can't let the opportunity to give you shit go to waste."

"I know," said Kai. "You never have. That's why you'll get on swimmingly with Little Valerie. She has giving me shit down to an art form that would give you a run for your money." Kai wrapped an arm around my shoulders, and I leaned into him, seeking his warmth like a sunflower stretching closer to the sun.

I laughed. "I'll gladly take upon your duties in that respect."

It didn't sound bitchy. I was careful not to allow it to. But I saw Zac cock his head all the same, as if wondering what layer underpinned my words. I would gladly take upon his duties—teasing Kai, helping Isabelle, looking after them both—but Kai would never let me do the latter. Zac didn't respond to my comment, and the questioning tilt was as imperceptible as my bitchy undertone; and fortunately, Kai did not seem to notice either. But I was almost certain Zac had.

And, to be fair, I didn't know what had driven Zac Delaney away from his siblings. I didn't even know how much he knew. Kai felt responsible because Maria loved him, but maybe Zac didn't know how his little brother felt. Kai hadn't really told me, and everything I knew about Maria hadn't been information willingly offered. So maybe he didn't know; and if Kai didn't resent his brother, how could I? But something within me was like a vicious guard dog, tearing at the muzzle to protect the Delaney siblings. And I wanted to know why their brother didn't appear to feel the same.

I was willing to give Zac the benefit of the doubt. I was. Because, despite my initial reservations, thirty seconds in Zac's presence revealed an inescapable truth. He had inherited the Delaney magnetism in spades, and I, historically, wasn't immune to their specific brand of charm.

Zac hadn't said anything particularly awe-inspiring, but like Kai and Isabelle, he radiated a warm friendliness that made you want to know him. But Kai would never desert Isabelle, and Isabelle would never desert anyone. So maybe Zac didn't know the extent of Maria's illness. But wasn't it his job to know?