Red Hair, Black Soul (Red & Black #1)

14 | Brothers

Jed

My brother is the spitting image of me.

Or rather, I of him, since he was the first one.

We're both tall, have dark hair, brown eyes, and broad cheekbones that girls drool on. Even our voices sound similar. The only difference is, my brother is bold.

Well, not completely. He keeps some longer strands of hair on top of his head, but on the sides, he keeps it shortly trimmed. It makes his hair look a shade or two darker than mine. He also doesn't wear glasses, claiming they're lame. He says he'd rather lose five minutes of his life every day to put on and take off his contact lenses than look at the world through the irritating rims.

I guess that is and always has been one of the biggest differences in our personalities. Daylen never liked anything holding him back. To him, life should be limitless, and any barriers stopping him in any way should be destroyed or ignored. Growing up beside him, I developed some of his traits, but never to the level he did. I would do something I'm not fond of if it's needed. He'd rather go to hell than let someone take away any amount of his freedom.

I watch as he wipes the hair out of his eyes impatiently before turning to me, a big, wooden spoon in hand.

"Do you think Mom'd rather have bolognese or Napoli?" He asks me.

I push off of the counter I'd been leaning on and shrug. "I dunno. You're the cook here."

"Yes, but you're her younger and favored son who still lives with her. You should be the one to tell me."

I roll my eyes. Daylen never misses the occasion to point out our age difference.

"Again: the fact that I was born when you were six doesn't make you the king of the universe."

"Yes, it does." Day nods. "You ruined my world. And now I can take my sweet time to take revenge for it."

I sigh and shake my head. He's not joking. "Just make her the Napoli." I say, exasperated.

Day nods one more and opens a cupboard. Taking out a jar of herbs, he sprinkles some into the sauce and puts it back in its place. "Anyways, what happened to your cheek?" He asks, glancing at me sideways. "I thought I could pass but it's too red for me to ignore."

A muscle pops in my jaw as today's events replay in my mind.

"A girl hit me." I simply say.

Daylen's brows ride up so high they nearly disappear under the bangs hanging over his forehead. "A girl hit you?"

I nod and he cracks a short laugh. Shaking his head, he goes back to stirring the tomato sauce. "Damn, bro, I knew you were sorta a heartbreaker, but never expected it to go this far."

"I didn't sleep with her." I reply, somewhat offended. "I never even hugged her. This is not the way we are."

"Right." My brother's tone suggests he doesn't believe me. "So what other thing did you have to do to end up on the deserving end of her wrath?"

"I offended her... friend." I flinch inwardly at the word.

"Why?"

I roll the words around my tongue a little before speaking them out loud. "It was the Canton kid."

Jed's eyes widen slightly as his brows slide buck down, furrowing. "Shit."

"Yeah." I nod, pinching my lower lip with my teeth. Funny how this little, four-letter word perfectly summed up this whole day. "Shit."