I See Red (We Belong #1)

1. Begin Again

Begin Again

“ F uck, Jackie! Fuck!! Yes

… Ugh! Right there. God, please don’t stop,” she called out. Her breathing soon became ragged, escaping in spurts and gasps. Words tumbled from her lips and careened into one another, a cacophony of unintelligible noise.

The headboard then joined in, mirroring the rhythmic thud... thud… thud... of their combined motion. The beat steadily increased as the volume of her cries amplified. Joined, they composed their own singular melody. “Yes.” Thud. “Yes.” Thud. “Yes.” Thud.

Reaching a peak, the tempo of the headboard stuttered.

“Jackie, I’m going to… Ahhh! Harder, Jackie… Harder!” she yelled until her words stopped. Mute! Suddenly—volume cranked to the max—she screamed, “Yeeeessssss!”

Alex’s simultaneous, “Nooooooo!” muffled into the pillow clamped tightly around their face. Lying on their back for several minutes, eyes closed, Alex willed their breathing to regulate as they strained to hear any additional sounds through the adjoining wall.

Kimberly Alexandra Sharpe, aka Alex, tried to refuse their baby sister’s offer to stay in her guest room.

They didn’t want to cramp her style… but they hadn’t imagined this scenario.

Frankly, reality turned out to be much, much worse.

And now they had to live with one of the most vivid soundtracks of their life.

Alex groaned and shoved the pillow under their head.

Thinking about the last several minutes, they twisted their head from side to side, their neck popping to release some tension.

Great. My baby sister is… Ugh, okay, my younger sister. Well fuck, lucky her.

The house had been quiet for a while, but sleep continued to elude them.

Finally, Alex turned to the digital clock on the nightstand.

The muddy yellow digits gleamed in the darkness - 2:30 a.m. Maybe my body is still stuck on New York time.

Fall asleep! Stop thinking about your baby sister having sex… Ugh. You can do this! I know you can.

Alex rolled onto their other side, facing away from the dim glow of the clock and the bedroom window.

The deep burgundy blackout curtains blocked the outside lights, casting the room into near-total darkness.

Focusing on breathing, Alex curled the sheet up underneath their chin.

They wouldn’t know when, but eventually, they slipped into a dreamless sleep.

A little over six hours later, Alex slowly blinked the world back into existence.

Stretching arms out and pointing toes down, Alex’s five-foot-nine body took full advantage of the queen-size bed.

Alex would never admit it to anyone but themselves, but the modern, light-wood platform bed—with its fancy memory foam mattress—easily outshone the ancient, frameless full-size they’d left behind in New York.

With a final stretch, Alex turned to glance at the time .

At just after 8:30 a.m., and with no reason to get out of bed—especially on a Saturday morning—Alex’s internal clock registered three hours later.

Their stomach protested its emptiness with a growl.

Tossing the covers off, Alex stood, ready to go in search of food and coffee.

Clad in their favorite Snoopy boxers and an oversized white T-shirt, they put on a clean pair of blue socks and padded to the kitchen, doing their best to not disturb their sister or her overnight guest, Jackie.

Alex giggled. Jackie. I definitely hope I get to meet you.

Alex walked around the island that divided the modern kitchen from the open-concept living area.

It had been pretty late last night when they finally arrived.

There’d been no time to take in the design or decor of the house.

After sharing a quick chat and an even quicker hug with Tricia, Alex had stayed awake long enough to brush their teeth, change into pajamas, and collapse on the bed.

Even taking into account the unfortunate middle-of-the-night interlude, Alex had gotten a decent amount of sleep.

With fresh eyes, Alex took in the modern kitchen with its dark espresso cabinets, gleaming white stone countertops, and stainless-steel appliances.

Alex dropped a couple of slices of bread into the shiny red toaster and grabbed a mug from the cabinet.

After a quick scan of the coffee options, they chose a medium roast pod and started the machine just as the toast popped up.

They found a knife, buttered the toast using the crock beside the toaster, and added a splash of French Vanilla creamer to their coffee before returning it to the fridge.

With breakfast in hand, Alex settled onto the nearest barstool at the island, content to eat in solitude.

Several minutes later, toast consumed, Alex looked up at a ruggedly handsome stranger exiting the hallway.

“Uh. Good morning, Jackie,” Alex said, raising their coffee to hide the smirk that threatened to take over their face .

“Uh, Jack,” he said a little too loudly. Blushing slightly, he continued at a much lower volume, “Yeah, you can call me Jack…” Clearing his throat, he added, “Just, Jack.”

Alex couldn’t hold back or hide the slight giggle at that statement.

The confused look on Jack’s face suggested he had no idea the joke he’d stepped into.

Alex straightened up to full height and nodded.

“Of course. Jack. Right. No problem…” Alex paused deliberately.

“Just Jack. Would you like a cup of coffee?” They asked, lingering amusement evident in their tone.

Before Jack could answer, Alex’s younger sister, Tricia, bounced down the hallway into the kitchen.

“Oh, he can’t stay. He was just leaving.

Right Jack?” She placed a kiss on his cheek and ushered him out the front door.

“I’ll see you tonight,” she called out just before he climbed into the black pickup truck parked in the driveway.

Without losing a beat, Tricia turned to Alex, “But I’ll take one if you’re offering,” she replied, closing the door behind her, winking as she took the seat Alex had just vacated.

“You have like a million choices, any preference?” Alex teased, lifting a coffee pod and shaking it slightly.

“Nah. As long as it isn’t decaf, anything else is fine.” Tricia shrugged.

“I made myself some toast earlier, do you want some?” Alex asked, watching the coffee brew.

“I’m good. I’ll eat something a little later. Thanks though.”

Alex added a bit more creamer to Tricia’s coffee than they preferred themselves, setting the mug down in front of her and eyeing her with a shit-eating grin.

Oblivious, Tricia grasped the mug in both of her hands. “So how’d you sleep?” she asked, taking a sip of her coffee with a grateful “ahhh… ”

“Oh, you know how it is to sleep in a new place. I’ll need some time to settle in. New York City is cars speeding by; horns blaring.” Alex paused, taking a sip of coffee. “Out here, it’s more… I don’t know… things that go bump in the night.”

Choking slightly, Tricia squeaked. “Yeah… um, we have coyotes and… things that come out at night.”

***

The siblings caught up as the morning slipped into early afternoon, their second cups of coffee forgotten on the breakfast bar.

At some point they migrated to the deep purple sectional to get more comfortable—Tricia sat with her legs folded beneath her, crisscrossed on the couch, a teal throw pillow clutched to her chest. Alex, across from her, had one leg casually crossed over the other, their body angled slightly in her direction.

Over the years, they often spoke on the phone, but in-person get-togethers had been limited to holidays.

It had been over a year since the last time they sat face to face, but the conversation flowed easily. “Thanks again for letting me take over your guest room while I look for a place of my own.”

Tricia lightly slapped Alex’s leg. “One of the perks of finally moving back home… you can crash at your sister’s place while you look. And not have to settle for the first place you see. You can take some time. Find a place you really like.”

“Well, since I have three weeks before I have to report to my new job, I’m planning on doing some serious apartment hunting this weekend.

Everything that I shipped should arrive on Monday or Tuesday.

I’m hoping I can just unpack it all in my new place.

” Alex paused for effect, “Do you think I could borrow Jackie’s truck? ”

The teasing caused Tricia’s cheeks to flame. “You really think you can find an apartment that fast and get moved in less than three weeks?”

Unlike Alex, Tricia had taken their parents’ offer to help purchase a house.

This support allowed her mortgage to be significantly lower than the cost of renting the smallest studio apartment in the area.

But Alex was determined, and if they were being honest, maybe a tad too stubborn to take their parents’ money.

They had decided years ago that they would work their way through the world on their own.

“It might be a bit ambitious,” Alex hedged. “But starting a new job and trying to find a place at the same time isn’t ideal. And I don’t want to stay in your guest room for too long. I don’t think Jackie would like it too much either,” they added with a smirk.

Tricia returned the look with a smirk of her own. “It’s not exactly a new job… You took a lateral transfer to the same position in another branch of the same company.”

“You know it’s not too late for me to move back to New York. I’m sure Cheryl would love”

Tricia screamed, covering her ears. “We do not speak your ex’s name in this house.” Huffing dramatically, she shook her head. “Dammit. Now I’m going to have to sage the whole place.”

“That’s a bit much don’t you think… she wasn’t that bad,” Alex chuckled.

“Not that bad?” Tricia gasped. “NOT THAT BAD! That bit—”

“Okay. Okay! She was bad,” Alex replied, hands raised in mock surrender. “I promise to never say her name in the house again,” they added with a grin.

“So enough about she-who-will-not-be-named… I know you just got here and aren’t settled, but a friend from work mentioned that th eir sister was playing in a women’s ice hockey league. I had her text me the info if you’re interested?”

Alex’s grin morphed into a genuine smile. “Heck yeah. That would be great. Do you know when it starts?”

“I think they have been practicing for a couple of weeks. She wasn’t entirely sure. But she did say that she knows the first game of the season is next Tuesday at 7 p.m.”

Alex scrunched up their face briefly. “That’s a little soon, but it might be worth checking out. Can you forward the info to me? Maybe I can drop in while I’m out apartment hunting to get more details. It would be great to get back into things as quickly as I can.”

Their smile slipped into a bit of a frown. “The more I can keep busy, the less time I have to think and second-guess myself. I definitely don’t want to do that.” Pulling at the edge of their T-shirt, they added, “And thanks for letting me borrow your car. You know, I can still get a rental.”

“Seriously, it’s fine. I work from home most days and Jackie can pick me up…” Tricia scrunched up her face and added, “And now you got me calling him that, dammit!”

“Not Jackie, Tricia! It’s Just Jack, remember?” This caused them both to break out into a fit of laughter. “But, seriously, how can you date someone that doesn’t recognize a great Will their short, dark brown hair parted on the side, perfectly coiffed.

They had dressed in a pair of their favorite dark blue jeans, a simple light blue button-up with the sleeves rolled up past their elbows, and their ever-present white Chucks.

They grabbed the car keys that hung by the front door.

“Have a great time. I’ll see you later?” they asked as they opened the door.

“Yup! Jack is picking me up in a couple of hours.” Smiling, Tricia looked up from the book she was reading. “Good luck apartment hunting.”

“Hopefully I won’t need luck,” Alex chuckled. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” they winked, closing the door behind them before Tricia could respond.