Chapter Eight
Jupiter
Walking through the quiet house, Jupiter rocked the baby girl in his arms, humming softly.
Sleep pants brushed against the carpeted flooring, barely making a noise as he kept his feet light to not disturb her dads.
His sleep pattern was as erratic as Emmy's, who had the excuse of teething, which was why he’d heard her stir before her dads had.
The little mite had captured his heart the minute she’d looked at him in a way that touched his icy heart.
He couldn’t explain it, having never spent time around children before.
In fact, he’d have laughed himself silly if someone had suggested he’d forgo a night out clubbing to spend time with the little tyke.
Yet her explosion into this world had marked her in a way Jupiter understood better than anyone. She’d been touched by trauma—whether she understood it or not—and Jupiter felt the bond of a kindred spirit.
At the bottom of the stairs, guided by the lamp, Jupiter made his way to the kitchen only to pause and tilt his head, listening out.
“Now who is up at this time of night?” he murmured softly to the bright-eyed child chewing on his knuckle, trying to find relief.
He changed direction and pushed open the door to the large family room they used for gatherings.
The embers of a dying fire cast shadows over the room, and it took a second to adjust his eyes to see the figure slouched on the enormous sofa, clutching what looked like an empty whiskey bottle.
He stepped closer and stared in fascination at Laken.
What the fuck?
For a moment Jupiter thought Laken was asleep until he started muttering.
“Tiny devil, and a damn nuisance.”
The words were slurred, but Jupiter could make them out nonetheless. His lips twitched and he smothered a chuckle in Emmy’s downy hair. She gnawed a little harder to remind him he had been heading to the kitchen to get the teething ring they kept in the cooler for her.
Jupiter left as silently as he arrived and went to retrieve what he’d come down for. The second Emmy had the ring between her sore gums, she released a contented noise that had Jupiter grinning like a besotted fool. “Doesn’t take much to please you does it, baby girl?”
She made several more sounds as her eyelids drooped.
Seeing the signs she was going to drop back to sleep clutching the ring—and as tempted as he was to keep her with him, Frey would freak if he got up and found her gone—Jupiter headed back upstairs and placed her back in her crib.
The night light cast stars over the ceiling and over the adorable child as he settled her back into the sleeping bag thing they used to stop her wiggling out from under covers and getting cold.
His mind wanted to stray to the differences between his experience as a child and Emmy’s, but he was an expert at keeping up the barricades he’d built for self-preservation. In sleep they came down, and he often wandered the corridors at night with Emmy until he was too exhausted to dream.
Jupiter stroked a finger over her downy hair, waiting until he sensed she wouldn’t wake again before stepping away.
He left her room and went down the stairs to the next level.
On his way to his bedroom he stopped and cursed silently, knowing that he couldn’t in good conscience leave Laken downstairs in the state he was in.
Popi needed no more excuses to interfere in whatever drama Laken had going on.
And Jupiter had a fairly good idea who the drama was.
His early childhood had honed his senses to be alert to what was going on around him at all times.
His body seldom wasn’t on high alert, and he noticed what others tended to miss.
He moved silently back down the stairs, huffing at his own stupidity.
Laken was much like him and Jupiter sensed that he had suffered abuse.
It left an indelible mark, unseen by the naked eye.
It was there nevertheless, and another victim could recognize it on others.
Laken also didn’t talk about the shit that happened to him—or not to Jupiter.
He got it. They may all be part of the Starling family in every sense of the word, but there was still a part that remained trapped away from the goodness that was Popi and Dad.
The heaviness of his thoughts was something that had increased since his return to Hazardville, along with the nightmares. There were many wonderful memories here, but they came draped in barbed wire, ready to tear at the pretty, shiny life and reveal what lay beneath.
He quickened his pace, knowing that no one could outrun the ghosts of the past, though it didn’t stop him trying. He came to a standstill in front of Laken who remained clutching the bottle to him, despite it being empty. Had he drunk the entire thing?
Jupiter shook his head, his bangs flopping over his forehead so he had to push them back to get a better look. The stench said he should be grateful it wasn’t him going to wake with the hangover from hell. One Laken would surely suffer in the morning.
His usually immaculately dressed and groomed brother, now he looked closely, looked nothing like himself.
His dark-gray hair was dishevelled as if he’d run his hands through it and then tugged it, so it stood up in all directions.
The groomed beard had droplets of liquid in it that glinted like glass shards in the fire light.
Gone was the suit, and he wore jersey slouch pants and a creased T-shirt that looked like he’d slept in it.
He smelled like he’d slept in the bottom of a liquor bottle.
Jupiter was tempted to go back to his room and grab his cell phone to snap a picture.
“What you starin’ at,” Laken slurred, bringing the empty bottle back to his lips only to look confused when he chugged on nothing but air.
“At your pitiful, drunk ass,” he replied, keeping his voice down, aware it wouldn’t take much to have Dad or Popi coming to see what was going on. He was surprised they hadn’t already noticed Laken drinking himself into a stupor.
“I’s not drunk,” he slurred badly, “and I’ll ‘ave you know my ass is magnificent.” He rocked forward, more swaying in the seat and rumbled, “There’s pictures to prove it. You’ll find out soon enough,” he said morosely.
“Will we now?” Jupiter replied sardonically, which was completely wasted on the drunk idiot, but he felt uneasy. There was something amiss besides Laken’s feelings for Isley.
The empty bottle swung out towards him as a frown marred Laken’s handsome features. “Now what?”
Jupiter’s laughter rumbled out at his brother's antics. “You’re drunk. Come on, let's get you to bed.”
“I’m not done,” Laken said, waving him off with a pout. It brought back Jupiter’s urge to grab his phone to snap a picture to prove Laken wasn’t as put together as he always presented to everyone. He was a fucking hot mess right now for sure.
He looked directly at Jupiter with unfocused eyes and cut him off at the knees. “Why is love so hard? Why does the past ruin everything?”
The slurred questions wiped the smile off Jupiter’s face at Laken’s anguish. He came closer and crouched in front of his brother, resting his unsteady hands on his knees.
How the fuck am I supposed to answer?
He blew out a breath and went with his gut. “Are you in love with Isley? Is that why you’re here killing your liver? Worried he won’t like where you came from?” His voice held none of the censure he would normally attach to such questions.
Laken slumped further into the sofa and hugged the bottle into his chest as if it would protect him from whatever was going on in his head.
Jupiter could see the warring emotions as he waited for Laken to respond. The clock over the fire ticked away, the only noise in the room.
“I don’t wanna love him,” he groaned, his eyes misting with tears. “He deserves someone not dirty. If he knew, he’d not want me. And he will. Nothin’ stays hidden.” His head nodded, agreeing with his own pain filled words.
The solemnity of the situation held Jupiter where he was, staring at the abject misery Laken couldn’t hide with his defences down. Jupiter went down onto his knees between Laken’s thighs and took the bottle from him.
“Gimme that back,” Laken slurred. “It’s all I got.”
“It’s empty and you’ve had enough,” Jupiter argued back, placing the bottle on the floor before grabbing hold of his brother's shoulders and hauling him into a hard hug. “It’s not all you’ve got, and if you tell anyone I hugged you I’ll call you a liar,” he muttered crossly.
Laken said nothing, burying his head in Jupiter’s shoulder, breathing deeply.
He draped his heavy arms around him, crushing them together.
Jupiter didn’t complain at the overwhelming scent of liquor or how his ribs ached at the pressure.
He stayed as he was, giving Laken what he needed—a shoulder to cry on.
“I love Isley,” he whispered tearfully into Jupiter’s throat.
“I know,” he responded softly. “You are worthy of him, Laken. You just need to trust and take a chance on him. He seems like a great guy—”
Laken lurched back at Jupiter’s heartfelt words, but didn’t seem to understand he needed to let go as he rasped dangerously, “He’s mine.”
Jupiter shook his head at his brother's drunken stupidity. “Give the fuck over, isn’t that what we’re talking about.
Though why when you’re seven sheets to the wind, is beyond me,” he said in exasperation when Laken looked ready to chew him a new asshole.
Seeing the moment was over, Jupiter hauled Laken with him. “Come on, asshole.”
They both staggered as they stood. Jupiter gritted his teeth because Laken placed all his two hundred and thirty pounds of muscle on him.
“Fucksake, I can’t carry you, heavy ass. You’re gonna have to help me, dipshit,” he huffed breathlessly as he worked to keep them both standing and heading towards the doorway, sweat gathering in the center of his back from the effort. This was why he hated workouts.
His gaze landed on Dad a second later when he stepped into the room dressed much the same as Jupiter in sleep pants and a soft cotton top, though his were black. No signs of sleep in his eyes, he wordlessly came to hook an arm around Laken’s waist from the other side.
“What?” Jupiter muttered, embarrassed at being caught like this.
“You pair having fun?” Dad chuckled, eyes dancing with amusement and something else that made Jupiter’s pulse leap.
Had he heard the conversation?
“One of us is,” Jupiter quipped back, needing to deflect, “and it sure as shit isn’t me.”
“You’re a soft-hearted soul,” Dad murmured as they practically carried Laken towards the stairs.
Jupiter grunted but didn’t bother responding as they mounted the stairs, his T-shirt now stuck to his sweaty back. He’d make Laken pay for this shit.
Laken’s head lolled from side to side as they moved, suggesting he was out cold.
They got him into his bedroom and sprawled over the mattress after Dad had dragged the comforter down in what felt like an epic battle.
Laken didn’t stir as they stared down at him, both a little breathless—okay Jupiter was panting like a racehorse—to then be met with light snores. Fucker owed him big!
The only light in the room coming from the hallway, Jupiter contemplated the prone man. “We should leave him like this.”
“Have a heart,” Dad deadpanned, going to the end of the bed and removing Laken’s sneakers and socks.
Jupiter rolled his eyes and went to drag Laken’s T-shirt off and throw it on the floor, not being as gentle as he possibly could be, but he was tired and sweaty, two things he hated.
He yanked at the waistband of Laken’s jersey pants, pushing them down to his ankles, uncaring if he’d caught his dick and tugged it to an awkward angle that got no response from the unconscious man.
“There, happy now?”
Dad pulled the pants over Laken’s feet, then tucked the comforter around him. “Yes, now go grab him a glass of water and leave it on the bedside cabinet.”
“No good deed goes unpunished,” Jupiter grumbled, going to the bathroom in Laken’s room and finding a glass to fill.
He returned and placed it down, seeing Dad hadn’t moved. “Happy now?” he questioned, cracking a yawn.
Dad walked to him and before he could realize his intention, muscular arms wrapped around him in a fierce hug.
The familiarity of it left Jupiter swallowing hard and he allowed himself to hold on with no prying eyes, burying his face into Dad’s neck and inhaling the clean scent of his body wash.
It settled the nerves dancing around inside him like it always did.
Made him feel safe. Protected from the monsters.
“You’re a beautiful boy inside and out,” Dad whispered against his temple. “And I can see you’re worried about Laken. We are too.”
“Somethin’s up. He was talking about shit being revealed.” He eased back to meet Dad’s stare. “Do you know what he’s talking ‘bout?” He witnessed the flicker of unease before it was gone.
“Maybe…” Dad kissed his brow. “You need to take your own advice, too.”
Jupiter groaned in protest, too tired to have this discussion and seeing whatever Dad knew of Laken’s problems, he wasn’t going to share.
“You heard that, did you?” He’d take one for Laken because that’s what brothers did.
Dad guided them out of Laken’s room and closed the door, and Jupiter got a good look at Dad’s expression.
“Yes, it was solid advice.” He gently cupped Jupiter’s cheek in a move that still surprised at the gentleness that came from this fierce warrior who’d saved him.
“Just give it some thought,” Dad said softly before walking back to his own bedroom and slipping inside.
He did and often, and the answer was always the same. His body held all his secrets, and he wasn’t sharing those with anyone. Love could go fuck itself.