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9. Joe

Halfway up the stairs to her apartment, I couldn't wait any longer. Her ass moving up the stairs in front of me was just too much. I pulled her back towards me, pinning her against the handrail and kissing her hard. She responded immediately, but pushed me away after a few minutes with a grin.

"Hey, save it," she giggled, pulling me behind her again, but quickening her pace.

The smile on her lips faded as we neared the door and heard screams coming from inside. She looked worriedly at me as she dug in her bag for her keys, fumbling to get them into the lock and flinging the door open. I stopped her as she moved to run inside, pushing her behind me. Another scream from behind one of the doors had me hurrying towards it.

"Angie?" she furrowed her brow at me, clearly worried.

"Stay there," I commanded her.

I hurried to the door, took a deep breath and launched it open.

"Ah, my eyes," I screeched as I just as hurriedly pulled it closed again.

Muffled laughter could be heard now, replacing what I now knew where sex noises. I shuddered at the thought.

"What the hell?" Megan asked me in total bewilderment.

"Angie. And Pete. Naked," I stumbled out. "Man, that is something I did not need to see," I pouted at her. I suddenly didn't feel quite so horny. I had a mental picture of Pete having sex etched on my mind's eye.

Megan screwed up her nose at me. "Ugh. I guess they hit it off at the party then?"

I simply laughed in response. From behind us I could hear groaning starting up again.

"Jeez," Megan laughed "I guess they've only ruined our mood then, huh? Want some coffee. In the living room. With the door closed?"

I nodded "Uh, yeah I think that's a good idea."

She motioned me to go on in while she made coffee. When I entered the living room, it looked like a different place from last time I'd been here. All the breakables had been replaced, photographs hung on the walls and sat on every surface . I moved slowly around the room, grinning at the pictures of Megan when she was younger. I stopped and picked one up. Megan graduating high school, with a very handsome guy grinning at her side. Beside it sat another picture of the same guy, wearing a Harvard sweater, his arm slung around Megan's shoulders.

"My brother, Billy," she said from behind my shoulder. I jumped. I hadn't heard her come in.

"Jeez, you nearly gave me a heart attack," I sighed as I replaced the photograph. "Sorry, didn't mean to pry. I thought maybe he was an old boyfriend you were holding a candle for," I shrugged in apology, laughing to lighten my words. "You never mentioned you had a brother."

She sat down on the couch. "You didn't ask," she replied shortly.

Oh, raw nerve, clearly.

"O-Kay," I was more than a little confused. "So I'm asking now. Is he at Harvard?" I moved to sit beside her, keeping my distance a little.

She sighed. "Sorry, didn't mean to be so prickly." She scooted nearer to me.

"He was. At Harvard I mean. Harvard law school," I detected a hint of bitterness in her tone.

"Ooh, do I detect some sibling rivalry, there?" I attempted a joke. It fell totally flat when she whipped her head around and narrowed her eyes at me.

"No," she replied flatly, shaking her head.

"Look, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you. We don't have to talk about this," I rubbed her arm comfortingly.

A sad smile crossed her lips. "No, I'm sorry. It's just a bit raw, still," she took a deep breath, obviously gearing up to tell me something.

"Billy killed himself," she finally blurted out. "Two years ago."

I saw tears spring to her eyes, and I pulled her to me, cuddling her into my chest.

"Oh, God I'm so sorry," I stroked her hair as she snuggled into me.

She looked up at me, a few stray tears dampening her cheeks. "My family is fucked up. My father is an asshole. My mother is a manic depressive. But we all have little family quirks, right?" the bitterness was back in her voice.

I wiped the wetness from her cheeks and a tiny smile replaced the frown. I couldn't resist kissing the tip of her nose. "Yeah, we do," I agreed.

"Just that mine are a little more sinister than most," she bit her lip, fighting back the threatening deluge of tears.

"That why you left Boston?" I asked cautiously, squeezing her in support.

She nodded. "Among other things. Harvard Law didn't appeal when I would only be poor Billy McCormack's sister. Or worse, William McCormack's daughter," she rolled her eyes.

"You turned down Harvard?" I asked incredulously.

"If I went there everyone would assume it was because of who I was, not because I deserved to be there. At least here, I'm just Megan. Much to my father's disgust," she laughed without humour.

"Well, just Megan is pretty special to me," I whispered, kissing the top of her head.

Her smile this time was genuine, and she twisted her head, placing a slow gentle kiss on my lips.

"You wanna tell me about it?" I asked cautiously when she broke away from me.

She sighed heavily again. "My father is a controlling, manipulative asshole. My brother was mentally ill. One of the only things he inherited from my mother. He couldn't take the pressure from my father, the constant stress of living up to him. My mother tried to make him get help, but he couldn't see a way out. So he ended it."

Her tears were flowing freely now. I was silent as I rubbed up and down her arm, urging her to let it out.

"My father doesn't believe in depression. He thinks it's a sign of weakness. Billy was so desperate for his approval that he wouldn't admit to himself that he was ill. It was such a waste. He was so brilliant," she choked out the last words.

"That must have been so tough on all of you," I whispered, choked for her. I couldn't imagine losing my brother.

She nodded. "My mother has never got over it. And my father...," she paused, contemplating. "My father is just so terminally disappointed. For himself. Disappointed that he lost his brilliant son. Disappointed that he got left with his not so brilliant daughter. Disappointed that he had to resort to emotional blackmail to get me to go to law school."

"You didn't want to be a lawyer?" I pulled back to get a look at her face.

"No, Joey. I wanted to be a dancer. Not a pole dancer," she managed a light quip "a real dancer."

"Hey, there's still time," I joked back.

"Yeah, whatever. I'm 25, Joe. A dancer's career is over before they're 30," she made a face. "And my father would probably have me killed if I went back to my 'stupid dreams' as he calls them. So my career would be over at the grand old age of 26!"

"I take it then that he doesn't know about the pole dancing."

The eruption of laughter beside me confirmed it. Fresh tears streaked her cheeks, but they weren't sorrowful this time.

"I make a point of doing anything he wouldn't approve of. And not telling him. I am so bad at rebelling," she shook her head, smiling now.

I smiled back at her. "So am I something he wouldn't approve of," I wiggled my eyebrows at her, making her laugh again.

"Sure you are. That's why I'm doing you," she answered sarcastically.

"Well, at least now I know I'm just a play thing," I grabbed her back against me, tickling her.

"No, Joe, don't," she shrieked, trying to get free from me.

"Hey, hey, get a room people," Angie crowed, pushing into the room, dragging Pete behind her. They were both fully dressed. Finally.

"Uh, pot, kettle," I grinned at her.

"Well in case you hadn't noticed, we had a room. Some people should learn to knock," Pete stated pointedly looking at me.

I flushed. "Fuck man. We thought she was getting murdered in there. I was coming to protect her." I swelled my chest, superhero style.

"Aw, my hero," Angie grabbed my cheek and spoke in a baby voice.

"Hey man we gotta motor if we're gonna make band practice," Pete looked at his watch and whistled low. "We're late already. Patrick is going to freak."

I threw Megan an apologetic glance. "You going to be ok?"

She nodded. "Thanks for listening, Joe. Sorry for ruining your afternoon," she dipped her head, not meeting my eyes.

I placed a finger under her chin, pulling it up, making her look at me. "You didn't," I kissed the tip of her nose again.

She pulled me into a kiss. A very promising kiss. "Come over later?" she whispered.

A huge smile cracked my face. "You bet."