Seeing Red by Sidney Halston

She inched close to his chest as he tightened the grip
around her. When he felt the sobs start to subside, he pulled back
a little, arms-length, and looked her up and down,
questioningly.
    “What the hell happened?” he asked with anxious
concern.
    “Did you know your brother was leaving?” His jaws
locked. This hysterical sobbing was about Oliver? Oliver the
perfect. Oliver the sweet. Oliver the accomplished.
    “Yeah. So?”
    “What do you mean so? He’s leaving us.”
    “Relax, Red. He’ll be back.” He rolled his eyes and
let her go. He was about to walk away, not able to comprehend what
all the damn tears were about. Was she in love with Oliver? She was
like a sister to them. Okay, maybe not a sister so much. She
was free to fall in love with whomever she wanted. But with Oliver?
It angered him, and the fact that it angered him, surprised him. He
was about to walk away.
    “It's just that you just came back into my life
today of all days, and the one person that I could always count on
is leaving. And he’s leaving to go somewhere dangerous and foreign
and where there are no phones or Internet. Plus, I was a total
bitch to you, which I feel terrible about. And no one came to my
graduation because I have no one. And I didn’t pay attention to
what the professor said, and now I’ll probably fail his class,
and….” She made these great revelations all in one breath on the
verge of hysterics. “It's like those first months at boarding
school all over again. I have no one. All the people I love are
gone.”
    His heart ripped open. “Hey, I’m not leaving. I’m
here. I may not be as dreamy and wonderful as Oliver; although, I
have heard we look alike,” he winked, “and you're not alone. I love
you too, Jill—so all the people that love you are not gone. You've
always been a bitch, but I'm used to it—don’t feel terrible about
that,” he said as he tickled her ribs—he knew that was her ticklish
spot. He tried to lighten the mood. “We have class in about three
minutes. We should go. After this class, during lunch break, you
can go with me to the bookstore and show me which books I have to
buy, while I tell you everything that happened during Criminal Law,
while you were drooling over the teacher and doodling Mrs. Jillian
Black on your Trapper Keeper. After that, I promise to give you
your space so that you get your full law-school experience without
your bad-influence friend around tempting you. Okay Jilly?”
    “Okay,” she said with a smile and a whimper covering
up her last sob.
    “Come on, you little cry baby.” He held her hand all
the way to class. He couldn’t help noticing that she didn’t pull
away.
    During class, he realized what she had said, and she
was right: she was alone. They all were alone, but at least he had
a brother, which he often took for granted. He would give her
space—at least try to give her space. By doing so, maybe she would
be forced to make friends of her own and wouldn't feel so alone. He
wanted the best for her, and if that meant taking a step back and
allowing her to make friends, he’d do that. Hopefully, she wouldn’t
get hit on by every guy walking around campus. He had already
noticed all the guys ogling her. What was the appeal? She was a
pain in the ass, a curvy, redheaded, sexy, smart pain in the ass.
He sighed.
    A lot had changed since they were kids. She was
always taller than the twins growing up, but that changed as soon
as they hit puberty. Now, she wasn’t very tall, especially in
comparison to him, but she was sexy as hell. She still had some
freckles sprinkled around her cheeks, but they weren’t as prominent
as they were when they were kids. She had milky-white skin—the tan
from being out in the sun was long gone. He could see why all the
ogling—a perfect round ass, small waist and large breasts. Not huge
breasts, but not flat-chested like he remembered. She had
beautifully defined legs, perhaps her best feature. She looked
good. Boy,