Prologue
After The Call
Joe wanted to pull the words from his ears. That was the problem with hearing something you didn't want to. Once the words entered your head they were permanent and in Joe's case, became inhabitants.
Freddie. Wasn't that the same Freddie he'd educated on the landscape of a car underneath it's bonnet? The same Freddie he'd leant his aftershave to for his first date? Now he'd become something else. He'd become the same Freddie who'd slept with Lindsey. His Lindsey.
He walked out of the garage with a set of keys in his pocket. A Honda Civic that had been dropped off not half an hour ago for a new set of spark plugs and a service sat on the double yellow lines just be the yard. He got in and turned the engine over and over. Eventually it gave a cough and started.
~*~
He packed Freddie's shit. It was only Freddie's stuff that he intended to pack because he was the one who had hurt Joe more. As much as he loved Lindsey, he knew they weren't a forever couple. She had been cold for weeks- well, at least I know why now- and the sad part was, he had stopped wondering why. He was happy to put it down to the babies, his hospital stay. He took it for granted that when he kissed her she would be as inanimate as a china doll. Her face would be as smooth and flawless, too. As cold.
Freddie's CDs, Freddie's photos, his jumpers and shower gel all went into one voluminous holdall. And when Joe felt as though he had thrown enough in there he took it to the stairs. Let it roll down. He didn't care where it landed.
"Joe?"
He stood on the landing and looked down.
"Joined at the hip. Explains a lot."
They looked so small. He felt so removed from them. They looked like a united front; side by side at the front door, Freddie's belongings at their feet.
"I had to say something, Joe. Sinead's...unbalanced. She wouldn't believe me."
"Liar."
"You know I'd never," Freddie said. His eyes were red.
"You can't cry your way out of this one, Fred. You know how much I love that woman."
Lindsey looked down as Freddie moved forward. He put his foot up one, just one step and looked up as though he were waiting for confirmation.
"Stay the fuck away from me. The pair of you."
He wanted to push them both out of the way. He wanted to destroy their togetherness by pushing them both to the ground as he left. Instead, Joe settled for watching them take a step apart to let him through.
~*~
But Freddie. He had to follow, did't he?
"Please, Joe. You've got to believe me. I'd never do that."
"You know what's shit, Fred? I should believe you." He stopped at the end of the driveway and looked back at his brother.
"I mean, it's Sinead. What else does she do? Lying's just second nature to her. And yet," he said, stopping, "I don't. Perhaps I've always known deep down."
"There's nothing to know." Freddie covered the ground between them with ease until he was only a few feet away.
"Why would I do that?"
"You tell me, Fred. Little Freddie. Butter wouldn't melt."
"I'm sorry-" Freddie said, moving closer. Joe's fist connected with his face before he could make his second step. Freddie fell backwards and Joe stepped over him.
"I mean it. Stay the fuck away from me. The less I see you, the less likely I am to really beat the shit out of you."
Joe left.
