Free Obsession (Southern Comfort) by Lisa Clark O'Neill

“Let’s go.”
     
     
    “ OKAY .  Spill it.”
    Justin plopped down at the kitchen table across from his brother, who’d just wrapped his hands around a mug of fresh coffee.  There were purplish circles beneath James’ eyes.  The kid did not look well.
    “I dropped out of law school.”
    “Yeah, I got that part.  Why?”
    James studied him over the rim of his mug. “Because I wanted to. Aside from the fact that there’s an attorney under every rock these days, I’ve known for a while that my heart wasn’t in it.  But after you’ve invested that much time and that much money, you kind of feel stuck. Then I got to thinking, if I feel stuck now, what the hell will it be like in ten years? Twenty?  So I got myself unstuck. And I don’t regret it.”
    The last words were a little defiant, and Justin realized that James was waiting for Justin to treat him as he always had – with the vague sense of superiority typical of elder siblings.  Justin leaned back, studied his brother’s face – so very similar to his own.  And realized that the kid was no longer a kid. He was almost twenty-five. And old enough to make his own decisions.
    “Okay.”
    “Okay? “ James sat the mug down. “That’s it? No lecture? No you’re screwing up your life?”
    “It’s your life,” Justin said.  “I figure if you screw it up, that’s your business.”
    James’ shoulders slumped in obvious relief.  “Thank you.”
    “I’m your brother, not your keeper.”
    “Somehow, I don’t think Mom and Dad are going to feel quite so blasé.”
    “Maybe not,” Justin agreed.  “But like I said, it’s your life.  And ultimately, they just want you to be happy.”
    “So, uh, how would you feel about a roommate?”
    “What?”
    “Only temporarily,” James clarified hastily, even as Justin started picturing piles of dirty socks springing up on his floors like a malodorous mountain range.  Images from his noisy, brother-filled childhood flashed like horror movie freeze frames before his tired eyes. “Just until I figure out what I want to do.  My lease for my apartment was up at the end of last month,” he explained.  “I didn’t renew it. I’ve been crashing with a friend the past couple nights.”
    Justin stared.
    “I can help you out around here,” James added, obviously having mapped out his plan of attack.  “There’s still a ton left to do on this place, and you never have the time.   You said yourself that I do good work.”
    Justin closed his eyes , knowing that his solitude – his glorious, sanity-preserving solitude – was a thing of the past.  At least temporarily.
    “I assume your stuff is in your SUV?”
    “Most of it.” James looked hopeful.  “I put some of the bigger things in a storage unit.  And I booked a room at a hotel down the beach.  In case you said I couldn’t stay.”  
    “Who are you kidding?”
    “No one,” James admitted with a grin.  “I’m your favorite baby brother.”
    “You’re my only baby brother.”
    “Exactly.”
    Shaking his head, Justin pushed back from the table.  “Let’s go unload your truck and then you can cancel your reservation.” 
    The phone on the wall behind him rang, and Justin frowned at it before crossing the floor.  The only calls he got on his land line were generally from telemarketers. 
    “Hello?”
    Silence greeted him on the other end.  Thinking the call had dropped, he was just about to hang up when he heard breathing. 
    “Hello?”
    Still nothing.  He didn’t have time for this.
    “What are you wearing?”
    The voice was breathy, soft, feminine. And probably belonged to a thirteen-year-old accepting a dare from the other slumber party denizens.  He hung up without responding.
    “Who was that?” James was shrugging back into his parka.
    “Prank call.”
    “They want to know if your refrigerator was running?”
    “Something like that.” Justin followed his favorite baby brother out the back