Free Bewitched by Bella's Brother by Amy Lane

pushed the couch under the ceiling
    fan so Sebastian could climb up it….”
    “And then you crouched behind it like the cowards that
    you are!”
    Bella flashed him a wounded look. “ We didn’t have the poo-poo poncho, remember!”
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    “Likely story. Anyway, so I’m wearing the poo-poo
    poncho, with the hood up , and I climb up on the couch, and when the monkey comes around on his next swing, I catch
    him in the other poncho and bind it up like a sack, so there I am, a bag full of monkey, and here comes our apartment
    manager, wondering what the all the ruckus was about…”
    “And we’re not supposed to have animals in the
    apartment at all ,” Bella explained.
    “Not at all, and our manager was the biggest….”
    Sebastian rolled his eyes here, because the word he usually used was “tool” or something less polite.
    “Meanie,” Bella supplied, and Sebastian nodded his
    head.
    “Meanie,” Sebastian agreed. “He was a real meanie.
    Anyway, so here he comes, and I’m holding this bag full of monkey, and there is monkey poop literally falling off the walls all around us, and the manager demands to know
    what in the heck we’re doing, right?”
    “Oh, wait—let me tell this part!” Bella’s blue eyes were sparkling, and Sebastian couldn’t help but look at her with all of his affection. “So Sebastian’s holding this bag of monkey, and the apartment’s raining poop, and he says, ‘We keep telling you that, uhm, crap is falling apart around here, and now it’s coming from the ceiling!’”
    Asa boomed laughter then, and Jordan giggled, and Asa
    leaned over and hugged his son around the shoulders. “So, Jordan, what do you think? Should we go get a monkey of
    our very own?”
    Jordan shook his head vigorously. “No… no, Dad—I
    don’t want any monkey poop in my room!”
    “Good,” Asa grinned, and his ocean-blue eyes fluttered
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    closed and he kissed his son’s temple. “Good. Here—you go wash your hands, and I’ll go in and make us some dinner, and—”
    “And Sebastian will help you while Bella sets the table,”
    Bella interjected. This time it was Asa who rolled his eyes at her while she stuck out her tongue, and this time, both Asa and Sebastian laughed as they all went into the house.
    Asa stopped him at the door, and they let Bella chase
    Jordan up the stairs, squealing with laughter as she
    threatened him with phantom monkey poop.
    “Thank you,” he said softly, and Sebastian stopped
    short and almost ran into him, since he’d been bringing up the rear.
    Sebastian shrugged. “It’s an old story.”
    “No—thank you. You made… you made what could have
    been a really horrible day… well, less horrible. Maybe when Jordan remembers this day later, he’ll remember you and
    Bella, and not….” He didn’t need to finish that sentence.
    “Anyway—thank you. You guys… you’re great. You’re family.
    You have really brought Bella out of her shell, I think, and…
    well. I’m grateful. Thank you.”
    Sebastian shook his head and rolled his eyes. “Don’t
    thank me—just don’t let me cook. I burn water. But that’s another….”
    “Story,” Asa finished for him, and this time, when they
    met eyes, the look caught and held for a minute, and as they walked into the house, Sebastian’s stomach held more
    butterflies than hope.
    “Hey, Sebastian,” Asa said thoughtfully as they entered
    the kitchen and he started rooting around the refrigerator.
    “What in the hell was Sammy’s boyfriend doing with a
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    monkey?”
    Sebastian laughed. “Well, see, the thing is, Sammy’s
    boyfriend is a biology major, and Mr. Pickles was supposed to be an experiment, but Chad read the experiment
    wrong….”
    And by the time Asa had produced omelets and
    Sebastian had produced, well, a couple of pieces of toast with butter, the story of