Free Loving Siblings: Aidan & Dionne by Catharina Shields Page A

thought about Dionne’s
stupid boyfriend, he felt his insides twist and his jealousy burn
white hot. Like always.
    He never liked that limp dick. Even
though he was damned well aware that his not liking Dionne’s
idiotic boyfriend had everything to do with him being the guy in
her life, he wouldn’t have liked the dickhead anyway.
Hel mutt had the charisma of a
wet rag, and Dionne deserved better. MUCH better.
    “ Yeah,” he muttered, thinking about
this behind the wheel as he waited for the light. “She deserved
better. She deserves a guy who’ll treat her right, and who’ll never
hurt her.”
    Then he winced.
    He immediately recalled a time when he knew
he’d hurt his older sister himself, and in ways that still tore at
his insides even though it happened months ago. He never meant to.
It was something that both embarrassed him as he’d never been
embarrassed before, and something that made him feel like the
biggest asshole in the universe.
    The incident happened one afternoon when,
unbeknownst to him, two of Dionne’s classes had been canceled for
that day. He knew she was vying for an internship with Santa
Teresita Hospital in Eagle Rock, and that she had an appointment
with the school counselor that afternoon to make plans to increase
her chances to be accepted, so he thought she’d be gone for at
least a couple of hours. But, unfortunately for him, she’d returned
earlier than he expected.
    Since Dionne began college, she’d moved out
of her old bedroom, which was closest to his basement room, and
into the attic. It was as far as you could get in that house, too!
Dad had built her own private place up there, against Aidan’s offer
to share the huge basement with her.
    Dad didn’t think Dionne would like a
basement bedroom.
    He said his oldest daughter had to have her
privacy where she could see the stars by night, sitting in her bay
window seat, and study without the ruckus of a busy van Nuys brood
constantly vying for her attention.
    So Dad divided the attic, building a room
with a private bathroom and with real walls, complete with the
raddest wall-paper around.
    It had a solid door—with an equally solid
lock he, much to his annoyance, soon discovered—and the bay window
and seat he said she always dreamed about. It also had a full bath
that boasted a full length bath tub.
    It was Dionne’s very own studio apartment in
her childhood home! Rent free, too. She couldn’t get it any better
out there.
    Dad simply didn’t want Dionne to get an
apartment closer to Pasadena where she attended Pasadena City
College, so he made sure her attic room was too irresistible to
refuse. He even went out and bought her a queen-sized brass
bed—something she also always wanted—and an oh-so feathery soft
mattress—the place where he’d ultimately suffer the most
embarrassing event of his young life.
    He helped Dad build the room. He was good at
drawing up plans and building shit. That’s why he decided to become
an architect.
    His offer to help build Dionne’s room was
also out of wanting to be a part of something that was Dionne’s and
Dionne’s alone. So, it wasn’t all out of the nonexistent generosity
of his rather selfish soul. Having a hand in building that attic
room gave him a sense that it was a little bit his, too.
    He was sure Dad had an ulterior motive as
well. He believed Dad really did all of this for Mom since she and
Dionne were very close and Mom was a little depressed at the
thought of Dionne moving out and getting an apartment closer to
campus.
    But whatever Dad’s true motive, the result
was the same: Dionne remained living at home, and Mom was as happy
as could be. And when Mom was happy, Dad was, too. But no one could
be happier about that than he.
    The kind of relationship Mom and Dad shared
was the kind of relationship he wanted for himself, and Dionne had
always fit the bill. He wanted a relationship as tight and close as
their parents’ . . . once she finally gave in, that