Brothers by Elsa Pieterse (best romance books of all time TXT) 📕

Lily suppressed a giggle at the young man's surprised reaction. Justin quickly remembered his manners and invited her in. Lily saw that the small house was thankfully empty as she made herself comfortable on the couch. After declining a drink she quickly decided to get to her reason for the visit.

She briefly explained to Justin that she knew about Jake's abilities and that she had a hunch that he did too. She went on to tell him that she needed his help. 

Lily was impressed with the way Justin took all the information in his stride. He waited patiently for her to continue.

Lily closed her eyes and prayed for her plan to work. She quietly called Jake's name. Justin gave her a strange look which she ignored and repeated the name a bit louder. She was sure he was about to call the institute for her when Jake appeared next to her.

Justin gave a small gasp and took a step back as Jake appeared out of nowhere. 

Jake was visibly surprised to see Justin but casually apologized for the sudden appearance and with a pointed look at Lily explained that this was a first for him as well. 

Justin recovered quite quickly and told Jake to take a seat, adding under his breath, "if that's possible". Jake gave a laugh and made a show of sitting down on the couch. 

Lily was the first to speak up, explaining to Jake that she had met Justin at the engineering expo a few weeks ago. She went on to explain that Ryan had introduced them. 

She saw the surprise on his face but continued, saying she had seen the two friends connection and she hoped that Justin would be able to convince Jake to trust his brother.

Jake was reeling at the revelation of his brothers outing with Justin. He knew that Ryan had friends outside of him and Lily, but he didn't know that Justin and Ryan spent much time together, not to mention go to expo's together. Ryan had mentioned Justin a few times and he may have met him once, but that was all he knew about the young man.

Justin was in turn torn somewhere between surprise and horror. Surprise at actually meeting Jake for the first time in person, and horror because he knew everything about Jake. Ryan had confided every last detail about the man to him. He probably knew Jake better than Lily did, just because of the things Ryan had told him about him.

Lily saw the disbelief on both mens faces and she was stumped. She had assumed they knew each other rather well. She didn't expect the level of disbelief in the room. 

Justin was the first to recover and asked Lily if she could maybe get him a glass of water, telling her to look for the glasses in the one cupboard there was. 

She took the hint rather greatfully and excused herself quickly. 

Justin looked Jake in the eyes and told him honestly that he knew his brother very well. And that's why he knew Jake rather well too.

Jake in turn was shaking in disbelief. He was having trouble calming down and he knew that he was on the verge of a meltdown. Justin recognized the signs from the descriptions Ryan had given him many times before. He calmly took Jake's hand and looked him in the eye, waiting for him to make eye contact. He softly whispered that he was safe and that Ryan was only a call away. He just as softly asked him if he wanted him to call his brother. That shocked Jake out of his own thoughts enough to grab onto the question. He slowly made eye contact with Justin and shook his head no.

Jake gave Justin a greatful smile and told him he was fine now and that he didn't need his brother.

Jake went further and told him that he actually needed his help, not his brothers. Justin gave him a disbelieving look but gave the appropriate response by asking what he needed help with.

Jake quickly brought him up to date on the Mentalite treatment program and Dr Chambers daily visits. It did not take much convincing on Jake's part to get Justin to agree to help him.

They agreed on a time and place Justin would meet Dr Chambers and tell him that Jake was aboard with the treatment plan.

Justin did however have one condition on helping Jake, he made the young mentalite promise not to tell his brother about his involvement. And Jake in turn was eager to agree to any and all conditions, especially if it meant he could find out more about his brother's secret life. 

September 2019

Jake laughed heartily as Justin described in great detail how his brother had spilled his poster paint all over himself, and unfortunately the cute girl he had his eye on at that time. 

They were fourteen years old and Ryan had issued a challenge to their whole class.

Jake wasn't really surprised to find out that Ryan was the heart of the class. Justin had told him that when Ryan made a suggestion their peers usually agreed and this challenge had special meaning to him. 

Ryan had challenged his fellow students to go a week, with the use of only one hand. He had discussed the challenge with their teachers and they had agreed to the little experiment. 

Justin gave a small laugh as he thought back to Amy's face when Ryan spilled the neon pink paint all over her perfectly pressed school uniform. 

Justin and Jake had grudgingly become good friends, they found that they actually shared quite a few interests, not to mention they both cared deeply for Ryan. 

Jake was grateful that Justin had been a sounding board for his brother. He found out quickly that Ryan had shared everything with Justin, at first he was a bit shaken by that but he also quickly got to see that Justin was not only trustworthy but loyal as well. 

Jake could see why Ryan had picked Justin to confide in.

Justin in turn had been surprised by Jake. If he was honest, he had pictured the man quite differently. And looking back now he knew that it was his own assumptions that had misled him at first.

As he got to know Jake, almost as intimately as Ryan did, he could finally understand his best friend's devotion to his brother.

Justin was about to go into further detail about the aftermath of the paint incident when he heard a car pull up. As he was heading towards the door he heard Jake's choked exclamation of "it's Ryan". 

Justin turned to tell Jake to chill but he had disappeared. Justin just gave a small shrug as he opened the door before Ryan could knock, catching his friend off guard. Ryan stumbled into the small house and gave his friend a dirty look. 

"You know, you're quite stealthy for a cripple." Ryan said with a twinkle in his eyes. Justin just flipped him the bird with his right hand and told him to make himself at home. He knew that was exactly what his friend would do as Ryan popped open the footrest of the recliner and settled his feet halfway in the air. 

Justin gave him a soda and went to sit down on the couch. 

Ryan looked around and asked if he had interrupted something, he could swear he sensed a familiar presence but he couldn't put his finger on it. 

Justin just shrugged and said that his mom was in her room but his old man was out as usual. 

Ryan decided to temporarily ignore the weird feeling and pressed the footrest back into the recliner. "Might as well get this over with." He thought to himself. 

He quickly realized that it was not going to be that easy as he fumbled for words. 

Justin saw his friends whole demeanor change and knew instinctively that he was not going to like what came next. 

"Just spill whatever is eating at you and get it over with". Justin said quietly, not looking his friend in the eyes. 

Ryan swallowed and just as softly told his best friend that he was not going to study electronic engineering with him. He was going to study neuroscience. 

Before he had a chance to continue, he heard a glass break in the small kitchen next to the lounge they were in. Justin swore and quickly rushed to the kitchen, pushing Ryan back in his seat when he tried to go with. He told him to stay put and that he would handle whatever situation there may be, adding not so subtly, that he was used to doing things on his own anyway. 

Justin found Jake busy sweeping up the pieces of glass he had broken. Jake looked up at him with such sorrow that Justin had to take a step back. Jake was close to tears as he told him that this was all his fault. His brother was going to spend the rest of his life in a job he hated, looking after his handicapped brother. 

Justin put a hand on Jake's shoulder and told him that he would help him make sure that didn't happen. He tried to give him a reassuring smile as he asked him to please leave. He told him he needed some privacy with Ryan. Jake nodded sadly and thanked him for all his help as he disappeared. 

Justin took a deep breath and headed back to his best friend. He had so many thoughts going through his mind he missed the look Ryan gave him as he went to sit down. 

Ryan had been waiting impatiently for his friend to return. He was taken aback at the lost, faraway look on his best friends face. He did a double take when he saw his friends hands were trembling. He had known Justin for years now, and he had never seen his friend give in to his emotions. Ryan knew the trembling was either from fear or from anger, he just wasn't sure which one was currently winning. 

As he locked eyes with his friend however he knew the anger had won. Justin told him that he had nothing to say to him and to get out. He knew his friend well enough to know that although anger had won, the predominant emotion his friend felt deep down was betrayal. And Ryan had never wanted to be one, of many people in his best friends life, to betray him. 

Ryan knew it was a mistake the moment he reached for his friends retreating arm.  

Justin reacted out of years of living with an abusive alcoholic father as he twisted Ryan's hand into an unnatural angle and they both heard the sickening sound of bone breaking. 

Justin had paled and looked like he was about to pass out. Ryan gave him a slap with his right hand and hissed at his broken left hand as he fought a wave of nausea. He was trying desperately to get Justin to respond. 

He slapped his face again, a bit more forcefully this time. And quickly took a step back when he saw his friend snap back to reality. 

Justin saw the way Ryan took a step back and misinterpreted it as fear. He put his hands up to show Ryan he was not going to hit him. He then told him to grab his keys and that he was taking him to the emergency room to get his hand x-rayed. 

He went on to tell him in a tone of voice Ryan never wanted to hear from his friend again, that he was 99 percent sure it was broken. Ryan knew his friend was speaking from experience. He hated himself for the part he played in making his friend experience the other side of his nightmares. Where he was the monster, hurting the people he was supposed to care for and protect. 

Ryan also knew his friend well enough to know that he would not