End of Day (Jack & Jill #1) by Jewel E. Ann Read Free Book Online Page B

think it was an observation and not a question … that you are my brother.”
    He glanced up, one eye squinted. “It’s pretty messed up that we let anyone believe it in the first place.”
    She grinned. “Yes. But in our defense, we never told anyone we were married, and the truth is … we’re about as messed-up as they come.”
    “So he came over just to let you know he’s on to us?”
    “Not exactly. I think he was on a mission to solve a mystery.”
    Jackson pulled off his T-shirt exposing his freakishly fit, tattooed torso that always seemed to clinch the deal when he wanted to get laid. “What mystery is that?”
    “I think he wanted to see our downstairs wall to confirm we were the perpetrators that broke into his house. Apparently Betta fish don’t get along.”
    Jackson rested his hands on his hips and leaned forward. “ We ? You broke into his house, and why the hell didn’t you replace the fish with the same type he had before?”
    Jillian pinched her bottom lip between her thumb and forefinger. “I was tired, and hungover, and—”
    “Stupid?”
    “It was just a lapse in judgement. Sam Walton’s will do that to you.”
    He handed her a beer, a paint brush, and a side of disapproving brotherly eye rolling. They tapped their bottles, cranked up the music, and attacked the white walls. By midnight they were delightfully buzzed, covered in paint—some of which did make it onto the walls—and ready to dive into the next color when the doorbell rang.
    They shared blank stares, of course wondering if the doorbell did in fact ring or if their ears were as impaired as the rest of their bodies.
    “Who could that be? Don’t these people go to bed by eight?” Jillian snickered.
    Jackson lifted his shoulders then opened the door. “Hey, AJ. Is everything okay?”
    Jillian peeked around Jackson. With wide, glassy eyes she checked out AJ’s swollen lip and small knot on his forehead. Hers was concealed by hair.
    “No. Everything is not okay. It’s after midnight and you’ve had the music so fucking loud over here I can’t sleep!”
    Jackson’s lips puckered into an O as he grimaced. “Sorry about that. I think we’re ready to call it a night.” He turned. “Right, Sis ?”
    Jillian’s wry grin was meant for Jackson, but AJ’s eyes narrowed into slits of displeasure as if they were making him the butt of their joke—and maybe they were. But even in her foggy, relaxed state, she couldn’t stop thinking about the heat from his lips, the taste of his tongue, and how his hands sliding up her bare legs took her halfway to her bathtub orgasm.
    “Yes, we’re going to bed, but not together. We only do that on April 10, National Sibling Day. Oh and Twins Day, which is coming up sometime in August … I think. But it’s an unofficial day so we don’t always celebrate it.”
    Jackson snorted out a laugh. “She’s full of shit.”
    Jillian found her intoxicated eyes lingering on AJ’s bare feet and large defined calves. The right one had a serpent tattoo wrapped around it. She imagined tracing it with her tongue.
    “I’m aware of that. Just try to be more respectful of the noise level.” AJ cleared his throat.
    Jillian’s eyes flicked up to his, but his quickly cut to Jackson’s.
    “Will do. Good night, AJ.” Jackson shut the door before AJ even turned away.
    “Fuck, Jill! You have to stop that shit.”

Chapter Seven
    M ost brothers remember how bratty their little sisters were or how they were treated like a princess. Jackson’s sister hated being called “younger,” but that’s what she was, at least in his mind. Jillian was born seven minutes after Jackson, and rarely did a day go by that he didn’t remind her of it.
    When he thought of his sister, it was usually the ghost of her innocence. It was the young teenage girl that watched a video on slaughter houses and declared never to eat meat again. He remembered the shrill scream of her racing across a room to save a spider from