Page 100 of 6 Clues Your Nemesis Loves You

chapter thirty-seven

“Just jump already,” I call from the ground. “If you fall, I swear I’ll catch you.”

Maggie is thirty feet above me, clutching the rope attached to her harness in a death grip. “No, you won’t. I saw you drop E.”

“Of course I dropped E, but I didn’t let him hit the ground. I just made sure his life flashed before his eyes.”

Bastard deserved it. It’s been four months since we learned about our half brothers, and E loves riling me around them.

The second Callahan showed up with them today, E said, “Not sure if you remember your hipster brother, Lennon. He’s famous for kissing Farrah Khatri the day after he got his braces, and his braces locked with her braces, and the lunch duty teacher had to call 9-1-1.”

First, no one called 9-1-1, but E loves to exaggerate my humiliation.

Second, the locking only lasted, like, five seconds, but Lana Young was there and broken telephone happened, so by the time the rest of the school heard, Farrah and I were locked together for hours and the cops needed to use the Jaws of Life to separate our faces.

“I won’t let you fall,” I shout to Maggie. “What good would I be without you in my life?”

She eyes the row of planks ahead of her. This is one of the harder ropes courses, with a row of six wood planks, each hanging by a set of ropes and spaced apart. She’ll have to jump from one plank to the next and find her balance each time, before moving on to the next challenge.

As expected, Maggie’s glaring at me like I’ve strapped her to a bomb. “I can’t believe you’re making me do this. And of course you’d be useless without me in your life.”

Truer words were never spoken. “Exactly. I’ve got you.”

“No, he doesn’t,” E pipes in, still pissed I half dropped him.

“I don’t think he’s strong enough.” This from a smirking Desmond.

“His upper body is kind of scrawny.” Jake snickers at his own moronic joke.

“He’s lean but strong,” Cal says. My new favorite brother. “Hipster strong,” he adds.

Nope. They all suck.

“He won’t drop you,” Max shouts, earning his award of Best Nephew Ever. “It looks scarier than it is. Don’t think so long about it.”

“You can do it,” Brayden adds, cupping his hands around his mouth.

“Yeah!” Luke chimes in with a little jump, his high-pitched voice not yet plagued by puberty.

I’m not sure how Brayden and Luke turned out so well. Not only are my new brothers fun and nice, they seem happy. Brayden has brown hair like the rest of us, but his face is longer and he has blue eyes. Luke has blond hair, those same baby blues, and bigger ears his brother teases. They don’t look much like my brothers and me, but there’s familiarity in their wide-set mouths. Bower DNA scrambling to the surface.

Callahan volunteered to be our intermediary where they’re concerned. He doesn’t speak to Dad, but he used Sandra’s intel to communicate with their mother. He arranged our first introduction in Houston, where they live, and this trip to Windfall. It’s only our second time with them, and I doubt we’ll see them often, but having them here for this inaugural testing of our ropes course feels right. Even better, they’ve learned they have five brothers to count on, no matter what curve balls life tosses their way.

“If you jump,” I tell Maggie, “you can have control over the remote for a month.”

It’s been a battle since she moved in to my place. She has a love for cheesy Netflix shows, but I’ll take TV torture if it comes with Maggie. Owning that property and sharing it with her is the definition of having the roots I’ve craved for so long.

She stares down at me. “Seriously? A month of TV control?”

“Seriously.”

“Okay, okay, okay,” she chants to herself, bending her knees in preparation. “I can do this. Netflix. Netflix. Netflix.” She stiffens, seems to rethink the jump, then she firms her jaw and launches herself forward, arms outstretched to catch the next set of ropes.

I tense my arms as she lands, making sure the rope hooked to her is taut. The plank sways. She slips and almost bites it, but she finds her footing and leans forward with a victory shout.

She beams down at me. “I get all the Netflix!”

I grin at the harness hiking up her shorts. “I can see your underwear.”