Now I've heard there was a secret chord

 

"It's been ages, you know," Justin's half-brother said over the phone. "How's it going, mate?"

Just what Justin needed a reminder of his past.  Yes, they grew up more or less near each other. But he'd lived with Dad and Mum while Jared stayed with Gram.

He wouldn't dare ask him what he might want. True, Jared was the friendly sort.

"Oh,  you know, it's going." Justin felt he walked his legs off these days with the job at the hospital, wheeling folks around from one test to another at the hospital.

"You gotta a bird, do you?"

Justin winced. Mum, must have told him. Really, Justin hated the thought that Vada was in a cage of some kind. Perhaps she wasn't a cut above as he'd imagined. She didn't really have her Daddy's money. It was all beginning to be impossible. But she was good in bed, or maybe it was just him because she did like his touch. 

"It's a relationship, you know." Justin did his best to breathe easy about it. It was last year when they hooked up and she hadn't left him. Something about her sorority house just wasn't what it used to be. And they'd done well on toast and tea after a night together. It was like they couldn't get enough of each other. But there was that job at the hospital that hardly paid the rent. Justin just wasn't good at saving money. Evidently. And neither was Vada. Even if they were slumming lately.

"Is it?" Jared sounded delighted to know. Naturally, he rattled on about his long-term commitment to Jenny. It had been going for the last seven years or so.

"You haven't gotten an itch yet, aye?" Justin gave him a hardy laugh. Jared worked at the docks. He'd been true to Gram since a wee boy. And he'd known Jenny forever. 

"No, afraid not." The chuckle in Jared's voice irritated Justin. "We're married now." They'd said their vows in the backyard before Gram got shipped off to the old folk's home. It seemed Jared had taken over the household now. "We're expecting a little one this May."

Justin cringed. He wanted to hate him, but somehow knew it would be wrong. Jared was family even if he insisted they were just mates.