A large hand closed itself around hers, tightening around her fingers and halting their rhythm.

“What’s up?”

“Nothing.”

“Why do you even bother? This is me. I know.”

“You think you know.”

“You and I both know what it means, so cut the crap. What’s wrong?”

“Oh shut your face.”

“I love you too. What’s wrong?”

Olivia’s face twisted into a weary grimace as she looked up at Rob. If he’d had a fairer complexion he could have been a male version of her. They had the same cheekbones, the same jaw line. He was darker haired and less pale but the only real difference was his nose, the one he kept threatening to have altered. It was the one major facial feature that was recognisable and Rob couldn’t stand seeing it in the mirror.

“This party just sucks and I wanna leave.”

“Okay. So you want to give me the actual reason while I walk you to your car?”

“Ahh!”

She snatched her purse from the table and started stomping off towards the door. Rob was utterly unfazed, too used to her snits to be at all bothered. Truth told he was equally prone to it himself. Neither of them could cope with crowds for too long and this little party of Timberlake’s was heaving with the rich and the beautiful. It was rare to make it all the way to the end of a big night out without one or both of them reaching the ‘off’ moment, that instant where they’d reached their individual limit and wanted to leave with all possible haste. The change in mood was immediate and palpable, grouchy and bratty, and the only thing for it was to go home at the first opportunity. There was no recovering the sociable spirit once the internal switch had flipped.

It often made him question his sister’s choice of career. As a finance guy it wasn’t much of a problem for him. Worst that could happen was he occasionally annoyed one of his buddies by cutting out early. How was she planning to deal with paparazzi or hordes of fans? Her roles were starting to get bigger and with that would come more attention. People would take far more notice if she had an anti-social turn.

Once they’d reached minimum safe distance from the party he started to pry again.

“This about him? I was surprised you even showed.”

“Don’t.”

“I’m your big brother. This is what I do.”

“For the last time three and a half minutes does not qualify you as my big brother.”

“You think I don’t see you deflecting, but I do. It really would be easier if you just told me.”

“Oh fine.”

She had been about to reach in her bag for her keys but instead she turned on her heel, leaning back against the side of her car. Her arms had to be tightly folded over her chest again because she knew he wouldn’t let it go if he saw more of the tic. Crossing her feet at the ankles, Olivia directed her stare to the crimson pedicure on her toes.

That had been the moment she knew she was going to come to this stupid party, when she found herself making far too many beauty preparations despite claiming she wouldn’t attend.

“I’m worried about him.”

“Liv, like I keep telling you. If he’s fool enough to stay with his wife then you can’t let that be your problem.”

“No, not because he’s staying. He’s actually doing it; he told me he’s filing papers on Thursday.”

Apparently he should have given the guy more credit. Rob had been fairly convinced it was never going to happen.

He’d certainly said as much to her when he’d found out a couple of months previously. Limiting himself to that instead of badgering her to break it off immediately had been impressively restrained, he thought. Normally he would have been actively trying to keep her away from any married man – and probably threatening the guy to stay away too. However he shared enough mutual friends with Justin (that was how he’d wound up with an invitation for tonight) to know a little something about him. Since Olivia was already in so deep by the time she’d admitted to the affair, a few quiet questions sufficed to reassure Rob that the guy wasn’t a player and it was unlikely she was being treated callously. He’d decided this was one of those things where he had to let her make her own mistake, contrary as it ran to his overprotective instincts. He interfered too much in her life as it was; sometimes he had to sit on his hands and stop himself.

Even so he’d been dubious about the prospects of it all panning out well for her. From what she’d said it sounded like Justin was too far under his wife’s thumb for that. Olivia had apparently agreed with him since not long afterwards she had delivered the ‘me or her’ ultimatum and ceased contact. Rob didn’t take credit for that, however, since he was fairly sure that he’d simply given voice to pre-existing doubts. His sister had a talent for picking unsuitable men but she wasn’t naïve.

“So this is good news, right? What you wanted? Then what’s the problem?”

“I’ve been kind of downplaying it so I didn’t scare him out of it, but I’m terrified of what she might do. I swear to God, Rob, all this while I’ve been listening to him talk about her it’s been like he was describing…”

Olivia bit her lip, shaking her head and gazing back into the distance at the clubhouse.

“Like he was describing Deborah. And you know how that bitch would have reacted to something like this.”

The hairs on his neck stood on end and his torso immediately tensed up. His fingers were curled into talons - that name always made it so. Olivia had briefly mentioned that Justin’s wife was a nasty piece of work, but he’d assumed it was the usual cheating husband’s excuse. If she’d said anything even approaching this before he’d have been much more worried himself. It was almost certain he’d have had to revise his ‘stay out of it’ policy. Anybody even half as bad as her was not someone to be trifled with.

Still, it wasn’t going to help his sister if he admitted any of that. She needed to be calmed down not wound up further. Possibly he should sugar coat things less to her than he did, but it was a long standing habit. The urge to shield her from the worst of the world was too entrenched.

“I do. But Justin is a wealthy, powerful guy. Maybe the bitch has made him forget that for a minute but once he’s out of there he has all manner of people who can shield him from it. Not everybody has that luxury.”

She was tapping again, but he couldn’t attempt to stop her. Seeing her frequently set him off, so he had enough work to do preventing himself following suit. All he could do was attempt to look breezy and like it would all be fine, no matter how sure he was that it wouldn’t be fine. If Vanessa was anything like Deborah, then any woman Justin dared step out with was going to be as big a target as he was. The cheating wouldn’t even have to be revealed; once it was known she was the latest Timberlake squeeze his twin would be in the crosshairs for that alone.

One, one two, one, one two. Damn it.

“Honestly, Livvy…” He rubbed her arms instead, trying to occupy his hands as well as comfort her. “It’ll be alright. He’s busting out of there and it’s because you helped him. That’s pretty huge.”

“I just… I know you thought I was an idiot to have got involved…”

“No.” He drawled it out slowly. In truth he might have, had he known what Vanessa was like before. Still that made it all the more remarkable that she’d succeeded in convincing him to get out.

“I only thought that setting yourself up for a married guy to dick you around might be too much to handle.”

“Not like I intended to fall in love with somebody just as freaking damaged as I am. Just kind of happened. I can’t bear the thought of what she might do and seeing him go through it. It’s like her all over again, I see what’s coming and I still can’t stop it.”

Rob reached out and drew her into a hug. Her head dropped into its customary spot on his shoulder and together they stood quietly for a moment.

“It’ll be alright. He’s getting divorced, all you have to do is give it some time to let the dust settle and then you might even be able to have a semi-normal relationship. You’ll have to let me know what that’s like.”

Wordlessly Olivia poked him in the ribs. They were both hypocrites – neither liked it when the other was self-critical but they were equally prone to putting themselves down. Their humour was bitingly self-deprecating, though he supposed they couldn’t be blamed all things considered.

“Hey… oh, sorry, didn’t mean to interrupt.”

Releasing Olivia, Rob turned around and eyed the interloper with mirth.  “Hi. Don’t think we’ve met before but I’m Rob, Olivia’s brother.”

The relief on his face was deeply amusing. All things considered, it was kind of funny that he was looking so worried at the sight of her with another guy. He was hardly one to talk.

“Justin. Nice to finally put a face to the name, the guys mention you a lot.” They shook hands.

“You too. Everything alright?”

“What? Oh, yeah.” Justin flushed, his cheeks blooming with embarrassment. If he hadn’t already known that Rob was aware of their situation the smirk on his face would have told him. It was awkward. “Saw you heading out in a hurry and just wanted to check you were okay?”

“I’m heading back in anyway so I’ll let you two say goodnight.” Rob kissed his sister’s forehead and then turned to shake Justin’s hand again. “We’ll have to get acquainted properly some time, but it was nice to meet you.”

“You too.”

One side of Olivia’s mouth curled upwards and she shook her head at her brother’s retreating back. “Sorry about him. He thinks he’s funny.”

“Eh, guess I’ll have to get used to it.” Justin tried to look like he was laughing it off and not like he was a fifteen year old boy faced with his date’s terrifying older brother.  As he’d approached they were only talking, but when he’d rounded the corner they were hugging and he didn’t quite know what he’d thought it was for a second there. It was pretty silly. “But yeah, are you okay?”

“Oh God yeah.” Olivia shook her head, the lie coming easily. “You know how I kind of reach my limit with these shindigs. Though as chivalrous as the concern for my welfare is, should you really have followed me?”

“She didn’t see me leave. Besides, I find myself giving fewer and fewer fucks what she sees with every passing minute. But you really are okay?”

She smiled. “Yes, really. Was just some twin stuff, I’m sworn to secrecy.”

Justin very much wanted to pick up where Rob had left off with the hug, but despite his previous comment he knew that was a risk too far. “Speaking of secrets… I told Chris. Everything, if you can believe it.”

“Wow.” Olivia immediately straightened up. That was huge. He had been so resolute about not telling anybody anything, convinced that they wouldn’t understand or that they’d think him pathetic. For him to have finally said something was significant. “That would make the better question are you okay?”

“Yeah. He was pretty fuckin’ awesome about it, actually.”

“That’s great.”

One thing Olivia had made sure to do when encouraging him to talk about it was to be honest about the reaction he’d get. She’d needed to prepare him. Some people would be great, some kind of useless and others actively terrible. He’d have to deal with the people who tried but didn’t really get it and those who couldn’t actually believe it was true and decided he had to be making it up. Still, she knew that she couldn’t truly arm him against the hurt. When you got that reaction from somebody you were counting on to understand it was a full body blow.

That was why she was so relieved on his behalf. It would have been a disaster for him emotionally had the first time he opened up gone badly.

“If you’re okay then I guess should probably get back, but uhh…” Justin paused briefly, not sure where he was going with that thought. “Man, I wish I could just kiss you goodnight like a normal relationship.”

It made her smile, thinking of what Rob had said. “Normal’s coming,” she replied as she finally unlocked her car door. “We only need to get through the next few days.”

“Can’t come quick enough. I…” Justin stubbed the toe of his sneaker into the gravel. “You’ve done so much and I haven’t exactly been able to treat you properly while we’ve been sneaking around like this. I’d really like to skip to normal already; you’re way past due to get something real from me.”

He seemed to have a natural talent for saying things to crush all her defences (and her common sense). Olivia took a quick glance towards the clubhouse before leaning forward to press her lips against his and squeeze his hand. It wasn’t smart and she only dared do it briefly.

“You saying that and being brave enough to do this are plenty real for me.”

That was why he needed her. Where Vanessa made him feel small she made him feel bigger, even if only for a few blessed moments before the self-doubt set back in.

“You should go.” She nudged him. “I’ll speak to you tomorrow.”

His response was to open her car door for her and help her inside, shutting it after her. He watched her buckle up and start the car before turning back towards the party he was thoroughly fed up with.

**

“I just can’t believe the bastard’s stupid enough to think I don’t know.”

Vanessa glared at her own reflection in her compact mirror before fluffing up her backcombed hair and reaching for her lipstick. After all the trouble she’d been to set up this party in his honour her errant husband hadn’t even had the courtesy to stick around for more than five consecutive minutes. He’d been running in and out all night and she wouldn’t be surprised if at least one trip had been to see the whore. Unfortunately she’d been so busy playing hostess and socialising with all the people that he was rudely neglecting she’d never been around to notice when he was creeping out. The only time she’d seen him leave the room it was with Chris, not some woman.

“Well he’s half right.” Lucinda smirked, digging into her own bag for her phone.

“It’s only a matter of time, I’ll find out who she is.”

“And then what are you going to do?”

“Let him know precisely what I think about that.”

It was aggravating to say the least. Vanessa was not slow on the uptake and it hadn’t taken her long to read the late arrivals home and the weak ‘boys’ night out’ excuses for what they were. She knew he was seeing somebody, she just didn’t know who and there was no point confronting him until she’d removed any cause he had for denial.

Her eye glanced down at the large marquise cut diamond on her left hand, and she scowled. Sometimes it felt more like she had a wayward child than a husband. No matter how much she attempted to fix things right he always managed to screw up somehow. It felt like she constantly had to forgive him for something. Well, he was going to have to earn it this time. Infidelity was not something she could easily let slide.

The one thing she did have to give him credit for was caution. Justin may not have been very good at duplicity but he certainly knew how to avoid any kind of electronic or paper trail. There hadn’t been anything in his texts or e-mails, and there was nothing in his credit card statements that didn’t have a plausible explanation. There were no charges to Tiffany or hotel rooms on nights he’d claimed to be at Trace’s. There were a few big restaurant bills but then he frequently picked up the tab for his friends anyway (another thing she hated, she didn’t see why those freeloaders should continually be bankrolled by the Timberlake fund).

Lucinda had asked if the lack of evidence meant she was simply jumping to conclusions. It wasn’t an unreasonable comment but Vanessa knew in her gut that there was another woman. Maybe it was intuition. Maybe it was some signal she was picking up on and hadn’t consciously identified yet. Still she knew. She simply did. All she lacked was the smoking gun that would prevent any attempt to lie himself out of it.

“What, you’ll divorce him?”

“Of course not.”

Why on Earth would she do that? She wouldn’t be pushed out of her marriage over some two bit slut; she liked her life and she wanted to keep it. She hadn’t made her vows lightly and she was in this for the long haul. Justin only needed reminding who he had waiting at home.

“But he’ll have some grovelling to do. I’m not letting him think for one second this is okay.”

Lucinda merely shrugged. Maybe other people’s friends would have been urging divorce, but then it was hardly uncommon in their circle for affairs to be brushed under the rug. A lot of people outside the situation didn’t understand how casual they could be about it, but she considered it merely realistic. To expect a rich and powerful man to remain faithful for a lifetime when he had women throwing themselves at him twenty four seven seemed a little over-optimistic to her. Even the most decent man was only human and going to be tempted. Her own husband had strayed once but she remained confident that she was the one he valued and would always stick with. When weighing it up she’d decided she valued their life together and could live with that, much as it stung - but monogamy was more important to some people than others. Vanessa clearly wasn’t prepared to make the same trade off.

“Honestly, sweetie, I wouldn’t worry.” She tapped out a quick text message to her driver asking him to be there in forty minutes. She was getting bored. “The guy’s always been crazy about you; it’s not worth getting worked up over a temporary itch. It’ll fizzle out and you guys will work out your issues.”

“Maybe you’re happy for James to be led off the path from time to time but I don’t share my husband.”

Vanessa angrily slammed the lid back onto her lipstick and pursed her lips. It was especially aggravating because she’d always known exactly what Justin was doing and when. She hated secrets. To have him doing something as huge as this behind her back and not be able to uncover the details was infuriating. In the absence of information her mind was running riot, and she knew that reality was unlikely to be nearly as bad as what she was imagining. It would be easier if she knew exactly what the score was.

Who the hell was it? It wasn’t any of his ex girlfriends, and she didn’t know any other women who were around enough to suspect. Certainly it couldn’t be anyone they saw as a couple because she knew he’d be incapable of hiding his discomfort. His acting ability only seemed to kick in when he was in front of a camera; he was useless at masking his feelings behind closed doors.

“You need to relax, hon.” Lucinda tossed her phone back in her clutch and zipped it back up. “If he really is cheating then he will slip up sooner or later, they always do. They get away with it for so long, start to relax and then they get complacent.”

“You’re right, I know. It just pisses me off thinking of some little harlot getting her claws in my man.”

She couldn’t help noting that in all this ranting Vanessa used the words ‘my’ and ‘me’ an awful lot. It made her wonder if she even particularly cared about what Justin had done or if she was merely being dramatic – it sounded more like possessiveness than any true hurt. Perhaps she was merely reacting like this because that was how she thought she ought to be reacting? Lucinda could understand that, she’d been there (before she’d decided it wasn’t worth the heartache). Maybe Vanessa just needed to go through the process to come to that same conclusion.

“Let’s go get another cocktail, you need to relax.”

“I do. Spent all this effort on this damn party like the fucker even deserves it, might as well enjoy it.”