Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 63469 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 317(@200wpm)___ 254(@250wpm)___ 212(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63469 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 317(@200wpm)___ 254(@250wpm)___ 212(@300wpm)
What?
“I wasn’t trying to—”
“Yeah, ya were. You know you were.”
It was always like this with Zach and me, and I so wished it could be undone. One of us, inevitably, took something the wrong way, misheard and reacted, or simply saw an opening and went in for the kill. The moment the other person dropped their guard, we pounced. We were both living in the past, where we’d been at each other’s throats, both trying to outdo the other, in any way possible, to gain our father’s approval. We had been a horror to one another, anything to upstage, to make the other vulnerable and cause pain. We both wanted to be the one our father liked best, and jealousy and anger had led to open hostility. The day-to-day of living with one another had been a nightmare, and worst of all, our father had approved. He liked us always sizing the other up, looking for an opening to go for the jugular. Having left that environment, in hindsight I could plainly see when we had stopped being brothers and turned into rivals—when our mother died. She had filled up all the cold, empty places in my father’s heart, but with her gone, there was nothing left for me or Zach. He had to pit us against one another to create any happiness for himself, and that was really very sad. It took me being away these past two years to understand the dysfunctional dynamic in my old home.
I thought when everything came out about Rand’s parentage, there would be a change in our father. He made up with May, my aunt, Rand’s mother. When he’d pledged his support to me in my new business, I honestly thought it would happen. And yes, without the funds he promised, it had been hard, but more than that was the lack of familial support. He’d abandoned his plans with me, and we had spoken a handful of times in the last couple of years. It had been the same with Zach as he moved onto the Red, since I was never there. And now, after all that time, Zach was going to give me shit about my weight, which he knew nothing about, and the hair on my face, which he cared nothing about, and think I was living in the past, holding on to old grudges, when there weren’t enough hours in the day for me to remember to eat? Was he kidding? And now he was going to do what? Keep some ancient grudge going?
Fuck that.
“You know what, Zach,” I snapped. “I think your master’s callin’ you.”
“Fuck you, Glenn,” he retorted, getting up, but not before kicking my bottle of water over so it drenched my crotch.
Everybody laughed, and I was left with a wet spot on my groin that made me look like I pissed myself. And people wondered why I didn’t spend more time with my family.
Walking back toward the trailer over loose gravel, I tripped and would have done a nosedive if someone hadn’t closed their hand tight around my arm.
“Careful.”
I would have rather wiped out than had him save me.
“Watch what you’re doin’.”
“I’m fine,” I growled at Mac, cursing my annoyance and the daze I was moving around in. I was usually more coordinated.
“No. You were about ready to fall on your face.”
“Yeah, so? Ya want a medal?”
He shook me, and I lifted my head and gazed into his eyes.
“You should go home, Glenn. Go back to your restaurant where you belong.”
“I can’t,” I griped. “I’m covering for Everett and—”
“We’ll get along just fine without you.”
I knew he would, they all would, but I was repaying Stef, and that was more important than anything else. “Oh, I’m sure you will,” I said snidely. “But I’m here to do the job that was asked of me.”
I tried to tug my arm loose, but he was bigger than me, and stronger, so until he wanted to let go, I wasn’t going anywhere.
“We don’t need you to do nothin’.”
I sucked in a breath because the silver flecks in his eyes were really something to see.
“You hear?”
I’d never asked Mac where he was from because, honestly, wherever it was, he should have stayed there, but it was definitely not West Texas like the rest of us. His voice was softer, richer, with a sprinkling of something in it that only came out when he was mad.
“What?” he asked suddenly, scrutinizing my face.
I shook my head because no way was I ever going to tell him the warmth of his voice could have gotten me right out of my clothes. For one, straight men didn’t tend to enjoy hearing things like that, and for two, he was a prick.
He jerked me closer, and I had to lean my head back farther. He was so damn tall. And his stormy eyes were narrowed to slits.