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“How’d it go?” Millie asked me down the phone line.

I’d called her as I started walking up the stairs.

“Ugh, the usual. Majorie was in fine form.” When my mother was behaving, she was Mum, when she wasn’t, I called her by her first name. “Thank god Brock is not my real boyfriend because between discussions about weddings and children, that’d be enough to have anyone turning tail and running.”

“Not Brock,” she assured me. “That guy? Nothing phases him. The twins found a tiger snake one day, came sprinting inside in hysterics. He just picked it up by the tail and flicked it over the fence. Dad was furious.”

“Yeah, well, pretty sure my mother is more venomous. So what’s happening tonight?”

“I work in a bar, bitch, so I’ll be serving dickheads all night. You should come down.”

“So I can watch you seduce unsuspecting backpacker guys from Europe as you regale them with tall tales about Australia?” I asked.

“Um, yeah, what else would we do?”

“You’re on. I’ll see you…”

My voice trailed away as I reached my front door. It wasn’t my worn out welcome mat that greeted me, but him. Another bunch of irises crackled as he grabbed the stems tight and then got to his feet.

“Hey, I need to call you back,” I told Millie. “I’ve got another one of your brothers on my doorstep.”

I’d seen a lot of expressions on Hayden’s face, but not this. Raw, naked pain, it clawed at me, demanding a response. Instead, I just stood there, staring.

“Can we talk?” he said.

I took in the flowers, his bare feet, the sand on his legs and then I nodded.

“You better come in.”

Chapter 28

Hayden

The night before

I looked up from the TV when I heard a car pull into the driveway. It was late, but sleep wasn’t going to come, not when Hunter was out with Jamie. The same hot, spiky feeling that tied my guts in knots when I saw my girl walk in with Brock’s arm around her had me shifting restlessly on the couch. I wasn’t watching the show that was on, couldn’t even tell you what the plot was or even what genre, because my entire focus was on my brother’s car. I took another sip of a beer I’d been nursing for hours when Hunter walked in.

You didn’t get to see him in a bad mood often, but when he entered the house, he had a face like a thunderstorm. A dark, shitty part of myself was elated. The date had gone badly. Jamie didn’t want Hunt, but hot on the heels of that came guilt.

And worry.

“What happened?” I asked, setting the beer down on the coffee table.

“I don’t want to talk about it.” He stomped over to the fridge and grabbed a beer, but I was there to snatch it out of his hand. “What the f?—?”

“What happened,” I repeated, more forcefully.

“It was a disaster, alright?” His eyes flashed as he stared into mine. “I fucked up.”

No, no, my head shook from side to side.

“What did you do, Hunter?” He went to walk away from me, but my arm shot out. I watched his eyes narrow, then refocus back on me. My brother was always the one who started fights, but not this time. “What. Did. You. Do?”

A cruel smile twisted his lips and I hoped like hell I never looked like this. Hard. Brittle.

“Something special, I thought,” he replied. “The dinner, the dress.” He shrugged. “I wasn’t sure if she was going to like those things, but I had to try and do something nice.” My brother stepped closer, making clear he’d knock my arm away if I didn’t drop it, but I wasn’t backing down, not this time. “I’m not like you. I can’t come up with the perfect date, get her laughing, and then claim a kiss as your prize, but I had one thing I knew she’d really want.”

“What…?”