Page 30

Declan
I’m notsure why I’m here. Why I keep coming back. I mean, even when I was a kid, I never felt like I belonged. I lived here nearly my entire life and it never felt like home.
Con’s car is in the driveway.
Perfect.
I’ve been spoiling for a fight all damn day. Ever since Cap’n poked his nose into my business with Tess at Benny’s. Ever since I saw her in that fucking dress and realized that she was trying it on for someone else. That if whoever he is plays his cards right, he’ll be the one taking it off of her at the end of the night.
And what did I do?
I went and bought the fucking thing.
With fancy underwear to match.
Because there is no limit to how deep I’ll cut myself when it comes to her. No punishment severe enough to settle the scales against what I did to her.
To. The. Fucking. Bone.
So, yeah.
I want to bleed.
And Con will be more than happy to oblige.
I used to push his buttons all the time. I had him dialed in. Knew the perfect combination of shit to throw at him to get him riled. When he started dating Henley when we were kids, I was merciless. They were my favorite target and I was hell-bent on destruction. I said all kinds of horrible shit. Planted seeds. Pried and pulled until I broke them because Henley made him happy. She settled him. Kept him still. With her, Conner’s world finally made sense and I couldn’t allow that.
I couldn’t let him be happy.
Not when I was so goddamned miserable.
Somewhere along the way, things changed.
Don’t act like you don’t know why.
What changed you.
Who.
Tess.
Seeing myself through her eyes.
Knowing what she thought of me.
Knowing that she was right.
By the time I was ready to fix things, it was too late. Henley was gone and so was Con. My little brother disappeared and left a stranger in his place. A stranger who hates me as much as I used to hate him.
Right now, that’s exactly who I need.
I park on the street, cutting through the tiny yard and up the drive, skirting the side of the house to stomp my way up the porch steps and into the kitchen. That’s where he’ll be. In the kitchen with Mom.
It’s where he always is.
I called him a mama’s boy once, when we were kids. He just shrugged and said she’smy best friend. I laughed at him and called him a fucking freak, even though I was so jealous it choked me.
He brought Ryan home the next day.