Page 11 of Broken Brothers

“Fine,” I said.

“What?” a friend of mine, Karl, said in the other direction.

“Nothing,” I said, even though that was the furthest thing from the truth.

Here’s what was the truth—I would have to get used to being ignored and seen as less than great because of my status. Mrs. Hunt and Morgan could make all the claims they wanted to about how things would get better and yada yada yada, but nomatter what, Mr. Hunt, of all the damn people, acted the most honestly with me.

It sadly wasn’t hard to see how this would play out in the years ahead. I might meet someone through Morgan or the family name, only to have them fall apart because I wasn’t a true Hunt. Maybe someone would see me as nothing more than a means to meet Mr. Edwin Hunt, the great businessman of the 21st century. Maybe someone would just see me as a mere pawn in their game, to be controlled like a butler with a snap of the fingers.

Then, to my surprise, she came over to me.

“Can I talk to you in private, Chance?”

Karl did his usual “oooooh” sound whenever a girl came to talk to me. Usually, I playfully smacked him and called him an asshole. Today, though, I actually hit him, hard enough that he bent over and groaned in pain. He looked at me in surprise, but my stern glare got the point across. I was not fucking around, not when I had… something, I didn’t know what, but something with Sarah. I was not going to let even the slightest word or the slightest change of the wind screw me over.

I followed Sarah to a stairwell, one that led to the roof and thus rarely had other students nearby. My whole body shook as I stammered and clammed up. She wasn’t in a rush to leave me this time, but she also didn’t look like she was about to kiss me in surprise. I gulped.

“I’m sorry for the way I left you, Chance,” she said. “I really like you, I do. I hope you know that.”

But…

“But what I said, unfortunately, is true. My father will kill me if he finds out I’m dating a boy like you. I know that’s a terrible thing to say, and I wish it wasn’t so, but I—”

I shook my head as her voice trailed off. This was just going to be the remake of Saturday afternoon, wasn’t it?

“Why are you telling me this, Sarah?” I said.

She gulped in a way that suggested that she also had something to say.

“Sometimes I wish I could just say fuck it all and be with you, Chance,” she said, uttering what I felt reasonably confident was her first swear ever. “You’re funny, charming, forceful in a good way, and handsome. I’m not lying when I say I like you. But I’m not in a position to go against my father’s wishes. None of us are.”

I had a feeling where this was going. I hated that it gave me a glimmer of hope.

“While we’re here, we have to obey our parents. We have to obey the family rules. But sometimes, I think about what I’m going to do when I get to college. How much fun I’m going to have. What happens when we don’t have parents.”

I already know. It’s not as fun as you’d think.

But…

“When that happens, Chance… this won’t matter and we can be together.”

I looked at her in the eye. She spoke with utter sincerity.

“You’re under your family’s rule. You have the Hunt name. I see you as more of a Hunt than your brother.”

I wasn’t sure I loved the meaning I took from the compliment, but I got what she really meant.

“When you’re older, this won’t follow you around. You’ll get the chance to be your own man. Just… just wait, OK?”

She grabbed my arm when she said that, sending a shiver down my spine.

I can’t say that I fully agreed. The Hunt name would follow me around. That was unavoidable.

But she did make a point. I had to be my own man when the time came. That wouldn’t be now, that wouldn’t be next year,it probably wouldn’t even be for five years. But when that time came…

Chance Hunt would emerge, both with girls and in business, as a name distinct and separate from Hunt Industries. Who knew what that would do to my relationship with Morgan and the Hunts, but by then, it wouldn’t matter. I could not permanently shake it off, but I could shrug it off.

“OK,” I said, taking the small glimmer of hope for the future.