Page 225 of The First Taste

I hurriedly stand up, my fists bunching. But Magda settles the fight, as she has been doing for our entire lives.

"Boys, boys. You two are brothers. I do not know why you sit around and pick at one another like two chickens eating bird feed. Why can’t you just be nice?"

She comes around to where I am standing and puts her hand on my shoulder, pressing down to get me to sit. She is short, probably no more than five feet tall. Having her gentle hands on me makes me give in, though with anyone else I would fight the touch. She smiles and pats me on the shoulder, then rubs the back of my hand the way she has always done.

It’s not chicken soup for the soul, but I do relax a little bit. Burn is somewhat chastised, and he looks at the two of us with an expression of longing. Magda sweeps a hand across his back as she heads to the stove. She picks up a wooden spoon and stirs the tomato sauce.

"Now what’s this all about, really?" She asked. "Surely it’s about something serious, no?"

I grit my teeth. "It’s nothing, Magda."

Burn is quick to rat me out, just like when we were kids. "It’s not nothing. He is mad because his fiancée dumped him, and then I started dating her after they were totally done."

I glare at him. "Yeah, five minutes after. As far as I know, you and Daisy were cheating on me while we were still together."

He rolls his eyes. "And I am telling you, we did nothing wrong. After it came to light that things weren’t working out between you and Daisy, she decided to leave you for the better version of you. That is not my fault."

I snarl at him. "You told her a bunch of lies in order to get her to break up with me. There’s nothing about that that is confusing. I wasn’t angry that Daisy broke up with me; I am angry because I thought that you and I were closer than any two people on the planet. But I guess I was wrong."

He arches a brow at me. "I guess you were. When it comes to matters of the heart, Daisy and I were meant to be together, and you were meant to do... I'm not sure, something else. Go find another girl. There are plenty of fish in the sea."

“That’s rich, coming from the guy who stole his twin’s fiancée.”

“It’s not my fault that Daisy and I are drawn to each other. Find somebody else to be your wife and have your babies, you weirdo.”

"That’s not the issue," I grit out. "And I don’t want to even have kids. After what we went through as children, with our dysfunctional parents and our grandfather pretty much raising us, I’m not even interested in having children at any point."

Burn shrugs at me. "So, what’s the issue?"

"What’s the issue?" I ask, as if he is truly dense.

A red light over the door switches on. Burn and I both look at it, knowing what it means. Magda pulls off her apron, looking at both of us sternly.

She points at us both. "No arguing until I get back from finding out what your grandfather needs. Do you hear me? And Dare, please don’t leave without at least saying goodbye this time. I have barely seen you these last few months."

Glaring at my brother, I nod stiffly. "Of course, Magda."

Burn nods but does not respond. We wait in silence as she fusses with her hair and then disappears out of the room into the servant’s passage. Burn plays with his cake, looking at me as he spears chunks of it and destroys it messily.

What a child he is.

"So? Are you still planning on this whole deep sea drilling business?"

"I think you know that I am," I say. I lean back in my seat and tilt my head.

"That will never work."

I fan my hand out, gesturing uselessly. "So you say. We’ll see who’s right."

He leans forward on his elbows, dropping his fork. "Remy will never allow you to take charge of the company. He knows what your little plan is. You want to move everything to the coast and shut down the headquarters here in Harwicke."

I scoff. "That just goes to show that you have no idea what you’re talking about. I do plan to move the operation to the shore, and I do plan on shutting down the headquarters here. But I want to maintain an office in New York City. It’s a pain in the ass to drive all the way out here to Vermont from Manhattan. You have no idea, I assume."

"So what? It’s only a forty five-minute helicopter ride from Harwicke to Manhattan. Not that it even matters, because I’m going to take over the business and run it just like Remy would have."

"We’ll see about that."

"Yeah, I guess we will."