Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 81285 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81285 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
It just meant he’d gotten better at faking it.
His smile remained as he added, “I’ve missed my little brother.”
Little brother.
I hadn’t heard him call me that in years, and I won’t deny that it got to me. Felt like maybe all those years of tension and heartache were finally behind us. I had no idea how it happened or why, and while I was leery, I was glad to finally have a decent conversation with my brother.
I didn’t want the good to end with us all drifting into different directions, so I asked, “Where you staying tonight?”
“I’ll hang with my girl tonight.” Davis rubbed the back of his neck and grimaced. “But that’s not gonna work long term. Her sister’s been staying there, and you know… She’s a lot.”
Presley’s jaw tightened as she glanced up at Davis.
There was something in the way she looked at him, but it was only for a split second. If you blinked, you’d miss it.
But I didn’t miss it.
It was a look of guilt intertwined with sadness, but I had no idea what she had to feel sad about. She had a good job. She had Davis. Things seemed good. I would’ve expected her to be happy, and it made me wonder if something was going on with them.
Before I had time to question it, I offered, “You could stay with me.”
Yeah, I should’ve thought that through.
I wasn’t in a position to make such an offer, so I backpedaled. “I mean, my place is a wreck. I’ve been doing some renovations, and shit is everywhere. It’s a disaster zone, but we’ve got spare rooms at the clubhouse. I could put you up for a couple of days… a week maybe. Just enough time for you to find something else.”
“You serious?”
“Sure,” I answered, like it wouldn’t cause me to lose sleep.
Davis was my brother. I cared about him and wanted him in my life. But that didn’t change the fact he’d proven, time and time again, that he couldn’t be trusted.
But the offer wasn’t me giving him my trust.
That had to be earned.
He could do right. I hoped in my heart of hearts that he would, but one slip. One lie. One wrong move, and that would be that. There would be no more chances.
Davis didn’t even blink. He just gave me a nod and said, “Man, that’d be awesome.”
“Are you sure about this?” Presley whispered.
“What’s not to be sure of?” Davis scoffed. “My brother’s coming through for me.”
“But it’s quite the imposition, don’t ya think?”
“Imposition? You know I don’t like you using big words like that,” he chuckled. “And we’re brothers. It’s our jobs to be impositions.”
“But…”
“But nothing,” Davis cut her off. “It’ll be fine.”
“He’s right. It’s all good.”
“See? Nothing to worry about.”
The words were barely out of his mouth when Davis stepped forward and slung his arms around me, pulling me in for a hug. That’s right. An actual hug. Surprised me, too, but maybe, just maybe, we were finally patching up something that should’ve been fixed a long time ago.
I hugged him back, and when I let him go, I glanced over at Presley. It was just a brief moment, but her eyes held mine for a heartbeat too long. And damn it. I felt it down to my bones.
I didn’t say a word.
I did my best not to let it show.
It wasn’t easy, especially when she was looking at me like that. She wasn’t smiling. She didn’t look relieved or happy in the slightest. Instead, she looked worried, and it hit me right in the gut.
I shouldn’t have cared.
I shouldn’t have felt anything where she was concerned.
She was Davis’s girl. One wrong move there and I’d wreck any chance I had of fixing things with my brother. No way I was taking that chance. I turned my attention back to Davis as I said, “I’ll have to okay everything with Prez, but I’m sure he won’t have a problem with it.”
“Good deal. I’ll be there at ten… unless you call and tell me something different.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
The next morning, I got to the clubhouse early and went to see Prez, making sure it was okay with him that Davis was coming for a few days. Once he’d given me the okay, I went to one of the spare rooms and picked it up a bit, making sure it was move-in ready.
I wrapped up there and headed out front. I wanted to be there when Davis pulled in. I figured he’d need some help with his things, but there was no sign of him. I glanced down at my watch and groaned when I saw that it was ten twenty-three.
He said he’d be here by ten.
Yeah, we weren’t off to a great start.
I wasn’t bent out of shape about it, but I won’t deny that I was a little on edge. Needless to say, it wasn’t the best time for Memphis to come up with one of his what-in-the-actual-hell-are-you-doing looks, but there he was, eyeballing me like I was the dumbass of the year.