“Because you’re wrong.” Only he wasn’t.
“Alright, fine. Be like that. Be the miserable son of a bitch that shows up to family functions acting like an asshole. See if I care. But don’t think people will put up with your shit forever.”
Each word stung more than the last, twisting a knife in my gut. “I apologized.”
He’d never let me forget how I treated Josie, rubbing salt in the wound whenever he got the chance. Once I knew the truth, it hurt like hell to know I’d believed the worst of a woman who was a sister for so many years. She didn’t deserve the things I’d said. The things I’d thought.
“Maybe if you’d let me explain things beforehand, you wouldn’t have been so goddamn hateful.”
“I was busy.” It wasn’t a valid excuse, but it was all I had. He had me cornered, and he knew it. Dammit. In reality, I didn’t care to listen to anyone. I’d gone to Jason’s wedding in a blind rage.
“Don’t give me that. You can’t have a family only when it’s convenient to you. You might do that with your dick, but you don’t do that with blood.”
Great. I’d kicked off World War III with the biggest, baddest motherfucker in the Western Hemisphere. One who knew nearly every kink in my armor like the back of his hand. “I never said that.”
“You don’t need to. Your actions show it.”
The vein in my neck throbbed despite attempts to keep my anger in check. The only thing worse than one angry Barrett was two. “Are we really fighting about this right now?”
“Fuck yeah! You’re always Mr. Fucking Perfect! Guess what? You’re just as flawed and fucked up as the rest of us, no matter what you think!”
No shit. I wanted to reach through the phone and shake him, to scream the truth in his face, to let him know just how fucked up I was. But I couldn’t. “Okay… and this is all spawning out of me missing a phone call or conversation? A bit of an overreaction, no?”
A snort sounded loud and clear from his end. “That and a million other things.”
I slid a hand over the back of my neck, kneading the muscles. “Someone’s hostile.”
“Damn right. I want you to be a better brother. A better uncle. God knows you fucking need to learn how.”
I couldn’t contain the chuckle that rumbled out. “Because you’re the prime example of being a good man, right? The man that was bobbing his apple in the mouths of all of Briar only a few months ago.”
I regretted the words as soon as I’d said them, but it was too late to reel them back in. The damage was done. As usual, I lashed out at those closest to me. The ones trying to help.
“Shut the fuck up!” he roared, loud enough that I knew I was fucked the next time we saw one another. I earned a bloody lip or a slashed tire fair and square for that one.
“It’s the truth.” Honesty always hurt the most, especially delivered on an arrow through the heart. He might’ve known my weak points, but I knew his, too.
“I’ve changed.”
He did. In fact, once Josie landed back in Briar, the man whore transformed into a family man. It was a little scary how quickly he’d changed. Apparently I wasn’t the only Barrett that could morph at the drop of a hat.
“That doesn’t mean my life is any less respectable than yours now that you have a family.” It was a lot lonelier, but it still mattered.
“You’re right. You pay for pussy. I forgot that makes you better.”
“I do?” I laughed harshly, rage burning in my chest. Regardless of how right he was, it didn’t make it any less infuriating. I didn’t know the last time I’d fucked a woman without tucking a wad of hundreds in her hand at the end of the night, but it was necessary. I had needs.
“Yeah, that or you’re living the life of a priest, and I highly doubt the latter.”
“I did always look good with a collar…” I trailed.
“I’m being serious, shithead. You need to slow down. Smell the roses. Lay some roots.”
I had more roots than all of Briar, spread wide and sunken into every crevice. “Worry about yourself, will you? All the ink has made you edgy. Have a drink.”
He didn’t reply, choosing to hang up instead. Knowing Luke, he was going to launch himself onto the back deck to calm down, but not before calling me back to tell me what a cocksucker I was. At least that’s how it usually went.
I sighed, ready to pass out with a mouthful of melatonin. Pills guaranteed a trip to dreamland, a place that was becoming harder to reach.
I wrestled myself from the comfort of the cushions, for once not falling for their fuckery. They were heaven to sit on, but if I fell asleep, I wouldn’t be able to move my neck in the morning. It was one of the perks of entering my thirties, apparently.
If Luke was planning on delivering his blistering follow-up call, he needed to hurry, or he’d be ignored yet again. Luckily for him, my phone rang just before I reached the hallway, the high-pitched chirp of a video call loud and clear.
I swiped the screen, already flipping off the lens when Luke’s face didn’t appear - Kee’s did. Bare-faced and beautiful with curls raining down.
“Really?” she laughed, her yips bouncing off the empty hall walls.
My middle finger fell, the digit curling back into my fist as I lifted the phone to head-level. “Sorry!”
Shit.
“Not expecting me?” Her full lips curled into a smirk as she sat lounged in a t-shirt on her couch, still easily passing for a woman straight from a runway with her natural beauty.
“No. I was talking with my brother. I thought he was calling me back.” More like killing each other, but I wouldn’t go there.
“You always greet him that way?” she asked, eyeing me
