She keeps casting odd glances in my direction, but I slide my hands into my pockets and shake my head. She doesn’t need to know about what happened just yet. I’ll tell her eventually, and then when she gets upset about it, I’ll finally get her to admit that she does love me after all.
“What’s going on?” I ask them as confidently as I can. I take a deep breath, clear my throat, then start again. And this time, I use a tone that would make Dad so fucking proud of me. “Is there a problem?”
Casey, seeing that I’m someone completely different than who he first took me for, steals a glance at his father before he turns his body to face me. I can see the anger in his eyes and in the way he’s chewing the inside of his mouth. I can also see the hurt he feels for his sister in the way he keeps clenching his fists, but it’s gonna take a hell of a lot more than this to scare me.
If I want Cleo, I can’t be Darby’s son anymore.
I have to be Luke’s.
“Casey,” Bryden begins carefully. “Take your sister inside and get her cleaned up, okay? I need to talk to Richter.”
He passes the blonde girl to his son who immediately embraces her, then stares daggers at me as he walks her back into the home and out of the snow.
“Think he’ll fuck her next?” I ask with a smirk.
The words that escape me cause me to blink in shock rapidly, but I regain my bearings quickly. Dad would have said so much worse without a second thought and I have to… no, I need to be him.
It’s time.
“You kids stay out here and keep playing,” Bryden calls out to the gaggle of children before he gestures for me to follow him. Under Dad’s rule, something like this meant time in the oubliette, but from what I’ve been able to gather in quick glances, Bryden doesn’t have one.
Another way I know he’s nothing like Luke. He has no way to punish his children if they step out of line, and they have to at some point because I refuse to believe that it’s all a bed of roses here all of the goddamn time.
I follow Bryden into the living room where he motions for me to sit down in what I assume is his chair. It has to be because it’s the biggest one and only kings own the mightiest of things—regardless of what they may be.
“Richter, I know that this is all a lot to grasp, but I assume that you can agree with me when I say this isn’t how Luke raised you,” he says as he sits down and rubs a hand tiredly over his face. “Regardless, you’re in my house now, son. These are my rules, and I’d like you to respect them while you’re here.”
“Son?” I ask, a bite to my tone. “I thought you said I was your brother.”
I see the infamous Greene rage flash in his eyes for a moment, but it’s quickly replaced by a smile. It’s almost like he knows how to control all of the things I’ve yet to learn.
“It’s just how I address the children in this house, Richter,” he finally says with a chuckle. The moment I open my mouth to tell him that I’m not a child, he quickly cuts me off. “Even though you hurt Xoe’s feelings, I’d like to invite you and Skylar to stay with us tonight.”
“No,” I reply instantly but Bryden raises a hand. “It’s dangerous outside with all of that snow coming down. What kind of man would I be if I knowingly let you both go out there and possibly get into a wreck that could have easily been prevented by giving you a place to stay for the evening? In the morning, if you’re still feeling the same way you are now, you’re free to go.”
“I really don’t think—”
“Skylar’s already agreed,” he continues. Almost as if I don’t have a voice—as if I’m not sitting directly across from him. “She jumped at the chance to stay overnight with Cleo. I’m sure it would be easier for you three to bond again if you stayed here with us tonight. Cleo would understand it a little better if she goes to bed and sees you still here in the morning. The coming and going is what I think has her confused,” he finishes thoughtfully.
I want to tell him to go fuck himself, but I can see the snow falling heavy through the windows.
“I won’t take no for an answer, Richter,” he exclaims in that annoying, cheerful tone of his as he gets to his feet. “Tonight, you’ll both stay here, Skylar will help with the chores and getting the kids dressed and into bed, and you…” His voice trails off for a moment as his eyes lock onto mine. “You’ll see what it’s like to become a man in this house.”
I don’t want to stay—I don’t, however, I never did get around to changing the tires on the truck and I could easily swerve if I hit a patch of ice hidden underneath the snow and it’d probably kill us both.
Maybe he isn’t really worried about us dying so much as he is about us living differently than him.
That’s fine.
If he wants me to become a man in his house, I’ll show him what’s it like to be the man in mine.
“Deal,” I say, extending a hand to him and shaking it slowly.
And being a man in my house means following Luke Greene’s fucking rules. Not his.
Twenty-Three
Bryden
I’m a patient man.
I know that some of my previous children might disagree with that, but
