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“Fine,” he bit out.
“Did something happen-”
“No,” he said sharply. “Yes. Maybe. I don’t know.”
I could tell he was off-balance and I briefly wondered if I’d done the right thing in asking him to stay.
“You should tell your boyfriend’s brother to just back the fuck off.”
“My boyfriend’s…Maddox? You saw Maddox out there?”
“Prick,” Isaac muttered. “Sorry,” he murmured, then he began searching through the duffle bag. I decided to leave him be when I saw that his hands were shaking.
“Goodnight, Isaac,” I said as I began to pull the door shut.
“Nolan.”
“Yeah?”
Isaac kept his back to me. “Thanks.” He motioned to the room with a jerk of his head. “For this.”
“You’re welcome. See you in the morning.”
I closed the door and went to check on Dallas, who was still soundly sleeping. I returned downstairs with the intent of cleaning and locking up the house, but nearly jumped out of my skin at the sight of Maddox standing in the kitchen, arms crossed.
God, Isaac was right, the man did look like a brick wall with his broad chest, bulging biceps, and perpetual frown. Hell, Newt had nailed it – Mad did fit the guy.
“Sorry,” he had the decency to say. “You shouldn’t let him leave. He’s in trouble.”
I could only assume he was talking about Isaac. “Did he tell you that?”
“Didn’t need to.”
I wondered exactly what had happened between the two, but before I could ask, Maddox said, “Dallas gave up on believing our parents would change, but I guess I never did. That’s why I didn’t even think to question our father when he said Dallas was driving. Dallas never even denied it.”
Maddox paused before saying, “I didn’t think our father was capable of a betrayal like that. But I guess I never thought I was capable of saying what I said to my own brother. I didn’t mean it, but it doesn’t matter. I said it and I let the shame of what I did afterward keep me from telling him how wrong I was.”
“You tried to keep him from getting his half of the inheritance. You let him face this vindictive town by himself for years. The one person he should have been able to count on and you weren’t there.”
“Yes,” was all he said. He turned to leave, then stopped and said, “Will you tell him something for me?”
I didn’t respond because I wasn’t sure I could give him the answer he wanted. My only concern was protecting Dallas. Even if I felt a certain measure of pity for Maddox and how badly he’d fucked up his relationship with his brother, Dallas did and always would come first.
“Tell him…tell him I have his back.”
That was all he said before he walked out the door.
Chapter Twenty
Dallas
I wasn’t sure what I’d been expecting to find when I’d walked downstairs after carefully extricating myself from Nolan’s hold so he could sleep a bit longer.
It certainly hadn’t been to see a little kid sitting on the floor of my living room playing with a whole bunch of little Matchbox cars. And I most definitely had no clue how to react when Newt smiled up at me and said, “You wanna play?”
I’d already known Nolan had invited Isaac to spend the night, because he’d sent a text to my phone at some point the night before, presumably in case I’d ended up waking before him. Even in his text, I could tell Nolan had been nervous, because he’d gone on and on explaining how Isaac and Newt were brothers and he thought they were on the run from something and that something had also happened between Isaac and Maddox. There’d been a second message about needing to give me a message from Maddox, but that he’d do it in the morning.
It had been information overload, but luckily, I’d been feeling clearheaded enough to process it. I’d been tempted to stay in bed with Nolan until he woke up, but I was too on edge about what had happened the night before. My concern for Loki was ruling most of my thoughts. I knew the claim that he’d attacked someone was bogus, but it wouldn’t take much for people to believe whatever story the sheriff and his dickish relatives had concocted. I was less concerned about the future of the center, because I had quite a few things on my side.
Money, for one.
Which meant I could afford to hire a kick-ass attorney.
And I had connections that the sheriff and his small-town mind couldn’t fathom. I’d call on every single one of them if that was what it took.
I gave Newt a quick nod, then held up my finger to indicate I’d just be a minute.
“’Kay,” he said brightly. He was wearing pajamas with cars all over them.
I grabbed myself a cup of coffee and then went to sit down next to the little boy. He began lining the cars up in front of me. “Which ones do you want?”
