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“Let’s just say she likes to be difficult… like you. So, it makes sense you two are related. But I gave her my number since she refused to give me hers.”
“Maybe she didn’t want a repeat performance. You must not’ve left a good impression.” Trip smirked.
Dodge ignored that, too.
That smirk quickly disappeared. “Okay, let’s get back to the immediate issue here and not Dodge’s performance or the possibility that it was Sig’s sister who left those scratches.” One of Trip’s eyebrows lifted. “’Cause I’m gonna assume that if it was her, they were left before you figured out who she was.”
He nodded, even though he wasn’t sure if knowing would’ve made a difference.
He wanted Syn before and he still wanted Syn now. Sig being her brother hadn’t changed that one fucking bit.
Trip turned toward Sig and the two half-brothers stared at each other for a few seconds. Dodge could feel the tension ramping up between them.
Those two men were aluminum fucking nitrate and both highly explosive.
Maybe he should duck under the heavy wood table and take cover from any fallout.
“You never once told me, your fuckin’ brother, that you have a sister. Not fuckin’ once, Sig. Not once in the last three fuckin’ years. Kinda an important fact to reveal, don‘cha think?” Both eyebrows were now hiked up so high they were hidden under his ball cap.
“Nobody’s business,” Sig muttered.
“Nobody’s fuckin’ business?” Trip bellowed. He tilted his head and stared at Sig with flared nostrils, not looking any kind of happy. Of course he wouldn’t. The prez was big on family. It was why he hunted down Sig and made him VP when the man didn’t deserve it at the time. When he was nothing but a derailed train. “Wanna explain that? To me, your fuckin’ brother?”
“She ain’t your sister and, like I said, lost track of her.”
“She’s family,” Trip yelled at him.
“She ain’t your family,” Sig yelled back. “She don’t share a goddamn drop of blood with you. She don’t even got Fury blood in her.”
“Bullshit. Close enough. She’s Silvia’s daughter and she’s your sister. That makes her my sister, too. Blood or not.”
Both men had squared off with fingers curled into loose fists. It wouldn’t take much for those fists to tighten and begin swinging. If that happened, Dodge wasn’t getting in the middle of that shit. They could beat the fuck out of each other for all he cared. Maybe it was what they needed.
And, anyway, their women would make them regret getting into a brawl with each other. That alone would cause more pain and discomfort for the two men than an actual fight. Both women would be pissed and disappointed. Stella leaning more towards pissed, Red more towards disappointed.
Dodge knew for a fact Sig did not want to disappoint his ol’ lady. Maybe they needed to reminded of that. That might cool them both down a few degrees.
“Stel and Red are gonna have your nuts in their fists,” Dodge squeezed his hand in the air like he was trying to crack a nut barehanded, “if you two start wailin’ on each other with yours.”
Both men stared at each other for a few more tense seconds, then they both nodded.
Thank fuck. One crisis diverted.
“Red know about her?”
He nodded stiffly. “Yeah. Red knows everythin’. Don’t hide shit from her, even if it’s ugly.”
“Just tell me why you kept this a secret from us, then.” Trip shook his head. “From me. You told Red, but you couldn’t tell me.” He did not hide his disappointment.
Trip had come from a shitty family like most of them. He strived to do better, be better, than the last generation and pass that mindset on to the next generation to continue to improve. It was one of a few reasons Dodge held a lot of respect for Trip. While he had his faults, they were outweighed by the good.
“She’s supposed to be livin’ a good fuckin’ life. Figured it would be better without me in it.”
Sig’s confession suddenly made Dodge think of his own sibling, who had been given away in hopes to give him or her a better chance at life.
Dodge got it. He did. But…
“You’re wrong, Sig,” he said reluctantly, knowing it might cause another wave of anger. Even so, the VP needed to hear it. “She said she wished her brother had come back for her.”
Sig’s head twitched and he stared at Dodge, his face now a mask of nothing. A complete fucking blank. A whole shitload of stuff moved behind the man’s eyes but none of it reached his expression.
What Dodge said must’ve cut him deep. It wasn’t his intent, but he wanted Sig to know that the man was worth something to his sister, whether he thought he was or not. No matter how fucked up Sig was, or what kind of train wreck he’d been before Trip dragged him back onto the tracks.
