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“Why didn’t you tell me he hurt you?”
I looked down at his hand. “He told you?”
“No. He definitely didn’t tell me you guys were together. I figured it out a long time ago. You guys weren’t exactly subtle.”
Butch sniffed my leg and crawled in front of me “It’s okay, B. I’m fine.” I sat back on my feet and cuddled the dog close to me. “It didn’t last long. I didn’t want to come between you.”
He let out a rough laugh. “Come between us? Is that what you call this?”
It felt like he meant more than just a breakup. “Co—”
“You didn’t tell us he stole from you?”
I stumbled back and landed on my ass. Butch scrambled away. “I didn’t want anyone to know.”
“My best friend stole from my sister almost four years ago, and you didn’t tell me? You let that man stay in our lives?”
“It was just money, Co.” It wasn’t just money. I didn’t even have an excuse. “I’m sorry.”
“You don’t get to be sorry. It was his fault. He’s the one that made you go away.”
“I didn’t go—”
“You did. You took off to what? Colorado then somewhere else. You didn’t come back for almost a year.” He shoved down the footrest. “You didn’t tell us.”
“I was ashamed.” I stared down at the scarred wood floor. “I was so stupid. I didn’t want anyone to know that I could be that stupid.” The shame rolled over me as if it was that day so long ago. “I practically handed him the check.”
“No. You trusted him. You trusted him like I did. He was family.” Cohen’s eyes were bright red with anger and pain. “I knew he took shortcuts. I was always cleaning up after him, but I thought we were best friends. You take care of your own. But I let you down.”
“No. No, you didn’t.” I crawled toward the chair, pushing into his space though he held himself at arm’s length. “No. It wasn’t like that.”
“Why didn’t you come to me?”
“We were sneaking around and then I was just so…embarrassed that I let him have that much control over me. Over my money. He kept telling me he was helping me. Saving me money.” I gave a harsh laugh. “But then you guys were in the middle of wildfire season and I just couldn’t.” I leaned upward to wrap my arms around his shoulders. They seemed so frail. So unlike my big, strong brother.
We stayed like that for a long time. I wasn’t aware I’d started crying in there somewhere. When I eased back, I saw Cohen was as well.
I pressed my forehead to his. “I’m so sorry.”
“I hate him. Hate what he did to us. Hate that he stole from you. That he could do that to my baby sister. That he dared to touch you to begin with, but that? No.” He dashed at the tears then tipped back his head to inhale a deep breath. “I just want to bring him back so I can throttle him myself.”
I cupped his cheeks. “No. It’s not important anymore. It was a really shitty lesson.” I barked out a laugh. “Really shitty.” I sniffed. “How did you find out anyway?”
He stretched out his booted leg. “Moving, remember? Jimmy was such a fucking slob. His papers were everywhere. I found the residual check. Is that what it’s called? I don’t know. There was the check stub and some report.” He drilled his fingers into his hair. “Now that I think about it, every year he would spend a lot of goddamn money.”
I settled back on the floor and tucked Butch in the middle of my crossed legs. “Yeah, part of the contract was that I would get a percentage of the cost of using the machine.”
He scrubbed his hands over his face. “So he stole from you yearly. That’s great.”
I leaned forward and patted his knee. “About that. I made a new machine and made like…way more.” The number seemed rude to give him. But I’d improved on my design and kept the copyright. “People pay me for the use of my machine now. No one else.” I dropped my voice to a whisper. “I charge a lot.”
He laughed and the heaviness in his eyes lightened a bit. “A lot, huh?”
“I don’t want to make you cry again with the number.”
Cohen laughed and slumped back. “Just like you to rub his nose in it.”
“Yeah, well, you know how much I hate to lose.”
