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CHAPTERSIX
TANNER
Once I sink down in the passenger seat and my brother speeds out of the parking lot and through the chain-link gate on wheels, I watch as he grips the steering wheel tightly. I can hear it crack beneath his grip.
“Jenna told you where I was,” I say. “But did she tell you that she was the person who took me, that she invited me?”
“It doesn’t matter. You went.”
I let out a snort of laughter and shake my head a couple of times. He looks over at me, then lets out a grunt before he looks back at the road. He doesn’t give a shit about what I do or how I do it, as long as it’s what he wants. He’s probably as happy as can be right now. I’ve defied him and now he’s going to lay down the law. I can feel my small amount of freedom being sucked away from me.
“Your life is about to change, Tanner. No more bullshit school. No more freedom. Just no more.”
I knew it. I knew it.
“I’m almost twenty, Brent. You don’t get to dictate my life that way. I don’t tell you who or what to do. You don’t get to say the same to me.”
He lets out a laugh, but it doesn’t sound like he finds any of this funny at all. He continues to drive, but I don’t poke the bear any further, at least not yet. He clears his throat, shifting in his seat before he speaks again.
“I do get to dictate your life like that. You have no money, you have no house. Where will you go to live?” he asks.
I hate that he has me under his thumb like that. He’s right though. I don’t have anything. He is in control of my life. In control of everything. I was fooling myself if I thought that I could try and choose my career, if I thought that I could do something that I loved.
I can’t.
“Fine,” I grind out. “Tell me what you find appropriate for my life.”
“First of all, you’re never to see those outlaws again. They’re scum, Tanner. You need a good guy, a nice guy, one of the officers on the force or something.”
“So, you want me to date someone just like you?” I ask.
“At least I would be able to keep an eye on him. At least he wouldn’t be doing illegal shit, murdering people, hanging out at strip clubs, and doing whatever the fuck those people do.”
His words cause my chest to ache. I cannot think about Riff doing those things. I’m sure that he does, but I just didn’t feel like he was some horrible person when I was with him. He made me feel special and beautiful.
He made mefeel.
I’m not dating my brother’s friends.Gross. Not that I care what they do for jobs, but I refuse to date someone that he’s friends with just so he can keep an eye on me through a work colleague.
Gross. That does not appeal to me at all. I mean, he wants to date my friend, that’s fine with me, but I’m not keeping tabs on him through her the way he wants to with me.
“And my job?” I ask. “My school?”
“If you are insistent about a trade school, what about taking some real estate courses? That’s a good professional job and you’re pretty, you’d sell a lot of houses,” he says.
I’m sure that selling houses makes a lot of money, especially in a booming economy, but the thought of doing that for the rest of my life makes me want to curl up into a ball and cry. I hate paperwork so much. I want to create with my hands, I want to watch people enjoy my creations and moan with excitement when they taste them.
“Whatever you want, Brent,” I state.
“Not whatever I want, Tanner.”
I let out a laugh, though it’s not filled with any humor at all. “Seriously, Brent?” I ask. “You just told me that I was not allowed to continue with the school that I choose, so no, it’s not whatever I want. It’s whatever you want.”
“Fuck,” he curses. “Why do you have to be so damn difficult? Grow the fuck up, already,” he snaps.
Closing my eyes, I lean my head back against the headrest and let out a sigh. I know that we’re close to home, and I just want to take a shower and wash Riff’s scent off of me. I want to wash all of him off of me, because it just makes me want to cry.
Turning my head, I blink back tears as I look at my brother’s profile. He has spent his entire adult life taking care of me. He gave up being a young bachelor for me and he has been so focused on his career and money for me. I shouldn’t be so difficult for him.
