AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Mal took a slow puff on his pipe and raised a single heavy eyebrow.
“Few minutes ago, she had some knuckle-dragger climbing up her back on the dance floor,” Harry said.
“Thatguy. That’s Pat’s friend from pharmacy school. Name’s Arthur. Pretty sure she can handle herself with a guy who goes by ‘Art,’ bud,” Duncan replied. “If you’re worried about her, you go dance with her.”
Harry didn’t respond. Duncan still had no idea of the starring role Rowan had in his thoughts and literal dreams, and he intended to keep it that way. His brother was a dog with a bone if he discovered a weakness he could exploit for the sake of humor. He’d turn Harry’s feelings into a punch line, and he wasn’t equipped to deal with that yet.
After a while, Mal said, “Didn’t take you for quiet and broody, Harrison.”
“Quiet and broody is Harry’s new normal,” Duncan said. “Needs to get laid.”
“Fuck off,” Harry said.
Mal quietly considered both brothers, and his new scrutiny made Harry nervous. Even as a child, Mal had been the family’stale spinner and pot stirrer, and the focus of his attention was never a place one wanted to find themselves. He had the uncanny ability to draw threads of information from apparent thin air, deduce a narrative from them, then show a person a reality that banged hard against the thing they most wanted to hide or ignore. It was probably what made him such a savvy author.
It was fucking diabolical, that’s what it was.
Mal looked up at the starless sky and gusted out wobbly smoke rings. “I doubt Duncan’s date is who he’d prefer to fuck off with.”
Duncan launched an indignant glance at Mal. “I didn’t ask Rowan to be my date so I could fuck her tonight. She’s my friend.”
Harry’s brain seized on select words, and the blood drained from his head.Rowan—my date—fuck her—tonight. He gripped the back of a wrought-iron chair, planted his feet wide, and stared at the pavement.
“How about you, Harry?” Mal’s deep voice sounded deceptively light. “You and Temperance sharing a room tonight?”
Duncan doubled over, coughed explosively, and beat his chest with a fist.
Harry leveled a careful look at Mal. “What are you doing, man?”
Mal made a thoughtful sound. “Kind of weird though, right?” His words were directed at Harry, but his full attention was on Duncan, watching for further reaction. “Did Temperance become ourrelativewhen Nate married her sister? Is she essentially our sister-in-law, once removed?”
Duncan was still trying to hack the cigar smoke from his lungs.
“Are you enjoying yourself?” Harry asked.
“Not particularly. But I’ve been observing. All day. It’s what I do. I’m a watcher, a collector of information. A curator of details.” Mal’s tone was academic as he looked between Harry and Duncan. “Both of you are fucking clueless. You’re each herewith the wrong woman. Even a dismal son of a bitch like me can see it.”
“Don’t talk about Ma that way, dick,” Duncan rasped.
Mal narrowed his eyes and didn’t laugh. “Always such a clown. Everything’s funny, everything’s a joke. What’s that humor compensating for, Duncan?”
Duncan hung his head for a moment, massaging the back of his neck with a big hand.
“Lay off, Malcolm,” Harry said.
Mal turned his head and blinked at Harry like an inquisitive crow. “Ah, yes. Harrison, the protector, the hero. The most virtuous of all the Bradys. You’re a self-righteous asshole, you know that?”
Harry’s patience had hovered at the snapping point for hours. When the opportunity to vent some steam presented itself, he jumped on it. “The fuck is wrong with you, man? Sometimes I think Charlotte is the only thing that makes you remotely human.”
That seemed to hit a mark, but it wasn’t nearly as satisfying as Harry had hoped for. Mal looked briefly down at the pipe in his hand and tipped it side to side. When he looked up, his mouth was a flat line. He caught Harry’s eyes, and held.
“I agree,” Mal said.
For a while, the only sound was a muffled rumble of music coming through the steamy windows of the lodge behind them.
“You don’t always have to be such a bastard,” Harry sighed.
Mal peered at Duncan. “No wiseass comeback for that, Duncan? Isn’t ‘bastard’ a slight to MaandDad?”
