AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I shrugged. “She wanted to sightsee.”
“Oh, I just bet. You just couldn’t keep your hands to yourself, could you? Even if you know it’s going to cause family strife?”
“Brady, ease off. They didn’t break the law, for Pete’s sake.”
“There’s rules of propriety. Especially before the wedding.”
Tabitha rubbed the side of her belly and turned on her heel. “Oh, you’re just being silly now. I’m going to talk to my sister. Leave us be.”
I turned to go back in the bedroom to get dressed. I was not going to be yelled at and accused of crimes I did and did not commit while wearing my boxers.
Brady followed, raking his hand through his hair. “Look, it’s not like I don’t understand…urges.”
“Dude, you are pressing your luck.” I bent to pull on my socks and then tugged up my jeans. Luckily, I’d brought some extra clothes in case they decided to stay an extra day.
“I’m just saying I get it.”
“Do you? I really don’t think you do.”
“It’s just you know how things are weird around these parts.”
“Did you detour into Texas on your way to the hotel? What’s with the Southern thing?”
He rolled on as if I’d never spoken. “I just don’t want you to make a mistake, that’s all.”
“Thank you for the concern. But you seemed to handle your ‘mistake’ just fine.”
Brady clenched his fists at his sides. “Why are you fighting me on this? You know you’re not father material now. You don’t even want to be, which is understandable at your age. And if something happens—”
Something akin to rage bubbled under my skin, which really pissed me off because my morning had started off damn close to perfect. “Why don’t you let me handle my own life just like I let you handle yours? How about that?”
“You know, you always do this. Whatever I do, you have to run behind me. I just didn’t think you’d do that with Tabitha’s sister, man. This isn’t the same as getting the same job. You could alter your life and hers forever.”
I jerked up the zipper on my jeans and shoved yesterday’s clothes into my duffel. “Hope you had a nice night away. By the way, thanks for your concern about last night’s situation at the Qwik Pump, which I’m sure you also heard about from your little spies.”
“The Chief is hardly my spy. And nothing really happened. You were fine. Everyone was fine.”
“Yeah, but Van was worried about me. At least somebody was.” I stepped around him and stalked down the hall to the kitchen where Tab and Van were sitting at the small table, drinking tea and talking in reasonable tones like actual adults.
Imagine that.
“I’m taking off.” My gaze connected with Van’s. “I don’t want you to leave if you’re not ready to, but if you want to come with me, let’s go.”
I didn’t expect her to stand. “Just give me a minute to get dressed.”
Tabitha watched her go. “Don’t be too mad at him. He’s just puffed up with his new father role. He keeps parenting everyone. Now he’s even doing it to his fully grown brother.”
“Yeah, nice try to give him that out. He’s been accusing me of trying to be like him since I was a kid. And maybe I have done that one too many times. I always looked up to him. Always wanted to be just like my amazing big brother.” I smiled wryly. “But looks like that isn’t ever going to happen, so I just need to stop trying.”
“You can’t be like your awesome big brother because you’re already awesome, Maverick.”
I turned at Vanessa’s voice behind me. She was already dressed and ready to go. She was even faster than I was.
When I didn’t respond, she rubbed my arm as she spoke to her sister. “I’ll text you later. Sorry if this kinda messed up your night away.”
Tab grinned and waved her hand dismissively. “You kidding me? This was the biggest thrill I’ve had in weeks.”
“I heard that,” Brady called, walking down the hall.
