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They haven’t seen each other in almost as long. But when you were only a year old the last time you saw your brothers, the difference gets squishy, and sixteen years is a long fucking time.
“Cato.” Swallowing his mouthful, Tim looks our youngest up and down, marveling at his impressive height like I did. “Shit, kid. Look at you, all grown up.”
“So you’re the newest Timothy Malone.” Not quite as friendly, Cato keeps his distance. “The oldest of the old fucks and the new father of this family.” He lifts his chin, challenging and arrogant. “Will you punish me if I refuse to bow down?”
“No.” Scowling, he steps forward and forces Cato into a hug that ends with grunts from both men. “I’m not our father, and I want none of this bullshit mess.”
“But you’re here.”
“Because Felix refused to go the fuck away!” Releasing him, Tim steps back to continue hoovering his sandwich. “He’s more annoying than a mosquito in the summer. But when this is done, I’m leaving. Felix can be your daddy. Or Micah. Or the cook, for all I care.”
Cato’s brow shoots high. “You don’t care how I end up?”
“I don’t care how this bullshit inNew Yorkgoes. But if you’re looking for a change of scenery, I’ll make you a bed in Copeland. Get you a job somewhere worthwhile, move you away from this shit.”
“He’s gonna play for the Knicks,” I insert before Cato can change the subject.
That tenuous bond we’ve created trembles, but I grin when my words catch Tim by surprise.
“He’s going pro, with or without college scholarships.”
“Without,” Cato scoffs. “No one’s offering scholarships to Saint Benadads students. We’re too rich to qualify.” He purses his lips. “Allegedly.”
“Allegedly?” I ask. “What’s the problem?”
“I’mnot rich. I have a couple grand in savings, which might get me two weeks’ tuition, but Timothy the fucking Second isn’t gonna leave me shit-all in his will.” He looks back to Tim. “You’re the chosen one, yeah? You get everything once he bites the dust, and I get tossed on my ass, if you feel so inclined.”
“And yet, you cuss at me,” he counters with a half-smirk. Then, seriously, he shakes his head. “You wanna go to school, I’ll make sure the funding’s there no matter what. You wanna call me old again, I’ll make you mow the entire fucking estate with a push mower. Remind you what it is to work for your money.”
“And when you bail and hand the reins to Felix?”
“God save us all,” I groan.
“I’ll still make sure you can go to school. Non-conditional, no strings attached.” He casts a look to his right when Felix steps out of the kitchen with a triple-stacked sandwich overflowing with chips. “Some of us value life outside these walls. An education is a great first step to getting away.”
“What?” Felix looks from me, to Cato, back to Tim. “What did I miss?”
ARCHER
Ifinally lie in bed around one a.m., New York time, which makes it bedtime for Minka, and the hour I must face the fire I lit without her permission.
My room is in the main house, in one of the guest bedrooms down the hall from the rest of my brothers. With the lights out but for the lamp beside my bed, I dial Minka’s number and wait for the video to connect.
Wait.
Wait as the call rings into oblivion.
What is surely only two seconds feels like an eternity. What is probably only four seconds of anticipation fills my stomach with anxiety and casts lashes of pain across my abdomen, because I fucked us both over and left when she asked me not to.
My heart thunders in my chest from the regret of my decision, but just when I think she might send me to voicemail, the call connects, and I’m met with silence. With a hard stare, emotional eyes, a pillow smooshing her cheek up, and Chloe’s angry purr somewhere off-camera.
My breath comes out on a whoosh, purely because I see her. She allowed that connect when I had no way to truly enforce it.
“Minka…”
“I don’t forgive you,” she says, unflinching. Cold and mean. She presses her lips tight as though to stop them from quivering. “You left,” she continues. “You promised you never would, but you got on a plane anyway and didn’t care how I felt about it.”
“I’m sorry.” I pull my blankets up to my jaw and stay bundled deep under the covers. It’s just me and her. She’s my island now, and I stupidly left her more than two thousand miles away. “I had to come here, Mayet. I swear, I had no other option.”
