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He wasn’t much of a coffee drinker, but he did love a cup in the morning. Hopefully that jolt of caffeine would be enough to wake his tired ass up.
So sleepy he could have lay on the floor for a seven-hour nap, Drake nearly missed the person sitting on his couch. It took a few solid seconds for that to register.
Then he stopped dead in his tracks.
“Good morning,” Brody said as he rose from the couch. The guy still had a key to Drake’s house. Drake should have had the locks changed when the repairs were being done. He wanted to smack himself for not thinking of that.
“What’re you doing here?” Drake took a step back. There was something wild in Brody’s eyes, something that warned him to keep his distance from his cousin. Drake had never feared him until the prick wrecked his house.
“I see you packed my stuff and left a backpack on the porch like I’m trash you’re throwing away.”
Oh yeah. His cousin was pissed. Drake should have gone to the café with Ajax. Now he wanted to kick himself for not doing that. Then again, people should feel safe in their own home. Stupidly, Drake thought Brody wouldn’t come back after what he’d done.
“I see you wrecked my house like a hurricane coming through.” That hadn’t been Drake’s best comeback, but he was scared. He couldn’t fight his way out of a paper bag, and he’d left his cell phone in his room. Who took their cell phone with them when they were going to make a cup of coffee?
Probably people who suffered from nomophobia. Drake wasn’t attached to his phone. Now he wished he suffered from it, too. At least he could call the cops or Ajax.
Or record Brody admitting to what he’d done.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Brody snapped as he crossed his arms and glared at Drake.
“You punched holes in the walls and broke windows, not to mention destroyed my things.” Drake’s attitude flared, beyond pissed at what his cousin had done. “Don’t even lie and say it wasn’t you. I can see the bandage wrapped around your hand from here.”
“Consider yourself lucky that it was your walls and not you.” Brody flexed his bandaged hand, his eyes narrowing. “You don’t have shit to complain about since your boyfriend and his friends fixed everything.”
Drake took a few steps back, wondering if he could get to his bedroom before Brody came after him. His cousin looked like he was raring for a fight. Drake was trying desperately to avoid one.
Then his cousin’s words sunk in. How did Brody know about Ajax and the others coming to fix the house? There was only one way. He’d been close by, watching.
Why on earth was Drake just finding out how unstable Brody was? Was that why Brody’s own mother wanted nothing to do with him? Had he gotten violent with her? As far as Drake could remember, his own mother had never mentioned any mental issues Brody might have.
The guy was lazy and a mooch, but Drake had always seen him as harmless. Did mental illness run on Brody’s father’s side of the family? Drake didn’t know because his uncle had died when Drake was small. He didn’t know the guy or his family history.
Or was this unique to Brody?
So many questions were running through Drake’s mind as he took a few more steps back. “Why are you acting like this?”
“Why?” Brody’s features darkened. “How would you act if your entire family wanted nothing to do with you? And now my own cousin doesn’t want me here. I feel fucking disposable, Drake.” Then Brody’s voice rose a few octaves, as if trying to mimic a woman. “Oh, Brody isn’t acting within societal norms. Then we had best kick him to the curb. He's not worth any effort.”
“I gave you effort,” Drake argued. “For two months, I gave you chance after chance. I loaned you money, bought food for both of us, paid your half of the bills. In return, I got broken promise after broken promise of you finding and keeping a job. When you got paid, you threw me a few bucks and kept the rest, like it was fair that I paid for everything. Not once did you hand me money and say it was for the electric bill or the gas. Not once did you hand me money for your half of the mortgage! What the fuck was I supposed to pay or buy with the twenty dollars you handed me? You have no idea how much food costs or that my mortgage went up.”
“Why should I pay your mortgage?” Brody bellowed. “I don’t own this piece of shit. Why should I help you pay for a house I don’t own?”
“Because we’re family, you idiot,” Drake growled. “Family helps each other out. They don’t mooch off each other like parasites, and they definitely don’t destroy things in a raging fit.”
“Did you just call me a parasite?” If possible, Brody’s features grew even darker.
Drake saw it was useless arguing with his cousin. Brody would only see things his way. A person couldn’t go through life for free, but that was exactly what Brody wanted. To live with Drake without contributing to anything. Drake would have had better luck walking up to a wall and arguing with it.
“You know what?” Drake took a few steps toward the door. “Just go. I don’t want you here anymore. I’m done with your games. Get out of my house and don’t come back.” He pointed at the door, a silent order for Brody to leave.
Brody stared at him, his jaw clenching. Then he pulled a lighter from his pocket. “Or I could finish destroying your house.”
Drake froze when Brody flicked the lighter and a flame ignited. He held the flame in the air then brought it closer to the curtain beside him.
“No!” Drake shook his head. He had to do something to get Brody to leave. He just didn’t know what. It seemed anything he said offended his cousin. Panic began to rise as Drake fought hard to come up with a plan, but that was hard to do when you were freaking the fuck out.
“You’re just like all the rest of them,” Brody said as he lit the curtain on fire.
