Swink (Landry Family 5)

“I bet you are. I’m also pretty safe in mine.”

“And what would those tell you, Dominic?”

“That you care about your sister as much as I would care about mine, if I had one. But you took a well-placed concern and ran with it in the wrong direction and now your sister won’t talk to you.”

“How is that any of your business?”

“If she’s hurt, it’s my business.”

The line trembles with the banter, each of us flexing our proverbial muscle through the line. I hear him breathing. I’m sure he can hear mine as I await his reply.

“What do you want from her, Dominic?” he sighs. “Can you just wrap up whatever game you have going on and do it with someone else?”

“Yeah, I could. If that’s what it was.”

“Don’t tell me you’re in love with her,” he scoffs. “I don’t want to hear that.”

“You don’t have to hear that. You didn’t have to take my call either, but you did. That tells me no matter how much of an asshole you are, how much you posture up right now, you know—you know this thing between your sister and I isn’t just going to go away. And while that probably scares the fuck out of you, it shouldn’t.”

“You’re right,” he says, the sound of a chair squeaking in the background. “It does. I don’t know what your intentions are. The reports I’m getting aren’t stellar, if you know what I mean.”

“That surprises me.”

“That people are balking a little at you?”

“Oh, no,” I laugh, “not that. I’m used to that. Lived it my whole life and I’d probably be a little disappointed if anyone just gave me a gold star. What surprises me is a man of your caliber putting that much stock in other people’s opinions. I know you didn’t get to where you are today—sitting in that big corner office overlooking downtown Savannah—by listening to everyone else.”

The chair squeaks again. “Maybe I underestimated you.”

“I guarantee you did. But just so we’re on the same page going forward, because there will be a forward, I don’t want her money. I don’t want her things. I would destroy anyone that hur

ts her, including Nolan if I ever see that piece of shit again. I want nothing from Cam, only that she’s happy. Right now she’s not . . . and that’s your fault.”

He sighs, blowing out a breath.

“Call her,” I demand. “You can hate me all you want; I really don’t give a fuck. But she’s your sister and she needs you as much as she needs me. Fix this. Soon.”

I’m taken aback when he laughs. “You are not what I expected.”

“Imagine that.”

“I have a call coming in that I have to take, but this has been an eye-opening experience. Thanks for the call.”

“No problem.”

I slide the phone back on the table just as the doorbell rings. Taking the few steps from the table to the door, I can hear Ryder jabbering before I even get it open.

“Dom!” he shouts, giving me a high-five as he races by me. “Where’s Daddy?”

“The shower,” I laugh, watching him fly down the hallway. It’s then that I set my sights on her. “How are you?”

She doesn’t answer with words, just a long, leisurely kiss.

“That good, huh?” I say against her lips.

She giggles, pulling back. “I missed you last night.”

“I spent the night with two seventy-year-olds reminding me how much they were sweating every six-point-two seconds,” I groan. “It was not fun.”