Swink (Landry Family 5)

Sienna stands but moves shoulder-to-shoulder with Ford. “You can always go with me. But you need to think about that, Cam. Your life is here.”

I gaze back across the lawn again. “Not if he’s not with me.”

Dominic

“Sienna brought me an idea she had for the back of the bar,” Nate says, attempting to distract me again. Attempt number eighty million. Fail number eighty million. “Wanna see?”

“No.”

“Come on,” he sighs, tossing the papers on the coffee table. “At least answer her calls.”

I look at the phone and see another missed call from Cam. It’s midnight. She’s usually in bed by now and I wonder what’s keeping her up. I could call her. I could answer hers. But I don’t because I’m a dick.

“How are you feeling?” he asks, changing tactics.

“Hurt as fuck.”

“Your ribs or heart?’

“Fuck you.”

“Good answer,” he laughs. “You’re right about one thing—you’re a dick.”

“That’s what I was just thinking.”

We watch the television, some show about giant fish that scares the beejesus out of Ryder. But he’s asleep so we can watch it without worry.

I don’t even like this show. It must’ve come on after whatever I was watching before it. A show I couldn’t place if my life depended on it.

“Why are you doing this, Dominic? I know you’re irritated at her, but she’s a good girl.”

“Because she’s a good girl. It’s better this way.”

“Is it?”

“Yeah,” I glower. “It is.”

“You know what I think? I think you need to get over your fucking self.”

“If I wasn’t broken in half, I’d get up and beat the shit out of you.”

“No, you wouldn’t. Because you know, somewhere in that thick skull, I’m right.”

“This will end sooner or later, Nate. I’ll fail her. I’ll get her hurt or blacklisted or something. I can’t even take care of her. I’m dead weight.”

He sits all nonchalantly out of reach, fiddling with the remote in his hands. “What have you ever failed at? You’re a hell of a fighter. The best brother a guy could want. A great uncle, you take care of everyone, work your ass off. How do you justify yourself?”

“Last night.”

“Oh, when you were too hard-headed to even allow her to be a part of it? That’s on you, asshole. Had you just seen her for what she was trying to do, we could’ve managed that. But, no, let’s be all stupid about it and let it get out of control.”

I breathe as deeply as I can without coughing, my temples pulsing. “We’re lucky it’s me in this shape and not her. It could’ve been her. Why was she there? Why couldn’t she have been . . . in Paris,” I whisper, feeling my heart sink. “I can’t give her what she’s used to. I can’t begin to give her a life like she deserves.”

“Are you talking monetary shit? Because she’s got that covered,” he laughs. I don’t. “People are perfect for each other for different reasons, Dom. It’s one person’s weakness supplemented by the other’s strengths and vice versa. She doesn’t need money. She needs . . . you.”

I imagine her face and miss her so much I could cry. I look at the massive catfish on the television and force a swallow. “What are you? A therapist?’

“A bartender. So, yeah, basically.”