608 Alpha Avenue (Cherry Falls)

His voice lifts at the end, making a point—he knows I was with Haley. He’s put that fact together with the alert he got when I shut off the security system this late at the shop and concluded that something is amiss.

Fuck.

I turn away without admitting it. It’s pointless.

“I thought that was an interesting development,” he says casually. “I mean, I’ve known you had a thing for her for a while—”

“I don’t have a thing for her. Let it be.”

My heart begins to pound, and I grit my teeth.

“Cool. Awesome. Then I’ll tell you something else I heard,” he says.

“I don’t give a shit what you heard,” I say, facing the tractor as if I’m actually going to work on it again.

“Oh, I’m sure you won’t, especially since you don’t have a thing for Haley.”

He stops there, some sort of a dickish cliffhanger created to piss me off. I just hope he’s ready for pissed-off me. I shove my hands in my pockets to keep from instinctively swinging on him.

“Word has it that she and Dane McDaniels were in Cherry Pie Pizza having dinner,” he says smugly. “I guess Haley decided to start getting some personal training sessions with him, if you know what I mean. It’s created quite the buzz—”

I whirl around on my heel. The motion gets him to stop talking.

The top of my head fills with pressure, and I think it might pop off.

She was with Dane?

After today?

What the actual fuck?

My mind reels as I try to process what the hell is going on, my fists clenching against my thighs, when a hint of a smile licks against my brother’s lips.

My shoulders drop. “This is not the day to fuck with me, Garret.”

“It’s always the day to fuck with you,” he says with a grin.

I unwrap my hands slowly. Blood pours back into them.

“I hate that I have to lie to you to figure out what’s going on,” he says. “But you make it that way.”

“Or you could just mind your own business.”

“Where’s the fun in that?” He stands next to me and pretends to look at the tractor too. “I’m confused.”

“I tore off the shield, and it broke. We’ll have to order one tomorrow.”

“Not about the tractor. About you.”

I don’t answer him. I don’t think he expects me to.

“You see, if I just banged Haley—”

“Careful …”

I watch him out of the corner of my eye. He grins but still doesn’t look at me.

“I wouldn’t be all pissed off,” Garret says. “I’ll just say that.”

“There’d be no reason to.”

I blow out a breath and head to the computer. I punch some random keys, and it comes to life.

Of course, he’d not be pissed off if he hooked up with Haley. Garret’s a nice guy. He’s young and smart, and he takes after our mother—he’s built for love and marriage.

Garret would eat up family dinners and dates to Kissme Bay. He knows what to do and what to say and, more importantly, he likes that shit. He’d play games at the Holidaze Arcade and win those giant stuffed animals.

He’s great with prizes.

I am not.

My shoulder slumps, and I shift my weight to try to hide it because I don’t have the energy to stand tall again.

“I don’t poke around in your personal life much,” he says.

“Which is smart.”

I think he chuckles, but I don’t turn around to confirm it—for both our benefit.

“But I’ve been waiting for this,” he says, apparently feeling ballsy. “I’ve been waiting for the two of you to act on the thing you have between you.”

“We don’t have a thing between us. What are you? A woman?”

“If that means observant, then yes. I guess I am.”

This makes me smile and, I’m glad I’m not facing him so he doesn’t see it.

“It’s finally happened. Obviously,” he says. “And now you’re acting like someone stole your girl when it’s you who—”

“Enough,” I say, my voice booming over his. “I don’t want to talk about this.”

I can’t take it. I can’t listen to this anymore.

He squares his shoulders to mine. “And I don’t give a fuck.”

The room heats, the walls are waiting to see if we come to blows for the first time in our lives. It’s never happened—minus a few small skirmishes growing up. But Garret, Grant, and I have never physically gone at it.

Today, though, may change history.

“I’m your brother,” he says. “You can trust me.”

“I know that.”

We stare at each other, the stand-off continuing. He doesn’t back down. He won’t.

I finally acquiesce, mostly because I’m too tired of fighting tonight. I’ve fought myself for hours.

I blow out a breath and look at the ceiling. “Something happened, and that’s it. It’s over. It's not happening again.”

“Was it bad?”

I settle my gaze on him again. “No.”

“Then … why not?”

“Because it’s fucking Haley, that’s why.”

“I thought we just established that you fucked Haley.”