“I’m not wrong. And, hey, I don’t blame you. She was a hot little piece back in high school, but now . . .” He whistled long and low. “That bitch has aged to perfection.”
Ethan needed—needed—to put his fist in Austin’s gut.
A dozen goddamned times.
“God, you’re such an idiot.” Ethan threw a hand toward him in a “whatever” gesture, and started for his truck.
“You’d better think about what you do before you do it from now on, bro,” Austin called after him. “We both serve at the pleasure of the almighty Jack Hayes, who happens to be indebted to Wayne Ryan because you didn’t do what you were told. And don’t expect Mom to take your side against Dad either. Aunt Ellen’s face-plant has her all wound up.”
Ethan pulled open his truck door and froze, halted by that punch of guilt.
“If you think you fell from grace when you bailed on Ian’s last birthday hurrah, how do you think the family will feel about you letting Hart restore that building?”
He turned on Austin. “It has nothing to do with letting her. It’s about following the law, Austin. You know, that thing you swore to uphold and protect? That thing you make a living enforcing?”
“Hard to imagine miser Wayne parting with his gold nuggets to fund the reelection of a man who can’t even control his own son. When Jack’s happy, everyone’s happy. Shut her down, bro, or I will.”
Ethan dropped into the driver’s seat a hundred pounds heavier than when he’d stepped out and turned over the truck’s engine. His drive home took only a minute, but in that sixty seconds all his problems tangled into knots.
That badge gave Austin a God complex. Where Jack knew when he was crossing the line or pushing the limits, Austin didn’t believe either lines or limits or, evidently, laws applied to him. He would jump at the chance to drop innuendos about Ethan and Delaney to their family, because Austin held a long-standing grudge over Ethan’s star status growing up. He’d reveled in Ethan’s fall from grace over Ian’s death. And relished any chance to both rub the event in Ethan’s face and remind everyone why Austin deserved to be the favorite son.
After pulling into the driveway, Ethan shoved the truck into Park but didn’t turn off the engine, still arguing with himself about going to Phoebe’s to check on Delaney. Man, talk about a shitty day. He wanted to be there for her, even if that meant getting the brunt of her anger.
But she’d never agree to see him. And then he’d be stuck explaining himself to Phoebe. And the whole idea went downhill from there.
He slammed a fist against the steering wheel. “Fuck.”
God, he was so over this family bullshit.
He turned off the engine, climbed from the car, and rounded the back, cutting across the lawn toward the front door, hoping he still had a few beers in his fridge. He seriously needed to alter the alcohol-to-red-blood-cell ratio pumping through his veins.
Movement near the house drew his gaze and halted his feet. The motion-activated porch light flipped on, drenching Delaney in light where she sat on his front steps. His heart jumped toward his throat.
She stood slowly, her gaze holding his, her expression unsettled.
Holding a porch column with one hand, she fisted the other by her side, but she said nothing. The silence felt heavy with uncertainty and secrets, desire and need, frustration and guilt.
This mess was an insanity-inducing cocktail that made Ethan feel reckless, as if he wanted to chuck it all and move somewhere no one knew him. Somewhere with beaches and bars. Forget all about his screwed-up family. Dump the job that ruled his life.
Just like Delaney had.
She’d walked away from her unhealthy life with nothing. Started over at eighteen in a new town. No family. No friends. Built herself up to a great position in a great company all on her own. Then come back to face her ugly past when it was the last thing she wanted.
She had such strength. Such guts. In comparison, he felt like an absolute coward.
He planted his hands at his hips and set his feet. “Okay. Let me have it.”
“Have what?”
“Whatever you need to unload.” He lifted his arms out to the sides. “I deserve whatever you’ve got.”
Her brow pulled. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He glanced over his shoulder and around the street. “Where’s your car?”
“I, um, I parked a few streets away. Paralleled between two cars so my license plate wasn’t—” She stopped and let all her air out, but she kept her voice down, as if she were aware of the lights on in the houses nearby. “Never mind. I’m just here to tell you that what happened between us will stay between us. I won’t tell anyone. So it won’t get back to your family through me.”
“What?” He shook his head as he took a few steps closer. “Why?”