30. Archer
Chapter 30
Archer
Cyrus had clearly been taken down a few pegs since our fight yesterday. Either he saw the light on his own, or he’d had a little bit of help. I made a mental note to send Marshall a thank-you card or something.
I wasn’t going to be swayed so easily. Folding my arms over my chest, I watched Cyrus slowly approach Shane to take a look at the work I’d done. Cyrus muttered appreciatively and I snapped out of my stupor. It didn’t bother me that Shane and Cyrus were going to be quick to bury the hatchet. They were allowed to deal with things between them their own way. Shane and Cyrus had been friends for years. Besides having a great working relationship, it would be a shame to lose that.
“I need to put a dressing on that now.” I crossed the room and motioned for Shane to sit on the stool again so I could take care of him.
The silence was thick and oppressive, and I was annoyed that Cyrus had crashed into what felt like a private moment between Shane and me. Aware of Cyrus’s eyes on me, watching my every move made me feel antsy. Any animosity I might have felt toward Cyrus about his reaction had faded overnight. Now I was tired of how heavy the aftermath made me feel. I wanted this over with so I could curl up and sleep and forget it ever happened.
The last of my patience evaporated and I looked at Cyrus. “Are you going to stare at me all day, or are you going to say what you came here to say?”
I tried to keep the acid out of my words, but it was a lost cause. Cyrus had that effect on me sometimes. I flicked my gaze up to meet his. “We were going to tell you.”
“When?” Cyrus asked.
“When it was worth telling,” I shot back. “We weren’t serious to begin with. It was just chemistry at first… then it was more. And when we decided to let it be more, we knew we’d have to tell you.” It truly wasn’t serious at first, but it hadn’t taken long for me to realize that I was all in with Shane and now I couldn’t imagine being without him. Shane filled so many gaps in my life and my heart without even trying. Being with him was the easiest thing I’d ever done.
Cyrus quietly mulled over my words and I took my sweet-ass time dressing Shane’s shoulder. Warmth blossomed deep inside me upon realizing that, no matter what, part of me would forever be carried with Shane on his body. The satisfaction it gave me nearly made me dizzy. Were it not for my brother’s interruption, I’d definitely have marked Shane in a different way by now.
“Marshall seems to think I overreacted.” Cyrus finally unfolded his arms and tucked his hands into his pockets instead. Marshall was the key to getting Cyrus to loosen up. But I already knew that. Cyrus and Marshall had always been opposites. Hot tempered Cyrus and level-headed Marshall. They were good together, and more than once over the years I’d been thankful for Marshall’s influence on Cyrus.
“And what do you think?” I asked, not willing to let him off easy. I wrapped my arms around Shane from behind. He reached up and grabbed my arm, holding me there, lending me strength and quiet solidarity as I stared Cyrus down .
“I think that I’m probably an asshole.”
I’d intended to make him sweat a bit, but Shane laughed. His laughter broke through the thin veneer of my anger and I cracked a smile.
“Probably? Marshall didn’t yell at you enough if you think you’re only probably an asshole. Come on, Cyrus. I thought you were more self-aware than that,” I teased. Letting go of more of the anger I had toward him relaxed the lingering tension in my shoulders.
Cyrus rolled his eyes. If Marshall was good for Cyrus, then Shane was good for me. Our men didn’t want Cyrus and me to stay mad at each other for long. Without Shane to lighten the mood, Cyrus and I would probably be arguing.
“Okay, I was definitely an asshole.”
“I like where this is going.” I grinned at Cyrus. “Continue.”
He narrowed his eyes. “You’re enjoying this way too much.”
“Of course I am. You’ve been the perfect older brother. The perfect son to our parents. The perfect husband. The best employee. It’s nice to see that you’re human. For the record, it was a stupid thing to be mad about.”
Cyrus had the decency to look properly chastised at that and he ran a hand through his hair the way he did when he was upset.
“I know, okay. I didn’t at first, but I see now that I might have been a dick.”
“You were,” Shane said to Cyrus. “But I won’t hold it against you. And I want you to know that you owe Ethan Bennett a huge thank you. He stepped in after your tantrum last night.”
Cyrus nodded. “Noted.”
Something passed between them and whatever it was, it appeared to satisfy them both. Hatchet buried, friendship saved, status quo returned .
“I’m going downstairs to check in with Vivian. Come get me when you’re done here.”
Shane twisted in my arms and stole a kiss. If I thought for a second that he would hold back because Cyrus was here, I was quickly proven wrong when he licked at the seam of my mouth and demanded entry. Maybe he was proving a point, but even if he was, who was I to stand in his way?
He pulled away and made his way toward the door, clapping a hand on Cyrus’s shoulder on the way by and giving it a squeeze. All was forgiven between them and it would be water under the bridge.
The door clicked shut behind him and I listened for the sound of Shane’s footsteps retreating down the stairs before I turned back to my work. I tossed the used paper towels and wiped down the chair and the stool with sanitizer.
“Sometimes I think I forget that you’re an adult,” Cyrus said, prompting me to look at him in disbelief.
“I don’t think that sentiment hit the way you intended it to.” I shook my head and went back to work, meticulously cleaning my machine. “Gonna try again?”
“You’re not going to cut me even the smallest of breaks, are you?” Cyrus held himself with the same confidence he’d always had. Growing up.
I’d tried to be more like him, to emulate that level of self-assuredness he had. I’d admired it in him. I still did, even when it was that exact quality that drove me nuts.
I yanked my gloves off and threw them in the trash, and then dropped down onto my stool. “Should I? Did you cut me a break after the whole thing with Clayton? Or did you bring it up at every opportunity to drive home what an idiot I was for trusting someone who was supposed to have been my best friend? ”
Losing Clayton had left a hole in my life that I wasn’t sure how to fill. Even months later, his betrayal still burned. But the sense of loss lingered like a gaping gunshot wound that I’d packed with gauze and ignored. Shane’s presence in my life had slowly but surely started to stitch that wound closed.
Cyrus at least had the decency to look properly chastised. “That’s a fair point. Look, Marshall had a very long discussion with me and I know you don’t want to hear the twenty reasons I thought I was justified in acting like an asshole. It was wrong of me to treat you and Shane that way.”
“I’d like to hear one of the reasons, Cyrus. Enlighten me. Why was it such a big catastrophe for Shane and me to be together?”
Cyrus was quiet for a long moment, to the point that I thought he might not answer me at all. Then he took a deep breath and let it out all at once.
“It’s selfish and stupid, and Marshall told me I should be ashamed of myself—and I am. But I was worried that you wouldn’t need me anymore. I was afraid that Shane was taking you away from me. I’d hardly seen you since you moved out and I was worried about you, about what would happen if this new shop didn’t work out. I was inventing problems that didn’t exist.” Cyrus looked small and sad and miserable and it struck me that I hated seeing him that way. Even if it was his own doing.
“Okay. I forgive you.” I spun around on my stool, going in a full circle as Cyrus gaped at me.
“Just like that?”
“Just like that. Why, would you rather I insist on making it a big deal until the end of time?”
“No,” Cyrus scoffed. “I’m surprised, that’s all. ”
He let out a breath and I watched the tension he held bleed out of him. I’d been irate at the time, and rightfully so, I thought. But it wasn’t worth dragging out and losing someone else I cared about.
“Well, I have two options.” I told him. “Either I get over your bullshit, or I let it suck me down. Shane is your best friend and your boss and I’m not willing to come between that by acting like an immature child. But, Cyrus, it would be nice if after all this, you could just be my brother again. Not my parent or my keeper or my protector. Just… my friend. Can you manage that?”
“I’d like that, Archer.” He glanced at the time and grimaced. “Are we good?”
“We’re good.”
Cyrus exhaled and shot me a smile that still looked guilty. “I have to get to work, but we’ll catch up soon? I feel like I never see you.”
“That’s because I avoid you.” I cackled, but closed the distance between us and wrapped my arms around him. We hugged tight for a second, then shared some brotherly slaps on the back until we pulled apart.
“If you promise to stop avoiding me, I promise to stop being an overbearing asshole.”
“Deal. Now get out. I have shit to do.”
Cyrus nodded, then walked out. I waited until I couldn’t hear him anymore before throwing myself face down on the couch. Though I was glad to have smoothed things over with my brother, that didn’t mean I wasn’t exhausted by the emotional turmoil of the last twenty-four hours. But at least I wasn’t alone. Whatever Marshall said to Cyrus had done a number on him. I made a mental note to thank Marshall for being the voice of reason where Cyrus was concerned.