Chapter 9
[Ford]
The tension coming from the corner of the dining room where Enya followed Cadence around the table rippled through the air.
Cadence’s demeanor shifted again, like the crackling energy before a storm.
A strong need to intercede tugged at me, but I reminded myself it wasn’t my place to step in with anything pertaining to Cadence.
Which is what made my response to her father’s demeaning behavior toward her so baffling.
Glancing around the kitchen where I found a stool for June to sit at the kitchen island and eat a cut up hot dog, my gaze catches on Sebastian, who was watching his future wife before turning toward me.
His eyes narrow in a way I recognize. Pointing at me, he mouths Outside. Now.
An invisible friction existed between Sebastian and me, like a batter trying to draw a balk from a pitcher with his windup.
When Sebastian and I were kids, we often disagreed.
While he was a little rebel when we were younger, I just wanted to stay out of trouble.
I found hitting a baseball, giving it a good smack took away any tension brewing inside me.
Eye on the ball, Ford. The continual stress of not knowing when my dad would be too drunk to notice he had kids or drunk enough he forgot we were his children was a churning constant.
I buried myself in baseball because I needed a way out of Sterling Falls.
As for Sebastian, I’d simply ignore him when he tried to pick a fight with me.
Like his comment about always rooting for the underdog, always wanting someone to best him.
He couldn’t be further from the truth. However, tonight, his command has me following him with pent-up anger. He wants a fight; I’m ready to fight.
I’ve got a backstabbing ex-wife.
A three-year-old who glares at me.
An eight-year-old afraid I’m going to leave her.
And a five-year-old who seems indifferent about everything, which scares me the most because it’s so like me when I was a kid.
Don’t let it get to you, Knox would coach me after unwarranted insults from our dad. I’d built a shield around myself to not anticipate praise from Dad for my accomplishments nor be astonished when insults flared instead.
“Hey, Violet, would you mind watching June for me a second?” I’m going to owe this kid a year of college tuition by the time this weekend is finished.
“Sure,” she eagerly agrees.
Sebastian has already turned toward the screen door that exits the kitchen and is pressing forcefully at the edge.
As the door swings back at me, I catch the frame with my hand before it collides with my face.
Following Sebastian into the back yard, thunder rumbles overhead.
The smell of rain mingles with the damp, cool mountain air.
“One day.” Sebastian rounds on me. “One fucking day, and you can’t let me have it.”
“What the fuck?”
“You just had to make a scene.” His voice grows louder. “Had to be the center of attention.”
If he’d punched me, I’d have been less surprised. I have no intention of being center stage this weekend. In fact, I’m not certain I even want to be here.
Lies, whispers through my head.
“It’s my wedding, man.” Sebastian swipes a hand down his face as if to calm himself, but the rest of his body language says he’s ready to pounce like a hungry mountain lion. A scrapper as a kid, I remember him rushing our dad a time or two, trying to get Dad away from Vale.
Stunned by this outburst, I admit, “I know it’s your wedding weekend.”
“Still, you had to fuck Cadence and make a scene.”
“I didn’t fuck her,” I quickly defend.
Sebastian sighs, giving me a look like he doesn’t believe me. “Enya is my world, Ford. My everything. I cannot have you fucking with that. Her sister is important to her, and I do not want Enya upset.”
“Why would she be upset?”
“Because you fucked her sister.”
“I. Did. Not. Fuck. Her.” My voice rises, echoing off the trees on the edge of the property and hurling back toward us. “I didn’t touch her.”
Maybe an hour or so ago I wouldn’t have known any better, but now the facts are clear. Cadence and I did not have sex. The thought we hadn’t is like a second sucker punch that I’m still trying to catch my breath after, but the question—why not—will have to wait for another day.
“You just can’t let me have a moment, can you? You always have to be on top.”
“What are you talking about?” I argue, sensing a shift in this discussion and a return to his comments about me cheering for anyone against him.
“Look at me, Stone. Do you see me, Stone. Are you watching me?” Sebastian mocks.
“I never said those things.” Sure, Stone was my biggest fan, coaching me through both the good and the bad. Correcting my stance at bat. Hitting endless balls to me to catch. But I never asked Stone to focus on me in the manner Sebastian says.
“Just stop it,” Sebastian fires back as if I didn’t contradict him.
Then he shoves me. Like an eleven-year-old boy, he pushes my shoulder for emphasis.
And I push back.
Before I know it, Sebastian’s arm is cocked at an angle, fist raised and aimed, and I’m prepared to take the punch but not before I get in a good shot myself. Lifting my fist, I’m positioned to go off on my little brother, wedding day be damned.
“Sebastian.” The feminine cry is sharp and quick, like the clap of thunder overhead.
“Not his face,” warns a second female.
At the anxious tone in Cadence’s voice, I turn, wondering if her concern is for me or my brother.
Then, a hard punch connects against my jaw, and I stagger backward, catching myself before I fall to the ground. Standing taller, I aim for Sebastian again.
Suddenly, a large mass is between us, a hand on both of our chests, pressing Sebastian and me apart.
“What is wrong with you two?” The strong masculine tenor triggers a flashback to my childhood. Stone stepping between us. Stone keeping us separated.
You’re brothers, he’d say. We’re all we have.
Sebastian is huffing and puffing, eager to continue the fight. I don’t know what I ever did to him. Being brothers did not make us friends.
And for all his crazy talk that I demanded attention from Stone, he was wrong.
Sebastian is the one who was constantly in trouble as a teen, and Stone was always bailing him out. Getting called to school for Sebastian issues. Getting calls from his fellow deputies for illegal actions.
“He started it,” I argue, sounding like the children Sebastian and I once were. Shifting my jaw side to side, Sebastian’s hit is going to leave a bruise.
Sebastian takes a reluctant step backward and Enya slides between him and Stone, placing both her hands on her fiancé’s chest to capture his attention.
“I can’t do it,” he mutters.
A collective gasp occurs. Cadence and I meet eyes.
Sebastian wraps his hands around Enya’s upper arms, lowers his head and closes his eyes. “I can’t be without you tonight.”
Jesus. Way to scare a man.
Enya and Sebastian already live together, sharing Enya’s daughter, Adara; however, they planned to sleep apart tonight with Sebastian in our old room here at the house.
I shiver at the thought. I didn’t exactly want to stay here either, but Vale insisted there was room for me and the girls.
Stone owns the house but Vale lives here with her nine-year old son, Hudson.
“I want to wake up with you tomorrow and make breakfast for you and Adara.” He quickly flicks his eyes open, pleading with his soon-to-be wife. His gaze holds on her, as if he’s afraid she’ll disappear.
I recognize that feeling. The need to have one person in your life who won’t let you down, who won’t leave you.
“You’re going to be okay,” Enya coos, cupping his jaw. “I’m right here. And you’ll have all the days after tomorrow to make us breakfast.”
“But I want tonight.” Sebastian grows petulant while lowering his voice. He drops his forehead against Enya’s.
“And we will have all the tonights . . . tomorrow.” Enya tips up on her toes, but Sebastian is already bringing her to him to kiss her.
I glance at Cadence again, who is watching with rapture as her sister makes out with my brother.
However, I can’t pull my eyes from Cadence. Her lush mouth. Her fit body. That dress flowing over her shape, makes me a thirsty man. For the first time in my life, I’m envious, jealous of what my little brother has tonight and all the nights ahead of him.
Cadence slowly turns toward me and sets her small, delicate hand gently against my jaw. The coolness of her skin a welcome balm. I want to lean into that touch, let her soothe me. For once, I want someone to take care of me.
Softly, she says, “Let me clean you up, cowboy.”
“What the hell happened?” Stone mutters, giving his back to our brother and his bride-to-be, as if shielding them from us, the audience to their kiss. He also breaks the spell Cadence has me under and I draw back from her.
“Just a little anxiety,” I mumble, before turning for the house. Shifting my jaw right to left a second, I gingerly cup it, missing the tenderness of Cadence’s hand. Fuck, that hurts.
“Not cold feet but pent-up nerves, I guess,” I add a little louder, walking toward the back door.
“Do not cover for him,” Stone grumbles as he follows behind me.
Cover for him? That’s something I’ve never done for Sebastian.
He’d sneak out of the house at thirteen years old and I wouldn’t question where he went or what he was doing.
I knew what he did. He sold drugs at the middle school and infiltrated the high school once he entered.
Jocks and junkies didn’t mingle. Being two years older than Sebastian, I’d been ashamed of who he was, and I kept my distance back then.
Within another two years, I was off at college, hardly looking back at Sterling Falls.
“Honestly, I don’t know what that was.” Sebastian’s words were a rush of drivel, making no sense, just like this morning.