28. Anthony
Chapter 28
Anthony
I ’M A BALL of stress. I hate it.
After a shower, Darcy and I head downstairs and see that Harrison’s already there, doing his usual morning checks on the machines and cleaning the bowling shoes we rent to the patrons.
“Morning, boss,” he chirps, happy as a lark.
I grunt.
Darcy, being the far better human than me, gives him a smile and they make small talk. Harrison’s entire demeanor around Darcy changed when he realized I liked her. Smart man.
“I still don’t see why we need to close the entire day for this,” I grumble.
“Getting people to leave is a lot harder when they’re already here.” Harrison doesn’t miss a beat.
“We could be making money,” is all I say in return.
Harrison doesn’t bother replying, and Ox, Levi, and Charlotte come through the door next, loaded down with more decorating supplies than I’d prefer to see.
“What do you plan on doing with all of that?” I growl.
“We’re decorating, asshole,” Levi shoots back at me. “Deal with it. You don’t have to help, but you do have to get out of the way.”
Charlotte shoots Levi a look, then closes the distance to pull me into a side hug. “Good morning, Grumpy!”
I grumble. It feels nice to default back to the grouch I was before Darcy made me happy.
But all Charlotte does is laugh, and Darcy does the same. With a sidelong glance at my woman, Charlotte observes, “You need more coffee.”
“Which is why I brought some.” Ox brandishes two carrying containers of iced coffee and hands mine over with a smug smile. He knows exactly how I like it: iced latte with oat milk and three raw sugars. It’s the only time I’ll indulge in something that tastes like a dessert, and somehow the bastard knew I’d want one.
Darcy accepts the frozen sugary concoction Ox hands her next, moaning almost as loud as when my mouth was on her in the shower upstairs.
I’m still not happy to be having it here, but there really was no other place. The only bright spot is knowing that Levi “this place isn’t good enough” Hall hates having it here. Seeing him climbing ladders and cussing when the streamers rip is also pretty damn satisfying.
The hours pass quickly, and soon enough, Reid is at the door, delivering lunch for all of us and promising to come back when he’s off duty.
There are more streamers and balloons than I can count, and the place is festooned with photos of my parents as well. Scattered in between are pictures of the five of us, and they hurt to look at. We boys go from scrawny and awkward up to hulking giants, and looking at them just makes me hungry. We were always hungry. Mom struggled to keep us fed, and there were more bologna and rice dinners than I’d prefer.
The background of the trailer park looms in so many of them, too. I never much minded living there, but I know it chapped Levi’s ass in particular. It’s why he bought them a house the second he could. Our parents would have stayed in that damn trailer park the rest of their days, despite it being unsafe as hell. The community was never the problem; the actual structure was what put Levi over the edge. And the more that hurricanes and other bad weather increased, the more his urgency became to get them the hell out of there. It was a rare instance of me agreeing wholeheartedly with my brother.
Darcy’s hand rests on my back as she approaches, standing next to me to look at one of the pictures. By some miracle, Coach had let us freshman football players have a few days off during the season, so I’d driven the few hours home to catch one of my brothers’ games. They were in high school, dressed out in full pads and nearly as tall as me, fresh off a win against some team or another. Mom and Dad bracket us on either side, both of them wearing smiles so proud that even now it almost breaks my heart. Because it was never me they were proud of, despite me playing for the University of Alabama. I remember that distinctly. It was always the twins. That night, my brothers had run some kind of offensive miracle and worked together to score the winning touchdown.
“You weren’t happy.” Darcy says it so matter-of-factly that I startle, looking at her with my mouth open.
She laughs. “Don’t look so surprised. I know your expressions. I know when your smile is actually a shield, and I know that most of your scowls are actually forms of a smile.”
Her words are a balm, and I feel myself defrost the tiniest bit. “Thank you.”
She tilts her head up for a kiss, then studies me. “Was it really so bad? Growing up with them?”
I open my mouth to speak, but don’t have the words. Yes, it was. No, it wasn’t. It’s so fucking complicated.
She gives an understanding chuckle and hugs me. “Come on. I think the guests are arriving.”
It’s a relief to lose myself to bartending for a while, and I half want to stay there when Harrison shows up an hour later to tell me my parents are there. “Go mingle and shit,” he says with a smirk. “I know how much you love that.”
I give a derisive snort as I toss the towel on the bar. “Watch out or I’ll fire you.”
He laughs. “You couldn’t handle this place without me.”
Mom and Dad are surrounded by people, and it takes them a long time to finally reach my brothers and me.
“There are my boys!” Dad opens his arms and gestures for Ox and Levi, the same way he always does. I swear I’m an afterthought.
But Mom turns to me for a hug, and it’s surprising to get her attention first. “Hi, Mom.”
She pats my back, then steps back and takes my arms in her hands, giving me a once-over. “How are you, my firstborn?”
“Fine, Mom. Thanks.”
Dad finally releases the twins and shoots me a cheerful grin. “Anthony!” But he doesn’t step forward for a hug. Just nods and smiles.
It hurts more than it should.
Charlotte and Darcy appear on the periphery, and after Charlotte says her hellos, Mom looks expectantly at all of us to figure out who the extra woman in our circle is.
“This is Darcy,” is all I say.
Hurt flashes across Darcy’s face, but she covers it as she holds out a hand to shake theirs. “I never took your classes, Mr. Hall, but I remember you well.”
Dad chuckles. “Ah, one of the lucky ones, huh?”
She smiles, and I can see just how fake it is. “Something like that.” When her gaze darts to mine, clearly wondering why the hell I’m not saying what she means to me to them, all I can do is grind my teeth. They don’t deserve her sunshine.
Makes no damn sense, but I just…don’t want to share her with them. I don’t want to share my happiness with them.
Jesus, I sound like an ass when I say that. Is that really what I think? I don’t know.
I excuse myself, but no one really seems to notice. And that’s the reason, right there. I could probably run around in a purple gorilla suit and they’d not notice, as wrapped up as they are in each other.
Darcy makes herself scarce, too, and I deserve nothing less. When Ox finds me to bring out the cake—because I’m the one who knows where it is, not because I should be included in the celebrations—I do my best to put on a show. It’s not about me, I know that. My parents are happy. Healthy. Living in a house that Levi bought them. They’re loved by so many people in our community.
The cake is delicious, made by yet another local former student of Dad’s, but it turns to ash in my mouth as Ox asks Reid to take a picture of just him and Levi with Mom and Dad.
“Anthony! Get in here!” Mom calls.
I ignore her, turning to leave.
“Anthony,” comes another call, only this time it’s in the unmistakable growl of Levi. The fuck if I care. He calls my name again, and I keep walking.
“What in the fuck is your problem?” His hand flicks the back of my arm as I charge around the corner, away from the prying eyes of the partygoers.
“Nothing.”
“Bullshit,” he shoots back. “Look at me and tell me what’s got you so worked up.”
“It doesn’t matter,” I say, steeling my voice. And it really doesn’t. I could tell them all, explain that I was tired of always being an afterthought, even though I was the first fucking born. That for just one day, I’d enjoy being someone that they were all proud of instead of being the one they squinted their eyes about and pretended to be excited that I’d opened a gaming hall.
“You need to go back out there and apologize to Mom.”
I bark out a laugh. “Absolutely not.”
Levi steps closer. “That woman sacrificed everything for us?—”
“Yeah, yeah. Blah blah, I know, Levi. I know. I was there. I was there the whole fucking time—not that any of you seem to remember that little fact.”
“Oh, what kind of bullshit are you talking about?” Levi drawls, his eyes flashing. “Don’t tell me you’re jealous .”
“Of you?” I scoff. “Hardly.”
He steps into my space, sneering. “Then get the fuck back out there and tell our mother that you’re sorry.”
“Fuck off,” I seethe. And I know I shouldn’t, but this asshole has pushed me too fucking far. I use my height to my advantage, jerking my shoulders back and pushing my chest out to force him back.
It’s enough to make him snap, and he’s cocking his fist back and sending it swinging towards me before I can process he’s truly done it.
His fist slams into my cheek, and pain—beautiful, easily identifiable pain—blooms as my head jerks back.
I see red.
Immediately, I throw my own punch. It lands exactly where I want it, on his upper cheek and grazing his eye. Fucker still doesn’t know how to protect himself in a fight.
He lunges, and I let him tackle me, needing the physicality of it like I need to fucking breathe.
We’re tangled up, landing blow after blow on each other’s ribs and anywhere else we can, when Ox and Reid’s unmistakable voices yell at us to break it up.
Reid pulls me back and Ox takes Levi, both of them in full cop mode based on the brutal grip Reid has on me. My arms are pinned behind my back, and I legitimately have no idea how he’s incapacitated me.
“Let me go,” I growl.
“Not a fucking chance,” he grunts, clearly having to work to keep his grip on me.
“What the fuck, guys?” Ox demands, his own grip on Levi just as secure.
“Let me go,” Levi says, his voice low and deadly. “I’ll give him one more punch and we’ll be good.”
I jerk at Reid’s grip and snarl a laugh. “That’s the only way you’ll make it happen, asshole. You need me held back because you can’t fucking do it yourself. Like always .”
The words hit home, and he leaps to get closer, Ox shouting and holding him tighter.
“You need to get out of here,” Reid says in my ear. “Go upstairs and stay there. Do not come back.”
Because he assumes it’s my fault. This is my fucking place, and yet I’m the one being told to leave. Which tracks. Of course it tracks. Reid doesn’t know shit about our family dynamics and even he sides with the twins. Every. Fucking. Time.
I twist out of his grip and lift a hand to my swelling cheek, feeling the spot just above my beard where he broke the skin. Without a word to anyone, I walk away.