Chapter Ten #2
“I am not going to survive this week.” Flynn groaned. “Sorry I visited the diner then bailed before we met. I wanted to introduce myself, but my feet lost their nerves. Not me. I wanted to stay.”
One of Zack’s eyebrows rose. “I find that hard to believe.”
Is he being serious or calling me out? “Bitch, you don’t know me.” Flynn slapped a hand over mouth, eyes wide.
The guy behind Zack, who Flynn totally hadn’t seen before this very second, growled. Where was that wine? Flynn was ready to chug the entire bottle. Maybe he would pass out and skip the rest of this train wreck.
“This bitch is willing to learn,” Zack said, zero hesitation. “Quick question, you don’t have homicidal tendencies, do you? Last brother killed my parents then tried to stab me.”
Holy shit. Flynn wasn’t sure if he should hug Zack or check him for weapons.
“Okay. That was—I use that word…loosely. Affectionately. Not… aggressively.” Flynn wiped his hand over the counter like he was removing dust. “I’m gonna stop talking now. I’m learning. Growth.”
You are not learning. You have never learned. True.
“Cool, cool, cool,” Flynn said, still wondering if he was gonna get that wine. “But like… respectfully, do you have any knives on you right now? I mean, statistically speaking, trauma can go either way. Victim or…you know…also stabby person.”
The guy behind Zack growled again, staring at Flynn like I am watching you, but my boyfriend is amused so you live.
“That was a joke. Not a joke. A concern. A light concern?” Flynn quickly said. The guy was huge. Flynn was…not.
Still. “You two were full brothers. I think homicidal tendencies would stick closer to home.” He gave Zack the stink eye. “Sure you’re not here for my half of the inheritance?”
Zack frowned. “You think I’d kill you for your half of his debt?”
Debt? Flynn hadn’t met with the lawyer, so he didn’t know what his dead-beat father had left him. “Wait. Are you saying he left us with his debt?”
Zack’s lips thinned. “Twenty grand.”
Flynn’s family line truly said Best I can do is emotional damage and financial ruin.
“The son of a bitch knocked up my mom then bounced. Never attended a single birthday or gave me a Christmas gift, and now I’m supposed to pay off his debt?” Flynn shouldn’t have been shocked by a man who could forget he’d created a life, yet the gut-punch nearly folded him.
All the time growing up, Flynn had lied to himself, pretending his dad was a deployed soldier who hadn’t made it home yet, or a spy on important missions, or even had amnesia and forgot his own identity.
But it was Flynn he’d forgotten. No, not forgotten. Never cared. Flynn shouldn’t be paying his debt when he’d never shelled out a dime for his own child. He closed his eyes, refusing to break down in front of strangers. “Was he nice to you?”
“Yes,” Zack whispered. Flynn brushed past them then raced to the door, trying like hell to outrun the pain.
* * * *
“Should I have lied?” Zack asked his mate. He’d never seen a more devastating look on someone’s face. Even though Zack knew nothing about Flynn, he wanted to run after him and comfort him.
“No,” Colton replied. “He’s hurting right now, but being honest was the right call. You can’t build trust on a foundation of lies.”
“I’m going after him. You watch the store.”
“Absolutely not. Zack, get your ass back here.”
But Zack didn’t listen. He shot out the door after his brother. He was the only family Zack had left, and he wasn’t about to lose Flynn too.
Zack caught up, determined to fix things, but still keeping in view of the bookstore. Flynn had a stalker, and Zack refused to play victim ever again.
“Flynn, slow down!”
Flynn spun so fast, Zack nearly collided into him. “Why?” Flynn shouted, causing a few heads to turn their way. Zack didn’t give a shit. “We met. We’re aware of each other now. No further obligation is required.”
“You’re not an obligation,” Zack argued, heated Flynn would think such a thing.
“Your father thought so. Knocked my mom up then walked away like planting a seed didn’t require nurturing. Like I was a weed instead of a flower.”
“I’m so sorry he did that, Flynn. Had I known—”
“What, you would’ve invited me over for Thanksgiving? Handed me presents from under the tree? Pretty sure your mom would’ve welcomed me considering I wasn’t supposed to exist. A mistake he wished he never made!”
Zach was stunned at how much pain poured from those words. “You’re not a mistake, Flynn. You’re my brother. That doesn’t sound like much, but it’s everything to me.”
“I’m glad you made this about you,” Flynn said, but he didn’t seem upset. He seemed like he was maybe fighting a smile. Zack wasn’t really sure.
“It’s the truth, no matter how selfish it sounds. You’re stuck with me.” Shit. “That sounded creepy as hell.” Zack held up his hands. “I promise I’m not a weirdo.”
“You are.” Flynn grinned. “That’s what makes you so charming.”
With a laugh, Zack replied, “We’re going to be best friends. Colton, my growly boyfriend, used to run his own security firm. He can help with your problem.”
Zack was offering his mate's services without asking, but he was sure Colton would help Flynn.
If not, Zack would glue himself to his newfound brother. Selfish or not, Flynn was the only family he had left. Zack would be damned if he let anyone hurt the guy.
* * * *
“I haven’t forgotten what you said, about—”
“My S. T. A. L. K. E. R.” Flynn had no idea why he was a deranged elementary school teacher …again. Maybe if he didn’t say the word out loud, his problem wouldn’t exist. Sounded pretty logical to him.
“I know what a dang stalker is,” Zack argued. “Seen them in movies a thousand times. I’m practically a stalker whisperer by now.”
Was there such a thing?
Flynn decided not to ask.
But Zack didn’t laugh or back away slowly. Instead, his expression went serious, focused in a way that reminded Flynn they might actually share genetics.
“Anything weird?”
“Just... little things.” Flynn’s hands moved as he talked, gesturing toward…he wasn’t sure. “Like notes taped to my door.”
“Notes saying what?”
“Creepy stuff. ‘I’m watching you,’ that kind of thing.” Flynn’s laugh sounded deranged even to his own ears. “Found one taped to my apartment door last week. Cops took a report. Probably filed it under ‘Five Crayons Short of a Rainbow.’” Was that how the saying went?
Zack stepped closer. “That’s frightening.”
“I don’t know.” Flynn shrugged. “Who said you had to have every color?”
“I meant the stalker.” Zack frowned.
“It’s annoying, mostly.” Lie. It was downright terrifying, but he didn’t want to look like a complete wuss in front of his new brother. “I’m careful. Don’t go out alone after dark, check over my shoulder, all the cliché things scary movies teach you.”
“And the cops won’t believe you?”
He sounded just as shocked as Flynn had felt the first time the fuzz dismissed him.
“Would you?” Frustration crept into his voice. “I don’t have a shred of proof. For all they know, I’m just some lunatic missing his crayons.” Why was Flynn suddenly obsessed with crayons?
The muscles in Zack’s jaw flexed. “That’s bullshit.”
“Welcome to my life, where bullshit is the house special.” Flynn rubbed his palms against his jeans. “But hey, at least now you know your half-brother comes with free drama and—I’m gonna stop talking about crayons.”
“My boyfriend used to run a security firm.” Zack spoke quickly, like he’d been thinking about it the whole time Flynn was talking. “He’s good at this stuff. Protective services, surveillance, all of it. He could help.”
There was always a barrier. “I can’t afford—”
“Can I talk to him about this?” Zack was already pulling out his phone. “He heard when you said you had a stalker, but he’ll want details.”
Flynn felt like either vomiting or passing out. Both? Colton would question him. The notes, the constant prickling sensation between his shoulder blades, the ritual of testing his doorknob.
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” he said, which was code for absolutely not but he didn’t want to seem rude. “That’s a lot to dump on someone you just met.”
Like you haven’t been dumping on Zack the moment you opened your mouth.
“He won’t mind.” Zack’s thumbs were already dancing across his phone screen. “Trust me. It’s his thing.”
Flynn almost laughed. He’d learned early that letting anyone past his walls was like handing them a loaded gun. Point it wherever you want.
And he had so many soft targets.
Chapter Two
Colton wasn’t in the bookstore when Flynn and Zack returned. He’d been sitting in his truck.
Now he was heading inside. Heavy boots on old floorboards, confident strides that said this man had never second-guessed himself in his entire life.
Flynn second-guessed himself all the time. Made life interesting when you never knew which choice you’d settle on. Most of the time he picked whipped cream over sprinkles, but his brain occasionally surprised him.
Colton rounded the corner, all shoulders and height, dark hair slightly mussed like he’d been running his hands through it. The guy gave the room a once-over before his eyes settled on Flynn, making him feel like he was being stared at by something way higher up the food chain than him.
It wasn’t exactly fear he felt. More like when you spotted the popular kid from high school at the grocery store and your first thought is, “Crap, where’s the nearest exit?”
“This is Flynn,” Zack said with a smile, like he was presenting a shiny toy he’d just found on some random playground. “My half-brother.”
Flynn felt like either vomiting or passing out. Both? Talk to Colton. About his stalker. About the notes and the feeling of eyes on him constantly and the way he’d started checking locks three times before bed like some kind of paranoid shut-in.
“You can tell him,” Zack said. “He’s very professional.”
Flynn opened his mouth, but words had abandoned him completely, leaving only a vague sense of doom and the certainty that he was about to make a complete ass of himself.