20. family matters
CHAPTER 20
FAMILY MATTERS
LINCOLN
I’d hoped my allotment of surprises had already been used up, but there’s a black town car parked on the tarmac when we step off the plane and a frown in an ash gray suit waiting beside it.
Christ. What now?
The unannounced appearance of my brother is suspicious and unwelcome. Darcy, at least, made some kind of sense, because she’s Darcy, and her untamed glee at meeting Ivy has been apparent from the second she bounced onto the plane.
My brother is another story.
“Reed, you remember Ivy.”
Mum and Darcy make their way over to him. Me? I’m trying to hold on to what Darcy said earlier today, but I don’t like the way he’s looking at her, with narrowed eyes and a cold distance.
“I do, although it’s nice to see your face this time.”
“And yours,” Ivy says. “Now I have a face to put to the judgmental tone.”
Over Reed’s shoulder, Darcy hides a smile behind her palm.
His expression twitches briefly, the frown disappearing before he looks back up at me, and it returns in full force. “I’m calling a family meeting,” he says. “Ivy, can you get home from here?”
What the fuck? “I’ll take her home.”
“No, we need to talk, and it can’t wait. All of us.” One sweep of his hand, and Mum and Darcy are already getting into the car. But I’m not a lapdog and no one treats Ivy this way.
“You don’t get to order either of us around.”
“It’s okay,” Ivy says, tugging on my arm. “I’m a big girl. You should go.”
I trust her to get herself home, but I don’t like being treated like my brother’s underling. I have half a mind to leave, but there’s something desperate in his eyes that I’ve never seen before.
Fear.
Reed holds the car door open. “Thank you, Ivy. Lincoln, you’ve got two minutes.” With that, he walks to the driver’s side, the door closing like a gavel.
I kiss Ivy goodbye. “Be safe.”
She pokes my ribs, the adorable wrinkle on her nose calling out to me. “Don’t worry about me. I can take care of myself.”
“Of that, I have no doubt. But do it anyway. For me.”
She’s beautiful when she blushes. One thing is certain: I need to keep her in my life. “Go. I don’t want to annoy your brother any more than I already have.”
Directly ignoring Reed’s two-minute deadline, I wait until Ivy is safely away before I return to the car. In protest, I refuse to say a word the entire drive back to the house, spending the time in a state of barely contained rage.
Reed and I have always been different. He’s a thinker, I’m a doer. He likes work, I like fun.
My brother has never understood that I won’t wait. For anything. He needs graphs, research, to tell him how to feel, when to act. He’s never understood any explanation I’ve given him because they aren’t led by numbers.
None of my decisions have ever made sense on paper. So he tuned me out and called me selfish.
He was right. For a while. I didn’t see it until it was too late, but what hurt was that he was so busy being worried about the family— sounding every bit like Deacon that I could see his hand puppeteering Reed’s mouth— that he never asked me how I felt.
It was always blame, blame, blame. Keep Lincoln contained, keep him in line. I’d hoped we’d grown out of it, but clearly, I was wrong.
The house hasn’t changed since I last visited. A modest two-story Victorian with a warm red finish on the outside and an open floor plan. When we arrive, I tear into the living room ahead of him. “Are you going to explain that bullshit you just pulled?”
Reed folds his gangly body into an armchair, crossing one leg over the other. He’s lost the jacket but is still holding himself like this is a business meeting. “Sure. You can start by telling me why you thought you could use family property for a joyride without permission.”
Fucking permission? “Since when have I needed your permission to do anything?”
“Of course. What was I thinking? You merely swan about, doing whatever the fuck you want, with no care for the consequences.”
“Boys, please. Can we not do this right now?” Mum says.
I turn away from Reed to shove the anger down.
“At least explain the whole cloak and dagger act, Reed,” Darcy says.
“Someone attempted to access the trust account last night. Security notified me while you were gone. They didn’t get in, but we’re reviewing our current security measures.” He looks at me, and I know what’s coming before it leaves his mouth. “If you needed money, you could have just asked.”
Darcy is out of her seat first. “Reed!”
“You bastard,” I spit out, voice low. “How dare you?”
“Reed, you don’t really think your brother had anything to do with this, do you?” Mum asks.
He hasn’t taken his eyes off me since we entered the room. “Didn’t you?”
“No, you fucking asshole. I make my own money. I don’t want any of yours.”
His shoulders sag, and it’s just so fucking him to be relieved after he accuses me of stealing. “What about Ivy?” he asks.
My teeth grind together. “What about her?”
“How well do you know her, anyway? Do you even know that Ivy is her middle name?”
I don’t even blink. “Of course I do,” I bluff, because what does it matter? It’s still her name. “She could choose a different name each day of the week, and I wouldn’t care. What is this really about? Are you seriously implying she’s only after my money? That’s insulting, even for you.”
“I’m not accusing her?—”
I loom over him, fuming. “You damn well better not be. Ivy has nothing to do with this.”
Reed leans his head back, his expression serious. “But it wouldn’t be the first time you’ve been led astray by a pretty face.”
Blowing out a breath, I step away from him before I do something I’ll regret. “Unbelievable. Always getting one more hit in… You’re never going to let that go,” I say, shaking my head. I turn back to face him, hearing the menace thickening my voice almost into a growl. “Ivy is my girlfriend; you should show her some respect.”
Like he’s been cut off his strings, Reed’s expression crumbles, and he lands back in his chair with a thump. My hands are shaking with frustration, but at the sight of him slumped over in defeat, my pulse calms.
“You’re right, you’re right,” he says, rubbing both hands over his face. “Fuck, I’m sorry. If you trust her?—”
“I absolutely trust her,” I insist. There’s not a doubt in my mind.
Reed backs off, nodding, pained. “Then I believe you. It’s not her.”
“Jesus, Reed. And you wonder why I never told you about her,” I huff. I need a drink.
“Christ, Reed. I love you,” Darcy says from her perch. “But you really can be such an arsehole.”
As I walk over to where I know he keeps his whiskey, Darcy throws me a nod, and I figure why the hell not? and pour us all one.
“I’m aware,” Reed replies, thumb and forefinger digging into the corners of his eyes with one hand as he takes the offered drink from me with the other. It’s a big sign that he’s not as pulled together as he’d like everyone to believe. “I shouldn’t have accused you. Or Ivy.”
“Thanks, love.” Mum says when I pass her a glass. Then she shocks me by throwing two fingers of aged scotch back like its water. “Reed, you better get this nonsense out of your system before the reunion. I don’t want you making Ivy feel unwelcome.”
I can practically hear the record scratch in the room.
Fuck.
It’s not that I forgot about it. It’s impossible to in our family. Deacon never let us miss an occasion to celebrate his birthday, and now that he’s passed, Joe’s been bullied into carrying on the tradition for him and his long-gone twin.
But I didn’t account for Mum inviting Ivy, and I should have.
Shit. The last thing she needs is to be dragged farther into the depths of our drama.
“Of course I won’t. What do you take me for?” he says, to a resounding silence from the rest of us. “Yes, yes, all right. Arsehole, I know. I’ll apologize.”
“You damn well will,” I stress, knowing it’s the first thing I need to do when I get out of here, because dammit, I have so much more to say sorry for.
Namely, the disaster of today.
“It’s these fucking tariffs that have me on edge. Bloody two-faced politicians trying to force us to cut our benefits. That’s not an excuse.” He holds a hand up, stopping my argument before I can start it. “And now this breach.” He leans his elbows on his knees. “I’m sorry I accused you. It’s my responsibility to look after this family, and I take it very seriously.” Yes, and water is wet. “If there’s anything I need to know, tell me now. I can’t do anything if I don’t know.”
Darcy pins me with a challenging look. “Now where have I heard that today?”
I throw back my drink. Coming back here was meant to be complicated, not a complete disaster.