“Hopefully. But buying property and building a house before they’ve even spent time here is a big risk.”
“So they sell the house and move back to Aspen Cove if they hate it here. It’s not that big of a deal. What are you really worried about?”
I glance over at my brother, gauging his expression. “I just don’t understand the rush. Why couldn’t they give us a year to get the company off the ground? This is the last thing Sebastian needs right now, and you know he can’t ever tell them no for anything.”
I can feel Cash’s stare heating my skin.
I glance at him as I pull into the parking lot next to The Deli. “What?”
“Just making sure it’s Deacon driving this truck and not Levi or Ryland.”
I park and turn to my brother. “What the hell’s that supposed to mean?”
He doesn’t back down. “You’ve always seemed happy to let the rest of us worry about stuff while you chase a good time.”
Damn it. My brother always knows just how to get under my skin. “Fuck you, Cash.”
He grins. “Nah, I’m all booked up now, thanks.” He slaps my shoulder. “My brother’s finally growing up.”
“You can walk home, asshole.”
I hop out of the truck, slamming the door behind me. I head toward The Deli, where I can see a long line throughthe windows, but I turn to face my brother before I get there. “There’s nothing wrong with wanting to have fun.”
“Never said there was,” he says, all casual, like we aren’t fighting.
“And most of the time you were right there with me, having a good time.”
He nods. “And most of the time any of us wanted to have a serious conversation, you hightailed it out of there.”
I shrug. “Y’all didn’t need me. You made that very clear.”
His expression morphs. Good. I want him to be angry. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
And I no longer want to have this conversation. “Forget it.”
“Ah, there’s the brother I know and love,” Cash says. “Running away when things get too real.”
I shake out my hands and reach for the door, but Cash grabs my shoulder and pulls me back, slamming me against the cinderblock wall of The Deli.
“What the fuck’s your problem?” I’m angrier than this conversation deserves, and I need to get away from him before I do or say something stupid. “Let me go.”
He grins. “I’m still bigger and stronger than you.”
I shove him, and he stumbles away, but he’s back on me in an instant. “I’m not trying to fight you. I just want to know what’s going on in your head. What’s got you so worried?”
“So you can tell me what an overgrown child I’m being?” I’ve always been the fun one, the one trying to ease tension with a joke. If that didn’t work, I fled the tension. And now, no one in my family takes me seriously. If they even bother listening to me at all.
Cash’s brow creases. “You know we’re just joking with that shit, right? Last month, you pulled over at a park to go down a slide. It’s not a leap.”
“It was a good slide.”
“Exactly. You’re a big kid. You like having fun. That’s who you are. Why is it suddenly a problem now?”
“Because I’m notliterallya kid. I heard you and Ryland talking last night. You’re worried about Sebastian, too, but you didn’t include me in that conversation because you think I’m too immature to handle it.”
Cash just looks more confused. “You always say you don’t want to be involved in those conversations.”
“Because they were boring. It was just you and Ryland worrying over some detail of the business that was always going to work out fine. Everything with the business ran smoothly in Aspen Cove, and y’all didn’t need me. It’s not running smoothly here. We need to do things differently, and someone should tell Mom and Dad to back off until we get our shit together.”
