“Hey, Dad.” I moved into my father’s embrace, closing my eyes and taking a moment to soak up the security I always felt within his arms.
I bent down to my grandfather where he sat in the recliner and placed a kiss to his weathered cheek. “Hey, old man. How you doing?”
He grinned up at me affectionately, reaching out to pat my hand. Despite his age, Bill Hightower was still larger than life to me. He’d slowed down a lot in recent years and had a permanent slope to his once-broad, wide shoulders, but to me he was as strong and powerful as he’d always been. “Alive and kickin’, so I got no complaints, sweetheart.”
I gave him a tender smile. “Glad to hear it.”
My brother came up behind me, hooking his arm around my neck and putting me in a headlock while ruffling my hair with his knuckles, driving me crazy like he had since I was a kid. “About time you got here, little sis. Thought I was gonna waste away from hunger, waiting for you.”
I elbowed Zach in the gut and stepped away, lifting my hands to fix my hair as I glared daggers in his direction. “The last thing you need to worry about is starving to death.”
He patted his stomach and grinned. “Hey, I’m a growin’ boy. We require a lot of food.”
I shook my head and rolled my eyes. “I’d hate to see your grocery bill.”
I could still feel Raylan’s eyes on me, but my avoidance was starting to feel like a game. Unfortunately, I didn’t know how long I’d be able to hold out.
“Dinner’s ready,” my mom announced just as things started to get a little wobbly, saving me from losing the battle of wills we had going. “Everybody, come on. Let’s eat.”
It wasn’t until I followed after everyone into the dining room, bringing up the rear, that I realized the problem. I skidded to a stop, my ribs constricting around my lungs with panic as I took in the seating arrangements.
Rae gave me a wide-eyed look from across the table the moment my gaze met hers. She saw the issue at nearly the same time I did. That issue being the fact there was only one empty chair left, and it happened to be right beside Raylan.
“Uh...” Her eyes darted around like she was looking for a way to save me.
“Come on, baby.” Zach came up beside Rae and pulled out a chair for her, ushering her to sit down before leaning in to place a kiss on the skin between her neck and shoulder. A sharp pang pierced right into the center of my chest at the adoration on my brother’s face as he looked at his wife.
Until recently, I hadn’t realized it was possible to be disgustingly happy for someoneandjealous at the same time, but I could no longer deny the longing I felt to have what Zach and Rae had. Or Ivy and Connor. Or so many of my other friends who were finding the loves of their lives and settling down.
I wanted that. I wanted someone to look at me like I was everything. Who wanted me so badly the need to touch me was almost a compulsion.
A throat cleared, pulling me out of my musings and back to the present. With no other choice, I looked at Raylan for the first time since arriving at my parents’ house.
He had one arrogant brow raised high on his forehead, his expression making my hand twitch with the desire to smack it right off his stupid, handsome face.
As if he could read my thoughts, one corner of his mouth hooked up in a smirk. “You gonna just stand there, Chaos, or join the rest of us?”
For the life of me, I couldn’t understand how it was possible to hate someone and want them so damn badly at the same time.
Chapter Seven
Lennix
Iwould have gladly told him off right then and there, if we had been alone. But part of hiding what had happened between us was pretending like everything was fine in front of my family. The only ones at that table who had any idea were me, Raylan, and Rae, and I wanted to keep it that way. If we started fighting like cats and dogs, they would start asking questions.
The smile I gave him was hard and brittle, and I was sure he could read the prominent thought rolling around in my head:I want to claw your eyes out. But I did my best to tamp down my rage. Swallowing my pride, I pulled out the chair beside him and sat down, scooting it over a couple inches to put more space between us.
“So how’s the brewery doing, sweetie?” Mom asked as everybody helped themselves to the spread she’d set out on the table. My mouth watered at the smells of the delicious dinner I was about to consume. If there was one meal in particular that my mother excelled at making, it was her lasagna, and thelarge pan at the center of the table, surrounded by a basket of homemade garlic bread and a huge bowl of salad, was calling my name.
I tore the corner off my piece of garlic bread as I answered, “It’s really good. Tours are steady, and the tasting room stays pretty busy. I talked to Earl the other day, and he thinks the new fall brew he’s been working on will be ready in a couple weeks.”
Zach shook his head at me from across the table as he shoveled a bite of lasagna into his mouth. “I still can’t believe you hired that guy.”
Earl was the brewmaster I finally hired after months and months of interviews and applications and one miss after another with everyone we tried putting into that position before him. I’d questioned my sanity at hiring him at first—the man was a moody bastard who seemed to live in a perpetual state of PMS. But he made some of the best beer I’d ever tasted, so, for the most part, I let his attitude slide.
I shrugged and popped the piece of bread into my mouth. It was soft and flaky and melted like butter on my tongue. “When it comes to Earl, I learned that genius breeds bitchiness. Took us a little while, but we found our flow. He promised to keep his tantrums to a minimum and I swore I wouldn’t make his life a waking horror.”
I smiled unabashedly at my brother, enjoying the look of fear in his eyes as my mom and grandma snickered. I’d been raised by strong females to know my worth and to know my strengths. And one of my strengths was getting revenge on a person when they pissed me off. Something my big brother was all too familiar with. He’d been the victim of my revenge the few times he’d tried to prank me growing up. It never ended well for him, and he learnedquicklythat I wasn’t one to be pranked.
