I knocked again, and then I heard him inside.
“In a fucking minute!” he yelled.
Tantrum, it was. I folded my arms over my chest, hoping to hell he didn’t talk to his staff that way.
Moments later, he ripped the door open with a glare fixed in place, and I merely cocked a brow at him.
He stopped short, looking like shit. Holey sweatpants and nothing else. Unless we counted the mother of bed heads.
Christ, when was the last time he’d showered?
“Fuck,” he whispered. “The birthday party.”
I nodded with a dip of my chin. “The birthday party,” I confirmed. “You have ten minutes to shower and make yourself presentable. Did you wrap the gift?”
He made a face and left the entryway. “The saleslady did that. Can you bring it? I’m not going.”
Goddammit.
“Yes, you are,” I told him, entering after him. What a fucking mess. Clothes all over, takeout containers, a mountain of dirty dishes in the sink… He’d once had ambitions for this place. He was going to turn the old hunting cabin into a proper home. Put up walls and add a second floor.
None of that had happened.
Thank fuck his dogs were in their own yard behind the main house—not to mention cared for by the staff. They deserved better than what Lias was capable of giving them at the moment.
“Ethan, not today.” He sighed and threw himself on the old couch, and he leaned back and scrubbed his hands over his face. “I can’t. I didn’t crash until sunup.”
I didn’t care. He wasn’t going to get better by closing himself in like this. He needed to be surrounded by family, end of story.
I checked my watch. “Clock’s ticking. Nine minutes.”
“Or what?” he snapped, back to glaring at me. “You gonna force me down the mountain? Huh? You gonna play the guilt card like Ryan and Darius?”
I shook my head. “I’m not gonna play any card at all. You’re gonna do what’s fucking right,” I told him. “You accepted an invitation from a kid who’s celebrating his first birthday with the family—and you promised Darius and Gray you were gonna be there.” I scanned the floor in hopes of finding a source of clean clothes. Maybe the dresser under the window. I walked over there and opened the top drawer. “We honor commitments in this family, kiddo.”
He groaned and cursed as I dug out a pair of boxer briefs, socks, and an undershirt.
“You need to do laundry,” I said.
“I need to do a lot of shit,” he grumbled. “Bottom drawer.”
I bent down and opened the bottom drawer. Jackpot…? Jeans and tees.
I suppressed a sigh and threw some clothes at him. “Go out and shower. I’ll wait here.”
Darius and I had installed an outdoor shower for him before the summer when he’d run out of steam. When he fell into another depressive episode, we couldn’t make him do much—but this was different. He was wallowing. Complaining andbitching and…whatever. It was becoming difficult to believe that all this was about Evelina.
Because we were going on years now since she’d broken up with him and skipped town without any goodbyes for the rest of us.
In our defense, she’d been family.
For once, Lias did as told without declaring war, and I figured I could make myself useful in the meantime. I folded up the sleeves of my shirt and started throwing garbage in a large bag.
The first several months after Evelina had left, Lias had been devastated. He’d also let us believe he’d played no part in her departure. Actually, everyone in the family still believed that was the case, but he’d opened up a little to me when he’d been shit-faced.
“It’s my fault. I lost her because I was a coward.”
What he’d done was a mystery. He refused to talk about it. But something had to give. This last setback had gone on for far too long. At least before, he’d been able to function. Months of distractions and work, starting his business, and then crashing for a few weeks. Slow recovery. He’d seen a therapist too. He’d gotten back on his feet, and he’d resumed his work. He’d even dated a little. And now…we were going on six months of our kid brother behaving like a zombie.
