He turned onto Mountain Breeze Road and gunned the engine, headed back into town. He was on his way to meet Trent for burgers at Rowdy’s, but he’d needed a long ride to blow off some steam and cool his head first.
Except every time he let his mind wander, he was remembering the feel of Emma’s arms around his waist when he’d driven her home last night, her sweet, floral scent, the way she’d crawled up his back and tried to kiss him. She’d gotten her wish all right—he was definitely not still thinking about her as the tomboyish kid she’d once been. Nope, he had seen the sexy, grown-up version of her, and he liked it, a little too much.
But he didn’t like that she’d asked him for help changing her image. Because now she was doing exactly what she’d accused him of: She was still seeing him as the hell-raiser he’d been back in the day. And he was not that guy anymore. He couldn’t afford to be that guy, not if he wanted to stay part of Trent’s life.
He roared past Off-the-Grid, waving at Ethan and Gabby standing by Ethan’s red Jeep, then grimaced when he saw what they were doing. “Yo, get a room!” he yelled.
Ethan flipped him the bird.
Shaking his head, Ryan followed Mountain Breeze Road to its end, then swung a right onto Main Street. As luck would have it, he rolled into an open spot right in front of Rowdy’s. Trent stood out front, hands shoved into the pockets of an oversized gray hoodie withMISSOURI COLLEGEwritten in big letters on the front and a black knit cap pulled low over his ears.
He couldn’t have looked any more like an awkward teenager if he’d tried.
Ryan pulled off his helmet and glasses. “Hey.”
Trent’s eyes were almost as big as his face. “That’s a sweet ride. It’s yours?”
Ryan nodded as he swung off the bike. “Hungry?”
“Yeah.”
Inside Rowdy’s, their waitress showed them to the table Ryan and his friends usually occupied—off to the side with a view of whatever game was on the big-screen TV over the bar. The place occasionally lived up to its name on a Friday or Saturday night, but at six o’clock on a Tuesday, it was a perfectly respectable place to bring his teenage brother for a burger.
His brother.
Ryan shook his head as he looked at the skinny kid across from him. “Still can’t quite believe you’re here.”
“My folks are super-pissed.” Trent said it with the kind of smug satisfaction Ryan might have felt at that age. Today, it twisted uncomfortably in his gut.
“They know you’re here?”
Trent nodded.
“You got plans? Going home? Back to college?”
His brother shrugged. “Thought I might hang here awhile, if that’s cool with you.”
“It’s definitely cool with me, man, as long as you’re not using me to piss your parents off.” Ryan gave him a hard look.
Trent lifted a shoulder. “Don’t care either way.”
“How are you paying for all this?” Ryan asked.
“I’ve got a credit card,” Trent said. “Just charging stuff until I get a job.”
Their waitress came over, and they ordered burgers, chocolate milkshakes, and a plate of cheese fries. It seemed like appropriate chow for the occasion. While they ate, Ryan learned that Trent had been a business major for the short time he’d been in college before he dropped out to try his luck as a dubstep DJ.Ryan managed to keep his opinion on that decision to himself.
But in doing so, he realized something. Trent’s parents had always seen him as a bad influence. If Ryan was able to convince his brother to go back to college, he might finally win them over. Now that Trent was legally an adult, he didn’t need his parents’ permission to visit, but Ryan didn’t want to play it that way if he could help it. He was a decent human being, dammit, and he wanted them to see that. He wanted a permanent place in his brother’s life, and it would be so much easier if the Lamars weren’t constantly trying to push him out of the picture.
He glanced up to see Ethan and Mark coming toward their table.
“We heard there was a family reunion happening without us,” Ethan announced as he and Mark dropped into two empty chairs at the table. “I’m Ethan Hunter. We’re practically related, too, since I consider both of these guys to be my brothers.”
Trent just stared, but his eyes had gotten really wide again.
“Mark Dalton,” Mark said. “Don’t mind him. He hit his head a lot when he was a kid.”
Ryan shook his head with a laugh. “These two idiots are my business partners. We own Off-the-Grid Adventures together, but yeah, as kids we were foster brothers. They’re my family here, which makes them extended family of sorts for you, too.”
