“The others are going to be mighty pissed they missed this. We’ve been talking about who’s the strongest out of you two.”
Brad heard Jake’s voice, but he wasn’t done yet. His anger and pain finally had an outlet, and he was taking it.
They were wrestling now; one minute Ethan had him pinned, the next he had him down. He took a fist to the jaw and managed to get a good jab in of his own. The cold water was a hell of a shock, and had them springing apart.
“Entertaining as this is, it’s time for you both to stop before some of those punches do serious damage.”
Brad reeled back and then rolled onto his back, breath heaving in and out of his chest. He was covered in water, and looking up he saw it had come from a bucket that Jake still held.
“I’m a doctor. If either of you idiots get hurt, I have to fix it. Hippocratic oath and all that shit.”
His jaw hurt and his ribs were aching; obviously Ethan had got a few more punches in than he’d realized. He made himself look at his brother, who was sitting now. His jaw was starting to swell, and his hair stood off his head.
“Shit.” Brad ran a hand over his face.
“Probably long overdue.” Ethan got to his feet and held out his hand. Brad took it and stood. “Now you have the anger and whatever else you got rolling around inside you out, maybe you’d care to tell me what the hell is going on?”
Jake wandered away again, while Brad wondered how the hell he could get out of here without telling his brother the truth.
“I didn’t mean to hit you; you were just handy.”
“Damned pleased I wasn’t.” Jake returned with two ice packs. He handed one to Ethan and the other to Brad.
“Only a doctor would have ice packs in his beer fridge.” Ethan grunted as he rested it on his face. “Annabelle’s gonna kick you good for doing this to me.”
“I need to go, Ethan. It’s important to a whole lot of people, and you need to let me.” Brad decided on a half-truth, because he knew his brother wasn’t letting him leave without something substantial.
“Why?”
“Can we just leave it at see ya?” Brad rotated the ice pack around his jaw, his thoughts circling back to Macy as they had every minute since she’d told him she loved him.
Macy loved him.
God he missed her, and he hadn’t even left yet. The pain in his jaw was only surpassed by the ache in his chest. So this was love, he thought. She’d sneaked into his heart without him realizing it. Her and Billy.
“Nope, not going to happen, and here’s the kicker, bud. You’re my little brother, and I love you, and surprisingly, even though you’ve only been in Howling a few weeks, I have a good read on you. And whatever this shit is, it’s bad. Is it Macy?”
“Do we have to do the love thing again? You pull that out when you want to win arguments, Ethan. It’s emotional bribery,” Jake drawled, and took a swig of his soda.
“He’s making up for lost time.” Surprisingly, Brad felt a need to defend his brother. “And no, it’s not about Macy.”
“Okay, so it’s not Macy. So spill, because you’re not leaving until you do.”
“I could just walk out that door.”
“You could try, but between Jake and me, we’ll keep you here.”
Brad looked from Ethan to Jake. McBride had the same look as his brother.
“I happen to think Ethan’s right, Brad. Whatever’s riding you is not good.”
He could possibly fight his way out, but then he knew Ethan well enough to know he’d follow when he left. The sigh hurt his ribs.
“Before I tell you, you need to know I’m going and you’re not.” Brad gave his brother a steady look, which he returned.
“We’ll see. Go on.”
“EG called me.”
