“Do you want some company?” Zev had excitement in his eyes that Fox hadn’t seen in a long time.
“Don’t you have a company to run?”
Zev had taken over running Hannigans Investment from Barret, who enjoyed running the wine store, and his grandfather, Kaplan, who was off traveling and visiting friends with his grandmother, Tora. Fox was proud of his brother because he was doing a great job running the company.
“I do, but you know I will always make time for you.”
Fox had been trying not to bother Zev. He understood his brother had a lot on his plate. Moressa was weeks away from giving birth, and even with the family begging her to take time off, she refused. He could also tell his brother and Moressa were having issues with Corbin which was causing stress in their relationship.
“If it’s not going to be an inconvenience to you, then sure, I’d love some company.”
“It won’t be.” Zev smiled. “Let me see Moressa off, and we can go.”
“Okay.”
“So,want to tell me about Alistaire Vale?”
Fox groaned and leaned his head back in the seat, watching the scenery. He knew his brother was going to ask about Alistaire sooner or later. They were on their way toHannigan’s Won’t You Be Wineto pick up the packages his parents wanted him to deliver to a few of their customers.
“What do you want to know?”
“Everything,” Zev replied. “I’ve never seen you act like this over someone before.”
“How was I before?”
“Usually, the guys went after you and not you going after them.” Zev chuckled.
“That’s because they weren’t my mate,” Fox answered.
Zev was a bit silent, and Fox wanted to know what his brother was thinking. Tightly gripping the steering wheel, Zev asked. “Are you sure?”
“I am.”
Zev sighed after a few minutes of silence. “I won’t interfere in your relationship, but if he hurts you, I will kill him.”
Fox snickered. Zev was never a man of words—he was a man of action. “You can try, but I doubt you’ll succeed.”
“I have so many questions,” Zev said. “Like what the hell happened in the forest a few days ago, but I know you won’t tell me.”
“It’s not that I won’t. I can’t.”
“Why, because he told you not to? You’ve changed so much since you woke up in the hospital, and I’m afraid of you pulling further away from us…from me.”
Fox sighed. “You’re right. I have changed. Even though I’ve gotten most of my memories back, I realized before I had Genesis I depended too much on you, Dilen, mom, and dad to bail my ass out of messes I’d get myself into.”
“So what now, you’re going to depend on Vale?”
“No!” Fox snapped. “I’m going to depend on myself. Why can’t you understand I simply want my independence? You can’t keep coddling me like I’m a fragile piece of glass that’s about to break any minute.”
“Because I can’t lose my baby brother! I know what the doctor told you two years ago,” Zev said, gritting his teeth.
“Wh…what? How do you know that?”
Zev pulled over the side of the road and turned to look at Fox.
“I read your journal. I knew you were getting regular check-ups, but you didn’t want to worry the family, so you kept your appointments a secret. A couple of weeks before you got some bad news, you seemed over the moon. I wanted to ask what was going on but figured you’d tell me when you were ready. I thought you’d met some guy, and he swept you off your feet. And then your mood changed. I thought you’d told the guy how you felt, and he turned you down. I wanted to find out who it was so I could kick his ass, and that’s when I saw what you wrote.”
Fox sat still in the passenger seat, listening to his brother pour out his heart, and all that kept going through his mind was Zev knew he was going to die.
