He turned away from the movie and blinked rapidly at me. Those blue eyes that matched mine were laughing at me.
“Does it bother you? I can leave, let you deal with Ronald all on your own.”
“No, that’s not- stop. You know what you’re doing,” I accused, and he laughed. He put up his hands in innocence.
“Fine, okay. So maybe I’ve had a change of heart. Seeing you grow up made me realize that maybe it’s time for me to do the same. Plus, getting my ass kicked repeatedly as a grown ass man for treating you like I have is getting old.”
I laughed, causing him to chuckle a bit too.
“I’m sorry,” he said finally. Although the movie was still playing, I couldn’t hear it anymore. I blinked, taking in my brother’s words. “For everything I’ve done to you over the years.”
My eyes started to water and I pressed my lips together. He had never apologized before. Honestly, I wasn’t sure if he needed to. I hated him just as much as he hated me.
“I guess I’m sorry too. We were both pretty awful to each other,” I laughed.
“Ha, that’s an understatement. But I think it’s time for a change. I can’t keep living like this. Plus, I’m an uncle now. I gotta start acting like a good one. Can’t let her see me acting a fool.”
I sighed deeply, thinking about Tate and Cara. Looking at the time, I saw that it was her bedtime. Tate was giving her a nighttime bottle and then settling down for a movie himself. Or perhaps a good book. He had primo access to all the books he wanted now that he owned and lived above a store that sold them.
“Plus, all of that was so long ago. I think everyone is tired of hearing about our feud. Which, honestly, I don’t even know what started it. We were so close before that tour,” I lamented. Dallas had turned back to the movie but when I added that last bit, he glanced at me with a skeptical look on his face.
“What? Sure you do. Cash had to have told you at some point.”
I sat up straighter and set my beer down on the side table.
“No. I don’t think so. What are you talking about?”
He cleared his throat and put his leg up, turning his body to me and tossing his arm over the back of the couch.
“You were Dad’s favorite. Probably still are, even with all this Tate shit, but whatever,” he waved that away and continued. “Dad put so much pressure on me all the time growing up. Nothing was ever good enough for him, and just because I have his face and can play guitar, he acted like I had to be some stellar musician or something. I hated it.”
I frowned. Sure, he was critical, but he pushed me too. Dallas shook his head, reading my mind.
“No, we are not the same.” He pointed his finger into his chest and then at me. “He treated you differently. And it just got worse on that tour.”
“Oh bullshit. Dad was horrible to me too that summer. He watched me like a hawk the entire time. I couldn’t do anything.”
“You could fuck around with Cash.”
I shut my mouth as my eyes grew wide.
“That’s low. I thought we’d already been over this. You broke the band up because we were dating. That’s not really a secret.”
“No, you only know half of it. Yes, I was mad my friend was sleeping with my sister, but I could have gotten over it. I broke up the band because he let me get my ass kicked to cover it up.”
“What the hell are you even talking about? You’re drunk.” I lowered my eyes and crossed my arms.
“Buzzed, thank you very much. It’s true. I covered for him a few times when condoms would go missing from people’s bags. Sometimes booze and weed too. I knew it was him, but he kept asking me not to say anything. He had a chick he was trying to impress. I was gonna blow it for him. But then one day I realized it was you two together and I confronted him. Face to face, I asked him if he was fucking you. He looked me dead in the eye and said no. That same afternoon Dad took me into a hotel room and beat the shit out of me.”
A gasp escaped my lips. He gave me a ‘I told you you didn’t know the full story’ look.
“Dad? Really?” I couldn’t imagine our dad laying a finger on anyone, let alone his son. He loved us. All of us. He never even raised a hand to me.
“I was bruised all to hell and it was embarrassing as fuck. I was sixteen but he made me feel like I was seven again. He told me if anything else came up missing again it’d be worse. That was the day I decided I was done. I took that beating for you and him and you didn’t even have the balls to tell me about your relationship.”
“I didn’t know. Why didn’t you tell me? I wouldn’t have told anyone. Dally, you could’ve tell me anything.”Could.
“I thought that before the tour. And if you had just told me about Cash, I would have gladly taken another ass whooping for you guys. It was that you lied to me. Me, of all people. I felt so alone on that tour. No one to speak to, Dad up my ass. If he wasn’t watching me like I was a monster he was pushing me to be the best guitarist ever put on this earth. It was too much.”
