“What do you mean, so what? You’re financing criminals!”
“Don’t you get it, Dash?” I step forward, shoving a finger in his chest, as if that’ll get my words to pierce his thick skull and drive home my point. “I. Don’t. Care.” I jab with each syllable. “I’m selfish! I don’t care about the random people Uncle Mike fucks over. I care about my brothers. You and Leo. I want the two of you to be safe, and fuck the rest of the world!”
My holler echoes across his backyard, probably traveling the entire length of the neighborhood.
When the reverberations of it dwindle, another shout pierces the night from a few houses down.
“Fuck you too!”
Dash and I blink at each other, his shock no doubt matching my own.
Then, suddenly, we’re laughing.
All the tension of the situation melts out of us, the anger rising and falling that easily. Because at the core of every shouted word was the care we have for each other.
And included in that is Leo.
When our hysteria fades away, the night is eerily quiet. Just the sound of crickets and Pig snuffling in the grass in the corner of the yard.
With a deep sigh, I brace myself for the argument to start up again. “Charlie and I are married. We will be for the next year, and then I’m going to get Leo out of the business. I just—” My throat tightens, and I clear it before pressing on. “I need you to not give me shit about this.”
Dash stares at Pumpkin, where she snores on the ground in the middle of the yard. He takes his time answering.
“Fine.” He rubs the back of his neck. “Fine.”
A weight lifts that I didn’t realize was dragging me down, and I give in to the urge to raise my arms in a shoulder-cracking stretch. Charlie and I made the drive to New Orleans in a day, but it wasn’t exactly short, and now my muscles are complaining with little aches and pinpricks I try to work out.
“You like Charlie?” Dash asks.
That question has me dropping my arms and glancing at my brother suspiciously.
“I trust him to follow through on this, if that’s what you mean.”
“You two …” He lets the sentence drift off, turning the mystery ending into a question.
“We get along. I think, at the end of the year, we’ll be good friends.”
“Friends,” he repeats without inflection.
“Yes,” I say, steel in my voice. “Friends. We’re just friends.”
CHAPTER 28
CHARLIE
“You like Luna.” Paige barely waits for the door to shut behind the siblings before she gets straight to the sensitive, secret center. “This is not the normal path of a relationship. Just in case you got confused. The marriage usually comes later.”
I grin. “Oh damn. Knew I got something mixed up. Well, guess I’m in it now.”
Paige snickers. “Let me get you a beer. I don’t know how long that’s going to go on for.” She waves at the back door, where we can hear tense, muffled voices.
Paige returns a minute later, carrying a Hefeweizen. I appreciate the wheat beer. One thing I miss about Germany is the beer selection. They know how to brew a delicious wheat over there. Beer might as well be a religion for them.
As I pop the top off the bottle and pour the amber liquid into a glass, Luna’s and Dash’s voices rise to a volume that carries through the back door.
“How’s Nashville?” Paige asks, attempting to start a conversation in opposition to the hollering.
“Like what I’ve seen so far. Luna took me?—”
