Page 90 of Peppermint Bark

Alex shook me off, fists clenched. I wedged myself between these two idiots, pressing my back into Alex’s chest, knowing he wouldn’t act if I could get hurt, but knowing better than to turn my back on my brother.

I pushed back with all my might and said Alex’s name, the fury in his eyes dissipating once they fixed on me. Through gritted teeth, I said, “There are enough testosterone-fueled jerks in this house already. Don’t let him bait you, he’s not worth it.”

Alex calmed, then looked behind me. Levi's arms raised, begging for a fight.

“Alex, this is my fight, not yours.” Reluctantly, Alex stepped back.

But Levi read that as a victory and his lips curled into a sneer. “You know she has a dick, right?”

And that’s when all hell broke loose.

Chapter 31

Grace

“My brother sucker punched your brother?” Mallory said in awe.

“Right in the nose, blood everywhere,” I said as we all curled up on the queen bed that Mallory and Kate shared at the cabin.

“So what happened, exactly? Spare no detail.” Mallory asked.

“We were eating pie with my mom — who kept deadnaming and misgendering me — when my dad and brother got home. Dad disowned me again,” I tried to keep my voice light, although my heart lurched at my crushed hope of reunion, “and then Levi started taunting. Alex challenged Levi to a pissing contest.”

I skipped the part where Alex called me ‘the woman I love.’ I’m not even sure he noticed that he said it.

“Levi said,” I dropped my voice, “‘You know she had a dick, right?’ Before I blinked, Alex’s fist was in Levi’s face.”

“You had two men duel over you.”

“Doesn’t count as a duel when one of them is your brother.”

“Totally counts! Anthony Bridgerton defended Daphne’s honor in that duel against Simon.” We released a joint sigh about Simon’s red jacket, and Anthony climbing out of the lake.

“Wait a minute? Did your brother call you she?” Mallory asked.

It took a moment for me to recall the conversation …

“Oh my gosh, he did. And he called me pretty,” I murmured, touching my hair where he’d flipped it. He meant it as an insult, but he said it.

“So then what happened?” Kate asked. “Did Levi fight back?”

“Alex threatened legal action if he touched me. I told Levi to go to hell —”

“You what?” Mallory shrieked. “Our sweet Grace said that?”

“I thought, ‘What would Mallory say?’”

“I’m thinking of printing wristbands,” Mallory said. Kate rolled her eyes.

“Then we got the heck out, before anybody else got punched.”

“Did you pull over on the way home to bang it out?” Kate asked, and Mallory nodded with an expression that said, ‘Thanks for asking because I'm curious but please not too many details because ew that’s my brother.’

“Gosh, no,” I said. Even though I’d considered it, I didn’t want to admit it to his sister. “I was overwhelmed from the memories, and mad at him for getting violent, but also turned on —” Ok, so I had admitted it, “and confused about what the heck just happened.”

I skipped the part where my hands were shaking so badly that Alex told me to pull over at a gas station, then jogged around the truck and held me while I sobbed. How he’d run his hands over my back and promised I was safe. How once I could breathe normally, he’d kissed my forehead, loaded me into the passenger seat, bought Gatorade and granola bars, and waited until I finished before he pulled back onto the highway. How he’d pulled me into the center seat so that our hips touched, and whenever he wasn’t shifting gears, his reassuring hand rested on my leg.

I skipped the part where I realized that I’d been dreading this confrontation for years, and even though it had ended in bloodshed, I was still relieved to have gone. My hope for a reunion was trampled, but maybe it would give me the closure I needed to stop looking back, romanticizing my childhood, and wondering ‘what if?’ while ignoring the bigotry and closed-mindedness that I left behind.

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