Page 26 of Deceit

“Coke then?” she inquires. Hardy chuckles, probably because of the comment I made about Mom earlier and her snorting.

“Sure, yeah.”

Hardy pulls out two red cans from the fridge, opening mine before handing it over and sitting across from me at the small dining room table. My cell buzzes in my pocket and, to take away some of the awkwardness nestled in the middle of the table, I yank it out.

EMMY: Are you still coming with me to the charity gala? You said you’d let me know.

Nope.

Being around suits and men with money that they wipe their asses with isn’t my idea of blowing a night.

Seeing Emmy in a tight dress that outlines her perfect ass and heels might make up for it.

But nah. Still a no.

More of a hell no. I honestly can’t believe she thought I was serious when I told her to let me have some time to think about it. She knows I hate that shit. I only avoid her like an unpopular opinion. I’m surprised I even responded back to the dumbass question to begin with.

Because you’d break her in half while she screams your name.

Scarlett joins my brother, comfortable together as I feel out of place in my own damn crib as they both stare at me.

I take a long swig of my Coke, buying some time for whatever it is they are going to say, and deflect from Emmy’s question. I can feel several more of them being directed my way along with shit I don’t want to talk about in my near future.

“How long are you staying?” Hardy inquires as I place my drink down with a thud.

I shrug. “Don’t know.”

“Can you stay for a little while?” Scarlett chimes in. “I was hoping to cook you my famous lasagna at least once.”

“Sounds good.” I flick my gaze to Hardy, feeling my muscles begin to tighten. “Now tell me what happened with you and Bubba.”

I watch both my brother and sister recoil back a bit, hinting that it’s not something they want to discuss either. If Hardy saw him, Bubba made himself known because it gets his dick hard.

“Well,” Hardy begins, strumming his fingers along the tabletop. “I was out taking the trash a few weeks back to the dumpster when…my ass almost got jumped.”

I almost scoff out loud. Leave it to Bubba Walters to come in like a straight bitch.

“By who?”

“Bubba and some white supremacist-looking motherfucker.” He lifts his shoulders. “That was…one time. Thankfully, they were old and slow. But I remember you telling me that if I saw him…to let you know.”

A few fucking weeks later.

I raise a well-versed brow. “That’s it?”

“Besides what I told you about him and his jackass friend shooting at me, yeah.” He steals a glance at our sister. “He ran into Scarlett at the grocery store, said some pretty fucked up shit.”

And when I wish I didn’t kill him just yet…

“Was he with someone?”

Scarlett shakes her head. “No.”

I roll my shoulders, already feeling them tense as I try to remain cool. “What else?”

“There was someone who tried to break in the other night at the trailer,” my brother continues. “I made a bunch of noise in there, and they took off.”

“How long have you been there?”

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