Page 78 of You Loved Me Once
Everton flips me off and pops the bottle cap off, letting it drop to the floor. “Who is this?” he asks as he tips the bottleneck at Westin.
“This is your sister’s boyfriend,” Dad answers.
“Amazing how you have time to be a mediocre doctor and date someone, but not enough to help out up here.”
My family is falling apart and there’s not a damn thing I can do. Everton is so angry at the world, he can’t even see what’s around him. I’m aware that everyone deals with grief their own way. I chose to immerse myself in work, but becoming the town drunk isn’t exactly the best coping mechanism.
“Go take a shower. You smell like a bar.” I cross my arms, refusing to play his game.
“Go save our mother, oh, wait...” Everton walks out of the room with the rest of his beer and I want to kill him.
I feel as though he just slapped me across the face.
Everton’s insult stings more than I want it to. I have enough guilt over losing my mother the way we did. She trusted me to help her make the right medical decisions. Even though I was only in medical school, she had such faith in my ability to lead her down the right path.
I was the one who convinced her to do the trial. But that drug didn’t help the way it promised, and she spent months in pain. Our family watched her struggle through the treatments.
“Don’t you dare let him in your head, Serenity Adams.” My father’s voice is hard as steel. “You did everything you could for your mother. You hear me? She was proud of you. She trusted you because you loved her and would never put her in harm’s way.”
My head might know that Everton is a drunk asshole, but my heart doesn’t care. She wouldn’t be proud of the choice to change Allison’s medication when I was drowning in my own sea of grief.
Westin gets to his feet as my lip trembles. He wraps his arm around me, tugging me against his chest. I really hate my stupid brother.
“I’m fine,” I say after a few seconds.
“I knew you were,” Westin says with a light tone. “I just wanted you to hug me. I was feeling lonely.”
I burst out laughing. He’s so full of it, but I appreciate the gesture. “Well, at least after this, you can’t say you didn’t see it all.” I smile and then look over at my dad, who is grinning.
“You know, I have this car that’s giving me problems, would you like to check it out?” Daddy offers to Wes and my jaw drops.
“Sure, it’s been a while since I’ve been under the hood, but I’d love to take a look.”
“What?” I ask. Both their heads turn. “You want Westin to go to the shop? To work on the car?” This can’t be happening. No one goes in the garage but me and Everton.
“That’s what I asked the man.” Dad looks at me like I’m crazy.
Is there anyone that Westin can’t win over in one minute? It’s not normal. The toughest man I know is putty in his hands, inviting him to work on a car. Unbelievable.
“We’ll be back in a bit.” Westin grins at me.
Then another possibility hits me. Maybe my father is trying to make him think he likes him so he can berate him when I’m not around. Westin will be alone—in the woods—with my father who may be old, but has a gun.
“He could be trying to lure you into a trap,” I warn.
Westin’s face scrunches. “Are you all right?”
“I’m serious, Wes. Daddy doesn’t like men who date his daughter.”
He laughs through his nose. “We’ll be back in a bit. You’re free to make sure your father, who has been nothing but nice, hasn’t trapped me, if it makes you feel better.”
I tuck my hair behind my ear. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you. It’ll be hard to operate with one hand.”
“I’ll take my chances,” Westin says before giving me a kiss.
And I’m going to take care of my brother.
When they both leave, I march into his room, throwing the door open. “You don’t get to blame me for Mom’s death. You want to blame me for living a good life, have at it, but don’t you ever imply I didn’t do enough for her. It was you who ran away when things got too hard. I was the one who cleaned her up, changed her sheets, and tried to comfort Dad while you were too busy fucking anyone who would open their legs.”
