Page 105 of That One Night
“What kind of papers?”
Pres rolled his eyes. “I don’t know, man. Maybe if you answered her damn calls you’d know.” His brother stood and looked Hendrix right in the eye. “What’s with this stupid rollercoaster, anyway? You’ve been fine for weeks. More than fine, happy. Now you’re doing your usual bullshit and disappearing in full sight.”
“I’m working,” Hendrix snipped back, annoyance rushing through him. “I told you that.”
“And I wouldn’t care if you were just ignoring me. But mom? That’s a low blow, even for you.” Pres shook his head. “You’re a real asshole sometimes.”
Hendrix’s mouth dropped open. “Seriously?” His brother had no idea what he was going through. With his perfect wife and beautiful kids, why would he?
But to accuse him of trying to hurt their mom when all he was trying to do was protect her? Well, fuck that.
“Just call her.” Pres looked him straight in the eye.
“Since when do you get off telling me what to do?” Hendrix asked him.
“I’ll stop when you start doing the right thing.” Pres shook his head.
The problem was, he was doing exactly that. He’d just never expected to feel so bad about it. Hendrix let out a deep sigh. He didn’t need this from his brother, not now.
“Shit, man, what’s going on with you?” Pres asked him. “You look… I don’t know… beaten.”
“Nothing. There’s nothing going on with me.” Automatically, Hendrix glanced across the road. He hadn’t seen Emery since she walked away crying from him two days earlier. He’d madesure of it. Leaving early, arriving home late, locking himself up in between. This wasn’t living, this was surviving.
It was enduring the worst days of his life. Bar none.
Pres let out a breath. “I’m not the best at talking… and absolutely not the best at giving advice.”
“Then don’t.”
Pres put his hand up. “But I’m gonna do it, anyway. Because you’re my little brother and I love you. But also because Mom worries about you way too much, and I’ll do whatever it takes to make her life easier.”
“Would you give up everything to make her life easier?” Hendrix asked him suddenly.
Pres blinked at his question. “I… ah…” He ran his hand through his hair. “I don’t know.”
“Let me put it this way. Would you give up everything to make Delilah’s life easier?”
Pres frowned. “Of course I would. You know that.”
“Then don’t question me about what I’d do for Mom. I’d do anything, you know that, right?”
Pres stared at him for a long minute. “Is there something I’m missing?”
The door to Emery’s mom’s farmhouse opened, and Emery stepped out. Seeing her for the first time in a couple of days felt like a size ten work boot to his gut. She stopped suddenly, seeing Hendrix and his brother on his porch, then turned on her heel and walked back inside, closing the door behind her.
For a second Pres was silent. It was clear he’d seen her from the expression on his face.
He looked at Hendrix, then back at Emery’s house.
“Is there something going on between you two?” he asked Hendrix.
Hendrix swallowed. “No.”
But Pres wasn’t buying it. “She walked outside then walked right back in when she saw you. I’ve never seen anything quite so obvious.”
“There’s nothing going on,” Hendrix said stubbornly.
“But there was, huh?”
