Page 54 of Every Broken Promise
“Nice lip, but other than that, you look okay. See, I told you that having older brothers would one day be a blessing.”
I raised my hand and flipped him off.
I wasn’t about to tell him he had a point. Years of not snitching on EZ nor Adam when they beat me up as a kid prepared me to take a beating and not look like a pussy afterward.
“Who’d you beat up?” he asked.
“The school didn’t say?”
EZ shook his head. “Dad had to make sure he heard correctly. He asked the office twice if it had been Adam and not you.”
“That’s ’cause I’m his favorite.” I grinned despite my lip.
Ezekiel rolled his eyes.
“He’s in the office.”
EZ nodded toward the back room, where my dad had a desk and piles of paperwork. I believe it looked the same since my grandfather opened up shop.
I was a little hesitant when I tapped on his door. Dad probably knew it was me already.
“Come in,” he said calmly.
My dad was sitting at the old desk with a few papers in front of him. Once I walked in, he looked up.
“Nice lip,” he commented, echoing EZ.
“It looks worse than it feels.”
“Who’d you fight?” he asked.
I wish I could tell if he was angry or disappointed by his tone. If I could pick one, I would pick his anger any day because disappointing Dad sucked.
“JD,” I answered honestly.
“That’s old man Benji’s grandson, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Mhmm,” he murmured.
“I’m sorry, Dad,” I said because I couldn’t take the silence. Then I turned back to double-check that I had closed the door. I didn’t want Ezekiel to listen to what I had to say.
“JD is a dipshit?—”
“—and that’s not a reason to get in a fight with him,” my dad interjected.
“He said something about Astrid, and I couldn’t let it go.”
Understanding dawned on my father’s face.
“What did he say?”
Just thinking about what he said had my blood boiling again.
“Nothing worth repeating,” I told him. I didn’t want to say that shit, especially to my dad, but he probably figured it was sexual.
My dad leaned back and sighed.
