Page 2 of Duress
It’s been like this between us our entire lives. Bryce blames my dad for being the reason his dad left Mom. Never mind his dad was a cheating piece of shit and mom was better off without him. Bryce will never see it that way, and considering the apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree, I’ve given up on trying to forge any kind of relationship with him. He’s been resentful of me since day one.You’d think maybe he’d have grown half a heart after my dad died in a tragic accident, leaving our mom an emotionless husk of the woman she used to be, but nope, his attitude has only gotten worse. The only silver lining to going to see Bryce is that Everly will be there.
Everly with the hazel-green eyes, hair the color of a starless sky, a constellation of freckles dusting her cheeks. Everly with the smile that pulled me out of my darkest depression when my dad passed. I was sixteen at the time of his accident. Sixteen, with a brother who tormented me, a dead dad, and a mom who refused to get out of bed. I don’t know what possessed an angel like Everly to date my dickhead brother, let alone marry him. She’s everything he isn’t. Kind. Supportive. Empathetic. I’ve tried a few times over the years to see what she sees in him. Why she continues to stay married to him. I can see he doesn’t love her. Not in the way she deserves. But any time I try to bring up the topic of my brother being an ass, she gets this look in her eyes. Like she thinks he’s all she deserves, and she changes the topic or beats a hasty retreat.
There was one time, right after I graduated high school, where I thought maybe I might get an answer out of her. It was my graduation party, and we were both tipsy from overpowered canned cocktails snuck in by some of my friends. Bryce had disappeared, and we were sitting by the fire chatting. I asked her what she saw in my brother, when I could tell he didn’t appreciate her the way she deserved. The way she looked at me then in the firelight, like she could see me,seeing her… It felt like watching a flower bloom in real time. Like she might actually spill her secrets tome. The way her eyes locked in on my lips, causing her tongue to dart out—moistening her own—made my dick hard. I was seconds away from leaning in and kissing her before we were interrupted by my buddy Scott drunkenly crashing into me, ruining the moment.
Shaking away the memory, I blow out a frustrated breath as I tap out a reply to my brother.
Me
See you at 7.
I see that my message is read immediately. I wait for the three bouncing dots to indicate an incoming response from Bryce, but none comes. Of course not. Heaven forbid if I leave the fuckwad on read, but he has no problem doing the same to me.
“Hey, you ready to go?” Serena’s honeyed voice drags my attention from my phone. It’s time for our patrol shift, so I gather up my badge, radio, and gun and follow her out of the station, ready to start my shift.
CHAPTER 2
DANE
DANE - AGE 18
“Bro… BRO! Two o’clock. Hottie in a red dress.” My buddy Scott jabs his elbow into my ribs, causing beer to slosh out of the red solo cup I’m currently filling. I extend my arm just in time to avoid getting soaked in shitty light beer.
Glancing up, I turn my attention to the direction he indicated, but all I see is some of our teammates from football. I’m not sure what hottie would even be here. My mom agreed to let me host a party as long as I kept it under control, so I just invited some of my closest friends from football, their girlfriends, and a few other friends from Forensics Club. Most of the girls here are either in a relationship or are practically like a sister to me.
“No, your other two o’clock,” Scott slurs, as he not at all discreetly gestures with the hand holding his own red solo cup full of beer. He had a flask under his gownduring our graduation, so he has a head start on all of us. I predict he will be passing out by the firepit first.
“That’s eight, dipshit. Not two. How in the hell did you manage to graduate without having to do summer school?”
“Fuck if I know.” Scott shrugs, chugging his beer before swiping the keg tap out of my hand and going back for more.
The hottie in the red dress turns around, and I realize it’s Everly, my sister-in-law. Well, that doesn’t change anything. All of the girls here are spoken for or like a sister to me. Orarea sister.
“That’s my sister-in-law, you jackass,” I mutter under my breath.
Everly is married to my dickhead half brother for some unfathomable reason. She is sweetness and light, where he is cold and dickish. I don’t get what she sees in him. Sure he’s some up-and-coming hotshot lawyer and is decently good-looking. I guess. But he’s also the biggest douche in existence. I gave up on us having a brotherly relationship years ago, when I finally was old enough to realize he wasn’t just ignoring me because of our age gap, but because he actually seems to hate me. He puts on a good show for appearance’s sake for Mom, but we both know the score.
If Everly is here, that means Bryce is too. I scan the crowd of people scattered throughout our backyard but there is no sign of him. I watch as Everly scans the party, a canned cocktail in hand. Her posture is stiff and uncomfortable, like she knows she doesn’t belong here, at a party full of high schoolers. Her face lights up with relief when her hazel eyes land on me.
“I’m gonna go say hi to her. I’ll be back.” Scott shrugs and takes his beer across the yard where a game of Asshole is happening.
“Congratulations!”As soon as I’m within reaching distance, Everly wraps me up in a hug. Her hair smells like the flowers from Mom’s garden. She presses a brief kiss on my cheek before pulling away and beaming up at me with genuinely proud smile. “Graduating with Summa Cum Laude honors! We are so proud of you, Dane!” She sayswebut I know Bryce gives zero shits about what honors I graduated with. I’m surprised he’s even here, based on how he couldn’t leave the graduation ceremony fast enough.
“Thanks, Ever. I appreciate it.” Glancing around, there is still no sign of Bryce. I don’t wanna leave Everly alone feeling awkward at a party where she doesn’t know anyone, so I keep the conversation going. “I didn’t know you all were coming to the party. I figured Bryce had more important things to do than hang with a bunch of drunk eighteen-year-olds.”
Everly flinches a little at the barb directed toward my brother. I think she knows we don’t get along, but she tries so hard to fix the rift between us. There is some innate sense of goodness in her that insists on trying to fix broken things. Even if it isn’t her fault it’s broken. There is so much empathy in this woman; I don’t know how she can carry feeling so much for everyone all the time. Or how inthe hell she wound up marrying a cold-hearted dickhead like my brother.
“We are heading to dinner soon, but I wanted to come by and congratulate you in person. Bryce dragged us out of the football stadium as soon as the ceremony ended, and I didn’t get to tell you there. You know how he is. Impatient and irritable in crowds.” Everly gives me an apologetic shrug before sipping from her drink.
“Where is he now?” I grab one of the canned cocktails from the drink cooler, and we drift over to the fire, finding a pair of empty chairs next to it.
“Inside, talking to your mom. Said he had to talk to her about the house or something. So what are your plans for the summer? Caroline said you weren’t fully committed to the college thing?” She turns toward me, our knees barely touching, her expression nonjudgmental and genuinely curious.
When Everly gives you her undivided attention, it’s like the sun is shining only for you. She has the ability to give you her focus so completely it makes the rest of the world disappear until it’s just the two of you. Her ability to make me feel seen and heard is probably the biggest reason why I agreed to go to therapy after my dad’s death and stop my asshole spiral. God knows Bryce threatening to send me to some sort of military school after I was almost expelled for fighting didn’t help. I get he was just trying to scare me straight, but I was grieving and angry, and my mom was lost to her own grief. I needed someone to care about how shitty my life was. Not tell me to suck it up and be strong.
“I’m gonna take the summer to work and save up. Iwant to avoid student loans as much as possible. But I’ve got a lot of college credits already thanks to dual enrollment, so I think I’ll just get an associates in Criminal Justice at BFCC before joining the police academy. By the time I finish the associates and graduate from the academy I’ll be twenty-one, the minimum age to become a police officer.”
Everly’s eyes widen in surprise at my plan. I hadn’t told anyone I was thinking of going into law enforcement. Especially not Bryce. I don’t want to deal with his judgment of my career choice.
