Page 68 of Single Mom's Mountain Men
"That was high school and this is now. And instead of working, you're in here doing this bullshit."
"There’s more to life than just work Mitch!" The words explode from Wes as though he’s been holding onto them for a good while. "Most people don’t just want to work themself to an early grave like you and Dad. We want to experience life. Have fun. We want to fuck people we want and maybeform meaningful relationships with them. We want tolive,Mitch. Maybe you can try it sometime."
"Well, then you can live on your own time. Not on my payroll."
"I’m your brother not your fucking employee! Also, last I checked, Charlie and I are co-owners of this business. The only reason we let you boss us around is because we feel sorry that this is all you have."
"Wes," Charlie warns his younger brother.
"No, I'm tired of this. He's always…"
“You're upsetting Patty.”
That gets Wes to stop his tirade.
I can feel eyes on me, but I am too much of a coward to meet anyone’s gaze.
This is even worse than Charlie and Wes fighting. I close my eyes and tuck my face against Charlie’s chest, unable to bear the guilt as I hear the sound of Mitch's departure.
Charlie rubs my back in comfort. "It's okay," he says. "I'll talk to him. Everything will be okay."
CHAPTER 24
Charlie
After leaving Wes in the kitchen to comfort a distraught Patty, I head out to look for my brother.
I find him in the forest, working tirelessly as usual.
I approach with caution.
He’s splitting logs with an axe, very inefficiently seeing as we have a hydraulic log splitter that can do the job far better than any human could possibly manage, but I get that he needs to do something to work off the excess energy. Unfortunately for him, he’s not going to be able to work it off that way.
I should know because I’ve tried before.
During his and Wes' argument, I think I had seen deeper into what is truly plaguing Mitch. I don't doubt that he watched more than just the tail end of that scene. Heck, he was probably standing there for most of it, and I can't blame him.
I would not have been able to tear my eyes away from Patty either. When she is in the throes of an orgasm she ismagnificent, and when she gets close to orgasm, she moves like pure sex and beauty combined.
It's why I loved keeping her on the edge for so long, so I could enjoy that image for as long as possible. I didn't even need to come myself. Just knowing I was pleasuring her was giving me immense satisfaction.
Going back to Mitch, I also saw how hard his cock was when he confronted us. His face was flushed, and his pupils dilated, but none of that was with anger. Or at least not all of it was.
His rant was only a front, to cover up what he truly felt. Hunger and jealousy.
He swings the axe high in the air and slams it into a fresh log, splitting it in two with one single downward stroke. He adjusts the position of the log and does it again, then again, and again. I watch him for a few seconds until he finally steps back wiping the sweat from his brow, the log now split entirely into multiple pieces that are ready to be picked up, stacked, and seasoned for six months or so before heading to their ultimate destination of the kitchen stove. I recall the words of wisdom our father was fond of telling us:“Timber warms you twice – once when you split it and once again when you burn it.”
“You gonna stand there all afternoon or you going to man up and talk to me?”
“Depends,” I say. “How mad are you still?"
"Why didn't you come up and ask me?"
"Well, you probably wouldn't hear me over the noise, and I thought it was probably unwise to sneak up on an angry man with an axe."
“That’s the smartest thing you’ve said all day,” he says. “Which is surprising given the dumb-ass decision you made back there."
I don’t say anything, and he finally turns around to stare at me. His chest is red from the harsh sun and his energetic work.
