Page 54 of Turning Tides
“You’re being unreasonable,” I continued. “Shane’s not taking advantage of me and it’s a shitty thing for you to think.”
“Then what am I supposed to think?”
Right now it was hard to tell that Cyrus was my older brother for the way he was acting. It was like he was younger and more immature than me all of the sudden. Like the shit I’d been through recently had aged me and him watching me go through shit had spun him around somehow. Our perspectives had shifted and clearly we weren’t seeing eye to eye.
After another deep breath, I let the fight drain out of me. “You’re supposed to think that I’m your brother, not your kid. That I’m capable of making my own decisions and even if you don’t like them, you’re supposed to understand they’re not your decisions to make. They’re mine. And—” I sighed. “You’re supposed to be happy for me.”
“I’ve only ever wanted to help you, Archer.” Cyrus sounded dejected, still angry, but also sad. For as hot as his temper could run sometimes, it always did cool quickly.
“I know that. I know it was you who taught me to drive. It was you who didn’t miss my graduation. You were the one there when I broke my collarbone in the tenth grade. I know all of that was you. And yeah, you were there when Clayton fucked me over. You’ve been there for the good and the bad, but you can’t keep holding on to bad shit that happened to me, Cyrus. It happened to me, but you’re the one who can’t let it go. And it’s not fair. It’s to fair to me; it’s not fair to Shane. And it’s not fair to you. If you’d have let shit go for five minutes, we might have been having a whole different conversation right now.”
Cyrus stared at me like he wasn’t sure what to say. And, honestly, neither was I.
“I need to go home,” he said. He seemed calmer now, but he barely looked at me before turning and getting in his car. I’d hoped to talk him back inside to finish his shift. Hell, I wondered if this was the end of his friendship with Shane. I hated to think that I was somehow responsible for that.
Guilt was a stupid, useless emotion. Especially when I knew we’d done nothing wrong. Nothing to warrant Cyrus’s wrath. He backed out of his parking space and drove away. He didn’t roar out of the parking lot like a bat out of hell, but still my legs quaked as the adrenaline wore off.
I pulled my phone out and texted Marshall, warning him that Cyrus was on his way home. I didn’t say why. Cyrus would want to fill him in. Turning back toward the bar, I saw Shane had gone inside. I didn’t feel like going around the front so I sent a text telling him to let me in.
Slipping through the door, I found the kitchen in a state of… well, disaster was a good word for whatever was going on.
“Who?” I motioned to the middle-aged guy who was rummaging around in the kitchen. Seeing someone who wasn’t Cyrus bashing around back here struck me as inherently wrong. This space belonged to Cyrus and watching some other guy mess it up irked me. But Cyrus had done it to himself.
“Archer, I’d like you to meet Ethan Bennett.”
“Like the diner?”
Ethan turned at the sound of my voice and shot me a smile. Now I recognized him. “It’s been a few years since I had to do any of this stuff and I’m a bit rusty. But, with any luck, I can get these orders out without burning the place down.”
Shane draped his arm around me and tugged me close. Out of nowhere, my sketchbook appeared and I took it from him. He toldEthan he’d be right back and he whisked me around the corner where the walk-in fridge was. It wasn’t any more private here, but it felt like it.
“I’m going to stick around and help Ethan. We’re shutting the kitchen early if you want to wait here, or upstairs. Or out front. Are you okay?” Shane cupped my face in his hands. His brows pinched together and he looked at me with the softest eyes I’d ever seen. He looked at me like I was important, and so was my happiness. Despite the fight I’d had with Cyrus, I found that… yeah, I was okay.
Unable to find words to express myself, I nodded. “I’m fine. Cyrus will come around. I’m not worried about it.”
“I am. He had no right talking to you like that.”
“He’s my brother.” I shrugged.
“I have two of those myself, and we’re giant pains in each other’s ass sometimes—especially Kieran in mine—but family doesn’t get a free pass to be an asshole to you.”
“Cyrus practically raised me. Did you know that?”
Shane glanced at the kitchen, but Ethan seemed to have things in hand. “I didn’t know that.”
“Yeah. Our parents weren’t planning on my arrival and though Cyrus isn’t that much older than me, they were done with kids, you know. But they didn’t believe in abortion, so… baby number two came along. I don’t remember a lot from my childhood, like not about being really little, but what I do remember is Cyrus. Cyrus walking me to the bus. Cyrus helping with my homework. Taking me to the ER when I broke my collarbone. And then the shit with Clayton went down and again it was Cyrus to the rescue.”
“It doesn’t sound like any of that is your fault.”
I opened my mouth to protest, but I couldn’t because Shane was right. None of those things had been my fault. Maybe Clayton, insome ways, but even then I hadn’t known about his gambling problem when I’d agreed to go into business with him or I never would have done it.
“When things aren’t your fault, you shouldn’t be treated like they are.”
“He’s protective.”
Shane looked like he wanted to say something else, but he didn’t. Could he tell that I’d had more than I could take for the day? I wanted to go home, but home was standing right in front of me.
“I’m going to check in with Ethan and touch base with Vivian and Mickey, and then I’ll take you home, okay?”
