Page 52 of Family Forever
Chapter Thirteen
Dylan sat at the kitchen table with Luke as he filled out the valentines for his classmates. It was taking him forever to assign the correct valentine to the proper person, and then fill out thetoandfromas perfectly as he possibly could. When it came to this sort of thing his little brother demanded perfection and had a tendency to go overboard. Luckily, Dylan had swindled Nate into helping with the assembly of the little candy heart pouches Luke wanted to hand out with his cards.
Braden bounded into the kitchen and glanced at their handiwork. “Aw, Nate, how nice of you to make little sweetheart gifts for your friends.”
“They're not for me, I’m helping Luke,” Nate shot back.
Braden’s smirk widened. “Sure they are.”
Nate leaped off his chair toward Braden. “They’re not mine!”
Braden ran around to the opposite side of the table.
“Knock it off. Leave your brother alone!” Dylan yelled at Braden. Why did he always have to irritate his brother, and get him worked up?
Nate perched his hands on his hips and stared at Braden from across the table. “Yeah, leave me alone.”
“Baby. Go back to making your valentines.”
Nate made a move around the table, Braden did as well.
Dylan threw his hands in the air, then slammed his fist on the table so hard it actually bounced and moved over a few inches. “Stop it! Both of you just stop it. Why can’t you just leave each other alone?”
All eyes were on him, Nate and Braden’s as big as saucers, and Luke's filled with moisture. Nobody was even yelling at him. The boy was so sensitive.
Dylan sucked in a calming breath and swung his gaze between Nate and Braden. “You know what, both of you, just get out of here. Go to your rooms.”
“For how long?” Braden asked.
“Until I tell you that you can come back down.”
“But I’m hungry, I was coming in here to get a snack.”
“Too bad. You can wait. Maybe you’ll learn to stop fighting with Nate.”
“Fine,” Braden spun, “crab.”
“What did you say?”
Braden ignored him and stepped out of the kitchen.
“Hey, get back here," Dylan yelled. "And repeat what you said.”
Braden stepped back into the doorway. He looked like he’d rather be anywhere but where he was.
“He called you a crab,” Nate happily answered for his brother.
The anger coursing through his veins intensified. “Well, maybe if you guys weren’t at each other’s throats all the time I wouldn’t have to yell at you all the time,” he barked back unable to keep the volume of his voice from rising. Nate and Luke’s eyes widened to the size of saucers again. Tears ran down Luke’s cheeks. Branden’s gaze landed on the floor.
Dylan was about at his wit’s end. He needed a break, or help, they were driving him crazy lately. It had crossed his mind several times in the recent past to call Cole home for a weekend, or perhaps his Aunt Mitzi, so he could get away, but guilt always set in and he didn’t. This was his responsibility, and they were just boys, doing what boys do. It wasn’t any different with him and Cole when they were kids. How did his parents do it? And do it so well? How did they never seem to lose it, like he was now? It probably helped that they had each other.
Aric stepped hurriedly into the uncharacteristically silent kitchen, his unmistakable concerned gaze darted between his brothers and then landed on Dylan. “Everything okay?”
Dylan’s heart raced, his extremities went numb as he stared at the frightened boys before him. He must have yelled louder than he even thought, seeing as how it drew Aric away from his video game. Yep, he was on the verge.Not good.He raked his hand over his face.
“Well?” Aric asked.
“Braden spouted off to Dylan and called him a crab,” Nate answered in not much more than a whisper.
