Page 66 of Mister Cowboy
His office phone rang and interrupted his downward spiral. Nadia’s extension flashed on the screen.
“Yeah,” he barked into the phone.
“Your nine o’clock appointment is here.” Her voice was cheerful and sweet. “Should I send in Dr. Dulce?”
Ah yes, from bad to worse. “Sure, send him in.”
Brecken didn’t bother standing or making any attempt to pull himself together. Instead, he pulled an old bottle of Wild Turkey from the bottom drawer of his desk and poured a generous amount into two glasses.
Henry walked in, his strides casual. Dressed in gray slacks and a white button-down shirt that he’d left untucked and rolled up at the sleeves, Henry had an air of California about him; although, to be fair, he’d always had an easy, casual way about him. After all these years, he remained unchanged. The same blond hair, if a bit shorter, still hung around his ears, making him look younger than he was. He was unshaved, and the circles under his eyes made Brecken wonder how life had treated him since he’d left. But he’d be damned if he asked.
“I’d stand and greet you properly, but it’s been a shit morning and I’m in no mood to pretend this meeting is anything but a charade.” Brecken tipped back the glass of whiskey before refilling it and then gesturing to the second glass on the desk. “For old time’s sake?”
Henry eyed him warily, but he picked up the glass and drank. “It’s been a while since I had whiskey before noon. What’s the occasion?”
“Well, let’s see.” Brecken kicked his polished dress shoes up on the desk and leaned back, rubbing his free hand over his jaw. “My assistant, Nadia, the woman who just escorted you in while eye fucking you? I was sleeping with her until I met this amazing woman who—two nights ago—I realized I fucking loved. The woman guts me—she’s everything. Beautiful shit, right? Then not an hour after I confessed my love, ole Nadia lets me know she’s knocked up. That means I get the awesome task of telling the woman I love that I’m having a baby with someone I was messing around with before I met her. Oh, and the best friend who turned out to be my half-brother, who disappeared almost twenty years ago without so much as a note to say goodbye, just walked into my office.”
“That…” Henry said as he slid his glass across the table and tapped a finger against the side. “Fucking sucks.”
Laughing at the absurdity of it all, he did the only thing he could think of—he grabbed the bottle and poured another round.
It almost felt like old times, and that sucker punched him back to the present. “What the fuck are you doing here, Henry? Why are you even in Denver?”
Henry shifted in his seat, turning the tumbler in his hand. “I’m moving back. I’ve moved back,” he said more definitely the second time.
“I can’t say that I saw that coming.”
Henry let out a breath, drained his second glass, and met his stare. A calm and determined look came over his face, and Brecken imagined this was how he looked before he operated. “I’m staying with my mom for now until I buy a place.”
“Congratulations,” Brecken said, feeling… shit, he wasn’t sure how this made him feel. “Why does that bring you to my office. Not that I don’t enjoy a trip down memory lane, but keeping me in the loop of your comings and goings isn’t really your style.”
“I heard you’re selling the ranch. I want to buy it.”
Brecken threw his head back and laughed at the absurdity, but the noise echoed through the room and he found Henry sitting and watching him with a serious expression.
“You’re serious?”
Henry nodded.
It was too fucking much. He broke. He fucking cracked wide open.
“After all this time, you waltz in here and ask for theonething he gave me that you haven’t already taken away? Fuck you. Get the hell out of here.” His voice boomed through the office as he stood and moved around his desk and a bead of sweat formed at the back of his neck.
They met in the middle, chest to chest. They were the same height, and Brecken could finally…after twenty years…look him dead in the eyes. Henry was broad and looked like he could still throw some weight around, but Brecken was bigger. He’d earned this body with a lot of time slamming iron at the gym.
“Don’t put that shit on me. You might have lost the perception of your picture-perfect family, but I lost my whole identity. You weren’t the one who found out the man who raised you…the man you loved and looked up to your whole goddamn life, wasn’t you father. Get over yourself.”
He seethed as the words sank in. He wasn’t ready to concede anything. Right or wrong. “My answer is no.”
“You’d rather it go to a stranger or be sold off in pieces?”
“I’d rather it go to anyone but you.”
“You know what? Fuck you. You’re as stubborn as the old man. Following right in his footsteps, too.”
All the air left his lungs. It was a low blow, even for Henry.
“Fuck me?” Brecken shoved him with one hand. “Fuck you. You took off and left me here. Never thought to clue me in or call to see how things were going in the aftermath of your discovery. You fuckingdesertedme. The old man may have been a liar, but what you did was far worse. You took off and pretended like the rest of us didn’t matter anymore. Your mom and dad.Me.”
