Page 12 of Shadow

“Because they are hurting. Pain can make anyone act out. I saw how angry you got at dinner. I know you wanted to run Nevil off. But you didn’t. Why?”

“I didn’t want to upset Charity.”

“So instead of following through on your feelings, you considered your sister and acted accordingly. You showed Charity respect.”

“No. I held my damn tongue until she was out of the room, then I told the fucker to get lost.”

Hope smiled, shaking her head. “You’re impossible.”

Chuckling, I redirected the conversation back to the radio shit.

“So, what is it about this show you like?”

Hope flung herself back into her chair and smiled. “Everything. Lucky is so calm. She gets it. She isn’t afraid to speak the truth. That the world is a big vast place and we are only a small spec in an even bigger universe. That everything we do affects everything. She’s opened my mind’s eye to the world around me.”

“The mind’s eye?”

“It means one’s mental image or what one imagines. On another level, it refers to something that happens in the brain. Humans process visual information with the visual cortex that takes snapshots of the world and feeds it to our brain. Remember that dress controversy? Was the dress blue or yellow? People saw what the mind told them to see. It’s what makes us all unique. Like right now, I see my brother.Though he seems interested, he’sonly humoring me because he doesn’t understand.”

I laughed. “No. Your brother thinks you’re nuts, babe.”

“Maybe I am, but you still love me.”

Now, that was the damn truth.

Chapter Three

Shadow

“I called Kansas. He’s expecting you.”

Fucking hell.

I groaned. “Why did you do that?”

I’dbeen in Wichita for three days and since my arrival, my brother has been blowing up my phone. Ignoring him, I spent most of my days with Faith in the greenhouse. It was soothing and quiet. That was until Charity handed me her phone with a smirk on her face.

I knew what the troublemaker did.

The brat narked on me!

Glowering at her, I took the phone and have since been listening to my brother school me on my decisions as if I was still a child.

Fuck my life.

“Because he needed to know that you are in the area. Lawton is only forty-five minutes north of you. Our sisters sell at the Farmer’s Market in Lawton. If you go with them, there is a damn good chance one of the Diamondbacks would see you. I don’t want a repeat of the last time you were there. Besides, it is common courtesy.”

“You are too damn diplomatic.”

“I’ll do anything to keep your ass alive. Now, how are our sisters?”

“They’re good. Charity is dating the brother of a Diamondback club member. They met at a club barbeque. Hope was with her.”

“That’s new. Didn’t think Hope hung around bikers.”

“She doesn’t,” I lied, hearing her on the phone last night with her mysterious biker friend. I made a mental note to talk to her about that today. While I didn’t begrudge any of my sisters their chance at happiness, I wasn’t sure about this new revelation.

“Anyway, I packed your cut away. Not burning it, brother. Don’t care what you say. You will always be a Golden Skull. Take whatever time you need. The door is always open.”

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