The Clarke Brothers by Lilian Monroe

Author:Lilian Monroe [Monroe, Lilian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lilian Monroe

25

Dominic

When I leave Mara’s room, I feel better. My lip is throbbing but I hardly feel it. All I can think of is Mara’s skin, her smell, her smile.

It feels so good to be with her, it can’t possibly be wrong. I start walking back toward my place and then pause before turning around and walking the other direction. Before long, I’m outside my brother Ethan’s house.

He opens the door after a couple of knocks.

“What happened to you?” He asks, eyebrows raised as he looks at my lip.

“Aiden,” I respond. Ethan’s eyebrows stay up, but he just nods in response.

“I see.”

He steps aside and I walk into his house. I collapse onto the sofa and Ethan grabs me a beer. I take it and nod in thanks.

“So why did Aiden do that to your face?” He asks, taking a seat in the chair opposite me. “What did you do?”

I take a sip of beer and glance at my little brother. “It’s my fault, is it?”

Ethan grins. “You must have done something.”

“I took a job from the McCoys.”

Ethan’s mouth drops open and he nods slowly. “Ah,” he says. “I see. The renovations.”

“Aiden walked in on Mara and me discussing one of the pieces. He… wasn’t happy to see her.”

“Is ‘discussing one of the pieces’ a euphemism for something? I remember the way she looked at you when we were at the bar a couple of weeks ago.”

I lift an eyebrow and shake my head. “It is not a euphemism,” I answer. But it might as well be.

Ethan chuckles. “Fair enough.”

“I don’t get why he’s so mad at her. She’s actually a really nice person, you know. Did you know that she paid for her schooling on her own? I always thought she got that degree with the money from Dad’s company, but she worked through college and paid it herself. She started her own consulting business online. She’s incredible.”

Ethan takes a sip of beer and narrows his eyes. I can feel my cheeks start to burn as he studies my face, but I keep my eyes steady on his. He nods slowly.

“No, I didn’t know that,” he finally answers.

I take a big gulp of beer and lean back in the sofa. I sigh, looking up at the ceiling.

“I’m sick of this.”

“Sick of what?”

“Sick of all this drama over nothing!” I exclaim.

Ethan makes a noise. “Dad dying is nothing? The McCoys taking advantage of us when he was in the hospital is nothing?”

I look at my little brother and see the same indignation in his face as I saw in Aiden’s. It’s not as strong, but it’s there. Doubt starts to curl deep inside me. What if they’re right to be mad?

“It’s not nothing,” I say. “It’s just… Wouldn’t it be easier to forgive? Mara didn’t do anything wrong. Why do we hate her?”

“We don’t hate her. We just don’t associate with her family.”

I look at Ethan and try to figure out what he’s thinking. His face is stone still and I sigh, shaking my head.

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