Breathless (Steel Brothers Saga #10)(63)

I well-remembered Taylor Johns and his band of bullies. The rest of them didn’t seem to have names. I’d known them at the time, but Taylor, as their leader, overshadowed the rest of them. They were just brawn. Nine-year-old brawn. I couldn’t help a chuckle. They’d left me alone because I was Joe’s best friend, and no one messed with a Steel. Of course, it helped that we were the biggest boys in the class too.

We told Taylor we’d crush his skull if he ever bothered Justin again.

Crush his skull? Where had I learned a phrase like that at nine years old? Not from a video game, as children these days might. From a movie? Possibly.

Or perhaps from a conversation I’d overheard once…

Damn. The memory was a sliver on the rim of my brain, trying to push its way in. I was young, so young, and the words had come from…

Damn.

My father had relented the next day and allowed Justin to accompany us. It was the only time another child had ever come along on one of our trips. The trips had begun when Joe and I met in first grade, and they had continued through high school, until we both went off to college.

My father had taught us how to shoot a pistol and a rifle, had shown us how to track animals and hunt them, had taught us how to fish.

Had taught us how to be men.

We’d learned the value of hard work and prosperity from Joe’s father, Bradford Steel. I’d spent many summers helping on the ranch, earning more than my allowance and building muscles along the way.

But the things all little boys should learn from the men in their lives? How to defend yourself and live off the land?

Those skills had come from Tom Simpson.

My father. The man whose DNA accounted for half of me.

Bringing Justin camping had been my idea. Joe and I had felt sorry for him, had wanted him to have something fun after being such a target for the school bullies. Camping and fishing with my dad was the highlight of the week for Joe and me. We went some weekends, with two longer trips each year in spring and fall.

We could do something nice for someone. After all, that was what my mom always taught me to do.

So we’d brought along the new kid, the scared kid, the kid who’d been ripe for the picking. The kid who was the perfect prey for bullies.

And though I hadn’t known it at the time, my father was the biggest bully in Snow Creek.





Chapter Forty–One





Marjorie





Bryce sat directly across from me, deliberately not meeting my gaze. Not that I expected him to. Oddly, he was keeping his eye on Joe, who was still acting strangely.

Talon and Jade were quiet as well, but I expected that after Dale’s issues. They were at least themselves. Quiet, but themselves.

I watched Bryce and my oldest brother.

Something was going on.

If only Jade and I had been able to talk to Colin, maybe we’d know more. Bryce was supposed to talk to Ted Morse today, and if he had, whatever was going on with him and Joe was most likely related.

Bryce had hardly touched his burger, and though Joe was eating, he wasn’t making eye contact with anyone, and he answered in one-word replies when someone spoke to him. Melanie and Ruby sat next to each other and were chatting animatedly, to the point where Mel didn’t seem to notice that her husband was acting strangely. That wasn’t like her. Ryan was his usual self, laughing and talking to whomever would listen. He sat next to Donny and kept him engaged.

That left me to sit quietly and eat my burger.

I felt like the little girl who had to sit alone at lunch with everyone watching her.

In truth, though, no one was watching me.

I was the last person on anyone’s mind at the moment, so after I finished eating, I began clearing the table as others finished.

No one noticed.

I went inside to clean up in the kitchen. Dessert was ice cream, and they could all serve themselves when they wanted to. I was done for the night. I went to my bedroom to relax a bit. No one would miss me.

Until a soft knock at the door startled me.

“Yeah? Come in.”

I jerked when Bryce entered the room. “Hey,” I said.

“I’m taking off,” he said. “I just wanted to say thanks for dinner.”

“Oh? I thought you’d stay to talk to the guys about what went down with Dale today.”

“I thought about it, but it’s not really my place.”

“Sure it is. You’re as involved in this as any of the rest of us.”

“Don’t remind me.” He rubbed at his chin. “So are you, though. Why aren’t you in there?”

“They’re not going to talk about anything I don’t already know. To be honest, I need a break from it all. It’s been a rough day.”

“I know, and I’m sorry. How did your talk with Colin go?”

“It didn’t. The timing overlapped with Dale, so we canceled.”

“Oh.” He gazed around my room absently, as if trying to zero in on something but not quite finding it.

“Honestly,” I went on, “with this new development with Dale, I’m not sure talking to Colin is the best thing for Jade.”

“You might be right.”

I lifted my brow. I hadn’t expected that response from Bryce. He’d been all in on getting information from the Morses previously. “Oh?”