Come Back for Me (Arrowood Brothers #1)(70)

“Is that what this is? A crush or whatever you want to call it?”

“Fuck you for even asking me that,” I spit back at him. “I have a kid, Dec. A fucking kid. I love that woman, and I love my daughter.”

He raises both hands. “Easy! I’m asking because the last time I saw you, it was fuck this place and burn it down. Now you’re asking to buy some of the land on the very farm we swore we’d never come back to. I don’t know how the hell you thought any of us weren’t going to come see if aliens abducted you or whatever. For all we knew, she found out who I was and was extorting money from you.”

I clench my fists and release them at least three times before deciding I need to walk away for a minute. There has never been a time where I’ve actually wanted to raise my fists in anger toward my brothers. I may be willing to break my other promises, but that is one I never will. Declan must know how pissed I am because he stays silent as I work through it.

Once I’m calm enough, I turn and face him. “You may be willing to walk away from what you want, but this isn’t an option. If you three don’t want to sell me the land, that’s fine. I’ll take the money from the sale and buy my own. You don’t have to understand or agree with me, but I thought you’d at least respect my decision.”

“I do respect it! That’s why I’m fucking here! I called Sean and Jacob, who think you’re insane, but they also want you to be happy. How much do you know about Ellie?”

I swear that he’s trying to piss me off on purpose. “I know enough.”

“I don’t think you do, Connor.” There is a small stretch of silence where I want to demand he tell me what the fuck is going on, but I force myself to wait him out. “I came because you need to know something, and like I said, I wasn’t going to do this over the phone.”

“If it’s so important, just tell me already.” I’m tired, and my brother ruined what was looking like a good night. I have no patience for listening to him talk in circles.

Declan sighs, and in an uncharacteristic move, he runs his hand down his face. I’ve seen Declan upset, angry, disappointed, and proud, but this emotion I don’t know. He looks almost . . . sad.

“What do you remember about that night?”

My body locks because of all the things we talk about in our past, that night isn’t one. We never bring it up, content to pretend it didn’t happen. It was when I knew that, no matter what, I could never forgive my father. It was the night he made four boys deal with something they never should’ve. He forced us all into a lifetime of regret and anger.

Declan tried to shield the three of us, but there was no way he could. Dad made sure that if one went down, we all did. He wanted to be sure that through our guilt, we would protect him because we always protect each other.

“I remember everything.”

“Me too. As hard as I try to forget, I can’t.”

“Why are you bringing this up, Dec?”

He sighs and then sits on the bale of hay. “I need you to hear me out before you go ape-shit and act like I did something you wouldn’t have done if the roles were reversed.”

“Okay.”

I say it, but I don’t mean it. If he did something to jeopardize my relationship with Ellie and Hadley, my brother will not like the results.

“Right. Well, I’m going to get it all out, and you’re going to listen because whether you want to believe it or not, this family is all I care about, and anyone who threatens it is my problem. I worked way too fucking hard to keep the four of us out of jail or turning into degenerate drunks like our father.”

“The point, Dec.”

I can now add that stalling is something my brother isn’t good at. It’s going to come out, so he might as well get it over with.

However, Declan seems to be struggling with whatever it is that he drove four hours to come tell me.

“After our call, I had my security team check Ellie out.”

Now I’m going to lose it. “Excuse me?”

“Jesus Christ, I did what any one of us would, Connor. I had her investigated.”

My lips flatten, and I focus on breathing through my nose. “You crossed a line, Declan. You had no right to do that.”

He throws his hands up. “I had no right? I’m your fucking brother who has stood by your side, protected you, given up everything, just like you did! I’m not playing games, Connor. I didn’t take some great joy in this. The last thing I wanted to do was come here and have to show you this!”

“Show me what?” I keep my voice even. It’s clear that Declan is upset, which has me on edge.

He runs his hands through his hair and shakes his head. “First, let me explain what I found.”

I motion for him to go ahead.

“I didn’t have much to go on other than she was in Sugarloaf and had to live close. After some digging, they found Ellie Walcott, who was married to a Kevin Walcott, who was recently arrested, and they had a daughter.”

I roll my eyes and huff. “I know all this.”

“Just shut up and let me get this out.”

“Fine.” My patience is wearing thin.

“They had a hard time finding any history on Ellie. She wasn’t from the area as I had . . . assumed because, who the fuck moves to Sugarloaf? So, they dug deeper and that’s when we discovered her history.”