Second Chance Summer(50)

Aidan tipped his head back and stared at the sky. Azure blue. So bright it hurt. He kept staring at it.

“He beat the shit out of you?” Gray asked, sounding raw and devastated.

There was only one cloud, a white puffy cloud in the shape of an elephant, floating lazily across the sky.

“Say something,” Gray begged.

Aidan pointed to the sky. “You see the elephant, or is that just me?”

Gray blew out a breath. “He went looking for you,” he said. “Found you at home with Mom. He figured you’d told her everything, but I know you better than that. You keep your shit bottled tight.”

Aidan closed his eyes, guilt squeezing his airway so tight he couldn’t breathe.

“But apparently Mom figured things out,” Gray said, “and that’s when she went after him with a frying pan. And the rest is history. But Jesus, Aidan. All this time I had no idea you were there that night.” He paused and then said again, “You should’ve told me.”

“No,” Aidan said, eyes still closed.

“No? What the hell, man. He hit you, hurt you. I’m going to—”

Aidan opened his eyes and met Gray’s gaze. “I meant no, I didn’t keep that shit locked up.” Shame burned his throat like he was trying to talk over shattered glass. “I did tell Mom. Not about what he’d done to me, I’d never lay that guilt on her, but about the affair. Even though he’d threatened me and told me that it would kill her, I did. I wanted her to leave him right then and there and she …” He shook his head. “I’d hidden my injuries with a baseball cap and hoodie. She took them off and saw that I had a black eye and my ribs … they weren’t great. That’s when she went apeshit on his ass.”

“Good,” Gray said grimly.

“Don’t you get it?” Aidan asked. “It’s my fault she got hurt, my fault she got arrested. That’s all on me.”

“Are you f*cking kidding me? You were just a kid, Aidan—”

“Doesn’t matter, I should’ve protected her,” he said. “Us.”

“No,” Gray said, his voice low and rough with emotion he rarely allowed to show. “You listen to me, A. Dad should’ve protected us. And failing that, Mom should’ve—”

“Don’t you blame her.”

“I don’t.” Gray shook his head. “It was a seriously messed-up situation that no kid should’ve been caught in. And I originally thought he should have to fix this, but now—”

“He can’t come here. Mom’s doing good, she’s happy. If he comes—”

“He won’t,” Gray said tightly. “If he does, I’ll kill him.”

“The resort is ours now. We’re going to save it. He’s not going to win, Gray.” He started to move away, but Gray caught him and pulled him back around.

“One more thing,” Gray said. “I’d give anything to be able to go back and protect you. I’m your big brother.”

“I can out-bench-press you. I don’t need protection.”

“Too bad,” Gray said. “I’m right here standing at your back and always will be. Got it?”

Aidan stared into Gray’s very serious eyes and nodded.

“Good,” Gray said. “So. We do this the way we’ve done everything. Without him.”

The relief almost knocked Aidan on his ass. “Thanks.”

“Don’t thank me for that. We’re a family. And speaking of that, I know you only stick around here for me.”

This was way too deep to handle on utter exhaustion. “Well, and also to watch Penny boss you around,” Aidan said, trying to lighten the mood.

Gray let out a rough laugh and dropped his head for a beat before lifting it and looking at Aidan. “I don’t want you to stay just because you feel you have to.”

“I don’t,” Aidan said. “I stay for you. And Mom. And Hud and Kenna. You guys mean something to me. I stay because I believe in us, dammit. We belong here. Together.”

Gray started to step into Aidan, no doubt to hug him, but Aidan slapped a hand on his brother’s chest. “What’s with you and Hud and all the chick flick moments?”

“Suck it up,” Gray said, and hauled him in anyway. And then for good measure he lifted Aidan off his feet and shook him like he used to do when they were kids, proving Gray could at least tie Aidan in a bench-press competition after all.

Aidan sighed. “We’re right on the side of the road for chrissakes,” he grumbled. “Anyone can see us.”

Gray laughed and tightened his arms, refusing to let him go until Aidan managed to give him a head noogie and they shoved clear of each other.

A few minutes later they were back on the road, their silence much more comfortable now. Aidan was the first to break it. “How much of a shot do we really have at handling this ourselves?”

“We have a year,” Gray said. “And there’s nothing us Kincaids are good at if it’s not saving our own asses in the home stretch.”

Aidan nodded and hoped that was really true. But he was too tired to give it much thought. He rested his head back and closed his eyes until Gray pulled up in front of their building, his gaze locking on the sight of Penny’s car parked in the lot. “Nothing like coming home to a good woman.”