Page 137 of The Penalty

“I cannot be seen in these things!”

“Come on, put your foot in it.” I drop to a crouch at his feet to help him. This is obviously a very difficult thing for him. Maybe he’s afraid of change. I have to baby step him.

“I am not putting those things on.”

“Why not? Do you hate comfort? I thought about getting you ones with a snake-skin design on them, but those were lame. These have glitter. Obviously, these are superior.” I look at his feet. “Oh, you have socks on, gotta take those off.”

I grab his ankle, and he lets me lift it to pull the sock off. Before I put his foot down, I slip the shoe on, and he groans.

“See? Heaven, right?”

“Why are they bumpy?”

“I don’t know, something about pressure points?” I shrug. “I heard once that if you push on the right spot on your foot, it’ll make you shit. That has to be fake—I hope—I don’t want to shit in my Crocs.” I grab his other foot and pull the sock off, slipping the other shoe on, then sit back and admire them.

“Admit it, they’re amazing and you never want to put feet binders on again.”

“Feet binders?”

“Shoes. They’re too constricting. It’s much better when your feet have room.”

“Shoes are not feet binders. They’re shoes and if you get the right size, they don’t constrict anything.”

“Pfft. These are better.” I stand and grab his face to kiss him. “Be silly with me. I promise you’ll feel better.”

“How does pretending nothing is wrong make things better?” Rhys rests his forehead against mine and I wrap my arms around his shoulders.

“It’s not pretending nothing is wrong, it’s focusing on the better stuff. How much of what happens with Oliver and Owen and the company do you really have control over?”

“Because of how many shares I own, I have a vote in what happens. I don’t have to be involved, but they need my vote to win.”

“Do you want to be involved with your brothers and the business?”

“I don’t know. I want to have brothers, and I guess I want them to like me, but I don’t understand a lot of it and it’s a lot of money.”

“So this is about money? Cause money isn’t everything.”

“It’s not just money. It’s a lot of trust and it feels so heavy.” Rhys drops his head back on his shoulders.

“Or is it about wanting your brothers in your life? Because if it’s one or the other, I’m picking my brother. He’s a pain in the ass, but I’d still pick him.”

“It’s a mind-boggling amount of money. I could set up my mom and myself for life. She wouldn’t have to struggle anymore.”

“Do you need more money? I thought you got a butt load when your dad died.” Seems easy to me. I have to help him untangle his head. His anxiety is really off the charts. He needs to talk to someone about that. For as much money as he has, it’s super weird to worry about more.

“I did.”

“Then why would you want more?” I give him a hard look so he takes me seriously, while planning to help him get a therapy appointment.

“It’s not about wanting more. It’s about losing it and the stress of keeping the company because then I have to learn a lot about it.” Rhys sighs.

I stare, pretty sure he’s missing the obvious. “Do they need your help? Because I thought you said Oliver didn’t want it and you were just stressed about that.”

“You really do listen to me.”

“And if you sit here and stew on it, be all jumble-y belly and sad face, how much is that going to change the future? Zero. You don’t know what you don’t know yet. So you might as well focus on the better things and just deal with the harder shit as it comes, or you’re robbing yourself of the good shit. You said there’s a lawyer? Let him figure out, no sense in worrying about things you don’t know.”

“You have a good point.”

---