Page 13 of Heart Sick Hate

My gaze skips from one end of the table to the other. A crevice in the middle feels like this whole scene could crack.

Ryan made a deal with the devil eight years ago to grant my father’s favorite son a spot in the most influential church in town. But I still don’t know what it is Ryan got out of it, besides a cookie-cutter, Jesus Ken doll for his daughter.

Echo fidgets with her fork, pushing her food around on her plate. Instead of eating, she’s chewing gum and playing with the steak like it’s still bleeding. She wraps one hand around the tail end of her ponytail and spins it around her finger, before settling it in front of her shoulder and covering the star tattoo that lives there.

The girl irritates the hell out of me. She’s too upbeat.

And between our family ties and the fact that we both work at the same tattoo parlor, there’s no avoiding her. So I do what I do best instead—pick at her and piss her off every chance I get. If I’m going to have to endure her endless energy, I might as well at least enjoy the entertainment of fighting with her.

Girl is energetic when I prefer things quiet.

Loud when I like to think.

The fucking sun when I’m used to the dark.

Why she actually started dating my brother five months ago still baffles me. I’m convinced it’s only because she wants to make her father happy. She and Rhett don’t have anything in common.

Either way, now that she is, there’s no escaping her.

She’s everywhere.

Oil spreading over the surface of the ocean, and it won’t stop spilling out. Like her black hair mixing with the white blonde.

I hate the irony of her edge when she still tries to pretend she’s prim and proper. I hate her outward optimism when I know her mind is much darker. I hate her energy when I’d like her to just sit still for five seconds.

I hate her.

But when Rhett wraps his arm around the back of her chair, and she ticks with an almost insignificant flinch—I decide I hate that more.

She doesn’t like him, but she’s dating him. Not that he sees it or cares. His eyes are set on his pathway to heaven, and with Echo at his side, the congregation loves him.

Echo’s gaze drops to where I’m gripping my knife, and I realize my knuckles are white. I hate that she notices everything I don’t want her to. After dinner, I’m going to head to the ring and punch someone unconscious just to wipe the judgment of her golden eyes from my brain.

“I hear Rhett gave his first sermon last Sunday.” Dad points the tip of his knife at his favorite son.

“It was beautiful. He’s a natural.” Ryan beams because he honestly doesn’t see past this bullshit. “And we’ll be recording the next one. Rhett’s been working out the logistics.”

Dad nods, pretending to care, while Ryan drones on about the importance of spreading the word of God to the people. And even if we’re all listening, I can’t help but wonder how many of us at the table believe this shit.

Echo goes to church because her dad’s a pastor. I avoid it entirely. And my father is only caught inside if he’s needed for a business meeting.

“Rhett’s a natural, right sweetie?” Ryan smiles at Echo.

She returns one so big and bright, it's out of place in this dark house my father still calls his home. The walls are nearly black with the deep charcoal wallpaper. This manor is a casket for light, while Echo sits in the center of it burning every last atom of oxygen in the room.

“It was good.” She nods.

Rhett plants his palm on her shoulder and shakes it. “Just good? Come on, babe. Be supportive.”

The laugh that bursts out of me is so sudden all eyes fly in my direction. But my brother is a fucking joke, and the fact that he depends on constant praise is pathetic.

Echo narrows her sparkly golden eyes at me and rolls her shoulders back. “The sermon was perfect, Rhett.”

I’m not sure if anyone notices the sweet slip of venom with her statement. Beautiful anger dripping with each pause in her words.

“I loved how you tied moral dilemma to survival instincts. It was…”—she pauses, pushing her food around once more, her eyebrows knitting—“enlightening.”

Interesting word choice. Or maybe it’s how Echo said it.

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