Page 32 of Outcast
“Gray Marsh. Emory and I have a meeting.”
“Marsh.” She frowned. “Why don’t I know that name?”
Holden arrived just then. “He’s my brother.”
“Oh.You’re Forresters!” She turned back to Emory. “Well, I’ll get out of your hair. As soon as you decide you’re ready, give me a call, honey. I’ll take good care of you.”
He smiled. “Thank you, Hailey. I’ll keep that in mind.”
He was polite, but there was something reserved about him I hadn’t seen on the roadside. Had he just been so rattled by Dallas that he’d lost his composure—or was he more himself because he’d gotten to shed the polite mask?
“Sit down, please,” he said. “Sorry for the holdup. Hailey is…”
Horny?
“Friendly,” he said.
Well, that was one way to put it.
Emory wet his lips, and my gaze zeroed in on the small cut on his lower lip. It was nearly healed now. My gaze lingered.
Holden kicked my foot. I shot him a look. “Really?”
Apparently, being touch-averse didn’t preclude him from bruising my damn ankle.
“Can we end the suspense and just talk about this loan?” Holden said. “I wasn’t aware of any lien on the property.”
Emory reached for the satchel on the seat beside him. “Of course. I’ve brought the paperwork. I read through it yesterday, and it appears Mr. Forrester took it out last year.”
“But why?—”
A teenage kid in an old-school jerk hat and name tag that read Neal came up to the table, order pad out. We paused to put in our order for burgers, fries, and MoonShakes—which were basically just shakes with Oreo crumbles created during the era of the moon landing.
“So,” Holden said once we were alone again. “Why is this the first we’re hearing about it? Shouldn’t we have gotten notified sooner?”
“Well, your dad deferred it with an extension, so it was off the radar until now. Unfortunately, it was a balloon loan. That means?—”
“The entire amount is due now?” Holden asked.
“I’m afraid so,” Emory said. “We assumed you knew about the loan since your name was on the deed too, Holden.”
“I never signed off on any loan,” he snapped.
Emory flinched at his tone. “I-I’m sorry. I know this isn’t what you want to hear.”
“Holden knows this isn’t your fault.” I pinned my brother with a hard look. “Right?”
He glared right back. “This is serious shit, Gray. I can’t play nice just because?—”
I shook my head, warning him not to go there. “If you want to blame someone, blame the old man.”
“Oh, I do.” Holden gave a ragged laugh. He was usually so composed, the rough edge was scarier than his anger.
Leave it to dear old dad to find one last way to fuck us over.
“Okay, three MoonShakes!” Neal smiled brightly, unaware of the tension at the table. “We’ll have the rest of your food out real soon.”
“Bag it up,” Holden said. “I think we’ll take it to go.”
