Page 74 of Trusting You
I didn’t even get a chance to respond to Trent before two large goons descended on me.
“You are a fucking moron.” Declan slammed the bar for emphasis. He was wearing a ripped hoodie and his hair was down past his chin.
“Mom is going to disown you.” Callum, although dressed in a suit and carrying an expensive leather messenger bag, was just as pissed as Declan.
I snapped back at them. I was not in the mood for my big brothers to gang up on me. “I was never her favorite son anyway. So it’s not like I can fall further.”
Callum rolled his eyes at me. “Yeah. But you were a solid number two. She can barely tolerate Declan.”
Declan shoved Callum. “Hey, I’m standing right here. And Mom made me pumpkin bread last week, so shut the fuck up.”
Both Callum’s and my head snapped around to stare at him. My mother was an incredible baker but rarely felt motivated to utilize her talents. She only gave us baked goods when she was really happy with us for some reason. “Wait, what? She made you pumpkin bread?”
Declan smiled. “Yup, with chocolate chips, assholes.”
“Shit. I didn’t get any.”
“Maybe she doesn’t love you anymore, Cal,” I offered.
“Yup. It’s cause you are losing your looks.” Declan always went for the jugular.
Callum looked like he was going to throw up. “Shut up, assholes.”
“She made me pumpkin bread too.” All three of us turned to look at Trent, who was loading glassware onto the shelves behind the bar.
“What?”
“Yup. I went to visit her and see how the Captain was doing and ended up changing the bulbs in the recessed lights. She made me tea and we chatted.”
Callum threw his hands up. “So Trent is a better son than we are. Fucking great.”
That was probably an accurate statement. I wasn’t sure anyone loved my mom like Trent did. I had no problem sharing her. But special pumpkin bread was another matter entirely.
I could tell Trent regretted telling us that information. “Guys. We need to refocus. Your brother is a moron who screwed up the best thing in his life and is now suffering. We need to help him.”
“Well, he deserves to suffer for being such a dumbass,” Callum lobbed in.
Declan nodded and looked at me. “We told you to marry her.”
Jesus, would they ever get off my case? “And I was going to, asshole!”
I took a deep breath and ran my hands through my, admittedly, very dirty hair. “But then Dad had a heart attack and she got scared, and I got scared. And she got a job interview and I just freaked out. I blew up at her and fucked things up so badly she will probably never speak to me again.”
At least they were listening. Declan walked behind the bar and started quietly pouring beers. I’m glad he understood the gravity of the situation.
Once all four of us had a full beer, we were ready to focus. Callum tried to be kind. “It can’t be that bad.”
“Oh, it’s that bad,” I said, taking another sip of beer.
“How can we fix it?” Declan was a fixer, but this wasn’t the engine of a boat or an end table.
“We can’t.”
“We’re Quinns. Of course we can fix it.”
Callum put his arm around my shoulders. “The Captain has fucked up so many times. We could ask him how he gets Mom to forgive him.”
“I don’t know if I want to know the answer to that.”
