Page 24 of Wilde's End
My gaze skims over the glass glinting in the squat front lawns, and I force myself to exhale. The windows had to be replaced anyway. Sure, they were keeping the weather out, and now we’regoing to have to board those up too, but this isn’t a complete disaster.
What happens when theyarereplaced though? Will Wilde smash those too? Will he destroy the progress we make again and again and again? And when we’re selling, is he going to show up during walkthroughs and threaten all our buyers?
I lift my fist to my mouth and bite down on my knuckles with all the pressure I can handle. My scream smothers in my chest, and it takes way too long for me to shove all this shit with Wilde out of my head. No matter what, I’ll take it as it comes. I’m not backing down from this.
My phone vibrates in my pocket, and I pull it out, Sutton’s message back at the forefront of my mind. Not only am I here for my brothers, but I also needed to get away. His text is a perfect example of why.
If I’d still been home, I definitely would have woken up to his booty call, and I definitely would have slept with him. Because I’m terrible at making decisions, especially when my cock is involved.
The smell of eggs reaches me as I open the message Sutton has sent back. It takes me a second to make sure I’m reading the words I think I’m reading.
Sutton:
Wait. That was serious? You’re actually there? This is the dumbest fucking shit I’ve ever heard. Don’t text me when you’re back. You were last on my list anyway.
My grip on my phone gets so hard I swear I’m one squeeze away from shattering the screen. We were far from exclusive, and I know he’s only saying that to piss me off, but somehow, it still works. I contemplate texting him back a thousand and one insults, but I get control of myself and put my phone away instead.
Ignoring him only makes him madder.
I know. We’ve played this game before.
At least being here means that I won’t be the first to give in.
Kennedy holds a plate up toward me, and I shove everything that’s already happened this morning aside to join them.
“What did your wild man say?” he asks cautiously.
“The usual.” I pick up the fried egg with my fingers and take a bite. “It’s his town, get out, blah blah blah.”
Kennedy sends a searching gaze Hart’s way, but our brother ignores us both. “Maybe we need to listen.”
“Or not.”
“He broke all our windows. What are we supposed to do now?”
“Board them up.”
I can tell Kennedy’s torn. He’s clinging to any little hope I can give him, and lucky for him, I can talk through my ass like no one else.
“Another setback, though?” He doesn’t sound convinced.
“And I doubt it will be our last. Look, I know it’s shit. I know this is a pain in the ass, but he doesn’t get to push us around. We worked hard for this. We deserve it. Think about how excited you were when we first got here.”
He pokes at his eggs. “Maybe we could get our own chickens?”
That’s not at all where I was going with this, but it’s a start. “Now you’re thinking. We’ll set up a coop next to the house, and then we’ll have all the eggs we need.”
Hart groans. “Don’t we have enough to do around here?”
“If Kennedy wants chickens, he can have chickens.”
“Cool, so you want to be here, and Kennedy wants chickens, and I want to throw myself off the roof. Does that mean I’m next?”
If I thought Hart cared enough to actually kill himself, I’d have him in a psych office before he knew what was happening. He’s not suicidal though; he’s just an asshole. “You’re always complaining you don’t have purpose in life. Well, here I am, trying to give you something. But I can only get you partway. You need to do the rest yourself.”
“And you need to get laid. Heard from Sutton recently?”
I almost throw my phone at him. How is it that I know when people are deliberately trying to get a rise out of me and they’re successful anyway? I really need to work on my anger issues.
