Page 62 of No Way Home
“Of course we are. Your mom and my dad…got. It.On.” He grunted and hula-hooped his arms in a circle.
I was actually going to kill this kid. “Don’t you say that about my mom ever again.” My eyebrows lifted in a threat. “Do you hear me?”
He didn’t have the sense to look even a little scared. Heheld his hands up, arrested style. “Sor-ry. Just sayin’. The fact that our parents were married makes us?—”
“Do you need a diagram?” I snapped. Before he could answer, I grabbed an invoice on the counter, flipped it over, and quickly drew two family trees. His and mine. Complete with our parents’ names. I restrained myself from writingallof Billy’s exes. It felt unnecessarily mean. “Do you see this?” I circled my tree. Then I made a circle around his. Three times. “They’re not connected. At all. It’s this little thing we like to call divorce. See this?” I pointed to my dad’s name. “This man—the most stellar human you will ever meet? He swooped in and married my mom after your dad cheated on her. So I belong to these people, and unfortunately, you belong to these people. And since your dad and my mom had no children together, we are nothing. You may have a lot of other half-siblings.” And I mean a lot. “But I’m not one of them. Nor are any of my full-blooded siblings. Got it?” He stared at me, bewildered. “What do you need?” I asked. “You’re not supposed to be in here without a hard hat.”
He shrugged. “I just thought, maybe…” He had that all too familiar gleam in his eye. He wanted something from me. Probably free tickets to one of Ford’s concerts. Or possibly Cash’s—he was making a name for himself. But of all the people I was related to and all the things I could hook Topher up with, I was completely unprepared for what came out of his mouth next. “It’s about Magnolia,” he said, once again irking me by using her full name. That wasmything. His eyes turned greedy. “I need her—likeneed—and when I need a girl, Ihaveto have her. If you know what I’m saying.”
My inner MMA fighter roared, and in my mind, I already had this kid in a headlock, bouncing his skull off a cabinet. That thought jolted me. I wasn’t the jealous type. Ever. I’d never needed to be.But Magnolia’s different.True. I had no chill when it came to her. I might look calm on the outside, but inside, I was a lion trying not to pounce.
“Seems like a personal problem,” I said. “You might need to learn some self-control.”
He clapped my shoulder. “Why would I do that when she’ll come to me? They always do. Just gotta figure out the right angle.”
I’m sure he’d learned that from Billy. But his insistence over Magnolia was verging on dangerous.
I shook him off and folded my arms across my chest. “I hope you aren’t insinuating that you’ll force yourself on her.”
His nose wrinkled. “Ain’t nobody got time for jail. Also, who wants a woman who doesn’t want them back? Nah.” He grinned slyly. “I’ll make her see things my way. Pretty soon she’ll be begging for it.”
This tool obviously didn’t know Magnolia wasn’t like other girls. She couldn’t be manipulated.
Can’t she? Isn’t that what you did to her? What you do to every girl, whether you mean to or not?
I shut that line of thinking down. I’d learned a long time ago—with the help of my therapist as we analyzed every encounter I’d ever had with the female sex—that I wasn’t a manipulator. Flawed? Yes. Annoyingly attractive? Apparently. But manipulative? No.
I let out a disbelieving huff. “M’kay. Well. Not sure why you need my help then. Sounds like you’ve got a handle on the situation.”
His eyes narrowed. “I’ve seen the way girls look at you, talk about you online,” he said, like it was something I should be proud of. He had no idea. “Seen the wayshelooks at you.” She didn’t look at me like anything. I wished she did, even if I shouldn’t. “I need her to want me like that.” He lifted his chin. “I just thought you could help speed things up. Tell me what to say. What she’d want to hear. Cyrano de Burger-rack me.”
I snorted. “You mean Cyrano de Bergerac?”
“Yeah.” He pointed at me like I was a genius. “Him.”
“Hellno.”
“C’mon, Bowen.” He threw his hands out again, like we were old pals. “Give me some intel.”
“I have zero intel. She was my brother’s girlfriend, not mine.” I gave him a sorry, not sorry look.
“You do. I know you do.”
I rested my back against the cabinets, making myself breathe, rattled by this conversation. What made this kid think he was worthy of Magnolia in any way? She did not want this guy. That was clear from the one time I’d seen them together.
Darkness flickered in his eyes. “So you’re saying you won’t help me?”
“Topher!” Billy called from the hall. His tone carried a dragged-out, I’ve-been-looking-for-you-forever sound. “Markson’s about to do a gnarly tick removal. You need to assist.”
Topher flinched like the idea was disgusting, but he made no move for the door. As Billy’s footsteps faded, he looked me right in the eye. “Iwillget my way with Magnolia. I don’t lose.”
I scoffed. “You mean how you didn’t lose every football game your senior year when you were the starting QB and captain of the team?”
He rolled his jaw, irritation flashing across his face. “It’s not my fault our offense sucked.”
“Sure, sure. Blame it on everyone else.” He’d probably learned that from Billy too. “I think you might need to adjust your ‘I never lose’ mantra. You’ve obviously lost plenty in your life. As much as I’d love to let you live in delusion, Magnolia deserves better. Topher, youwilllose again if you try to manipulate her into a relationship with you. I can promise you that.”
“Topher!” Billy shouted as the door flew open. His face was beet red. But somehow, when he saw the two of us standing there together, it went a shade redder. “Get out ofthere!” He grabbed a fistful of Topher’s scrub top and yanked him from the room. Then he slammed the door shut.
