Page 82 of Act Like You Don't Care
He flicked a glance my way, then peered thoughtfully toward the house. “I don’t think I’m in the mood to be cultivated today.”
“I know. We’ll go. I’m going to kill Jim.” I reached for the ignition to start the car again, but he held up a hand.
“No, let’s go in. I’ll have to meet the rest of your family at some point. This was going to happen eventually.” But he didn’t look happy about it.
Throwing caution to the winds, I grabbed his hand and laced my fingers through his. “You don’t have to meet them all at once.” I squeezed and, surprisingly, he squeezed back and let me keep his hand. “Why don’t I go in first and deal with this?”
He shook his head and smiled at me, an unhappy smile that made me even more angry with Jim. “Let’s go in. Someone’s looking out the door,” he said and got out of the car.
It was, of course, Jim, which was perfect. I could grab him by the collar and remind him that working at a desk didn’t mean I wasn’t able to trounce his ass across the front yard.
“Miles, stop growling,” Tam hissed.
“I’m going to do more than growl,” I promised. “This wasn’t why we were invited over.”
Tam pulled me to a stop at the end of the front walkway. “It’s fine. I’ll survive. I also don’t need you to protect me, okay?”
Right. “Sorry.”
He smiled then and shook his head. “Damn alphas.”
It startled a laugh out of me, which I guessed had been his intention all along. “Okay, I promise to behave. I’m still going to give him a piece of my mind.”
“That’s okay,” Tam said and casually looped his arm through mine, sending a shiver down my spine. “Just don’t get blood on anything. This outfit is new.”
“I swear.” I glanced down at his clothes. Designer, dressy but casual. “I thought I didn’t recognize them. You didn’t need to dress up.”
“You did,” he said pointedly. “They’re going to wonder what we’re doing.”
I nodded and headed for the front door, ready for a fight.
Jim ducked his head when he saw my expression, but he short-circuited my plan to tear a strip off him by smiling at Tam and holding the door open. “Hi, Tam. Nice to meet under better circumstances.”
“It is,” Tam said gravely.
“Dad’s in the living room,” Jim added, almost babbling, one eye on me the entire time. “I guess you can’t have a drink, but we have other stuff.”
“Water is fine,” Tam said and, at my nod, slipped past Jim into the front hallway.
I grabbed my brother by the back of the neck before he could escape. “Why the fuck are you here?” I demanded. “Don’t bullshit me, either. I know exactly what you’re doing.”
He twisted my hand off and took a step back. “Look, you’re not married, so I don’t expect you to understand. But she’s talented and she really wants this. Just having her name associated with his might be all she needs. You know that half of making it in Hollywood is luck.”
No, actually, I didn’t. Not after spending time with Tam and some of the people he worked with. Luck had nothing to do with it. “He’s here to meet our parents, that’s all. I didn’t bring him here to boost your wife up the Hollywood ladder. I will not have him made uncomfortable, not with production starting on Wirechild, you hear me?”
He nodded, and I almost apologized because he looked so uncomfortable. This probably wasn’t even his idea, now that the first shock of seeing him here had passed. I’d bet he was caught between his wife’s ambition and the family’s need to keep this low-key. Mom’s insistence that we keep our dicks out of Hollywood kind of made sense now.
Too late for both of us, though.
I followed Tam inside and found him sitting on the couch having a stilted discussion with my father, while Jim’s wife Odette smiled brightly and tried to insert herself awkwardly into the conversation. Tam was perfectly polite to her, but I could see it wearing on him already and we’d only been here for five minutes. I crossed the room and held out my hand. “Come on, I promised you a tour.” I hadn’t, but he put his hand eagerly in mine and let me pull him to his feet.
“I’ve been wanting to see your bedroom here,” he said casually.
Odette jumped to her feet. “I’ll go too.”
Jim’s eyes met mine and he stepped in. “You’ve already seen the place. We should give Mom a hand in the kitchen.” He almost physically blocked her, but not quick enough for me to miss the flash of anger across her face.
“Come on,” I whispered to Tam and pulled him down the hallway. “Sorry about that,” when I’d hidden us safely away in what had once been my childhood bedroom.
