Page 146 of Love Thy Brother
“I’m not done.”
Cam snapped his mouth shut.
I sighed. “I bought that land off you out of spite. I didn’t want you opening another chapter there, and with the garage on site, it was the perfect place to do it. Dad talked about it for years.”
“I had no plans to found a new chapter.” Hurt flared in Cam’s gaze. “Expansion has never been my priority. I can’t manage what we have.”
“Nothing stays the same forever, though, does it? I was scared everything I’d run from was going to follow me, so I forced you to sell so it couldn’t happen.”
Orla rose and moved to Cam’s freezer, opening it and procuring a bottle of vodka I assumed was Alexei’s.
Cam glared at her. “You ain’t riding if you drink that.”
“Don’t need to. I can ridequeenon Locke’s bike.”
“You can fucking—”
“Now, now.” Orla wagged her finger. “Don’t change the subject.”
Rolling his eyes, Cam gestured for me to keep talking.
There wasn’t much left to say. I hadn’t decided what I wanted to do until six seconds before I’d told him, but now I had, I knew in my heart it was right. “I don’t want the site anymore. And I don’t want to sell it, cos if I do, whoever buys it is gonna flog it to the next developer who offers them a golden goose. And then it’ll be the holiday homes and apartments Dad hated so much.”
“You could sell it with a condition... maybe?” Cam reached for his phone. “I don’t know how it works.”
“Neither do I. That’s why I might need Alexei, but I’m not selling it, Cam. It feels wrong. I just want it gone.”
“Why, though? You worked so hard for it.”
“For all the wrong reasons.”
“Since when is wanting something for yourself wrong? And what are you gonna do when it’s gone?”
“I’ll worry about that after.”
“That’s a stupid plan.” Orla unscrewed the cap from the vodka bottle and poured an icy shot into a crystal glass that definitely wasn’t Cam or Saint’s. “Worry about it now.”
“No. I can’t focus on twelve things at once. I’m not wired like you two.”
“You’re fucking batshit.” Cam eyed the vodka, hands twitching but resisting.
I wasn’t so strong. I swiped Orla’s glass and drained it. “I don’t give a flying fuck what you think. I’m only telling you because you’re here.”
“Liar.” Orla reclaimed her glass. Refilled it and knocked it back before sloshing in another shot for me. “If you didn’t want him to know,youwouldn’t be here.”
Maybe she was right. All I knew was the feeling in my bones that I needed rid of that land wouldn’t fucking quit. And I didn’t want it to. Not until it was gone, and I had no option but to undo the terrible mistake I’d made five years ago.
Until the only open road led me home.
26
RUBI
I’d become that flaky motherfucker who made promises and left them to die by the side of the road.
I didn’t talk to Nash.
And he didn’t talk to me.
