Page 67 of The Holiday Heartbreaker

“I know that,” Brody responded.

It wasn’t his fault, maybe. But he’d always figured there was a reason for it. There had to be. What made one kid inherently special to a psychopath? That was the question he didn’t know the answer to. Never would.

“But you don’t...let anyone in. It doesn’t have to be like that.”

“Lachlan and I are close,” Brody said.

“Look, I’m not trying to be a dick. I wasn’t close to everybody for a long time because I blamed myself for Mom leaving. Because I was special to her and I... I felt like I was the reason she had to stay, Brody. Stay to get used like a punching bag, and I told her to leave. I told her I would be okay. Look what happened to Gus.”

“We all know what happened to Gus.” The words felt dragged from Brody.

Yeah, he knew what had happened to Gus. Gus had gotten it the worst.

Worse than anyone.

Gus had nearly died at the hands of their father.

But their dad had hurt all of them. All but Brody.

Whatever Hunter said, they had that same trauma in common. And Brody?

Brody had been loved by that man. And it made everything in his soul feel sick and twisted.

Hunter was brave. For telling their mother to leave. For sharing his story now.

But Brody just couldn’t share his.

“I couldn’t deal with what I thought my part in it was. So I’m just saying I’m not accusing you of anything, or trying to be mean, I’m just... I’m not really any different. Or haven’t been.”

“And what made you want to have a heart-to-heart with me tonight?” Brody asked.

“I don’t know. I just made a comment. I wasn’t exactly prepared for this. I don’t have my thoughts all lined out. And I don’t have them all together. All I know is that things have been so much better for me since. And since Gus and I actually had a talk about what happened all that time ago. We tend to want to sit on things, us McClouds.”

“Because there’s nothing to talk about,” Brody said. “The thing is, we were all there, Hunter. We were all there. We saw Dad’s rages. And I saw him choose to take a swing at you, or Lachlan, or Gus, instead of me. We were all there. There’s no use talking about it. It isn’t going to change it. All we can do is work the land now. Make you better now. And you are getting married, because you’re an idiot, but Lachlan and I can continue to have anonymous sex and stay out as late as we want.”

Hunter cleared his throat and looked off the porch, as if he could see anything out in the darkness. Brody had a feeling Hunter just didn’t want to look at him. “There’s no cure in anonymous sex. I just hope you know that.”

“I’m not looking to be cured. I’m just looking to have as good of a time on this miserable rock as I possibly can. I look at it this way,” he said, figuring he would give him a little bit of honesty related to what he had been thinking only a few minutes earlier. “We have a shitty, crumbling foundation. And you can only do so much with that. But every so often we get some pretty damned good building blocks. I want to build off those. So I take the good things, but I don’t need to go examining the bad. And I sure as hell don’t need to try and change it. Because nothing will change it. Nothing ever changes. It just is. And then you die.”

“Cheerful.”

Brody shrugged. “I never said I was. I think I’m realistic. About what life has to offer.”

“So what about Gus and Alaina? Tag, Nelly, me and Elsie?”

“I’m happy for you. But I never figured I would go looking for that.”

“You like Elizabeth, though.” It wasn’t a question. His asshole brother thought he just knew.

Sadly, he was right.

“Elizabeth is hot as hell,” he said. “Didn’t you notice?”

“She isn’t my type,” Hunter said.

“Well. That’s bullshit. I know you love Elsie, but I’ve known you too long to buy into that. You have never had a type. You just like women.”

Hunter laughed. “Fine. She’s hot. I’m just not sure she’s as hot as you think she is.”

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