Page 18 of Feverburn

He let out a tortured groan.“Are we doing this again?”

We both stepped back from each other to stand up straighter.“Yeah, I guess we fucking are. You brought it up,”I said.

“It was a nightmare, and you know it. No matter how much we unpack the timeline, we will never get answers, but you should have known I was dating her.”

“Why would I be obligated to know you were dating her if you never told me?”I asked, twirling the mallet.

“She was a ranger. Why the fuck wouldn’t I know her?”

“Yeah, but she was friends with Bear’s ex. Why the fuck wouldn’t I know her? Even if it was three years ago, I know the timeline like the back of my hand. I was dating her before you got back from college in June. I started dating her that March. I loved her before you knew who she was. You can’t fucking deny that.”I pointed at him with the mallet.“You will never be able to deny that.”

He ran his hand through his hair before flinging out both arms wide.“Whitney never mentioned you. You never mentioned her. If you’re never going to believe me, why the fuck are we hanging out? I thought we were past this!”

“I guess fucking not! You think you’re better than me because you have someone now. That doesn’t erase everything that happened. You left me with the hardware store. You fucked the woman I loved and let the whole town turn on me. Just because Kaylee is in your life doesn’t mean everything is magically better.”

He slapped the table and pointed at me.“You’re wrong. That’s just it. Kaylee is making my life better. And I want you to have the same happiness, but it’s never going to happen if all you do is hang out with Bear or work.”

“Even if I did like this Dani girl, I couldn’t date her publicly.”

“Why?”

“I know what Dane and the other people in town call me.”

“Cursed Carson?”He snorted in amusement.“That’s just a joke. This town is superstitious ashell. I’m sure they called me Hermit Harley or something.”His smile fell when I glowered at him, causing him todoubledown on his stance.“You’re not cursed. What happened with Whitney was an accident.”

“And Jamie?”I countered as my throat tightened.

He blinked quickly, formulating an excuse,“Those were both freak accidents. That shouldn’t stop you from having someone in your life. A wife and kids, you’ve always wanted a family. What was the point of building your huge ass cabin with all those empty rooms if you’re never going to fill it up with people wholoveyou, dude?”

I took a long sip of my beer and put the mallet down.“I need you to drop it. I don’t need my baby brother telling me what to do.”

"Just do me a favor and think about it. Dani is a witch. Witches are hot.”

I rolled my eyes, thinkingoh, I’m well aware of that, little brother.

A loud ding filled the woodshop. Harley pulled out his phone and tapped on the screen.“It’s an alert from my trail cam.”

“Are you still tracking that buck?”

“Yeah, Ihopehe’s still around for hunting season.”

He clicked the control for the TV mounted on the wall, pulling up the view from the camerahiddenin a tree. Twonakedwomen filled the screen, looking like something you’d see on a ghost hunter show. Awildyipping filled the air, sounding almost like Xena as they danced around a bonfire, arms flailing, boobs jiggling.

I reeled back, laughing, clapping my hand on Harley’s shoulder.“It’s—”

“Wait, is that Kaylee and Rosie? Don’t look!”He shielded my eyes, but I ran from him.

“Your girl has her tits out in the forest!”I couldn’t stop cackling while he chased me.

“It’s a full moon! She can’t help herself!”

That made me laugh even more as I lunged for the remote, snatching it from his hand. He tried to hit me in the nuts, but I dodged it.“How do I record this?”I taunted, looking at the remote while running from my brother. He caught up to me and tackled me to the ground.

We wrestled back and forth, fighting laughter while also groaning in pain. My legs were around his waist, squeezing him like a boa constrictor as he pushed at my jaw. The trilling from the women ceased, giving me an idea.“Wait, wait! Let’s scare them,”I groaned and loosened my grip. He kneed me in the chest while standing to be a dick. I heaved in pain, punching his injured knee, making him wince and almost buckle over.

Take that, you little shit.

In a truce brought on by pain, he helped me up, and we leaned against his bench with the TV behind us because it felt wrong to watch. Harley tapped something in the app, bringing his phone to his mouth as he creepily whispered,“I seeeeeee youuuuu!”

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