Dear Roomie (Rookie Rebels #5) - Kate Meader Page 0,99
something in me. But I’m not going to beg for scraps of affection anymore because even when you give it, it’s poison.”
Reid faced Bast who was looking at him, wide-eyed, his color high. His brother had always hated being in the middle and Reid didn’t want to hurt him any more than he already had. “You and I need to talk. I’ll wait outside until you’re done here.”
Bast shook his head, sending Reid’s heart into a hard plunge. He understood. It killed him not to have his brother on his side, but he understood.
Except when Bast spoke, the words were unexpected. “You need to apologize to Reid, Dad.”
“What?” Henri was aghast. “For what? Making a crack at his woman?”
“For a start. Then you can say sorry for making him feel like shit and treating him like a second-class son and being a general all-around jerk.”
“I—” Henri spluttered. “Anything I did was to toughen him up. Toughen you both up. It’s the reason you’re both so damn good!”
Bast had never looked so stony. “We’re good because we work hard. Because we’re talented. And because we’re fucking Durands. Now say sorry or leave.” He pointed with his uninjured hand. “No, say sorry and then leave.”
Reid opened his mouth to say this wasn’t necessary and got the Medusa treatment from Bast. Holy shit.
Henri looked hurt, which pretty much confirmed where his priorities lay. “You—you’re serious?”
“Yeah, I am. Reid and I need to talk. If you can’t figure out how to apologize then you need to think about that and how you want this family to heal because Reid’s right. It’s toxic.”
Henri’s lower lip shook. “This is the thanks I get?”
But Bast held his ground. When the door closed on Henri’s back, Reid let out a juddering breath.
“You don’t have to fall out with him on my account.”
“I should have done it a long time ago. As he was being an asshole to you he wasn’t being one to me, so I let it pass. I should have done more.”
To hear his brother take on some of the blame lightened Reid’s heart a touch, but this wasn’t his fault. Reid was responsible for his own actions in that game. For long before that.
“Bast, last night—I went too far. I was upset about … something. Something else. And I was tired of being perceived as second-best. I needed to prove I deserved to be there. On that line, in that rink, with that team.” With her. “But, all that anger… I was just like him.”
“What, like Luke and Vader?”
“More like Vader and Palpatine.” Let the hate flow through you …
“You’re not, Reid. You never could be.”
Reid looked up, surprised at his brother’s heartfelt words.
“You’re not like Henri,” Bast went on, “no matter what you might think.”
Hearing his brother being so kind when he didn’t deserve it killed him.
“You’ve always had these fond memories of when we were kids. Or you’ve chosen to forget the bad ones. Not sure if you did that for my sake or yours.” Reid struggled to push the words from his throat, tied to memories that shamed him. “But you know what I was like. How I bullied you. I was older and I was supposed to protect you—”
“You did. Tommy Gunderson, remember?”
Reid swiped at his eyes. “I beat him up because he hurt you but I wasn’t much better, Bast. I was jealous of how Henri loved you more. I wasn’t a good brother and I haven’t become a decent man.”
Kennedy had said he was solid gold. Sold gold prick, more like. Last night he had reverted to that angry kid. He had hurt one of the people he loved more than anything and he needed to put it right.
“I’m sorry for harming you, brother, years ago and last night.”
His brother smiled, his emotion waving off him and enveloping Reid in a warm fraternal embrace. “I forgive you. I forgave you years ago, or I thought I had. But then I pulled my own shit and never stood up for you. Bystander revenge, I suppose. With Dad constantly on our backs, we somehow forgot what matters. You and me, the Amazing Durand Brothers!”
Reid choked out a wet laugh. “That makes us sound like fucking carnies.”
Bast chuckled. “Trapeze artists, bro. Now give me a hug without hurting my nose or wrist and tell me what the hell happened with Kennedy.”
Reid was in Detroit. Kennedy knew this, not because he had told her, but because one of his color-coded schedules said so.