stock up on Jack Daniels? I'll never learn. I make the same damn mistake over and over.
Someone knocks at my cabin door. "Mace?"
Cutter.
"You bring me a fifth of Jack?"
"No. Check-in. Open up."
Fucking check-in. Another word for big brother nosing into my business. Passing down his judgment and advice from a guy who's just as messed up in the head as I am.
"I'm here too, Mace. Let us in."
I groan at the sound of Sutton's voice. I love Cutter and his biological sister, who is now my sister too, but sometimes they need to learn when to stay away. Let me drink and wallow alone in my cabin.
"Go away!"
I know I'm being a dick, but I'm dead inside. I have nothing to say to Cutter and Sutton right now.
Cutter opens the door and walks in. Well, shit. Guess I forgot to lock it.
He glares down at me. "No more skipping your check-in."
How many have I skipped? I've lost track of time. Does it even matter anymore?
"What's she doing here?" I give Sutton the side eye because younger siblings don't normally attend check-ins with older ones.
"I'm worried about you, Mace." Her voice is soft and gentle, but also condescending as hell.
"I'm fine." I fall back onto the couch and stare at the ceiling. "Except I'm outta booze. Go get me a bottle of Jack."
"Get your ass up and talk to me." Cutter pokes at the nearly dead fire in my fireplace. He throws a log on and moves it around till it catches.
"I got nothing to say."
"Bullshit. You've been moping around here since before Thanksgiving. What's going on?"
"What the fuck do you think is going on?"
He's still crouching in front of the fire, looking at me like I'm a petri dish growing fungus. "This about Loralei?"
Sutton crosses her arms, and her head bobs back and forth as I talk to Cutter.
I sit up and rub my face, trying to shake some of this stupor off me. "Isn't everything about Loralei?"
"I'm sorry about… ya know. Bringing up Remy," Sutton says.
We haven't talked about it since that night, and I'm not interested in doing it now.
"Do not mention it again. Hear me? I don't care what she did in her past. It's a non-issue for me. If you and Remy got a problem with it, go work it out, but don't ever bring it to me."
Sutton nods. "Okay. I just… I feel bad."
"Yeah? Not worse than me." I blew it big time with her. Now it's too late.
Cutter stands up and towers over me like he's superior now that he has Cass. He got lucky with her, but it doesn't make him the patron saint of the Twists. "Call the girl so we can all stop worrying about you." He swipes some food wrappers off the floor and tosses them into the trash.
"Believe me, I've thought about it non-stop. I'm not calling her."
"Why not? You're obviously hooked on her. Making yourself miserable. Get her ass up here."
I shake my head. "I'm a tumbleweed made of razor blades. I'll blow through her life and chop it up again."
"You don't think you can make it with her?" He sits down on the couch next to me and leans back.
"I don't think it's fair to her. I'm not gonna settle down. I'll always be out of control. She's not gonna roll with me."
"Did you give her a chance?"
"No."
He huffs and shakes his head. "She might be up for a roll with a tumbleweed made of razor blades. Some girls like danger. Never woulda thought a good girl like Cass would go for a scarred monster with an obsession for knives. Turns out she's perfect for me. We made it work."
"That's all nice for you, Cut. I'm not you, and she's not Cass."
He pats my shoulder. "Mace, we love you either way. You go with this girl, we'll accept her. You move on and keep rolling the way you always have, we still love you. Unconditional. That's what we are."
I look down and let that sink in. The best part is I know he means it. "That helps, bro."
Sutton leans down and wraps her arms around me. She doesn't usually hug me, so this one cracks my shell. "I love you, Mace. You're my brother too. I want to see you happy. If she makes you happy, I want her to be with you."
When she pulls away, I look up at her. "She doesn't make me happy. She makes me grounded."
They both freeze and stare at me. Sutton