Saved by the Crush's Brother - Maggie Dallen Page 0,24

get his attention. That didn’t just disappear...did it?

I swallowed down the sickening envy and forced myself to relax. “Are you going to go in there and apologize, or what?”

He sneered. I knew it killed him that I was right. My brother was a lot of things, but my mother had raised us both with the same values, and while he might have been self-centered and conceited, he wasn’t a horrible guy.

Just thoughtless.

And shallow.

And—

“Wait here, this won’t take long.” He started to turn, but hesitated. I could see the taunting remark coming before he even spoke thanks to the smirk that spoke volumes. “Unless she invites me to stay…”

I would not take the bait. I would not sink to his level. I would not—

“If her mom’s still out of town, she might need me to spend the night,” he continued, his eyes lit with laughter at my expense as I fought to control my temper.

“We both know she’d rather spend a night with me than you, so you should just get going.”

I snapped as I rushed him, grabbing him by the shirt and hauling him up so his laughing eyes were level with mine. I had a million things to say but embarrassingly enough, all that came out was a growl.

“See?” he laughed, poking a finger into my chest but not even trying to back away. “Now this is exactly why she prefers me to you. I have a grasp of this thing kids today call the English language.”

I released him with a shove. “What’s the matter with you?”

I shoved a hand through my hair as I took a step back, shaking my head at my younger brother who once upon a time had been such a good kid. “At what point did everything become a competition for you? Is that really all you care about?” I asked. “Beating me?”

He scoffed loudly. “Please. I don’t have to lift a finger to beat you. There’s no comparison between us.” His smirk was filled with bitterness now, a glimpse of the honest emotions that fueled this ongoing war with me. “I’ve got the brains, I’ve got basketball skills, the scholarship offers, the popularity, and...oh yeah.” He snapped his fingers. “I can get any girl I want.”

My brows drew together in disgust. “Do you even hear yourself, man.” I pointed to the house where the sweetest girl I ever met was hopefully resting and having a well-deserved day off. “Avery is not a trophy. She’s not a fancy car that you can show off or—”

“And there it is,” he interrupted loudly. The mocking was gone and his voice was as close to outright anger as I’d ever heard it. “The car. You’re still hung up on the fact that I accepted the car.” He shook his head in clear frustration.

Of course I was. It wasn’t just the car, it was what it represented. It was...everything. I ran a hand over my face. We were in Avery’s driveway. For all I knew she’d spotted us out here and was wondering why on earth we were airing our family’s dirty laundry on her lawn.

“Look, all I’m saying is—our issues, or whatever you want to call them, have nothing to do with Avery. For once, could you not treat this as a competition?”

His eyes went wide. “Me? You're the one who's always competing.”

I blinked in honest surprise. “What?”

An anger I’d never seen before temporarily contorted his absurdly handsome features into something ugly. “You’ve been competing with me for years, man. Do you think I didn’t notice? You’re always trying to prove what a great son you are to Mom, how you're too cool to care what Dad thinks.” He took a step forward, the baby forgotten in his hands. “You make me look like the bad guy in front of mom all the time just because I didn't take her side in the divorce.”

“He cheated on her!”

“But he's still our dad!”

We stared at each other in mutual horror. This was...not something we fought about. Ever. It was the unspoken tension that never got aired. But did he really think I’d been trying to show him up as the better son?

“He’s still our dad,” he said again, his voice a more normal volume. “Do I like the way it ended? No. But I felt bad for him, too, because you'd turned your back on him and—”

“He turned his back on us,” I reminded him, my voice harsh with emotions I’d thought I’d buried. “He walked out on us.”

Alex