“Admit it, you need our help,” Trevor said, sounding smug, even for a Bradford.

Too tired to deal with this bullshit, he reached over and shoved Trevor off the bed as he said, “Fuck. Off.” And then for good measure, he shifted so that he could kick Jason off his bed as well.

“You could have just asked us to leave!”

“Could have,” he said, sighing heavily as he rolled over onto his stomach, “but didn’t.”

“Asshole,” Jason muttered as Darrin grabbed the pillow that Marybeth liked to use, pulled it closer and inhaled her strawberries and cream scent as he ignored the bastards bitching about police brutality.

Chapter 11

“Ever hear of a phone, asshole?” Darrin asked, pushing past his exhaustion as he pulled Danny into a hug, taking his brother by surprise. “Mom was about to send us to go find you,” he said softly, only half joking as he gave Danny one more squeeze, needing to reassure himself that his brother was really okay before he released him.

It had been years since his brother had been shipped back to the states courtesy of the U.S. Marines, but Darrin still couldn’t get the image of his brother strapped to that hospital bed with a machine breathing for him out of his head.

“I’m fine,” Danny promised as he pulled back and reached down, taking the hand of the small woman standing next to him into his. “Just got a little delayed.”

“I can see that,” Darrin murmured, looking Jodi over, not bothering to ask for an introduction since he already knew exactly who she was. “Why don’t we head inside?” he suggested, using the Bradford smile to put the small woman at ease.

“I should have called,” Danny said as he glanced down at Jodi, who looked a little nervous and for good reason, Darrin mused as he eyed the small woman suspiciously.

“And warn Mom that you were bringing a woman to meet the family for the first time ever?” Darrin asked brightly, chuckling when Danny shot him a homicidal glare. “Now, why would you want to do that?”

“Umm, maybe I should wait in the car? Or walk home?” Jodi asked, slowing down a bit as she worried her bottom lip. “I can walk home. It’s really not that far.”

“It will be fine. I promise,” Danny said, raising their hands so that he could kiss the back of hers.

“Yeah, but I wasn’t supposed to be here tonight. I don’t want to interfere,” she said, looking like she’d rather be anywhere but here.

“It’ll be fine. Besides, I want you here,” Danny promised her with an adoring smile that had Darrin rolling his eyes and shaking his head, because it seemed that his brother was already whipped.

Fucking pathetic, Darrin thought with disgust as he pulled his phone out to see if Marybeth had called or texted him in the past five minutes.

“Fine,” she said on a drawn out sigh with a miserable little pout that had Danny stopping so that he could lean down and kiss her. “No worries, Tinkerbelle. Everything will be fine.”

Something told Darrin that wasn’t exactly true, but he didn’t say anything, mostly because he was too busy coming up with appropriate dares for Marybeth’s latest betrayal.

*-*-*-*

“You want to tell me why you’re glaring at me?” Darrin asked, already knowing why his sister was glaring at him as he helped himself to another chicken breast and not really caring.

“The fact that you’re eating all the food isn’t a good enough reason?” Kenzie asked, sounding put out as she grabbed a plate and started loading it with fried chicken and mashed potatoes before dropping it on the kitchen island in front of him.

“No,” he simply said as he grabbed a fork and dug in.

“Is she coming?” she demanded coldly as she crossed her arms over her chest and did her best to glare him down.

“Yes,” he said, not bothering to ask who she was or really caring that his sister hated Marybeth, always had and probably always would.

Sighing heavily, Kenzie shook her head in disgust as she walked over to the refrigerator and grabbed two bottles of water. “I don’t know why you let her treat you like that.”

“Stay out of it,” he warned, focusing his attention back on his food, in absolutely no mood to argue with his sister about something that was none of her fucking business.

“You deserve better,” she said, placing a bottle of water in front of him.

“It’s none of your fuck-”

“Stay out of it, Kenzie,” their father said firmly as he walked into the kitchen, cutting him off before he could say something that he would probably regret later.

“Someone should say something to him!” she snapped, gesturing to him as he took one last bite of chicken before he shoved his plate away.

“It’s not our place, Mackenzie,” their father said firmly as Darrin headed for the door, in absolutely no mood to get in a shouting match with his kid sister over Marybeth, again. Not when he was still fucking exhausted because his asshole cousins had refused to leave him alone and had kept bugging the shit out of him about Marybeth until he’d been forced to get up and throw them out on their asses.

As he walked out of the kitchen, praying that Kenzie let it go for once, he considered sneaking up to his old room and catching up on some sleep before dinner. He turned down the back hall to do just that when he heard his brother Danny ask, “Where’s Mom and Kenzie?” reminding him that he needed to help his brother out tonight.