Page 40 of Steel

“I am over her.”

“Sure you are. It’s me you’re talking to. Remember? The one thing we can’t do is tell each other lies.”

He was right about that. We walked along and I shook my head. “You know what drives me crazy? That I still haven’t purchased any new furniture.”

“Maybe that’s the first step.”

“Yeah, maybe so. I just…”

“I know. What she did to you was shitty.” He glanced at my face, scrutinizing my split lip and I could feel it coming. “So what happened? Did you get drunk last night?”

“No, I worked in the yard trying to clean up after the storm.” I involuntarily touched my lips, immediately thinking about wanting to kiss Violet’s and you bet he noticed.

The change in my tone was something my brother could easily catch. “Who is she?”

“Who is who?”

“The woman who scratched or punched you.” Lying to my younger brother would only resort in him hounding me for days if not longer.

We were almost to the door and his comment about lies lingered in my mind. “Just a neighbor who thought I was going to shoot her kid.”

“You don’t have any kids on your street.”

I threw open the door and sighed. “I do now.”

“Oh… Interesting.”

“Don’t do that. Don’t you dare do that. I thought the kid was breaking into my place.”

“Now I’m curious. Why? Drugs? Did he have a gang of kids with him because I overheard one of the local officers talking about a gang of teenagers using vacation properties, setting up lucrative business operations inside.”

“Not this kid. He’s maybe seven, eight years old. But a fierce little dude who was about ready to bust into my shed to try and save a puppy who’d gotten tangled in some rope.” When he didn’t say anything right away, I finally threw him a look. My brother was grinning like some big oaf.

“So you pulled out a gun?” Axe was incredulous.

“Yeah, that’s what you do when criminals come onto your property.”

“Let me get this straight. A seven-year-old boy was trying to rescue a puppy and you decided to be a big, bad man and whip out your gun to teach him a lesson. Does that about sum it up?”

“Very funny.”

“Jesus, dude. You need to get out more.” My brother was thoughtful as we walked into the hangar. “You need to consider going out on a date. Kenzie has some friends.”

“Oh, no, you don’t. Have you seen Kenzie’s friends? Mary looks like she stepped out of a serial killer school.”

“What?” Axe snorted, throwing me a hell of a lot of shade.

“Yeah, she wears all black and is proud to sport a weapon.”

“She’s a park ranger, dude. What about Ashley?”

“Are there any brain cells inside her pretty little head?”

“Does it matter?” We headed into the locker room.

I shook my head. “Of course it matters. There is something to be said for having a decent conversation. You know, conversing about something other than the weather or what show on Netflix to binge watch.” There was no reason for me to be frustrated, butI was irritated as hell. When I opened my locker door, I did so with enough force the metal slammed against another locker.

Even Denver jumped. “Someone’s in a pissy mood.”