Every Which Way (Sloan Brothers) (35 page)

Her words made her a walking contradiction.

“Hmm...” he said thoughtfully. Severine finally looked his way, with curiosity plain on her face. “I think you’re feeding a lot of bullshit to create a huge clusterfuck of miscommunication.”

Severine knew she was. She couldn’t push forward from last night. It was more than a replay. It was torched on her skin. Every action of Thayer’s brought on a vision that she wanted so damn hard to forget. What would it be like going back to campus? Did she have a chance in hell staying away from him?

“We don’t have to be together,” Severine dragged out. The words came out forced—almost choked.

“You want that?” Severine’s heart squeezed at the intensity in his voice. Thayer kept pressing the issue. “Tomorrow, you want to drive back to campus and pretend none of this happened?”

Severine shook her head. The wind tangled her hair, covering her face. Severine was grateful for the block. It was a thin veil that covered her pain. “No.”

His fingers brushed her hair away as his lips kissed the corner of her mouth. “I’m not my brother.”

She was starting to see that he was so much more. It terrified her. When she opened her mouth, she blurted out the thoughts running through her head. “This is why you don’t sleep with someone who plays the same game as yourself. We both know each line, excuse, and exit.”

“So you know I’m not bullshitting you when I tell you I’d take you any way I could.”

“Even if it’s with me hesitant and scared?”

He smiled teasingly at her. “In spite of that, yes.”

Severine’s lips kicked up in a small smile. It was with instinct that she moved closer and wrapped her arms around his neck. Thayer only raised his brows. “How are you going to complete tonight?” she asked.

“I’m taking you out.”

“Somewhere fancy?”

Sitting in the snow, with his hands resting on his knees, and a huge smile on his face, Thayer looked so happy. “You want that?”

“No,” Severine admitted with a wide grin. She didn’t know what page they were on, but it didn’t really matter. Right now, she still had him. For the next few hours, she could pretend that she had everything figured out.

“Good.” Thayer lifted the two of them away from the snow. “We’re eating with my family. Does that bother you?”

Severine was going to be given a glimpse into his life. Her cheeks ached from her smile. “Not at all.”

“Good, because they’re close to crapping a brick to get the chance to talk to you. And I kind of need to see them once.”

His hand wrapped around hers felt natural. “Why are we leaving tomorrow again?” Severine asked.

“I’ll be asking the same thing tomorrow morning.”

Chapter Thirty-eight

“Severine, tell us more about yourself.”

When Severine lifted her eyes to Jayni’s, she was met with an anxious smile. “Umm...” To give her more time, she held the straw to her lips and sipped slowly.

Around them people talked in quiet tones and ate their food. The local steakhouse wasn’t a dress-in-your-little-black-dress kind of place. It was a nice restaurant for people to unwind on a Friday, or for a parent too stressed out to cook. The whole environment was relaxing.

It wasn’t the same where Severine sat. The meal with Jayni, Owen, and Mathias had been less painful than she expected. It was still tense. But the questions shot at her were not at a rapid pace, and she was given enough time to deflect them.

“Well-”

Thayer cut in impatiently. “She’s from
Iowa
, has one sibling—a brother named Rennick—and she’s fantastically tall.” He paused long enough to take a bite of his steak and gave her a long look. “Severine also has a pumpkin spice frappe addiction.”

Severine tried to give him a creeped out face but failed. She leaned close to him and smiled. “Have you been stalking my every move?”

“You’re a creature of addiction.”

“Is my brother your new addiction?” Mathias asked, his words completely humorless.

Severine wanted to groan in frustration. Did she truly believe he’d make anything easy for her? Of course not. He was a Sloan. Any other way, and it would’ve been an impersonator. For Severine, it was impossible for a Sloan to not get underneath her skin. The worst tragedy was his looks. Severine could skip past the attitude; he was harsh because of the world’s doing. Wasn’t everyone?

No, it was the green sweater and dress shirt layered underneath that made him seem serene. The minute his brown eyes looked in anyone’s direction, freezing temperatures would fill the air. Those irises were cold and distrustful of everything

He shoved up the sleeves of his sweater. His attire was all for appearance. Inside there was a creature waiting to attack.

Severine ignored his brutal stare. “No. Do you think I’m gonna eighty-six him?”

“Look at you!” He flung his hand in the air making her feel like she was an errant piece of lint on his coat. “Of course, you’re gonna toss him out.”

Owen shut his eyes and snapped his fingers in the air for the waiter. Severine turned her attention back to Mathias. Her fingers drummed repeatedly on the table as she stared at the protective brother sitting next to her. “I’m gonna take the ‘look at you’ as a compliment. As for tossing him out, that’s not going to happen.”

Your other brother already used my emotions like a Frisbee
.

Mathias didn’t look convinced. Severine wasn’t going to try and convince him. He could get a brief glimpse into her mind, and he’d know that she wanted to toss Thayer. But it just wasn’t an option.

“As always, Mathias, it’s good to have dinner with you,” Thayer chimed in.

“I’m okay now.” He pointed his steak knife at Severine. She flinched slightly. “I was counting down the minutes until she’d run away to the bathroom and sob her eyes out.”

“You know, it’s amazing to hear what you think of the female population,” Severine dryly commented.

“Don’t listen to Mathias,” Jayni included herself in the conversation happily. She patted Mathias’s back like a devoted mother. “He’s the cynic of the family.”

“It sounds wike he’s a wittle jealous,” Severine teased.

“I’m close to him. He’s my only brother.”

Severine frowned and watched Jayni sadly look down at her plate. Owen muttered a curse and told the worn waiter to bring him another beer. Her curiosity was busting from the seams. To get more information, she’d play dumb. “So it’s just you and Thayer?”

Mathias flicked a harsh glare at her. “No, but he’s the only one worth mentioning.”

It was a direct dig at Macsen. Severine wanted to blurt out more questions. Their family rift wasn’t her business, however, Severine kept digging for information. With every cryptic response, she found herself even deeper in their confusing history.

“Let it go.” Thayer squeezed her thigh and shook his head no.

Her eyes settled on Thayer’s face as he solemnly stared back, not disclosing anything. Severine wanted answers later.

“Severine, have you been to any of Thayer’s games?” Owen asked. His question came out as a demand.

“Ah, no. I’m not a sports girl.”

Jayni’s mouth opened. Her face turned splotchy, as if Severine had told her she was a demon. “You’re kidding!”

“‘Fraid not. Sports were never on in my home.” Severine admitted.

“So you played no sports as a child?” Owen asked.

“When I was a kid, I did. After middle school, I started to lose interest.”

The more she spoke, the longer it took for them to wrap their brains around her answer.

Jayni schooled her features and briefly shook her head. “I had just assumed that’s how you met him.”

“How we really met is an interesting story.”

Mathias raised a brow for her to continue. Even Thayer looked at her hesitantly.

“I was just there in my knitting class. I looked up and there was Thayer with a sexy satchel filled with yarn.” Severine said as she fluttered her eyelashes dramatically at Thayer.

A reluctant smiled snuck up on Mathias’s face. Severine kept score in her mind. The two of them were tied.

“Thayer, I wanna know where my fucking blanket is!” Mathias teased.

“If I knitted you a blanket, it’d look like it got in a fight with a mower.”

Mathias slammed his hand down on the table and laughed loudly. “You little shit.” His gaze landed on Severine. It was now filled with approval. “Now I know what he sees in you.”

“That’s a bigger compliment than your ‘look at you’ comment.”

“Hold onto it tightly. You’ll never hear another from me again,” Mathias quipped.

The check came quickly after, and Severine exited the steakhouse with her face huddled as deep as possible in her coat. Her body shivered as they made it to Thayer’s truck. He stopped at the end of the truck bed. Severine wanted to groan that they were spending one more minute outside.

“Thayer, we’re still planning on coming to visit in a few weeks.” Jayni placed her arm on both Severine and Thayer. “Are we going to be able to see you too, Severine?”

Severine made eye contact with Thayer. They hadn’t planned that far ahead. A few weeks for them could be impossible or the easiest thing in the world. Severine nodded her head and spoke her heart’s dream, “I hope so.”

Jayni smiled and quickly hugged Severine. “I look forward to it.”

When Severine shut the door behind her, she looked across the seat to Thayer. “Not as bad as you thought?”

Severine peeled off her gloves and pressed her cold fingers close to the vents. “I don’t know what I thought about your family. But this wasn’t what I expected.”

“What do you think about Mathias?”

“He’s protective and terrifying.”

“He’d be flattered by the word
terrifying
.”

“Is he always like that?”

“No. Not all the time. There’s that one percent...when he’s drunk.”

“Does he live here?”

Thayer nodded his head. “Yeah. He works for our dad.”

“Your dad?”

“My grandpa started a company selling farming equipment. When my grandpa died, my dad took over. Mathias runs the southeast territory.”

“Sounds...farmy?” Severine grew up around cornfields. It didn’t make her a pro on all things farming. None of it seemed fascinating.

“You look so excited by this information,” Thayer dryly said.

“It wouldn’t be my dream job.”

“It’s not Mathias’s either,” Thayer explained. “But if a farmer has a good season, so does he.”

“So your family basically throws their money in the air and rolls around on it.”

Thayer shook his head and laughed. “Not even close.”

Severine nodded distractedly and stared out the window at the buildings they passed. “Do you think they know about Macsen and me?

For a split second, Thayer clenched his jaw. “No. Trust me, they don’t know about you.”

“They would’ve said something to me?”

“No. That’d mean that Macsen had actually talked to them. And that hasn’t happened in a while.”

“And is that why Mathias doesn’t consider him a brother? I don’t have siblings, but even I think that’s a little strange.”

“It is strange. It’s completely fucked up. But Mathias and Macsen don’t get along for the same reasons I don’t get along with him.”

“And that’s because?”

When Thayer sighed, it exposed all his frustration. “Severine, maybe you’ll see Macsen for who he is. Maybe you won’t. But my brother is a selfish dick. He’s always going to see things his way.”

The silence made her ears ring. Her voice came out scratchy. “What did he do?”

Thayer pulled into his family’s driveway. His eyes stayed on the steering wheel for minutes, before he looked at Severine with a blank expression. “He did nothing, Severine. And that’s what makes him so fucked up.”

*    *    *    *    *

If I don’t get a txt back from u, I’m calling the cops.

Severine stared down at her screen and smirked at Lily’s threat. She quickly typed back a response.
I’m good. Call off the hounds
.

It was past two a.m. She should be asleep and ready for the early start she and Thayer would take back to campus. Instead, her heart thumped loudly in her chest, and her legs felt restless. They encouraged her to walk to Thayer’s room.

Her feet touched the cold floor. Severine adjusted her flannel sleep pants and creaked open her door. At the end of the hallway stood a small wooden table. On top of it was a picture frame and lamp that was lit for everyone to find their way in the dark. It allowed her to see Thayer’s closed door across from her own.

The thumping in her chest sounded loud to her own ears. It sounded like a dozen horses running at top speed. Their hooves pounded against the dirt in perfect rhythm. The rhythm of her heart fascinated and scared Severine at the same time. She’d expected everything to wither away. Once they had their night together thoughts of him would go away—it’d be enough.