Page 34 of Moto
“In no mood, huh?”
“Nope.” She smacks her lips.
“How bad was it?” I read her tense body language.
“Let’s just say I would rather hear nails being dragged down a chalkboard than hear him call my name again.”
“That bad?”
“I don’t think those extra pain meds you gave him are working. He was ultra-irritable today. I couldn’t do anything to make him comfortable. He drove me crazy. Has he always been such an entitled, ornery ass?” She carries a hint of humor in her tone, but not nearly enough to convey she’s joking.
“Surprisingly, no. He definitely has his diva moments, but normally, he’s tolerable. Even likable sometimes.”
“I couldn’t imagine.” Kayla laughs lightly with the rim of the glass bottle to her lips.
“Speaking of, what’s Reese doing?” The house is eerily quiet.
“Napping. Finally.” She drops her head back.
I want to empathize. I know Reese is being a bigger handful than usual. “Try to cut him a little bit of slack.” I slide closer to her, continuously picking up whiffs of her coconut shampoo in the soft breeze. “His career was just sidelined and being back here doesn’t really dredge up the fondest memories.”
“Why?”
“We grew up in this house,” I explain. “My mom left it to us when she moved to the Midwest a few years after our dad died. They were so close,” I stress. “He was Reese’s biggest fan. When Reese started racing in the streets, we could all see he had talent. He was poetry on two wheels. What he could do on a bike was amazing. So our father started taking him to the racetrack by Sutter’s Point.”
“Right. I know it.”
“He was only sixteen, but man, he was sick to watch. He just strolled in like he owned that track. It didn’t take long before the right people started to notice.”
“That’s a nice picture, Dev, but what does that have to do with Reese hating it here?”
I sigh, the pain is as potent today as it was twelve years ago.
“The day before Reese signed on to ride professionally, he found our father dead. He’d had a heart attack right here in this house. Reese came home late that night and found him in his usual spot asleep on the couch. Only he wasn’t asleep.”
“Oh, how terrible.” Kayla covers her mouth.
“It rocked Reese pretty hard.”
I steal the beer from her hand and take a long, hard pull. It’s never easy sharing that story. It was hard enough losing a parent, but what was harder was consoling Reese. I will never forget the way he broke down in his room that night after the coroner bagged and removed our father from his own home. I’ve never seen anyone cry the way my brother did. My eyes water from just the memory. I’m convinced that if Reese could trade all his fame and fortune for one more day with our dad, he would without batting an eyelash.
“Dev?” Kayla smooths over my name.
“Mmm hmm?” I turn my head vacantly to look at her. Her gaze is soft and compassionate.
“You okay?”
“Yeah.” I sniff, rubbing my eye. “Just not the most fun trip down memory lane.” I laugh at the sappy idiot I am, then down the rest of Kayla’s beer.
“I get it.” She knocks her knee against mine. “I almost lost Sam when I sixteen. She was shot trying to stop a robbery.”
“That’s pretty fucking scary. I’m sorry.”
“Yeah. Luckily, there’s nothing to be sorry about. But it definitely was one of the worst moments of my life,” Kayla muses, staring with wide eyes straight ahead.
Geez, what a couple of downers we are.
“Hey.” I bump her shoulder with mine. “How about I go grab us two more of these,” I ring the bottle, “and we swap some happy stories? They don’t even have to be fucking real.”
