Page 33 of Anger Bang
The urge to give in, to say yes, to do exactly what he would have done if she had come back when he was fourteen was like receiving a sharp kick to the kidneys, nearly knocking him sideways. But he stopped himself before he could give anything away.
Instead, he finally turned his full attention to his mom and made his voice as flat and cold as North Dakota in January. “Oh, you want to have a little mother-son chat, just me, you, Dex, and everyone watching at home?” He jerked his chin toward the cameraman standing off to the side. “That sounds downright cozy.”
“I just want a chance to reconnect,” his mom said, reaching out to him.
He flinched back and shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans. Thea shifted next to him, inching just a bit closer, as if she was trying to block him from the cameras. That wasn’t going to happen, but he appreciated the effort.
“Yeah, the time for that was when I still gave a fuck,” he said without heat but with plenty of condemnation. “It’s twenty years too late for that.”
“There’s no need to be a complete asshole, Kade,” Dex said, taking a half step forward.
“Yeah,” he said, his voice hard, “actually, there is.”
Kade looked at his brother, the person he loved more than any other human in the world. He’d protected him from the worst of their mom’s drunk days. He’d distracted him when their dad got pissed off from all their questions about where Mom had gone and when she’d be back. He’d shown up to this absolute clusterfuck of a wedding. But this? This was too much.
“It’s okay,” Mom said, lowering her hands and curling them around her middle like a shield. “When you’re ready, I’ll be here.”
The irony of that statement wasn’t lost on him. The woman who abandoned him, who didn’t return an email or a text after she left was going to be here for him? It took everything he had not to start laughing, especially when his mom did what she did best—she left, walking down the path that lead to the river.
Dex shot him a look of pure disgust. “You know, giving people a second chance every once in a while won’t kill you.”
“She doesn’t deserve it,” Kade said.
“How the fuck would you know?” his brother all but hollered, his frustration hitting peak levels. “You’ve never even given her a chance to explain.”
Kade didn’t say anything. There weren’t any words left.
There was an awkward silence—well, awkward for everyone but the camera crew, who kept rolling no matter the circumstances. He got it. They had their job to do, and he’d signed up for this ridiculous fucking disaster of epic proportions.
“That was uncomfortable for everyone,” Jackie said, stepping around Dex so she was directly in front of the camera before turning to address Thea. “But now that you’re back from your diva fit, you can take care of our special activity all on your own.”
Thea let out a tired sigh. “Doesn’t me doing it by myself negate the whole sisterly bonding part of the activity?”
“You should have thought of that before you took off withhim,” Jackie said, big red splotches appearing at the base of her throat as her voice got scratchy with suppressed emotion. “I thought I could always count on you, but I guess things have changed.”
Her entire body tense, Thea seemed to shrink right before him. Before he realized what he was doing, he took her hand in his.
“You know I’ll always be there for you. What do you need me to do?” she asked her sister.
“You have to glue all of the faux flowers provided by our lovely sponsor Flowers In A Minute on to the wedding heart. It’s going to be behind Dex and me when we say our vows.” Jackie pointed to a massive plain white foam heart that was so big it was sitting on a flatbed trailer so it could be driven to where it needed to be for the ceremony. “After the ceremony, they’re going to be selling replicas on the website for other brides to complete with their bridesmaids. You know, the ones who show up for the bride when they’re supposed to.”
“Jackie.” Thea’s voice went up a notch as she gaped at the heart. “That thing has to be ten feet wide.”
“Now, Thea,” their mom said, flapping her hands in the air as if she could fan her oldest daughter into chilling the fuck out. “It’s your sister’s big day, and we need to come together to make it happen. You’ve always been there for us when we need you. We can depend on you for this little favor, can’t we? Especially when you and Jackie were supposed to do it together, but then you went off with Kade and messed up the schedule?”
Thea’s shoulders started to droop as her defiant glare melted and her gaze sank to the trio of tumbleweeds caught up under his RV, but she didn’t say anything. She didn’t meekly agree. She didn’t throw her hands up and fight. She didn’t walk away. She froze.
Clenching his jaw tight enough he was surprised he didn’t crack a molar as he kept reminding himself that this wasn’t his fight, he cut a glance over to the spot where his mom had been standing with Dex. Now it was just his brother leaning against the RV’s door, glaring at Kade as if he was the one who’d abandoned them. He’d never done that. He never would. He didn’t leave people he cared about behind. He didn’t leave them to deal with obnoxious brides on their own. He didn’t leave them to build ten-foot-wide flower hearts just because they were the ones who always took care of that shit.
Kade would never be that person.
Never.
“I’ll help,” he said, the words coming out before he even realized he was going to speak.
Thea glanced over at him, her chin trembling just the slightest bit. “You don’t have to do that.I’lldo it.” She turned to her mom and Jackie, her voice gaining strength. “But only on one condition.”
“Oh really? You have conditions now?” Jackie asked, sounding slightly less snotty than usual.
