House Rules(21)

Dad scoffed, but tried to hide it behind his drink.

“Maybe we should talk about Miller’s date the other night now that Mom’s here,” Ashton said.

Asshole.

The rat bastard was going to get killed for throwing me under the bus. Before I had the chance to put out the fire the traitor had intentionally stoked, my mom was practically bouncing up and down in her seat with excitement.

“You had a date?” she squealed. “Who was it with? What was she like? How did it go?”

One by one, the questions flew from her mouth. She never even bothered to take a breath. Ill at ease, I sat and waited for her to finish her verbal onslaught. My brother knew he’d opened the proverbial can of worms. I should have known better than to bring her to Ashton’s place.

Tess was the first date I’d been on since the bitch who tried to ruin me over two years ago. That didn’t end well. Bitch tried to get information on me to give to a friend of hers who was a desk jockey reporter on the local news station. They thought she could make her career by breaking the Hawes family.

Fuck that.

I caught Hilary sending texts to her friend at the paper one night. Nothing incriminating, although, that didn’t stop me from teaching her a lesson after I dumped her ass. I would have loved to see the look on the little princess’s face after the cops found drugs stashed throughout her apartment—placed there by friends of mine, obviously. We’d left just enough for the police to charge her with intent to sell.

Just like that, I tainted everything she’d ever said about me. You see, she was a convicted criminal, while my record was squeaky clean.

“Miller? Don’t leave me out. I want to see you happy like your brother.” Mom nodded over at Ashton.

Not for one moment had I ever considered that Ashton might find a woman he’d be willing spend the rest of his life with. For years he was no better than me: sleeping with anything that walked, kicking them out even faster. Then overnight, everything changed. I don’t even think he realized what was happening. Not until Dad pointed it out to him. In Ashton’s mind, he was helping Elena out of an awful situation. Except his whole world began to revolve around her.

That’s when I knew life for him would never be the same. And while I could see that being with Elena made my brother happier than I’d ever seen him, it wasn’t a life for me.

“Mom, there was no date. Ashton’s trying to get you all worked up so he can mess with me.”

I played it off while Ashton snickered to himself. Technically it wasn’t a date.

“That’s what you get for screwing with him when he first met Elena,” Dad said, not an ounce of sympathy in his voice.

“Miller, what is so wrong with you finding a woman to settle down with?” There was a sadness in her voice that made me want to agree, if only for a moment.

“Mom, it’s just not who I am. I’m happy with my life the way it is.”

“Yeah, sleeping with a new woman every night sounds like a blast.”

If Mom wasn’t already irritated with me, I’d point out how wrong that sounded. Thankfully, Elena stepped in to save me.

“Faith, don’t worry. I don’t think Miller has found the right girl yet.” Elena looked over at me, her eyes watchful. “I think when he does, he won’t be able to stop himself from falling in love with her. Even though he’ll tell himself over and over again that he’s not the kind of guy to fall in love.”

Okay. Not so helpful.

“Thanks, Elena,” I said, sarcastically.

Mom laughed. “You know, I never thought of it that way. He’s so much like Malcolm. I should have guessed he’d follow in his footsteps when it came to settling down.”

“Where did you meet?” Elena asked.

I groaned. It was a story Ashton and I heard a thousand times growing up, but that didn’t stop Mom from telling it again anyway, especially when Elena couldn’t hide her excitement at hearing it.

Mom looked over at Dad, who’d leaned back in his chair, a smile gracing his lips, watching her like he always did when she told this story.

“Stop it, Miller.” She turned to Elena, glad to have an audience. I noticed Ashton rolling his eyes. The idiot was lucky Dad didn’t see that one. Then again, he always seemed to get away with that shit. I was always the one who got caught.

“I’d finally saved up enough money to put a down payment on my first new car. Every day, I drove past the dealership on my way to work and there it sat—a cherry red, 1972 Dodge Dart. The moment I laid eyes on the thing, I was in love. At least, until I met the salesman inside.”

Her face turned wistful and I found myself listening intently, even though I could likely recite the story verbatim if asked. “I’d never seen anyone like him. Dark hair and dark eyes had always been my type, but there was something else about the man that drew me to him. He tried talking to me, asking what he could help me with. A million things floated through my mind and I couldn’t get one of them across my lips.” She smiled over at Dad. “He finally took pity on me and after walking me down to his office, got me a cup of coffee. Those few brief moments settled my nerves. I told him which car I wanted and how much I could pay. He never put up an argument, something he’s remembered all these years.”