Secretly Hers (Sterling Canyon)(62)
For the most part, Trip had been keeping his eyes downcast, which was just as well. He seethed while sitting in the condo Kelsey had picked for Mason, staring at the pricey furniture and high-end kitchen. The condo she might have figured she’d be spending more time in with Mason, which was at least five times nicer than the dumpy apartment Trip and Grey currently shared out of necessity.
“He broke my nose, Dad,” Mason complained. “Why should he get away with it?”
“Because you provoked him by going after Kelsey.”
Mason sat back in his chair and crossed his arms like a petulant kid. “He said he didn’t care about her.”
“Mason, I’m not stupid. It’s more than a coincidence you ended up on a date with that poor girl. Aren’t you ashamed of using her as a pawn just to needle Gunner?” Their dad shook his head. “Honestly, I can’t believe you two. It’s like you’re trying to give me another heart attack.”
At least this time, with Kelsey nowhere in sight, Mason didn’t deny the real motive for that “date.”
Then his Dad turned his ire on him. “Gunner, at the very least you owe Mason, Deb, and me an apology. You’re lucky those cops pulled you off your brother before something worse happened.”
Trip tensed his fists. Heat raced to his face. He couldn’t deny the truth. He’d been like a wild animal that night.
“I know, Dad.” He looked across the table at Mason. “I’m sorry I roughed you up. I was pretty shitfaced when I ran into you and Kelsey. I snapped. I just snapped.”
“Mason,” their dad interrupted. “When you were younger, I was battling a lot of guilt over what I’d done, so I empathized with your struggle to accept the changes in our family, to accept your brother. But why the hell haven’t you outgrown it? This taunting and bullshit has got to stop.” Then he looked at Trip. “And isn’t it time you started making some effort to be part of this family?”
Trip abruptly pushed back from the table and walked into the living room, running his hands through his hair. This conversation had been put off too long, but he hated having it in front of Mason.
“Where are you going?” his dad asked.
Trip inhaled slowly, his throat tightening in anticipation of offending his father, his eyes stinging like a sissy, making him feel like that ten-year-old boy again.
“Look, I’m sorry I beat him up, but I won’t lie. It was a long time coming. And unlike you, I don’t have empathy for poor little Mason’s imperfect family.” He gripped the back of a random chair in the living room, squeezing it until his knuckles turned white. His gaze shifted from Mason’s smug expression to his father’s flabbergasted one. “You all talk about how you were affected back then. My mother died. I got yanked away from my friends and grandfather and then plopped into a house with two people who resented me, and a father who considered me an obligation.” Despite hearing his voice crack, he forced himself to continue, although now he averted his gaze. “I did everything I could to fit in, then to be invisible, and then when I finally walked away, you all gave me shit about that, too.” A sense of defeat made his legs feel heavy as he walked back to the table. “Dad, if you hadn’t sent Mason here in some attempt to force a family bond that’s never going to exist, none of this would’ve happened.”
“So this is my fault?” His dad scoffed.
“I don’t mean it like that, but why can’t you just accept that this,” Trip circled his hand among the three men, “isn’t meant to be?”
“Because it is meant to be. Like it or not, you’re my son, and you two are brothers. Maybe you weren’t planned, but there’s a reason you’re my son.” His dad stood and looked at Mason. “I need a few minutes alone with your brother. Can you go in your bedroom or take a walk?”
“Even when he’s a jerk, you treat him with kid gloves.” Mason slammed his fist on the table before shoving away and rising from his chair. “What the hell, Dad? This is my house.”
“Mason, sometimes you’re as obstinate as your mother.” Then their dad turned to Trip. “Take a walk out on the deck with me.”
Once they were sitting outside with the slider closed, his father spoke with a steady, clear voice. “You and I need to finally clear the air. I don’t mean to speak ill of the dead, but I can’t help it if your mother chose to keep me out of your life until she got sick. If I had known she was pregnant, maybe things would have been different for all of us. So instead of only blaming me or Mason or Deb for this chronic distance between us, maybe you could remember that your mom had a hand in how this all turned out, too.”