AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You were offered the same thing, moron.”
“I don’t want to bunk in the same room with you any more than I have to.”
“The feeling’s mutual…”
“Besides, my brother, Reese, promised me a massive T-bone steak for dinner on the grill tonight, and Eileen is making key lime cheesecake from scratch. Those two are gonna spoil me, so why wouldn’t I want to bum their couch, you know?”
It was true, too.
The last time he’d been at Reese’s house, it actually felt like home. His dad had died, his mother had passed, and his half-brother was the closest thing he really had to family despite Reese’s weird yet nice mother. Max was nothing to her except Reese’s half-brother, yet the woman treated him like a nephew or son. It was just odd because they had a heckuva age gap between them.
Max was thirty-one.
Reese was almost forty-six.
“I’m not going to lie, steak sounds pretty good right now,” Outfield chuckled knowingly as they shared a look. The meat on base was terrible and depending on the food, sometimes he’d rather eat MREs than the slop served. “Real steak…”
“Right? The kind that cuts with a knife and has flavor,” Max added, bumping knuckles in solidarity. “Now I’m hungry… oh, and there’s my brother!”
Max couldn’t help the smile that touched his face seeing Reese standing there beside Eileen, who was holding a ‘Welcome Home’ sign.
“Maxie!” Eileen yelled excitedly in greeting as he ran toward them, his bag bouncing on his shoulder and slammed into his brother.
Pinching his eyes closed, he hugged Reese tightly for several minutes because it just felt so dang good to hug someone, and he hadn’t had a hug since the last time he was here in town. Eileen was patting him on the back, and he was trying to hold himself together and he was faltering.
“Hey, kiddo,” Reese said thickly, burying his face against his shoulder as they stood there before releasing him and smiling. “Let me take a good look at you…”
“What’s this?” Max teased, touching the temple at Reese’s hairline. “Are you actually going gray, old man?”
“Having you for a little brother will do that to anyone.”
“Eileen, how do you put up with this man when we all know he stresses himself out – it’s not me. It’s all the gray matter upstairs in his noggin.”
“You know, Max has got you there, Reese,” his sister-in-law agreed, laughing. “Max, it’s so good to see you, sweetie.”
“You too, Eileen.”
“Let’s get out of here…”
“Seriously! I’m starving…”
“Oh, here we go with the ‘feed me’ stuff again…”
“Hey, you love me!”
“Yeah, I do, stinker.”
“Do I smell? I showered a week ago…”
“Oh, heaven help me,” Eileen laughed as Reese put his arm around his wife – and Max watched the two of them together, feeling a pang of jealousy deep within his soul. Glancing over, he saw Outfield talking with two women and assumed one of them was Reaper’s wife.
It seemed like everyone had someone – or at least felt that way right now. He didn’t really crave a relationship or want anyone clingy in his world, but it would be amazing to find someone who was just as easygoing and fun to be around as his sister-in-law and even then, it was sickeningly sweet how obsessed she was with his brother.
She was always giving him this look and touching his hand, his arm, or sitting on his lap.
Ugh.
That was not him.
