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I snorted a laugh, which only deepened Nick’s scowl. Nick could go step on a Lego. He had no business being here.
“I heard Daisy’s caught up with an Aldrich. Not the environmentalist CEO either. The drunk, pussy-chasing loser. Nick’s known him since they were teenagers. He’s not the kind of man we want Daisy mixed up with.”
Beau lowered his bearded chin to stare down his nose at Miles. And even though I knew my brother would never hurt a fly, I found him intimidating as hell right then.
“Beau, you’re out of line,” I started.
Mama stormed right up to him, yanked on the end of his beard to bring his attention to her, and pointed straight at him.
“I’m always happy to see my boy, but you can march your behind right out of my house if you think you can show up here talkin’ like that. I’d think you, most of all, would know not to judge someone based on their last name. You disappoint me.”
Beau softened from our mom’s admonishment, but only a fraction. I wondered what Nick had been poisoning his ear with. It had to have been pretty damn bad for my brother to make the drive here from Wyoming.
“I’m sorry if you don’t like my delivery, Mama, but I’ve been hearing some alarming things. I’m here to make sure Daisy doesn’t get hurt.” Beau frowned at Miles’ hold on me. “I can only guess this is Aldrich. You know what kind of hurt he caused back in school? You know he’s an alcoholic? Goes through women like water?”
“Shut up, Beau,” Reed gritted out. “You’re talking about my friend, and I’m not gonna stand for it.”
Beau’s eyes rounded, and he swung a glance to Nick then back to Reed. “You’re…friends with this guy?”
“Yeah, I am, and you can fuck off, Beau. Go back to your mountain. It’s not like you care enough to visit anyway.” He copied Beau’s stance, arms folded over his chest. Except Reed was half the width of Beau, so it was cute rather than intimidating.
Miles placed his hand on Reed’s shoulder. “Thanks, kid, but you don’t need to defend me. You and I both know Beau’s information is outdated, given to him by a guy with a huge ulterior motive.”
Beau’s nostrils flared. “What ulterior motive could Nick possibly have?”
“That’s simple,” Miles stated. “He wants to get with your sister. He thinks he has a rightful claim on her since he waited out the last guy. When he couldn’t sabotage my relationship with Daisy, he went to you to make you do the dirty work.”
“No.” Beau laughed darkly. “Nick would never—”
He turned to Nick, who only raised his chin instead of denying what Miles had to say. “I would look out for her.”
I rolled my eyes. “I can’t believe you took my lack of interest in dating you as a sign to go tattle to Beau. It’s really clear how little you know about me, Nick, since as much as I love my brother, he’s literally never had a say in my life.”
Beau raked his fingers through his hair. “What the hell is going on here?”
Our dad clapped him on the back. “It seems you’ve been taken for a ride, son. Your buddy, Nick, played on your trauma from growing up with an alcoholic dad to use you to bludgeon a path for him straight to Daisy.”
“Dad…” Beau shook his head. “I don’t have trauma. It’s been a long time. I barely remember you like that.”
Miles kissed the top of my head. “I’m going to get Reed out of here. We’ll take Sol for a walk. All right?”
I nodded, relieved to have fallen for a man who was thoughtful and sensitive. Reed didn’t need to hear any of this. He had enough on his plate. I didn’t want Miles to hear it either. He didn’t deserve any of the vitriol Beau and Nick had locked and loaded for him.
As soon as Reed and Miles were gone, Mama pointed to Nick. “You need to hit the road, Nicholas. You’re not welcome in my home anymore, and if I see you lurking around Daisy’s place, I won’t think twice about gettin’ my shotgun.” She stepped into him. “I grew up in the dirt in Alabama. Don’t let the nice hair and clothes fool you. I’m not afraid of gettin’ messy.”
“I’m sorry, Mrs. Dunham. I was just—” Nick cut himself off when Mama kept pointing to the door. Hope sprung eternal—except when a southern mama put her foot down in front of her babies. All hope was lost for Nick in this house. “I’m sorry,” he repeated, this time to the room at large, before he made a swift exit.
Landry finally made herself known, clucking her tongue. “I never liked that kid. He used to go through my dirty laundry, and I swear I had more than one pair of panties disappear after he’d visit.”
We all looked at her in various stages of stupefaction.
She examined her nails. “What? I took care of it. Last time I caught him in my room, I told him if he did it again, I’d knock him out and put him in a coffin with a dead body. He never bothered me again.”
Beau threw his arms out. “You should’ve told me. We wouldn’t be in this position now.”
Mama gave him a pointed look. “If you picked up the phone, we could have told you all about the wonderful man in Daisy’s life. You chose to believe the worst for no good reason.”
“Well, the last guy wasn’t anything great,” Beau muttered.
